A grave water shortage is hitting a vast part of the West Bank this summer, largely due to Israel's "discriminatory" water policy and continuous drought, Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said Tuesday.
Quoting figures of the Palestinian Water Authority, the group said that 40 million to 70 million cubic meters are lacking to meet the needs of West Bank Palestinians, adding that the per capita consumption of water in the West Bank now stands at 66 liters a day, about two-thirds of the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommended minimum amount.
In parts of the northern West Bank, water consumption is only one-third of the WHO minimum, B'Tselem said in a statement, noting that the per capita water consumption of Israelis is 3.5 times that of Palestinians.
"The chronic water shortage results in large part from Israel’s discriminatory policy in distributing the joint water resources in the West Bank, and the limits it places on the Palestinian (National) Authority's ability to drill new wells," said the statement.
The accumulated effects of recent dry years will make the shortage even worse this summer, the group added.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank are not connected to a water network, and have to buy more expensive water from tankers, while even those who are connected do not enjoy a constant supply of water, which local residents said is due to the supply reduction by the Israel water company in order to meet the increased need of the Jewish settlements, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, many poor families draw water from unsupervised wells, leading to an increase in infectious diseases in many rural areas in the summertime, said the group, warning that "the shortage will have serious repercussions on the economy and the health of tens of thousands of Palestinians."
Stressing that access to water without discrimination is recognized by international law as a fundamental human right, B'Tselem called on the Israeli government "to ensure immediate, regular, adequate supply of water to every resident of the West Bank without discrimination, and to allow the Palestinian Authority to develop new water sources."
Source:Xinhua
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