Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access To Water

This web clip, which includes an interview with Donatella Rovera and Malcolm Smart from the Middle East and North Africa Programme, illustrates the incredible trouble Palestinians go through in gaining access to adequate, safe water supplies in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

The disparity in living standards between Palestinians and Israelis is due to discriminatory Israeli policies in the OPT. Palestinian water consumption barely reaches 70 litres a day per person – well below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended daily minimum of 100 litres per capita. By contrast, Israeli (daily per capita) consumption is four times as much.

In response to these terrible conditions, many Palestinians have to purchase water, of often dubious quality, from mobile water tankers at a much higher price. Others resort to water-saving measures which are detrimental to their and their families’ health and which hinder socio-economic development. Stringent restrictions imposed in recent years by Israel on the entry into Gaza of material and equipment necessary for the development and repair of infrastructure have caused further deterioration of the water and sanitation situation in Gaza, which has reached crisis point.

This web clip has been made by the audiovisual team in association with the Middle East and North Africa Programme at the IS to accompany the report Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access To Water, in the hope that the aforementioned discriminatory Israeli restrictions will be withdrawn.

Water