At the entrances of Nablus governorate to the north-west the towns of Deir Sharaf Barqa and Bazaria suffer from the scarcity of water despite the fact that they live on a large water basin while the nearby settlement of Shavei Shomron enjoys large amounts of water round the clock.
The residents of these towns which number more than 40000 are distressed and thirsty while 1200 settlers consume water twice as much they do. Palestinians’ plantations die because of the lack of water in the summer and the trees of Shavei Shomron settlement rise up in the sky due to abundant amounts of water.
Water guaranteed for settlers
Dirar Abu Omar the Director of the Agricultural Relief Society in Nablus and the former deputy mayor of Barqa village for four years said that the Israelis control the water basin in the settlement of Shomron which gets its water from the water-well of the Palestinian neighboring village of Beit Iba. When the water level goes down to less than two meters settlers get water around the clock.
He added that anyone observing the trees inside the Israeli military post and the settlement of Shomron could see the size of the trees which are no more than ten years old. The trees of the villages of Naqoura and Deir Sharaf which are 60 years old do not reach half of their size due to the lack of water.
The suffering in summer
The head of the council of Deir Sharaf village Fahmi Nofal confirms that only a street separates his town from the Israeli settlement. In the summer the town suffers from lack of drinking water and people are forced to buy water through tanks or to bring water from a water spring in the town.
Farmer Abdullah Antari says that dozens of dunums planted with citrus have dried up or decreased their produce due to the lack of water after the village was known for orange and lemon produce which was profitable for farmers pointing out that one of the workers from the town at the settlement of Shomron has noticed the existence of swimming pools in the majority of the houses of the settlement as well as pipes for watering plantations around the clock.
According to Mahmoud Saifi the Director of the Land Research Center in Nablus the Israeli occupation controls the Palestinian resources including water as well as the drilling of water-wells and the quantities of water allowed to be pumped based on the Oslo Accords without heeding the needs of the citizens for drinking water and for irrigating crops.
Israeli control
He added that the villages north-west of Nablus is an example of this despite the presence of plenty of water under their land and the passage of water lines in front of their homes.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics the Israeli occupation controls 85% of the water flowing from the aquifers forcing the Palestinians to purchase water from the Israeli water company Mekorot; the amount of water purchased amounted to 63.5 million m3.
The Israeli occupation also controls most of the renewable water resources in Palestine amounting to about 750 million m3 annually while the Palestinians receive only about 110 million m3 of the available resources.
The Palestinian share of the aquifers according to the Oslo Accords is 118 million m3. This quantity was supposed to become 200 million m3 by the year 2000 if the Oslo Accords were implemented.
According to Engineer Mazen Ghoneim the Head of the Water Authority in Palestine the daily ration of water of Israeli settlers is from 400 to 800 liters compared to 45-50 liters for the Palestinians.
