The Truth Behind the Palestinian Water Libels
by Prof. Haim Gvirtzman
The complete BESA study can be read here:
http://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/perspectives238.pdf
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Water shortages in the Palestinian Authority are the
result of Palestinian policies that deliberately waste water and destroy the
regional water ecology. The Palestinians refuse to develop their own
significant underground water resources, build a seawater desalination
plant, fix massive leakage from their municipal water pipes, build sewage
treatment plants, irrigate land with treated sewage effluents or modern
water-saving devices, or bill their own citizens for consumer water usage,
leading to enormous waste. At the same time, they drill illegally into
Israel’s water resources, and send their sewage flowing into the valleys and
streams of central Israel. In short, the Palestinian Authority is using
water as a weapon against the State of Israel. It is not interested in
practical solutions to solve the Palestinian people’s water shortages, but
rather perpetuation of the shortages and the besmirching of Israel.
A significant public debate has been sparked by the assertion of European
Parliament President Martin Schulz that the amount of water available to the
average Israeli unfairly overwhelms the amount of water available to the
average Palestinian. The main issue that should be discussed – and has not
been sufficiently analyzed – is: What are the causes of Palestinian water
supply problems?
The discussion must be informed by the following basic facts:
1. The Oslo agreements grant the Palestinians the right to draw 70 million
cubic meters from the Eastern Mountain Aquifer (ground water reservoir). Yet
this water resource is not currently being capitalized on by the
Palestinians; the waters spill untapped underground into the Dead Sea. As
per the Israeli-Palestinian agreement, some 40 sites were identified for
drilling into this aquifer in the eastern Hebron hills region, and permits
were granted to the Palestinians by the Israel-PA Joint Water Committee.
Nevertheless, over the past 20 years, the Palestinians have drilled at just
one-third of these sites, despite the fact that the international community
has offered to finance the drilling of all sites. If the Palestinians were
to drill and develop all these wells, they could have completely solved the
existing water shortage in the Hebron hills region. But the Palestinians
have preferred to drill wells on the Western Mountain Aquifer, the basin
that provides groundwater to the State of Israel. Instead of solving the
problem they have chosen to squabble with Israel.
2. The Palestinians do not bother fixing water leaks in city pipes. Up to 33
percent of water in Palestinian cities is wasted through leakage. Upkeep on
the Palestinians’ urban water infrastructure has been completely neglected.
By comparison, leakage from Israeli municipal water pipes amount to only 10
percent of water usage.
3. The Palestinians refuse to build water treatment plants, despite their
obligation to do so under the Oslo agreement. Sewage flows out of
Palestinian towns and villages directly into local streams, thereby
polluting the environments and the aquifer and causing the spread of
disease. Despite the fact that donor countries are willing to fully fund the
building of treatment plants, the Palestinians have managed to avoid their
obligations to build such facilities. (Only over the past two years has
Israeli pressure moved the PA forward a bit on this matter.)
4. The Palestinians absolutely refuse to irrigate their agricultural fields
with treated sewage effluents. By comparison, more than half the
agricultural fields in Israel are irrigated with treated waste water.
Irrigating Palestinian agricultural fields with recycled water instead of
fresh water would free up large amounts of water for home usage. This would
greatly reduce the water shortage in many places.
5. Some Palestinian farmers irrigate their fields by flooding, rather than
with drip irrigation technology. Drip irrigation, as practiced in Israel,
brings water directly to the root of each plant, thereby reducing water
consumption by more than 50 percent. Flooding fields causes huge water
evaporation and leads to great waste.
6. The international community has offered to build a desalination plant for
the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians have refused this gift.
A desalination plant could completely solve the Gaza Strip’s water
shortages. The Palestinians refuse to build this plant because they claim
they have the right to access the fresh groundwater reservoir in Judea and
Samaria, and they are prepared to suffer until they realize this dream. In
the meanwhile, Gaza residents suffer from severe shortages of water.
These basic, undeniable facts are extremely important because they have
wide-ranging consequences.
Today, the Palestinians consume some 200 million cubic meters of water per
annum in Judea and Samaria. The Palestinians could easily raise that amount
by at least 50 percent, without any additional assistance or allocation from
the State of Israel. This would require several simple actions:
If the Palestinians were to begin drilling the Eastern Mountain Aquifer, at
the sites already approved for drilling, they very quickly would secure an
additional 50 million cubic meters of water per year.
