30 July - 5 August 2012 - orsam

―Look on top of our home—there is a small black water tank. We pay too much and only get to fill it
once a week, and sometimes it‘s not enough to last five days in this summer heat,‖ Imm Ghassan, his
mother, told Bikyamasr.com.
―From our house, you can see the Bet El settlement. They have all the water they need,‖ she added,
referring to an immense water tower with an Israeli flag painted on it.
In many West Bank villages, residents of nearby settlements, due to the protection of the Israeli
Defense Forces, have been granted access to village‘s fresh water resources. Once settlers obtain
control over the villagers‘ lands and water supplies, Palestinians are denied access to them.
Until recently, settlers asserted sovereign control over the Al-Kowus Spring in Nabi Saleh. For the
past three years, weekly nonviolent demonstrations were unsuccessful in reaching the spring. The
IDF suppressed all demonstrations—peaceful marches, sit-ins, etc—and over 13 percent of the
village‘s total population has been arrested at one point or another.
In April, however, a group of Palestinian women and international activists reached the spring for the
first time since it was seized by settlers in 2009. They staged a picnic as a nonviolent reclamation of
the territory, and told media outlets that they would return soon.
In June, a mixed coalition of Palestinian and international men, women, and children, returned. It was
the first instance in which a Friday demonstration gained access to the spring.
Despite small successes such as those in Nabi Saleh, it is unlikely that Palestinians will obtain easier
access to water resources anytime soon. US and European efforts to spark negotiations between the
ruling Netanyahu coalition in Israel and the Palestinian authority have been fruitless.
―Palestinians struggle for access to water‖, 30/07/2012, online at: http://www.bikyamasr.com/74125/palestiniansstruggle-for-access-to-water/
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