Common Ground
Israelis, Palestinians keep cooperating on water usage.
ELI KINTISCH
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
commissioner, Uri Shor, said the
Palestinians are "not dealing with"
sewage problems and pirate wells, both
of which could have devastating effects
on Israeli water sources.
Sharif denied that the Palestinians
are drilling any illegal wells and said
efforts to improve sewage management
are "ongo i ng. "
harm both Palestinians and Israelis,"
wrote Sharif and Noah Kinarty, then
Israel's water commissioner, in a joint
Jerusalem
statement in February 2001.
espite a winter of heavy
A 1995 accord signed in the
rains and new desalination
Egyptian resort of Taba included a
plants that are expected in
clause that recognized "Palestinian
the near future, water sup-
water rights in the West Bank" and
, ply remains a contentious issue for
calls on the two sides to cooperate on
Israel and the Palestinians.
water issues. Since then, and even since
But as the intifada (uprising) rages
the violent intifada began . in
Arab Needs
on, water is one of the few areas where
September 2000, cooperation efforts
In a survey conducted by a group of
the two sides still manage to cooperate.
include regular meetings to discuss
non-governmental organizations last
Palestinians continue to dispose of
water problems along with constant
year, 16 out of 101 Palestinian corn-
their sewage improperly, say Israeli
faxes, e-mails and phone calls to coor-
munities in the West Bank were found
officials, who also accuse Palestinians
dinate efforts, water experts on both
of drilling illegal wells in
sides said.
the West Bank.
Deliveries of spare parts
At the same time, aid
for water facilities have
workers in the West Bank
continued, despite border
and Gaza Strip complain
closures in the West
that Israeli restrictions
Bank. Cooperation is
have made it difficult for
most critical there, where
the Palestinians to access
both Palestinians and
clean and plentiful water.
Israeli settlers rely on a
"In terms of water coop-
fragile and depleted
eration, relations are not
underground aquifer.
good, but they are reason-
Before the intifada, offi-
able," said one Israeli offi-
cials jointly monitored
cial, pointing out that
West Bank water use and
since the intifada began
illegal drilling.
more than two years ago,
Now, said Uri Shamir,
Israel has "no way of
founding director of the
knowing" whether illegal
Technion's Stephen and
Nabil Sharif, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, with fingers
well drilling by
Nancy Grand Water
on chin, visits the Rabin Desalination Laboratory located in the
Palestinians in the West
Research Institute, the
Technion's Grand Water Research Institute.
Bank is damaging the
same bilateral group —
water table.
known as the Joint Water
Palestinian officials, and a number of to be consuming less than 30 quarts of Committee — receives applications
water per person per day, an interna-
Israeli water experts, see the situation
from West Bank residents on either
optimistically.
tional standard for hygiene and health.
side for well-drilling approval, and
But hundreds of millions of cubic
Speaking at a December conference
continues to operate by consensus.
meters of desalinated water are expect-
on desalinization at the Haifa-based
"In the end, there are no boundaries
ed to come online in the next decade
Technion-Israel Institute of
for water," Sharif said. Israeli water
in six planned Israeli desalination
Technology, the Palestinian Authority's
expert Hillel Shuval said illegal drilling
plants, making questions of water
water minister,. Nabil Sharif, surprised
by Palestinians in the West Bank
some Israeli officials who had become
management easier for Israel and the
would be of only "minor importance
Palestinians to agree on than refugees,
accustomed to Palestinian grumbling
since only very deep wells, which are
on the issue.
the status of Jerusalem or the final bor-
expensive to drill, could threaten the
ders in a two-state solution.
"The only area in which Israelis and
aquifer.
Since the intifada began, consecutive
Palestinians are continuing coopera-
Israeli water commissioners have joined
tion, in spite of 25 difficult months of
Rain Helped
with Sharif to urge the two sides to
intifada, is water," Sharif said.
leave precious water resources out of
"It was very interesting to hear that
After years of drought, an above-aver-
the conflict.
from the water minister," said Rafi
age rainy season this year has raised the
"Palestinian and Israeli water and
Samiat, a desalinization expert at the
level of the Sea of Galilee by more than
Technion. "This is not what they claim wastewater infrastructure is mostly
two meters, adding 335 million cubic
all the time."
intertwined and serves both popula-
meters of water. The lake is still under-
tions. Any damage to such systems will filled by more than 500 million cubic
The spokesman for Israel's water
D
CC
•
3
.
meters, officials estimate.
According to Sharif, Palestinian
areas, with much poorer infrastructure,
face a similar deficit of 400 million
cubic meters of water a year, a shortfall
met each year by Israel.
But with security closures and road-
blocks affecting the movement of
tanker trucks in and out of the West
Bank, the cost of water supplied to
West Bank towns had risen by 80 per-
cent compared to pre-intifada prices,
according to Richard Cook, a United
Nations relief official in the West
Bank.
Gaza faces even more serious prob-
lems. There is massive depletion of
underwater wells, and over-pumping of
Gaza wells has allowed seawater to
intrude.
According to Sharif, 95 percent of
the water from aquifers in Gaza is
poor. He added that 200 wells for agri-
culture and two drinking wells — a
small fraction of the thousands of wells
that dot Gaza — were damaged by
Israeli military action.
An Israeli military source said the
two drinking wells were damaged in a
January shootout during an operation
to protect the Shalev settlement in the
Gush Katif bloc after a terrorist attack.
During the exchange, Palestinian gun-
men took cover in a building that was
built above the two wells, the source
said.
An Israeli army spokesman would
not comment specifically on damage to
the other wells, but said fighting ter-
rorism sometimes leads to "unintended
damage."
Desalinization plants along the
Mediterranean coast, working on a
new, cheaper method of desalination,
should dramatically alter the water bal-
ance for Israel. A plant under construc-
tion in Ashkelon, due to be completed
in 2004, will supply 100 million cubic
meters of water per year.
Desalination plans continue, despite
the heavier rains this year, Israeli offi-
cials have said. A desalination plant in
Gaza has been in the works for some
time but remains delayed, Sharif said.
Some on Israel's left have looked at
the possibility of surplus desalinated
water as a strategic advantage that
could be used in peace negotiations.
"The availability of relatively cheap
and abundant desalinated water could,
if managed well, constitute an added
incentive toward making peace [in
Syria's case], reducing violence [in the
Palestinians' case], and improving rela-
tions [in Jordan's case]," former Israeli
peace negotiator Joseph Alpher wrote
last year.
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2003
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