If the Palestinians were to reduce urban water waste from 33 percent to 20
percent by fixing the main leaks in their urban water pipes (something that
can be done without great effort), they would immediately benefit from 10
million additional cubic meters of water per annum.
If the Palestinians were to collect and treat their urban waste water, they
would gain at least 30 million cubic meters of water a year. This would free
up 30 million cubic meters (per annum) of fresh water, currently used for
agriculture, for home usage. This would allow them both to improve their
urban water supply and to expand agricultural lands.
If the Palestinians were to adopt drip irrigation technology, they would
save 10 million cubic meters a year. This would allow them to expand their
irrigated lands.
In the Gaza Strip, too, the Palestinians could easily double the amount of
water available, without additional assistance from the State of Israel. If
the Palestinians agreed to build a desalination plant on the Gaza coast
(funded entirely by the international community), they would increase the
amount of water available by 60 to 100 million cubic meters a year. If they
fix leakages, treat and recycle sewage, and adopt drip irrigation, they
would double their water allocation, as well.
Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority’s deleterious policies – as
evidenced in the six facts listed above – are a function of the Palestinian
water war against Israel. There is no real Palestinian desire to solve water
problems; they prefer to perpetuate the water problems in order to besmirch
the State of Israel. They view water as a tool with which to bash Israel.
The warlike strategy adopted by the Palestinian Authority regarding water
explains several additional realities.
Illegal drilling of wells: As of 2010, the Palestinians had drilled about
250 unauthorized wells into the Western and Northern Aquifers, in violation
of the Oslo agreements. Since 2010 the number of unauthorized wells being
dug has continued to rise at an alarming pace. This has caused a reduction
in the natural discharge of water in the Beit Shean and Harod valleys,
forcing Israeli farmers to reduce their agricultural plantings. Ultimately,
the State of Israel has been forced to reduce its pumping at the Mountain
aquifer from 500 million cubic meters per annum in 1967 to about 400 million
cubic meters per annum today.
The Palestinians also steal water by pirate tapping into pipes belonging to
Mekorot, Israel’s national water company. As a result, Mekorot’s ability to
supply water to Israelis and Palestinians alike has been compromised. The
stolen water is used mainly for agriculture, not for home usage.
Sustainable development: The PA purposefully flaunts the principle of
“sustainable development” – a core standard of effective and modern economic
management – in every way. Authorities that do not fix water leaks, do not
collect and treat sewage, refuse to conserve water used for agriculture, and
do not collect payment for water usage are in flagrant violation of this
principle.
Which brings us to another dirty little secret about the Palestinians: most
West Bank and Gaza residents and businesses do not pay the PA for the water
they use, in either their homes or fields. There are simply no water meters
on pumping wells and no water meters at the entry to most homes, so it is
impossible for the PA to measure the amount of money owed by individual
consumers. This, of course, leads to widespread water waste. People who don’t
pay for their water usage have no motivation to conserve.
Reliance on Israel: The Palestinians purchase about 50 million cubic meters
of water from Israel’s Mekorot water company each year, but the Palestinian
Authority does not pay for this water directly. Rather, the State of Israel
pays Mekorot, and then deducts the costs of the water from the customs and
tax monies that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority at
Israeli ports. However, it must be noted that the Palestinian Authority pays
Mekorot for just 80 percent of the actual cost of the water it consumes.
Negotiations to raise water prices have dragged on for more than 10 years,
and Israel has given up many times.
Because the water market is administered in an opaque fashion, the Israeli
consumer effectively subsidizes the Palestinian consumer. The average
Israeli pays approximately 10 shekels per cubic meter of water. About 0.2
shekels of that fee goes to subsidize the water provided to the Palestinians
below cost.
The sum total of the situation described above is that the Palestinian
Authority is using water as a weapon against the State of Israel. It is more
interested in reducing the amount of water available to Israel, polluting
natural reservoirs, harming Israeli farmers, and sullying Israel’s
reputation around the world than truly solving water problems for the
Palestinian people. The Palestinians are not interested in practical
solutions to address shortages; rather, they seek to perpetuate the
shortages, and to blame the State of Israel.
Unfortunately, President Schulz’s Knesset address, with its
seemingly-straightforward but baseless accusations against Israel, suggests
that the PA is succeeding in this effort to befuddle international observers
and besmirch Israel.
