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NEWS: Israel threatens to cut electricity, water to Gaza Strip

The Inter Press Service reports, “On Nov. 26, Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, threatened to cut Israeli electricity, water and ties to Gaza’s infrastructure serving the 1.6 million residents of the Gaza Strip. …While the amount of water supplied by Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, is just 5 percent, it is the threat of Israel cutting electricity and infrastructural needs that most haunts Gaza residents. ‘Chlorine is vital for our water treatment. Without it, we cannot pump a drop off water,’ says Maher Najjar, deputy general director of the Coastal Municipalities Water Utility.”

Najjar adds, “It will be a complete catastrophe if Israel cuts the electricity. Half of the population would not have access to water. …Taking our water is not like taking a toy. Water is life, they cannot play with our lives like this. …We need continuous electricity to pump waste-water from homes to sewage treatment plants. Generators substitute during power cuts, but without the regular supply of electricity, waste will flood the streets.”

Ahmed al-Amrain, head of power information at the Palestinian Energy and National Resources Authority, said, “Everything will be affected: drinking and washing water, sewage and sanitation, hospitals, schools and children.” Jaber Wishah, deputy director for branches affairs at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said, “This is the true meaning of collective punishment.”

“Currently 95 percent of the ground water is undrinkable according to WHO standards which reports that nitrates, believed to be carcinogenic, are over 330 mg/litre, far exceeding the 50 mg/l accepted levels. …According to Najjar, just 10 percent of Gaza’s 1.6 million residents get water every day. Another 40 percent get water every two days, 40 percent get water every three days, and 10 percent get water once every four days. ‘Israel has drilled over 1,000 wells around the Gaza Strip for their own use. They cut the water flow before it even reaches Gaza,’ says Najjar.”

In mid-September, Catarina de Albuquerque, the Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, stated in a media release, “This reality (of 90-95 per cent of Gaza’s water polluted and unfit for human consumption) is a grave threat to the health and dignity of the people living in Gaza and immediate measures are required to ensure full enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation. Israel must facilitate the entry of necessary materials to rebuild the water and sanitation systems in Gaza, as a matter of priority, otherwise this public health catastrophe will continue unabated. …Urgent steps are also needed to protect the coastal aquifer, the sole fresh water source in Gaza, from further deterioration. Pollution of the aquifer from raw sewage, over-abstraction of water, and increased salinity are so severe that it may take centuries to reverse the damage caused to this vital source of water.”

That media release also highlighted, “Under human rights law and international humanitarian law the people of Gaza, even while living under occupation, have the right to…accessible and affordable water, as well as proper sanitation services and facilities. ..The Israeli blockade of Gaza must end immediately and the people of Gaza must be afforded protection in line with international law.”

At its annual general meeting on October 25, 2011, in Montreal, the Council of Canadians passed a resolution resolving that the Council of Canadians: support the Canadian Boat to Gaza to end the illegal blockade of Gaza; call on the Government of Canada, the United Nations and the international community to do everything in their power to ensure the safe passage of the Canadian Boat to Gaza and the safety of all those aboard; call for an end to the blockade of Gaza, in accordance with international law.

To read the Amnesty International report ‘Troubled Waters – Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water’, please go to http://canadians.org/blog/?p=1936.