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Last update - 17:22 09/07/2008 Palestinians: West Bank water running dry due to Israeli curbs By Reuters Tags: Palestinians, Israel  Taps have run dry in West Bank towns and Palestinians face acute water shortages as dry weather strains supplies already restricted by Israel, residents and the water authority said. Parts of major West Bank cities such as Jenin, Hebron and Bethlehem have had no running water for about a month and even faucets in parts of Ramallah, the occupied West Bank's political hub which rarely experiences cuts, have been dry for days at a time in recent weeks, residents said. "We have had no pumped water for 40 days," said Mahmoud Ibrahim from Jenin in the northern West Bank. "We have to buy water from vendors in the street." Advertisement Water is an increasingly scarce resource in the Middle East and is one of the core issues for any Palestinian-Israeli peace accord. Arguments around the issue are complex. "Israel controls our water supply -- this year is even worse as there is a shortage in rainfall," Shaddad Attili, director of the Palestinian Water Authority, told Reuters, predicting severe shortages across the West Bank and Gaza Strip this summer. While parts of the West Bank often experience summer shortages, residents said the dry spells had been longer this year due to sharply reduced rainfall. Israel controls much of the occupied West Bank's supplies, pumping water from an aquifer that bridges Israel and the West Bank and then selling some back to the Palestinians, quotas agreed under the 1993 Oslo Accords which rights groups say have not been increased in line with Palestinian population growth. Israel also restricts the drilling of new Palestinian wells, arguing it needs to protect shared resources from over-pumping. "We can't just allow drilling wherever they want," said Israeli Water Authority spokesman Uri Shore. He said Israel had kept its obligations under the Oslo agreement while Palestinians had failed to meet their own requirements to recycle water and were not distributing water efficiently. Israeli officials warned this week the country faced unprecedented shortages of its own. "We have never had such a crisis," Uri Shani, director of the Israel Water Authority, told a news conference this week, as he announced price hikes and water-saving measures. Israel is two thirds arid and Lake Kinneret - the country'sbiggest reservoir and a strategic asset - will likely play a key role in peace talks with Syria, had been sharply depleted due to dry weather. Attili said Palestinians get about 105 million cubic metres from their own West Bank wells which were built before Israel occupied the territory in 1967. They buy up to 50 million cubic metres annually from Israel and have asked for an additional 8 million cubic meters. Dry weather means the Palestinian wells, which are not as deep as the Israeli-controlled ones, are drying up quickly. Israel's Water Authority said on its Website average daily per capita water consumption, including household and industrial use, was about 770 liters (203 gallons) in 2005 - over 10 times the 60 liters (16 gallons) Attili said Palestinians consumed last year. Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said a drought - which has this year deprived parts of the West Bank of almost half its normal rainfall - and "unfair" distribution of water resources would cause severe shortages in Palestinian areas this year. The International Committee of the Red Cross last month started trucking in water for about 1,000 people and 50,000 animals in the worst affected areas of the southern West Bank. "We have water under our feet," Attili said. "But people are thirsty and we aren't allowed to use it while settlers and Israelis in general are enjoying swimming pools and irrigation." Related articles: Fayyad: IDF West Bank raids sabotage Palestinian security efforts Police fail to bring indictments in settler attacks on Palestinians EU, Blair: Checkpoints, Gaza blockade hinder Palestinian aid effort Bookmark to del.icio.us   By the numbers A study shows Jewish Israeli men live almost four years longer than Israeli Arabs. Local threat The Shin Bet arrests two Bedouin, accused of supplying information to al-Qaida.   1.   Israel has a responsibility to provide water, as the occupier 17:45  |  International Lawyer 09/07/08   2.   Future generations will remember Israeli Jews, not Holocaust 17:48  |  Euro 09/07/08   3.   The water crisis is the result of lack of peace 17:57  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 09/07/08   4.   Natalie Durson 18:13  |  Steve 09/07/08   5.   Dear `international lawyer` 18:22  |  Allon 09/07/08   6.   Euro, with all due respect 18:27  |  Allon 09/07/08   7.   Allon is mad at the non Jewish world 18:50  |  Ibrahim 09/07/08   8.   Plenty of Water for "Settler" Swimming Pools 18:53  |  Lee Kaplan 09/07/08   9.   #5 Say Allon, "squatters"? 18:58  |  ballistic 09/07/08   10.   #6 Say Allon 19:04  |  ballistic 09/07/08   11.   Allon - But it is you who are the squatter 19:08  |  Delusional 09/07/08   12.   international Lawyer- What country are you from?? 19:16  |  jem 09/07/08   13.   Well of course you need to restrict our water 20:08  |  Ramzi, a Palestinian 09/07/08   14.   Jews first, untermenschen second 20:08  |  Clickfool 09/07/08   15.   Allon; The roman are still in Rome 20:28  |  Euro 09/07/08   16.   This is a sinful hording of water by Israel 20:41  |  Dutch 09/07/08   17.   I dont care what others say.. 20:43  |  eddie 09/07/08   18.   Shlomo from Tel Aviv - Very true 20:47  |  NYer 09/07/08   19.   Euro - you are very mistaken. 20:47  |  Allon 09/07/08   20.   Loud and Ignorant foriegn posters 20:58  |  Scharker Yid 09/07/08   21.   Why supply scarce water to enemies? 21:02  |  Realist 09/07/08   22.   #20 Say Yid 21:51  |  ballistic 09/07/08   23.   #19 Yes Allon 21:55  |  ballistic 09/07/08   24.   Israel follows Oslo deal, PA breeds themselves into shortages... 22:02  |  Dr. L. Brnd 09/07/08   25.   Scharker Yid, Realist, L. Brnd, etc 22:14  |  Ramzi, a Palestinian 09/07/08

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