Water Injustice Paper Follow up

Running head: RAMALLAH WATER INJUSTICE 1

RAMALLAH WATER INJUSTICE 5

Ramallah Water Injustice

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Ramallah Water Injustice

Introduction

Palestinians living in Ramallah in the controversial West Bank region are experiencing extreme water injustice that is intentionally being perpetrated by Israel. Despite international treaties that require Israel to allow Palestinians to access water and other resources that belong to Palestinians, Israel has blatantly denied Palestinians access to enough water. The water that Palestinians get is ten times below that which Israeli settlers get, and is below the minimum World Health Organization’s (WHO) minimum level. Israel is intentionally denying Palestinians’ access to enough water in the West Bank region due to its superior military and economic prowess because it is supported by Western countries.

Unfair Water Distribution to Palestinians and Israelis in Ramallah

Palestinians living in the West Bank city of Ramallah are experiencing social injustice, at least with regards to access to and consumption of water. While Jewish settlers in the same region have abundant water supply, Palestinians can barely access enough water to sufficiently cater for domestic water requirements. Palestinians living in the controversial West Bank region can access about 18.5 gallons per capita in a day (Oguz, 2017). In Israel, the daily average water consumption per capita is approximately 79 gallons, while Jewish West Bank settlers consume approximately 800 liters or 211 gallons per day (Oguz, 2017). The disparity in water consumption in West Bank region between Palestinian citizens and Israeli settlers in West Bank is about 730 liters, which means that Israeli settlers’ water consumption is more than 10 times more than Palestinians per capita per day (Oguz, 2017).

The figures show that there is unfair distribution and availability of water for Israeli settlers and Palestinians living in West Bank. The low water accessibility by Palestinians is of concern since the amount of water that they get on a daily basis is below the limits set by the WHO. The WHO families require a minimum of about 100-120 liters of water for basic living standards (Oguz, 2017). The root cause of the water injustice suffered by Palestinians in the West Bank region can be traced to economic, political, and military prowess of Israel that is far superior to that of Palestinians. According to Abu-Baker (2017), Israel has systematically taken control of the West Bank Palestinian territory and is now blatantly exploiting Palestinian resources in the region. The situation has reached the extent whereby Israel is preventing Palestinians from benefiting from the natural wealth that belongs to them. With the use of superior military prowess and support from Western nations such as Britain and the United States, Israel has deliberately blocked Palestinians from controlling and accessing their territorial water resources (Taha & Al-Sa’ed, 2018).

The action of Israel denying Palestinians’ access to their water and other resources in the West Bank region is a clear violation of international obligations and treaties. For instance, the 1993 Oslo Accords required that the water quota for Palestinians in the West Bank should have reached about 200 million m3 before 2001 (Oguz, 2017). While Israel was expected to allow Palestinians more access to clean and safe water, it instead reduced the amount of water that Palestinians could access by 10% (Oguz, 2017). Israel’s violation of international treaties by denying Palestinians access to enough water contributes to a violation of human rights, which requires that people have the right of access to enough clean and safe water (Haddeland et al., 2014). The move by Israel to deny Palestinians access to enough water has also led to environmental degradation and wastage of resources by clearing natural vegetation and constructing structures near natural water resources to block Palestinians (Haddeland et al., 2014). Israel is violating human rights due to its military prowess and support from Western nations.

Conclusion

Palestinians living in the West Bank region do not have access to enough clean water as required, and the amount of water that they can access in a day is below the minimum limits proposed by the WHO. Israeli settlers living in the West Bank territory of Palestine have access to abundant water, in which they receive ten times more water than their Palestinian neighbors. Israel is preventing Palestinian access to water due to its military and economic superiority over Palestine.

References

Abu-Baker, A. (2017). Water-deprived. SUR-Int'l J. on Hum Rts., 25, 37-56.

Haddeland, I., Heinke, J., Biemans, H., Eisner, S., Flörke, M., Hanasaki, N., ... & Stacke, T. (2014). Global water resources affected by human interventions and climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(9), 3251-3256.

Oguz, Y. S. (2017). Palestine’s water crisis: 50 years of injustice. Anadolu Agency. Retrieved from https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/palestine-s-water-crisis-50-years-of- injustice/882105

Taha, M., & Al-Sa’ed, R. (2018). Application potential of small-scale solar desalination for brackish water in the Jordan Valley, Palestine. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 75(1), 214-225.