The water resources of Palestine are fully controlled by Israel, and the division of groundwater is subject to provisions in the Oslo II Accord.
Generally, the water quality is considerably worse in the Gaza Strip when compared to the West Bank. About a third to half of the delivered water in the Palestinian territories is lost in the distribution network. The lasting blockade of the Gaza Strip and the Gaza War (2008–2009) have caused severe damage to the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. The blockade of water pipes is based on the admission by Hamas that they are repurposing pipes for use as launch tubes for rockets. Concerning wastewater, the existing treatment plants do not have the capacity to treat all of the produced wastewater, causing severe water pollution. The development of the sector highly depends on external financing.
Overview The region of Israel/Palestine is "water-stressed", like many other countries in the region, and macroanalysts consider working out how to share water resources the "single most important problem" for Middle Eastern peoples. One third of all water consumed in Israel was by the 1990s drawn from groundwater that in turn came from the rains over the West Bank, and the struggle over this resource has been described as a zero-sum game. According to Human Rights Watch Israel's confiscation of water violates the Hague Regulations of 1907, which prohibit an occupying power from expropriating the resources of occupied territory for its own benefit. In the wake of 1967, Israel abrogated Palestinian water rights in the West Bank, and with Military Order 92 of August of that year invested all power over water management to the military authority, though under international law Palestinians were entitled to a share. Both of Israel's own aquifers originate in West Bank territory and its northern cities would run dry without them. According to John Cooley, West Bank Palestinian farmers' wells, which in Ottoman, British, Jordanian and Egyptian law were a private resource owned by villages, were a key element behind Israel's post-1967 strategy to keep the area and in order to protect "Jewish water supplies" from what was considered "encroachment" many existing wells were blocked or sealed, Palestinians were forbidden to drill new wells without military authorization, which was almost impossible to obtain, and restrictive quotas on Palestinian water use were imposed. 527 known springs in the West Bank furnish (2010) Palestinians with half of their domestic consumption. The historic wells furnishing Palestinian villages have often been expropriated for the exclusive use of settlements: thus the major well servicing al-Eizariya was taken over by Ma'ale Adumim in the 1980s, while most of its land was stripped from them leaving the villagers with 2,979 of their original 11,179 dunams.
Most of the Israeli water carrier Mekorot's drillings in the West Bank are located in the Jordan Valley, where Palestinians ended up by 2008 drawing 44% less water than what they accessed before the Interim Agreement of 1995. Under those Oslo Accords Israel obtained 80% of the West Bank's waters, with the remaining 20% Palestinian, a percentage which, however, did not concede the Palestinians any "ownership right". Of their agreed on allocation for 2011 of 138.5 MCM, Palestinians managed to extract only 87 MCM, given the difficulties in obtaining Israeli permits, and the shortfall caused by the drying up of half of Palestinian wells has to be partially offset by buying water from Israel, with the net effect that per capita Palestinian water use has declined 20%. The World Health Organization's minimum consumption per capita of water is 100 litres per diem Model Palestinian new town urban developments, like the city of Rawabi, have been severely hampered by restrictions on their access to water.
In 2023, Israeli attacks on Palestinian water supplies both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amounted to roughly 25% of the 350 water conflicts which occurred that year globally. On average 7 such attacks, either by settlers or the army, resulting in either contaminated or destroyed water wells, pumps and irrigation systems, took place each month that year.
History Since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the issue of the development of the area's water resources, has been a critical issue in regional conflict and negotiations, initially involving Syria, Jordan and Israel.Nurit Kliot, Water Resources and Conflict in the Middle East, Routledge, 2005 p. After the Six-Day War, when Israel occupied the Palestinian territories, water use and sanitation have been closely linked to developments in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The water and land resources in the West Bank in particular are considered to constitute the major obstacle to the resolution of conflict in the area.Nurit Kliot, Water Resources and Conflict in the Middle East, Routledge, 2005 p.245. Palestinians claim they have a legal right to ownership, or claim to use of three water sources in the area:(a)the groundwater reservoir of the Mountain Aquifer, the Gaza Strip Coastal Aquifer and the Jordan River to the amount of 700 MCM/Y, over 50% of natural water resources between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River.'The Israeli–Palestinian Water Conflict: An Israeli Perspective,' Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies Mideast Security and Policy Studies No. 94 2012 pp.1–36.
In 1995, the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) was established by a presidential decree. One year later, its functions, objectives and responsibilities were defined through a by-law, giving the PWA the mandate to manage water resources and execute the water policy.
During the Gaza war, the water system in the Gaza Strip was severely damaged, with half of its boreholes and desalination plants, and four of the six wastewater treatment plants, damaged or destroyed by May 2024.
