| Posted By Emma Sabry August 28, 2008 “The next war in the Middle East will be fought over water, not politics,” Boutros Boutros Ghali said in the 1990s. This warning, by the former UN Secretary General, reflected the strategic and political importance of water in the Middle East. In the occupied Palestinian territories, water has become a rare commodity. This year, much lower than average rainfall has led to drought conditions, BBC reported. The problem is just starting to have an impact in Israel, but in the West Bank, the Palestinians are struggling to gain access to clean water. With more than two million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank not connected to a running water supply, there are concerns that the current drought may lead to an even more unfair distribution of this precious resource. Outside Bethlehem, Rabab Zorab lives with her husband and one-year-old daughter. The Zorab family hasn’t had running water for more than two weeks. Rabab bitterly says that it’s humiliating having to wash at the homes of family members, or to go days without clean clothes because they have no water. Abir Suqar, who lives in the same apartment block, says that she has no sufficient water to do her daily chores. The young mother of two says “there's no water to have a bath or shower.” According to the BBC, Palestinians in some areas of the occupied West Bank only have one-third of the minimum daily amount of water recommended by the World Health Organisation. Official figures indicate that per capita water consumption in the West Bank is three times less than in Israel, even though the Israelis and Palestinians theoretically share the same water supplies. - "Discriminatory policies"
The water crisis is directly related to Israel’s control of Palestinian lands and lives. Agriculture is an important industry in Israel, which has developed some of the world's most efficient irrigation systems. But the cultivation of non-native crops - like bananas, which consume large amounts of water - is contributing to the water problem. Human rights groups accuse Israel of using its occupation of the Palestinian territories to control the supply of water from underground aquifers. In July, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem released a report warning that the West Bank is facing grave water shortages largely because Israel's "discriminatory" policies. "The chronic water shortage results in large part from Israel's discriminatory policy in distributing the joint water resources in the West Bank and the limits it places on the Palestinian Authority's ability to drill new wells… It will have serious repercussions on the economy and health," B'Tselem said. Israeli officials claim that the large Palestinian population is the main reason behind the water shortage. Israel also claims that it’s supplying the Palestinians with more than their agreed share of water, under interim agreements. But the Palestinians dispute this claim, insisting that Jewish settlers enjoy the benefits of regular access to running water. Like water, the Israeli settlements, considered illegal under international law, are seen as one of the biggest obstacles to peace. Due to Israel’s occupation, the Head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Shaddad Attili, says he is disempowered to do anything about the chronic shortage of water. “I am the minister for "virtual" water," says Mr Attili. On a map of the West Bank he shows that the Mountain Aquifer lies largely under Palestinian territory, but says his department is prevented by Israel from sinking wells to extract water. "All I do is crisis management. I can't even put two ends of a pipe together without Israel's permission", he says. | 
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