Published on: 18/04/2011
A campaign called "Thirsting for Justice" was launched the 22th of March, World Water Day which calls on European governments to put pressure on Israel to respect international law and Palestinian right access to water and sanitation.
Behind this campaign launched, is the Emergency Water Sanitation and Hygiene group (EWASH), a coalition of 30 leading humanitarian organizations, including Oxfam.
“Israel policies and practices limit Palestinians' access to the water they are entitled to under international law” says Ziyaad Lunat. He remarks that under the Oslo Accords Israel controls all sources of fresh water in the West Bank whereas Palestinians are only allowed to take 20 percent of the “estimated potential” of the Mountain Aquifer underneath the West Bank and Israel extracts the balance. As a result, “Palestinians in the West Bank are forced to purchase over half of their water from Israel” and “Israel takes this water from the Mountain Aquifer over which Palestinians have rights to an equitable share”, say the spokesman for EWASH to PNN.
According to the Thirsting for Justice Campaign, in Gaza 90 to 95 percent of the Coastal Aquifer, the only one source of fresh water available for its inhabitants, is contaminated due to over extraction and sewage contamination, making it unfit for human consumption. For Ziyaad Lunat “the restrictions imposed by Israel as part of its ongoing blockade make the rehabilitation of the aquifer and the search for alternatives extremely difficult”.
The campaign itself targets the European governments and citizens. “They do have a stake in the situation here because they fund a lot of the projects that have been destroyed by the Israeli army.” Ziyaad Lunat also says: “We hope there will be a change in attitudes and behaviours. EU member states have closer ties with Israel and they are in a strong position to affect change”.
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Source: Palestine News Network, Ziyaad Lunat: Palestinian People Thirst for Justice, 14 April 2011
