Water and sanitation in East Jerusalem

Palestinian residents of Jerusalem lack access to adequate water and sanitation infrastructure and services primarily due to the Jerusalem Municipality's strict housing and urban planning regime which places strict criteria for entitlement of these services. Over half of Palestinian Jerusalemites are not allowed, under Israeli law, to connect to the water network mainly because they do not have housing permits (which are almost impossible to obtain), thus resorting to unlicensed connections. Furthermore, lack of allocation of adequate municipal funds for Palestinian areas has led to dilapidation of water and sanitation infrastructure. Finally, over a third of Palestinian households are not connected to the sewage network contributing to environmental degradation and exacerbating risks to public health. [authors abstract]