Israel The World Bank and Thirsty Palestinians

The World Bank noted that availability of water resources is badly skewed, “with fresh water per capita in Israel approximately four times that of the West Bank and Gaza”.

The bottom line of this situation is that Israel allows the Palestinians access to about 85 litres of water per person per day. At the same time Israel distributes 285 litres of water per person per day to all Israelis both in Israel proper and to the illegal settlements in the West Bank. The World Health Organization stipulates that the minimum requirement per person perday is 137 litres.

In other words Israilis get more than 4 times as much water per person as the Palestinians. Dogs owned by the illegal settlers, who are squatting on Palestinian land, have better access to water than most Palestinian humans.

The Israelis also have chosen to provide themselves and their settlers with a much higher quality of water than is availble to the Palestinians.

The World Bank Report found the situation unfair and inequitable, concluding that it threatens the well-being, health and economy of the Palestinians.

However the Fundamental Law applies. What Israel is doing is OK. Everyone else is wrong. Maybe even G-d.

Israel shrugged the World Bank Report off, saying that the World Bank was obviously biased.

The World Bank went silent.

And the World went back to sleep.

This Basic Law has been obeyed by all nations of the western world and apparently endorsed by G-d, for the past six-plus decades.

Here’s just one example of its application, drawn from a recent report by The World Bank.

Israel agreed in 1995 to share scarce water resources with the Palestinian People, in a fair and equitable manner.

The Israelis chose to abrogate that agreement unilaterally and under the law, no one was allowed to say boo. No one even cleared their throat.

Palestinians, suffering from thirst, because Israel was reducing their water to a trickle – were forced to appeal to the World Bank to look into the matter. The request was made on the basis that Israel’s decision to appropriate the lion’s share of the region’s water was stifling Palestinian efforts to develop economically. Hence the World Bank Report entitled, rather drily,

The Bank noted that availability of water resources is badly skewed, “with fresh water per capita in Israel approximately four times that of the West Bank and Gaza”.

The bottom line of this situation is that Israel allows the Palestinians access to about 85 litres of water per person per day. At the same time Israel distributes 285 litres of water per person per day to all Israelis both to Israel proper and to the illegal settlements in the West Bank. The World Health Organization stipulates that the minimum requirement per person per day is 137 litres.

In other words Israelis get more than 4 times as much water per person as the Palestinians. Dogs owned by the illegal settlers, who are squatting on Palestinian land, have better access to water than most Palestinian humans.

The Israelis also have chosen to provide themselves and their settlers with a much higher quality of water than is available to the Palestinians, many of whom are forced to boil their water before it is drinkable.

The World Bank Report found the situation unfair and inequitable, concluding that it threatens the well-being, health and economy of the Palestinians.

However the Fundamental Law applies. What Israel is doing is OK. Everyone else is wrong.

Maybe even G-d.

Israel shrugged the World Bank Report off, saying that the Bank was obviously biased.

The World Bank went silent.

And the World went back to sleep.