Beyond the conclusion reached above, it is worthwhile to consider a broader
perspective on the water situation in the Middle East. The Palestinians live
in the shadow of the State of Israel, a world superpower in terms of water
technologies. Consequently, the Palestinians enjoy a relative Garden of
Eden. Only in Israel, in the West Bank, and in Gulf States does sufficient,
safe, drinkable tap water exist in 96 percent of households. Residents in
almost every other country in the region suffer from terrible water
shortages.
In Amman, the Jordanian capital, water is supplied to private homes just
once every two weeks. In Syria, agricultural fields in the Euphrates Valley
are drying up due to the upstream diversion of water by the Turks. In recent
years (before the “Arab Spring” began), about three million farmers migrated
from the Euphrates Valley to the outskirts of Damascus because their lands
had dried up. In Damascus, too, the water running in the river beds, which
used for drinking, is mixed with sewage. In Iraq, agricultural fields are
drying up because waters upstream on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are
being diverted by the Turks. There too, millions of farmers lost their
lands. In Egypt, enormous amounts of water are lost due to flood irrigation.
The Nile provides 30 times more water than Israel’s annual usage and Egypt’s
population is just 10 times greater than Israel. Therefore, we would expect
to see a water surplus. Nevertheless, Egypt suffers from severe hunger and
thirst due to severe wastage of water. In North Africa too, there are
insufferable water shortages.
By contrast, the State of Israel creates artificial water (desalinated
seawater and recycled sewage) and behaves frugally and effectively, and as a
result there is no shortage of water, despite having experienced many years
of drought. Furthermore, the State of Israel is a net exporter of water!
Israel supplies 55 million cubic meters of water each year to Jordan, and
sells 50 million cubic meters to the Palestinians.
In the future, if and when peace is achieved, and cooperation is truly
desired by the Palestinians – which they do not currently seek – the State
of Israel will be ready and able to assist its neighbors in overcoming their
water shortages.
Prof. Haim Gvirtzman is a professor of hydrology at the Institute of Earth
Sciences at the Hebrew University and a member of the Israel Water Authority
Council. He is also a long-time advisor of the Israel-PA Joint Water
Committee. He authored the BESA Center’s groundbreaking 2012 study on
Israel-Palestinian water issues.
by Prof. Haim Gvirtzman
The complete BESA study can be read here:
http://besacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/perspectives238.pdf
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Water shortages in the Palestinian Authority are the
result of Palestinian policies that deliberately waste water and destroy the
regional water ecology. The Palestinians refuse to develop their own
significant underground water resources, build a seawater desalination
plant, fix massive leakage from their municipal water pipes, build sewage
treatment plants, irrigate land with treated sewage effluents or modern
water-saving devices, or bill their own citizens for consumer water usage,
leading to enormous waste. At the same time, they drill illegally into
Israel’s water resources, and send their sewage flowing into the valleys and
streams of central Israel. In short, the Palestinian Authority is using
water as a weapon against the State of Israel. It is not interested in
practical solutions to solve the Palestinian people’s water shortages, but
rather perpetuation of the shortages and the besmirching of Israel.
A significant public debate has been sparked by the assertion of European
Parliament President Martin Schulz that the amount of water available to the
average Israeli unfairly overwhelms the amount of water available to the
average Palestinian. The main issue that should be discussed – and has not
been sufficiently analyzed – is: What are the causes of Palestinian water
supply problems?
The discussion must be informed by the following basic facts:
1. The Oslo agreements grant the Palestinians the right to draw 70 million
cubic meters from the Eastern Mountain Aquifer (ground water reservoir). Yet
this water resource is not currently being capitalized on by the
Palestinians; the waters spill untapped underground into the Dead Sea. As
per the Israeli-Palestinian agreement, some 40 sites were identified for
drilling into this aquifer in the eastern Hebron hills region, and permits
were granted to the Palestinians by the Israel-PA Joint Water Committee.
Nevertheless, over the past 20 years, the Palestinians have drilled at just
one-third of these sites, despite the fact that the international community
has offered to finance the drilling of all sites. If the Palestinians were
to drill and develop all these wells, they could have completely solved the
existing water shortage in the Hebron hills region. But the Palestinians
have preferred to drill wells on the Western Mountain Aquifer, the basin
that provides groundwater to the State of Israel. Instead of solving the
problem they have chosen to squabble with Israel.
