CLOSED: Israel/OPT: Palestinian access to water restricted

Palestinians are denied access to the water they need by Israel. At the same time, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, established in contravention of international law, receive all the water they want, sometimes 10 times as much per capita as neighbouring Palestinian villages.

The Israelis have placed constraints on the Palestinian Authority (PA) that prevent it from developing efficient water and sanitation systems, and a third of the water that the PA manages and distributes to the population under its jurisdiction is lost in leakages.

Meanwhile in Gaza, which is isolated by the Israeli blockade, water and sanitation projects are halted because no materials for construction and maintenance are allowed in. Currently over 90 per cent of tap water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption because it is contaminated by seawater and sewage. Send an appeal letter to the Israeli authorities now

Watch Amnesty researchers talking about how the right to water is being violated by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories:

Background information

Lack of access to adequate, safe and clean water has been a long-standing problem for the Palestinian population of the OPT, principally as a result of discriminatory Israeli policies and practices since Israeli took control of the OPT in 1967. Each Palestinian, on average, receives only 70 litres of water per day, less than one quarter the amount used by each Israeli, including Israeli settlers in the OPT.

Access to water resources for Palestinians in the OPT is controlled by Israel and is restricted to a level that does not meet their needs and does not constitute a fair and equitable share of the shared water resources. Of the water that Israel permits the PA to manage, as much as a third (some 34 per cent) is lost in leakages due to old and inefficient networks, and these cannot be readily replaced and modernized due to the restrictions on Palestinians’ movements and other obstacles imposed by Israel, including the requirement that permits be obtained from the Israeli army for even small development projects.

The impact of Israeli restrictions and delays in obtaining permits, if they are granted at all, has been extensively documented by local and international NGOs and UN agencies which have been involved in or have funded projects in the water sector in the OPT. International donors have mostly borne the costs of emergency water projects in the OPT, repairing water infrastructure damaged or destroyed in Israeli military attacks or providing emergency water and sanitation services to Palestinians who have had their homes and property destroyed or who have no access to adequate water supplies. Yet, international donors are generally reluctant to make public the problems they face in implementing specific water-related and other projects out of concern that this will lead the Israeli authorities to impose even more obstacles.

Some 180,000-200,000 Palestinians in rural communities in the West Bank have no access to running water. Some are surviving on less than 20 litres a day, equivalent to the disaster response level recommended to avoid epidemics. Even in towns and villages connected to the water network, the taps often run dry – sometimes for weeks or even months. In times of water shortage, Palestinians buy water delivered in tankers from private providers, but this is expensive and often of poor quality.

In Gaza the only water resource, the southern end of the Coastal Aquifer, is depleted and contaminated – more than 90 per cent of the water supply is unfit for human consumption. The Israeli blockade of Gaza prevents the entry of desperately needed material for the construction and repair of water facilities and has made an already dire situation worse.

The water shortage has hindered social and economic development for Palestinians in the OPT and has resulted in violations of their right to an adequate standard of living, including the right to water, food, health, work and adequate housing.

• Read Amnesty press release and download the report
• Find out more about human rights violations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinians Territories

Palestinians are denied access to the water they need by Israel. At the same time, Israeli settlements in the West Bank, established in contravention of international law, receive all the water they want, sometimes 10 times as much per capita as neighbouring Palestinian villages.

The Israelis have placed constraints on the Palestinian Authority (PA) that prevent it from developing efficient water and sanitation systems, and a third of the water that the PA manages and distributes to the population under its jurisdiction is lost in leakages.

Meanwhile in Gaza, which is isolated by the Israeli blockade, water and sanitation projects are halted because no materials for construction and maintenance are allowed in. Currently over 90 per cent of tap water in Gaza is unfit for human consumption because it is contaminated by seawater and sewage. Send an appeal letter to the Israeli authorities now

Watch Amnesty researchers talking about how the right to water is being violated by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories: