As Israel reclaims Negev Desert land for agriculture, Palestinians thirst for drinking water. Talal Jabari writes from the West Bank village of Beit Dajan Click to view caption "We shall bloom the desolate land and convert the spacious Negev into a source of force and power, a blessing to the state of Israel," declared David Ben Gurion, Israel's first prime minister. Today, the Negev Desert in southern Israel shows Ben Gurion's dream slowly becoming a reality. Israel's blessing has been the Palestinians' curse, however. 'Blooming' the Negev desert has meant even less water for the West Bank and Gaza. In the hills of the northern West Bank, near the city of Nablus, lies the village of Beit Dajan. Its population of 3,500 has had to learn the hard way how to conserve water. With no water network, the families of Beit Dajan rely on three water tankers to bring them water from wells in Nablus. The waiting time for a tanker load is about one month. However, the 10 cubic metres delivered to each household is only enough for one week. Atef Abu Jeish, a village council member and water and environment lecturer at Najah University recently received delivery after waiting for a month. "The normal situation is very difficult, but now the Israeli checkpoint is very strict," says Jeish, referring to the roadblock separating Beit Dajan from Nablus. Tankers are only allowed through the checkpoint between 9am and 2pm. He tries to strike a deal with the truck driver to speed up delivery of his next ration of water. But with 70 households still waiting, Jeish knows he is asking the impossible. The shortage of water in Beit Dajan, a largely agricultural village, has caused the cancellation of crops and the death of livestock. The priority now is for humans not for animals and plants. But with 500 labourers from Beit Dajan prevented from reaching their work in Israel, many are forced to survive on $50 per month. A third of the residents find themselves surviving off of food aid and cannot afford the $35 price per delivery of water. Two years ago a well was dug three kilometres away from the village, yet the water crisis in Beit Dajan has not been solved. The well's proximity to a settlement access road means Palestinians cannot reach it without a permit from the Israeli authorities. Palestinian bureaucracy has also added to the troubles of the villagers, as they have not yet been granted permission to pump from the new well by the Nablus Water Authority. Jad Isaac, director of the Applied Research Institute, ARIJ, warns that fresh water resources are becoming more scarce each year due to population growth and climate change. And although the water shortage problem is more acute in villages, it is quite severe in the major towns as well. "It is an endless problem. A few years ago it used to be just in the summer. Now it is all year round," states Bassem Natsheh, the director of public relations at Hebron's Ahli Hospital. Hebron has a water network, but his hospital still has to buy water from tankers to fulfil their needs. Not only does the water add to the hospital's expenses but it is often contaminated. According to Natsheh, during the summer, the hospital sees an increase in the number of patients with infections because people are getting their water from other, often polluted, water sources. Isaac knows the problem of polluted water is rampant. He claims a quarter of the Palestinian population do not have access to potable water, and he blames Israel. "People in Gaza are drinking poison water because Israel is denying them their rights to water, and are instead using the water for irrigation." Palestinian sources estimate that Israeli water consumption is between four and 10 times that of the Palestinians. Although the Israelis and Palestinians are the central players in this water shortage, this is a regional issue that begs the attention of the delegates at the Johannesburg Earth Summit, "Rio plus 10" later this month. "The problem is whose water, and at what expense," states Isaac. "Israel has taken the waters of all its neighbours... and is depriving its neighbours of scarce water resources." Isaac believes there is enough fresh water for the next 30 to 40 years for both Palestinians and Israelis. But at current consumption and allocation, the outlook is grim. "We are heading towards an environmental catastrophe where neither Israelis nor Palestinians will be able to live," says Isaac. One of his proposed solutions is to reuse treated waste water for the irrigation of selected crops. Conservation has become a part of the Natsheh family's daily life. They now have fewer house plants, and they recycle the washing machine water nearly four times before discarding it. Meanwhile, some residents of Beit Dajan have started putting ladders into their cisterns to draw what little stagnant water remains.