2. The Palestinians do not bother fixing water leaks in city pipes. Up to 33
percent of water in Palestinian cities is wasted through leakage. Upkeep on
the Palestinians’ urban water infrastructure has been completely neglected.
By comparison, leakage from Israeli municipal water pipes amount to only 10
percent of water usage.
3. The Palestinians refuse to build water treatment plants, despite their
obligation to do so under the Oslo agreement. Sewage flows out of
Palestinian towns and villages directly into local streams, thereby
polluting the environments and the aquifer and causing the spread of
disease. Despite the fact that donor countries are willing to fully fund the
building of treatment plants, the Palestinians have managed to avoid their
obligations to build such facilities. (Only over the past two years has
Israeli pressure moved the PA forward a bit on this matter.)
4. The Palestinians absolutely refuse to irrigate their agricultural fields
with treated sewage effluents. By comparison, more than half the
agricultural fields in Israel are irrigated with treated waste water.
Irrigating Palestinian agricultural fields with recycled water instead of
fresh water would free up large amounts of water for home usage. This would
greatly reduce the water shortage in many places.
5. Some Palestinian farmers irrigate their fields by flooding, rather than
with drip irrigation technology. Drip irrigation, as practiced in Israel,
brings water directly to the root of each plant, thereby reducing water
consumption by more than 50 percent. Flooding fields causes huge water
evaporation and leads to great waste.
6. The international community has offered to build a desalination plant for
the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians have refused this gift.
A desalination plant could completely solve the Gaza Strip’s water
shortages. The Palestinians refuse to build this plant because they claim
they have the right to access the fresh groundwater reservoir in Judea and
Samaria, and they are prepared to suffer until they realize this dream. In
the meanwhile, Gaza residents suffer from severe shortages of water.
These basic, undeniable facts are extremely important because they have
wide-ranging consequences.
Today, the Palestinians consume some 200 million cubic meters of water per
annum in Judea and Samaria. The Palestinians could easily raise that amount
by at least 50 percent, without any additional assistance or allocation from
the State of Israel. This would require several simple actions:
If the Palestinians were to begin drilling the Eastern Mountain Aquifer, at
the sites already approved for drilling, they very quickly would secure an
additional 50 million cubic meters of water per year.
If the Palestinians were to reduce urban water waste from 33 percent to 20
percent by fixing the main leaks in their urban water pipes (something that
can be done without great effort), they would immediately benefit from 10
million additional cubic meters of water per annum.
If the Palestinians were to collect and treat their urban waste water, they
would gain at least 30 million cubic meters of water a year. This would free
up 30 million cubic meters (per annum) of fresh water, currently used for
agriculture, for home usage. This would allow them both to improve their
urban water supply and to expand agricultural lands.
If the Palestinians were to adopt drip irrigation technology, they would
save 10 million cubic meters a year. This would allow them to expand their
irrigated lands.
In the Gaza Strip, too, the Palestinians could easily double the amount of
water available, without additional assistance from the State of Israel. If
the Palestinians agreed to build a desalination plant on the Gaza coast
(funded entirely by the international community), they would increase the
amount of water available by 60 to 100 million cubic meters a year. If they
fix leakages, treat and recycle sewage, and adopt drip irrigation, they
would double their water allocation, as well.
Unfortunately, the Palestinian Authority’s deleterious policies – as
evidenced in the six facts listed above – are a function of the Palestinian
water war against Israel. There is no real Palestinian desire to solve water
problems; they prefer to perpetuate the water problems in order to besmirch
the State of Israel. They view water as a tool with which to bash Israel.
The warlike strategy adopted by the Palestinian Authority regarding water
explains several additional realities.
Illegal drilling of wells: As of 2010, the Palestinians had drilled about
250 unauthorized wells into the Western and Northern Aquifers, in violation
of the Oslo agreements. Since 2010 the number of unauthorized wells being
dug has continued to rise at an alarming pace. This has caused a reduction
in the natural discharge of water in the Beit Shean and Harod valleys,
forcing Israeli farmers to reduce their agricultural plantings. Ultimately,
the State of Israel has been forced to reduce its pumping at the Mountain
aquifer from 500 million cubic meters per annum in 1967 to about 400 million
cubic meters per annum today.
The Palestinians also steal water by pirate tapping into pipes belonging to
Mekorot, Israel’s national water company. As a result, Mekorot’s ability to
supply water to Israelis and Palestinians alike has been compromised. The
stolen water is used mainly for agriculture, not for home usage.
