Wednesday, February 26, 2014

PA Weaponizing Water Against Israel

YoriYanover Published: February 26th, 2014
  The Palestinians refuse to build water treatment plants, and 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. 
The Palestinians refuse to build water treatment plants, and 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. 
 The Palestinian Authority is using water as a weapon against the State of Israel, states a new report titled The Truth Behind the Palestinian Water Libels (PDF), issued by Prof. Haim Gvirtzman from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. You'll find an online version here. 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. 

According to the report, the PA 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. If you're a Jewish news junky, you'll no doubt recall the rude and misinformed allegation by European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who said, from the Knesset podium, mind you, that the amount of water available to the average Israeli unfairly overwhelms the amount of water available to the average Palestinian. 
The gaps are significantly smaller than what was suggested by Herr Schulz, but, according to the Prof. Gvirtzman report, the main issue that should be discussed – and has not been sufficiently analyzed – is: What are the causes of Palestinian water supply problems? Today, the Palestinians consume some 200 million cubic meters of water per annum in Judea and Samaria, Prof. Gvirtzman reports. The Palestinians could easily raise that amount by at least 50 percent, without any additional assistance or allocation from the State of Israel. His short answer: 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, Prof. Gvirtzman continues, they drill illegally into Israel’s water resources, and send their sewage lowing into the valleys and streams of central Israel. In other words, 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. Here are some of the things the PA is either failing to do, doing ineptly, or intentionally preventing: The Palestinians do not bother fixing water leaks in city pipes. Up to 33 percent of water in Palestinian cities is wasted through leakage. Permits were granted to the Palestinians by the Israel-PA Joint Water Committee, for some 40 sites where they can drill into the aquifer in the eastern Hebron hills region, and the international community has offered to finance the drilling of every site. 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. 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. 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. Some Palestinian farmers irrigate their fields by flooding, rather than with drip irrigation technology. Flooding fields causes huge water evaporation and leads to great waste, up to 50% higher water consumption. The warlike strategy adopted by the Palestinian Authority regarding water explains several additional realities, according to Prof. Gvirtzman: 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, says Prof. Gvirtzman, 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.
 Besides higher produce prices, Israeli consumers also subsidize their Palestinian neighbors' unregulated water consumption. 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. Meanwhile, 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. Instead, 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, Prof. Gvirtzman points out, 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.

 About the Author: Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published Dancing and Crying, a colorful and intimate portrait of the last two years in the life of the late Lubavitch Rebbe, (in Hebrew), and two fun books in English: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/report-pa-weaponizing-water-against-israel/2014/02/26/0/?print
Yori Yanover

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/report-pa-weaponizing-water-against-israel/2014/02/26/
Yori Yanover

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/report-pa-weaponizing-water-against-israel/2014/02/26/
Yori Yanover

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/report-pa-weaponizing-water-against-israel/2014/02/26/
Yori Yanover Published: February 26th, 2014 The Palestinians refuse to build water treatment plants, and 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. The Palestinians refuse to build water treatment plants, and 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. Photo Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib / Flash 90 The Palestinian Authority is using water as a weapon against the State of Israel, states a new report titled The Truth Behind the Palestinian Water Libels (PDF), issued by Prof. Haim Gvirtzman from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. You'll find an online version here. 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. According to the report, the PA 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. If you're a Jewish news junky, you'll no doubt recall the rude and misinformed allegation by European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who said, from the Knesset podium, mind you, that the amount of water available to the average Israeli unfairly overwhelms the amount of water available to the average Palestinian. The gaps are significantly smaller than what was suggested by Herr Schulz, but, according to the Prof. Gvirtzman report, the main issue that should be discussed – and has not been sufficiently analyzed – is: What are the causes of Palestinian water supply problems? Today, the Palestinians consume some 200 million cubic meters of water per annum in Judea and Samaria, Prof. Gvirtzman reports. The Palestinians could easily raise that amount by at least 50 percent, without any additional assistance or allocation from the State of Israel. His short answer: 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, Prof. Gvirtzman continues, they drill illegally into Israel’s water resources, and send their sewage lowing into the valleys and streams of central Israel. In other words, 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. Here are some of the things the PA is either failing to do, doing ineptly, or intentionally preventing: The Palestinians do not bother fixing water leaks in city pipes. Up to 33 percent of water in Palestinian cities is wasted through leakage. Permits were granted to the Palestinians by the Israel-PA Joint Water Committee, for some 40 sites where they can drill into the aquifer in the eastern Hebron hills region, and the international community has offered to finance the drilling of every site. 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. 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. 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. Some Palestinian farmers irrigate their fields by flooding, rather than with drip irrigation technology. Flooding fields causes huge water evaporation and leads to great waste, up to 50% higher water consumption. The warlike strategy adopted by the Palestinian Authority regarding water explains several additional realities, according to Prof. Gvirtzman: 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, says Prof. Gvirtzman, 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. Besides higher produce prices, Israeli consumers also subsidize their Palestinian neighbors' unregulated water consumption. 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. Meanwhile, 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. Instead, 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, Prof. Gvirtzman points out, 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. About the Author: Yori Yanover has been a working journalist since age 17, before he enlisted and worked for Ba'Machane Nachal. Since then he has worked for Israel Shelanu, the US supplement of Yedioth, JCN18.com, USAJewish.com, Lubavitch News Service, Arutz 7 (as DJ on the high seas), and the Grand Street News. He has published Dancing and Crying, a colorful and intimate portrait of the last two years in the life of the late Lubavitch Rebbe, (in Hebrew), and two fun books in English: The Cabalist's Daughter: A Novel of Practical Messianic Redemption, and How Would God REALLY Vote.

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/report-pa-weaponizing-water-against-israel/2014/02/26/0/?print

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