Gaza and water rights

Written - 4 January, 2009

The conflict in Gaza is not only about social justice, but also environmental justice. Democratically elected leaders in Palestine have continually been portrayed as ‘extremist’ or blatantly ‘terrorist’ with little attention given to the massive disparities in access to natural resources that exist between Israeli and Palestinian people.

An under-discussed result of the 1967 Arab-Israel war is the disproportionate control of water that Israel gained by occupying (illegally) the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and Golan Heights. Much of the rich agricultural land that kibbutz (Israeli) settlements have developed with pride depends on Israeli military and political control of water resources within occupied territory. The West Bank has been identified as the primary source of water for consumption in the Israeli cities of Beersheba, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. At the border of the West Bank, Israeli pumps operate 18 hours a day, depleting underground reservoirs in the region. Israel consumes 85% of Palestine’s water supply each year, representing 25% of Israel’s total water use. Individual water consumption is also extremely disproportionate: the average Israeli consumes 8 times the amount of water of an average Palestinian.

With the election of Hamas in 2007, Israel exacerbated tensions in the region by creating embargoes that blocked water treatment equipment and agents from entering the Gaza region. In February 2008, the Israeli blockade resulted in a shortage of hypochlorite, a chemical used to disinfect drinking water, causing 52 of 140 wells to be shut down due to bacterial contamination. These wells were so contaminated that the water was unfit for human consumption even after boiling.

While there is no excuse for the loss of life from Hamas’ rocket fire into Israel, it is important to note that rather than being ‘extremists’ or ‘terrorists’, Hamas is responding to the resource injustices that Israel has perpetuated. I imagine that if we were forced to be thirsty while a rich neighbor, through military control, was consuming our water, we might also be upset. The Canadian government maintains that Hamas’ rockets instigated the current conflict, but this statement reflects either an absence of memory or of critical thought. It is important to recognize that more than just rockets can create terrorism.