By Mohammed Bello Doka
In a press release dated July 8, 2024, Ambassador Abdallah M Abu Shawesh of the State of Palestine to Nigeria highlighted the critical water crisis faced by Palestinians due to Israel's ongoing policies. According to Ambassador Abu Shawesh, Israel's systematic deprivation of water resources is a deliberate and devastating component of its broader oppressive strategy against the Palestinian people, both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Ambassador Abu Shawesh underscored that the Israeli government, in its pursuit of what he termed a "genocidal war," employs a "thirst policy" that severely restricts Palestinian access to clean water. Citing a report from B’tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Ambassador noted a stark disparity in water consumption: Israelis and settlers use 247 liters of water per day, while Palestinians in the West Bank have access to only 82.4 liters per day. For Palestinian communities not connected to the water grid, daily consumption drops drastically to 26 liters per person. To mitigate chronic shortages, 92% of West Bank Palestinians store water in tanks.
The situation in Gaza is even more dire. According to the Euro-Med Monitor, Israel has systematically destroyed over 700 wells and water desalination plants since October 2023, reducing the per capita water share in Gaza by 97%. The result is a catastrophic scarcity of potable water, forcing over 2.3 million Gazans to rely on contaminated sources, posing severe health risks.
Ambassador Abu Shawesh called on the international community to leverage diplomatic, economic, legal, and political pressure on Israel to comply with international law. He emphasized the urgency for Western countries to enforce international legal standards against Israel, similar to how they address violations in the Global South.
The Ambassador's plea is a stark reminder of the severe humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, urging immediate global action to alleviate the suffering and uphold justice for the Palestinian people.
Read the full statement below
July 8 2024
Parched is an Israeli declared and implemented official policy
As part of its long-standing policies against the Palestinian people everywhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and its clear practices of Jewish supremacy, Israel, the occupying Power, is using pre-planned and systematic thirst policy in its genocidal war against the afflicted Gazans, as well as against the Palestinians in the West Bank.A report issued by B’tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, emphasized that the Israelis including the settler consume 247 liters of water per day compared to 82.4 liters per day for the Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile the average daily consumption of water of the Palestinian communities that are not connected to the water grid is 26 liters per person. 92% of the Palestinian on the Occupied West Bank store water in tanks to counter the chronic water shortage.
Citing the Euro-Med Monitor, in addition to imposing famine, Israel is deliberately reducing the amount of water available to residents of the Gaza Strip — especially potable water sources —and destroyed of over 700 wells and water desalination plants since the start of the ongoing genocide intentionally targeting the over 2.3 million people who live there as part of its ongoing genocide, since last October. Estimates show that since October 2023, the per capita share of water in the Gaza Strip has decreased by 97% due to the extensive destruction of water infrastructure by Israel.
Today, the lack of drinking water in the Gaza Strip has become a matter of life and death, with residents currently being forced to drink unclean and contaminated well water.This is the appropriate time for the international community to use its diplomatic, economic, legal and political influence to put real pressure on Israel, the occupying Power, to end its continued disregard for international law, and for Western countries, especially, to exercise the law enforcement rule, they usually do over the countries of the South.
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