Israeli national water company Mekerot has reduced the daily quantity of water supplied to the cities of Hebron and Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, multiple news outlets reported on Sunday, July 16. The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) said that the reduction in water supply is equivalent to approximately 6,000 cups per day. Denouncing the move as “racist,” the PWA said that there were no “technical reasons” for the decision. Palestinians already receive a significantly lesser amount of daily water supply compared to Israeli settlers living in the illegal settlements in the West Bank.
In its statement, the PWA said that no faults were detected in the supply source and the decision was only the latest measure taken by the Israeli authorities to discriminate against Palestinians living under occupation. It said that the reduction will drastically affect Palestinians, especially with extremely high summer temperatures and heat waves. The shortage of water will also affect Palestinian farmers and food production.
Activists and rights groups have repeatedly highlighted the disparity between the amount of water supplied to Palestinians and Israelis. According to Israeli rights group B’Tselem, Israeli citizens living in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem use about 247 liters of water per person per day. In contrast, Palestinians consume 82.4 liters per person per day – around three times less.
According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the difference goes up to more than seven times between illegal Israeli settlers and Palestinians. Reports also note that the water consumption of Palestinians is on average less than the WHO’s internationally recommended amount of 100 liters per day. One of the main reasons for this is that 85% of Palestinian water resources are currently controlled by Israel. As a result, only 36% of Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank are supplied with running water.