Water resources
Division in the Oslo II Accord The 1995 Oslo II Accord allows the Palestinians in the West Bank the use of up to 118 million cubic meters (MCM) water per year. 80 MCM was supposed to come from newly-drilled wells. However, the PWA was able to drill new wells for only 30 MCM at the expense of the existing springs and wells.Joint Water Committee-The Israelis Violations. Palestinian Water Authority. Accessed February 2014Oslo II Accord, Annex III: Protocol Concerning Civil Affairs. See Schedule 10. On the Knesset website, accessed December 2013 In the Oslo II Accord, the Israelis are allotted four times the Palestinian portion or 80% of the joint-aquifer resources.The Jordan River Basin and the Mountain Aquifer: The Transboundary Freshwater Disputes between Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians. Rose M. Mukhar, 12(1) Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law (2006)Factsheet: Water in the West Bank . COGAT, The Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria (2012)The Clash Over Water: an Attempt at Demystification. Gershon Baskin, 1(3) Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture (1994)The Israeli 'watergate' scandal: The facts about Palestinian water. Amira Hass, Haaretz, 16 February 2014 However, 94% (340 MCM) of the Western Aquifer was allotted to the Israelis for use within Israel. The allowed quantities have not been adapted after the end of the supposed five years interim period. The parties established the Joint Water Committee to carry out the provisions of the concerning article 40 of Annex III.
According to a World Bank report, Israel extracted 80% more water from the West Bank than agreed in the Oslo Accord, while Palestinian abstractions were within the agreed range. Contrary to expectations under Oslo II, the water actually extracted by Palestinians in the West Bank has dropped between 1999 and 2007. Due to the Israeli over-extraction, aquifer levels are near ″the point where irreversible damage is done to the aquifer.″ Israeli wells in the West Bank have dried up local Palestinian wells and springs.
Water from the Jordan River basin
The Upper Jordan River flows south into the Sea of Galilee, which provides the largest freshwater storage capacity along the Jordan River. Lake Tiberias drains into the Lower Jordan River, which winds further south through the Jordan Valley to its terminus in the Dead Sea. The Palestinians are denied any access to this water. About a quarter of the 420 million m3 Israel pumps from the Sea of Galilee goes to the local communities in Israel and to Jordan; the rest is diverted to Israel through the National Water Carrier (NWC) before it can reach the West Bank. Virtually all water from the Yarmouk River, north of the West Bank is diverted by Israel, Syria and Jordan. The water of the Tirza Stream, the largest stream in the central Jordan Valley, fed by rainwater, is diverted by Israel to the Tirza Reservoir and used by settlements in the area for irrigation of crops and for raising fish.Dispossession and Exploitation: Israel's Policy in the Jordan Valley and Northern Dead Sea, pp. 19-21. B'Tselem, May 2011. On
Other surface water In Gaza, the only source of surface water has been the Wadi Gaza. There are claims that Israel diverts part of its water for agricultural purposes within Israel prior to its arrival to Gaza.
Groundwater In the West Bank, the main groundwater resource is the Mountain Aquifer, which consists of three aquifers:Prospects of Efficient Wastewater Management and Water Reuse in Palestine, pp. 21–23. Water Studies Institute (WSI), Birzeit University, West Bank-Palestine. May 2005. On web.archive.orgSee map of the mountain and coastal aquifers on UNEP/DEWA/GRID Before the Israeli occupation of the West Bank Israel drew 60% of the water extracted from aquifers straddling the border between it and the West Bank. It now takes 80%, which overall means that 40% of Israel's water comes from West Bank aquifers. The Western Aquifer, in Israel called the "Yarkon-Taninim Aquifer",Rivers of Discord—International Water Disputes in the Middle East, pp 11-12. Greg Shapland, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 1997 is the largest one, with an annual safe yield of 362 million cubic metres (MCM), based on average annual estimate, (of which 40 MCM are brackish). Eighty percent of the recharge area of this basin is located within the West Bank, whereas 80% of the storage area is located within Israeli borders. Israelis exploit the aquifers of this basin by means of 300 deep groundwater wells to the west of the Green Line, as well as by deep wells within the West Bank boundary. Palestinians who have access to pre-existing wells and springs may draw on them, but are, as opposed to Israeli settlements, are forbidden to drill new wells.J.A.A. Jones, Water Sustainability: A Global Perspective, Routledge, 2014 p.190. The North-Eastern Aquifer, in Israel called the "Gilboa-Bet She'an Aquifer" or "Schechem-Gilboa Aquifer", has an annual safe yield of 145 MCM (of which 70 MCM are brackish). Almost 100% of its water comes from precipitation falling within the West Bank area, but then flows underground in a northerly direction into the Bisan (Bet She'an) and Jezreel valley. The Eastern Aquifer, entirely within the West Bank, has an annual safe yield of 172 MCM (of which 70–80 MCM are brackish). This aquifer is mainly drained by springs.
According to Hiniker, at an average sustainable rate, the amount of renewable shared freshwater available throughout the entire Jordan Valley is roughly 2700 MCM per year, which is composed of 1400 million cubic metres of groundwater and 1300 million cubic metres of surface water. However, only a fraction of this can be used by Palestinians in the West Bank. Israel has denied Palestinians access to the entire Lower Jordan River since 1967. After the start of Israel's military occupation in 1967, Israel declared the West Bank land adjacent to the Jordan River a closed military zone, to which only Israeli settler farmers have been permitted access.