- Title: Palestinian community denied access to water flowing out of its land
- Date: 26th August 2019
- Summary: JORDAN VALLEY, WEST BANK (RECENT) (REUTERS) WATER FLOWING FROM PIPES / CHILD FILLING BOTTLE CHILDREN'S FACES AS THEY FILL BOTTLE BOY CLEANING BOTTLE / WATER FLOWING FROM PIPES CONNECTED TO WATER TANK CHILD CARRYING BUCKET FILLED WITH WATER / CHILD POURING WATER FOR ANIMALS CHILD POURING WATER / ROOSTER IN BACKGROUND CHILD CARRYING BARLEY FOR SHEEP YOUNG MAN FILLING UP BOWL WITH WATER FOR SHEEP FACE OF JORDAN VALLEY RESIDENT, ABED AL-RAHIM BSHARAT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JORDAN VALLEY RESIDENT, ABED AL-RAHIM BSHARAT, SAYING: "We suffer a lot in every aspect of life, but the backbone of life is water. We can live without food but we can't live without water, so Israel has cut us off from all water sources." MAN LIFTING PIPE WATER FLOWING FROM PIPE TO FILL TANK WATER TANKS NEAR BEDOUIN COMMUNITY VARIOUS OF MAN DRIVING TRUCK CARRYING WATER TANK TOWARD DRY AREA / SHEEP WITH SHEPHERD IN FIELD CHILD FILLING BOTTLE ROOSTER DRINKING WATER FROM SMALL POND ROOSTER CROWING CHILD FILLING BOTTLE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) JORDAN VALLEY RESIDENT, ABED AL-RAHIM BSHARAT, SAYING: "The water that they waste (in settlements) can be used by the Hadiydia community and the communities around it for one year, depending on the communities' needs. Secondly, their buildings are located in a forest due to the huge amount of trees and the available water; but our land nearby is a desert. So they have access to the sources of water that are in our land, while we are deprived from accessing them." JORDAN VALLEY RESIDENT, ABDEL MAHDI SALAMIN, RESTING HIS HAND ON FENCE SALAMIN STANDING NEXT TO CHILD NEAR AREA WHERE WATER IS PUMPED FOR ISRAELI WATER COMPANY, MEKOROT (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 76-YEAR-OLD JORDAN VALLEY RESIDENT, ABED AL-MAHDI SALAMIN, SAYING: "Their pipes are 100 meters away from me but I am not allowed to drink from it, also I am not allowed to let the sheep drink from this water. The sheep can only drink from their wastewater." MACHINES AND ENGINES AT SITE OF MEKOROT WATER COMPANY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 76-YEAR-OLD JORDAN VALLEY RESIDENT, ABED AL-MAHDI SALAMIN, SAYING: "How will it affect them if they position the water in a place for me drink like other people, I will pay for it; I don't want it for free but they refused. If there is water we would not suffer, the suffering would drop to half of what it is now because water is life." JEWISH SETTLEMENT / YOUNG MAN POURING WATER FOR SHEEP SHEEP IN FIELD / SETTLEMENT IN BACKGROUND VARIOUS OF HADIDIYA BEDOUIN COMMUNITY SHEEP MOVING IN GROUP / SHEEP APPROACHING CAMERA
- Embargoed: 9th September 2019 13:10
- Keywords: conflict over water Israeli Palestinian conflicts Palestinians deprvied from water tension over water Palestinian bedouins
- Location: JORDAN VALLEY, WEST BANK
- City: JORDAN VALLEY, WEST BANK
- Country: Palestinian Territories
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA001ATUVDJP
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The sound of water flowing through the pipes of the Israeli Mekorot water company torments Jordan Valley resident Abed Al-Mahdi Salamin who along with his community cannot access the water.
Salamin, 76, and his family live in the West Bank area of al-Hadidiya where he works in livestock farming.
"Their pipes are 100 meters away from me but I am not allowed to drink from it," he said, while resting his hand on the fence that separates him from the well that provides water to nearby Israeli settlements.
Salamin said his sheep cannot drink from the nearby well either.
Al-Hadidiya's population of 200 people depend on livestock for their livelihoods but they must wait for the well to temporarily stop running so it would pump a limited amount of water into an external pipe, where the community members collect water for their livestock.
"Water is life," Salamin said, adding that he is willing to be charged for the water. "I don't want it for free but they refused," he said.
Other than the limited rainwater they can collect, al-Hadidiya's population relies on water transported in tanks which they buy from contractors for double the price of the water flowing through the pipes.
According to data published by the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Palestinian Territory, the settler share of water in the settlements adjacent to Al-Hadidiya is more than 23 times of the water consumed by one member in al-Hadidiya community.
The center said on its website that al-Hadidiya was "isolated from the supply of running water despite its proximity to a Mekorot water suction facility that provides water to the nearby settlements of Beka'ot and Roi."
While the settlement farms adjacent to al-Hadidiya are being watered from the well that was in Hadidiya since the 1970s, al-Hadidiya residents only receive water in tanks which they use for drinking and their livestock and to water limited number of newly planted trees.
Israel authorities prevent residents from building water tanks or piping water from Palestinian Authority sources.
B'Tselem believes that Israel seeks to abolish the Palestinian presence in the Jordan Valley and prevent any Palestinian development in the area.
According to B'Tselem data, between 2006 and September 2017, the Israeli Civil Administration demolished at least 698 housing units in Palestinian towns in the Jordan Valley.
In addition, since the beginning of 2012 until the end of September 2017, the Civil Administration demolished at least 806 non-residential buildings, including agricultural buildings.
(Production: Ismael Khader, Roleen Tafakji, Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh, Suheir Sheikh) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
