War by any name is about asset
destruction. Here it is apparent that
the Palestinians are actually destroying their own assets mostly to spite their
declared enemy who barely notices while they do the actual suffering. The stupidity of it all boggles the mind.
What becomes clear is that the
available water resources are surprisingly ample and easily improved through
desalination operations. Better, a
peace agreement will pay an immediate dividend in hugely improved water
management and availability for household use and even agriculture.
What is comes down to is that the
Palestinian leadership is actually punishing its own people in order to gain
what appears at most a meager payoff in propaganda points easily dismissed and
countered as this item demonstrates.
The Truth Behind
the Palestinian Water Libels
by Prof. Haim
Gvirtzman
BESA Center Perspectives Paper
No. 238, February 24, 2014
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.
BESA Center Perspectives Papers
are published through the generosity
of
the Greg Rosshandler Family
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