Israel's use of water as a weapon against Palestinians makes handwashing—essential to confronting the escalating coronavirus pandemic—nearly impossible.
Israel controls 80% of Palestinian groundwater in the West Bank, intentionally restricting many Palestinian communities to 10–20 liters of water/person/day. The World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 100 liters of w/p/d.
Meanwhile, Israel’s 650,000 illegal settlers consume 6 times more water than do the 3.1 million Palestinians. Settlers consume as much as 700 liters of w/p/d.
In the Gaza Strip, 98% of the water is contaminated. 97% of the 2 million residents (including 991,400 children) are without clean drinking water due to Israel’s devastating bombardments and its continual refusal to allow repair and reconstruction of water infrastructure.
Beginning next week, the Water Fact will appear in the Alliance for Water Justice’s Bi-weekly Brief, and will continue to be added to the Fact List on the Alliance’s website.
Banner by Paul Normandia of Red Sun Press.