EU water supply project in Hebron

Due to lack of rain and Israeli economic constraints, Palestinians in the West Bank area of Hebron do not have access to adequate water supplies, which is causing serious damage to their personal and professional lives. Since the summer of 2009, the EU is giving special attention to this issue.

Badia’a Zeidan - Ramallah, Al-Hayat

In the summer of 2009, the European Union took the decision to tackle water crisis and reduce the suffering of refugees and nomadic tribes living in the southern part of Hebron, where lack of rain has generated a significant shortage of water supply. As a first step, the area was provided with emergency water tanks. Then, later on, EU efforts were focused on implementing substantial water development projects, which consisted of building water storage tanks and water supply installations, to facilitate access to water for Palestinian refugees and nomadic tribes.

Fadwa Baroud is the Communication Officer at the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) in Jerusalem. She says that the project budget reaches 6 million Euros, to cover expenses related to building water storage tanks and distribution systems. This initiative has resulted in reducing the amount of money that nomadic tribes usually spend for transporting water from the Keryat Arba settlement, whose inhabitants monopolize the unique water supply reservoir available in the Hebron area. And Palestinian population is only allowed to buy whatever surplus of water is available after the needs of settlers are fully satisfied.

Due to lack of water supply, Palestinians are living in very difficult circumstances: there is no available drinking water and tribal livestock is dying, craving for water. According to Baroud, these projects will not be sufficient to meet the needs of all the residents of the Southern part of Hebron, but they help resolve acute water crisis.

15 liters per day
Among the multiple EU-funded projects in southern Hebron was the one that aimed at providing water for Bani Na’im village with 2000 nomadic Palestinian refugees, with a budget that reaches 130,000 Euros. According to Mohamed Al-Amayra, office manager of Action against Hunger in Palestinian Territories, this budget allowed building a sizable water storage tank and setting up water supply and distribution installations, as well as providing tents and mobile toilets for nomads living in remote areas. Al-Amayra explains that humanitarian associations are working hard to improve living conditions for people in remote areas suffering from very difficult political and economic situation. Thanks to EU support, associations were able to carry out successful actions, especially in the water sector.

Thierry Foubert, from International aid agency Oxfam, is in charge of coordinating activities between international and UN organizations working in the water sector in the Palestinian Territories. He says that a global action plan was designed last summer to reduce aridity in the southern Hebron, in the West Bank. An urgent action plan was implemented thanks to the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid office (Echo) financial support. Thierry Foubert adds that Palestinians are suffering a lot from aridity in this region: the Palestinian citizen uses only 15 liters of water maximum per day, which is far below the minimum threshold of 70 liters per day according to international standards. He also spends 40% of his income to buy water, which is also an internationally acknowledged human right. More than 120 residential areas in the West Bank suffer from lack of water distribution installations; half of these areas, with about 150,000 Palestinians, are located in zone C that falls under the full Israeli security and administrative control, according to Oslo agreements.

Selling the livestock
Mayor of Bani Na’im village, Radouan Al-Manasra, assures that the Israeli occupation is fully responsible for water problems it has inflicted upon Palestinians, as Israelis have full control over water resources. He says that the EU-funded project is of great importance, as it helps the residents of Bani Nai’m to have adequate access to water. About 2000 persons were thus provided with drinking and irrigation water resources.

Palestinian citizen Bassem Tarayra is a farmer living in Bani Na’im village. He’s delighted with this EU initiative, which allowed building at the entrance of his village a big water storage tank and establishing water distribution installations that creates a link between water sources, water tanks and citizens’ homes. Bassem Tarayara says that the project would not allow meeting the needs of the whole region’s population, but at least it represents a step towards resolving water crisis.

The lack of water has negative effect on the area’s animal and agricultural wealth; especially that most of the tribes’ income comes from livestock. Cheikh Khamiss El-Hanajra is responsible for managing the tribes’ affairs. He says that most of Bani Na’im inhabitants are nomadic refugees from El-Hanajra and El-Azazma tribes; “these people are suffering not only from Israel’s blockade and settlements but also from aridity that all together are seriously harming our cattle. And this is why most of the farmers, except two or three families, were forced to sell their livestock”. Cheikh Khamiss El-Hanajra reports that EU-funded project allowed providing safe drinking water, mobile lavatories and tents for the residents of the region and consequently helped resolve water crisis.

In this framework, Thierry Foubert says that this EU initiative, carried out by 7 humanitarian associations, allowed reducing the family budget usually dedicated for water transportation services in the area. He explains that the cost of a gallon of water was reduced from 45 to 13 Shekels (1$=3.7 Shekels), especially that 80% of water supplies costs are related to water transport activities from one region to another. Fortunately, these regions benefit today from EU assistance that helps resolving some of the water problems. According to Foubert, efforts are currently focused on implementing 15 other water supply projects that still need authorization from Israel to be executed, which could take even more time.

Refer to the project fact sheet: European Commission Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) - Supporting the most vulnerable Palestinians