Sustainable development: The PA purposefully flaunts the principle of
“sustainable development” – a core standard of effective and modern economic
management – in every way. Authorities that do not fix water leaks, do not
collect and treat sewage, refuse to conserve water used for agriculture, and
do not collect payment for water usage are in flagrant violation of this
principle.
Which brings us to another dirty little secret about the Palestinians: most
West Bank and Gaza residents and businesses do not pay the PA for the water
they use, in either their homes or fields. There are simply no water meters
on pumping wells and no water meters at the entry to most homes, so it is
impossible for the PA to measure the amount of money owed by individual
consumers. This, of course, leads to widespread water waste. People who don’t
pay for their water usage have no motivation to conserve.
Reliance on Israel: The Palestinians purchase about 50 million cubic meters
of water from Israel’s Mekorot water company each year, but the Palestinian
Authority does not pay for this water directly. Rather, the State of Israel
pays Mekorot, and then deducts the costs of the water from the customs and
tax monies that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority at
Israeli ports. However, it must be noted that the Palestinian Authority pays
Mekorot for just 80 percent of the actual cost of the water it consumes.
Negotiations to raise water prices have dragged on for more than 10 years,
and Israel has given up many times.
Because the water market is administered in an opaque fashion, the Israeli
consumer effectively subsidizes the Palestinian consumer. The average
Israeli pays approximately 10 shekels per cubic meter of water. About 0.2
shekels of that fee goes to subsidize the water provided to the Palestinians
below cost.
The sum total of the situation described above is that the Palestinian
Authority is using water as a weapon against the State of Israel. It is more
interested in reducing the amount of water available to Israel, polluting
natural reservoirs, harming Israeli farmers, and sullying Israel’s
reputation around the world than truly solving water problems for the
Palestinian people. The Palestinians are not interested in practical
solutions to address shortages; rather, they seek to perpetuate the
shortages, and to blame the State of Israel.
Unfortunately, President Schulz’s Knesset address, with its
seemingly-straightforward but baseless accusations against Israel, suggests
that the PA is succeeding in this effort to befuddle international observers
and besmirch Israel.
Beyond the conclusion reached above, it is worthwhile to consider a broader
perspective on the water situation in the Middle East. The Palestinians live
in the shadow of the State of Israel, a world superpower in terms of water
technologies. Consequently, the Palestinians enjoy a relative Garden of
Eden. Only in Israel, in the West Bank, and in Gulf States does sufficient,
safe, drinkable tap water exist in 96 percent of households. Residents in
almost every other country in the region suffer from terrible water
shortages.
In Amman, the Jordanian capital, water is supplied to private homes just
once every two weeks. In Syria, agricultural fields in the Euphrates Valley
are drying up due to the upstream diversion of water by the Turks. In recent
years (before the “Arab Spring” began), about three million farmers migrated
from the Euphrates Valley to the outskirts of Damascus because their lands
had dried up. In Damascus, too, the water running in the river beds, which
used for drinking, is mixed with sewage. In Iraq, agricultural fields are
drying up because waters upstream on the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are
being diverted by the Turks. There too, millions of farmers lost their
lands. In Egypt, enormous amounts of water are lost due to flood irrigation.
The Nile provides 30 times more water than Israel’s annual usage and Egypt’s
population is just 10 times greater than Israel. Therefore, we would expect
to see a water surplus. Nevertheless, Egypt suffers from severe hunger and
thirst due to severe wastage of water. In North Africa too, there are
insufferable water shortages.
By contrast, the State of Israel creates artificial water (desalinated
seawater and recycled sewage) and behaves frugally and effectively, and as a
result there is no shortage of water, despite having experienced many years
of drought. Furthermore, the State of Israel is a net exporter of water!
Israel supplies 55 million cubic meters of water each year to Jordan, and
sells 50 million cubic meters to the Palestinians.
In the future, if and when peace is achieved, and cooperation is truly
desired by the Palestinians – which they do not currently seek – the State
of Israel will be ready and able to assist its neighbors in overcoming their
water shortages.
Prof. Haim Gvirtzman is a professor of hydrology at the Institute of Earth
Sciences at the Hebrew University and a member of the Israel Water Authority
Council. He is also a long-time advisor of the Israel-PA Joint Water
Committee. He authored the BESA Center’s groundbreaking 2012 study on
Israel-Palestinian water issues.
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