The UN is claiming that Israeli settlers have taken over dozens of natural springs in the West Bank, limiting or preventing Palestinian access to much-needed water sources. The report produced by the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said at least 30 springs across the West Bank had been completely taken over by settlers, with Palestinians unable to access them at all.
Settlers in the West Bank have seized control of dozens of springs in the past few years, and often use violence and intimidation to prevent Palestinians’ access to them, according to a UN agency report published yesterday. The report was commissioned by OCHA, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories. According to data compiled by Dror Etkes, former head of the Peace Now settlement-tracking project, settlers have been acting systematically to control some 56 springs, 30 of which have been completely taken over. Most of the springs are in the area of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council.
Palestinians from South Hebron demonstration for their water resources (Photo: Palestine Solidarity Project / AIC)
The report states that most of the springs are located on private Palestinian land, and it outlines the various stage of the ostensibly systematic takeovers there. The first step is marking the area as a tourist site with a new Hebrew name. The next involves erection of various structures, including benches and picnic tables, and closing off pools. All these activities, the report says, are carried out without permits.
Among the information published are testimonies by Palestinians who said they are afraid of approaching the water sources due to settler violence, especially of local security coordinators. The report added that Palestinians currently had limited access to 26 other springs where settlers had moved in and threatened to take control. The report said settlers had not encroached on 474 remaining springs surveyed.
“Springs have remained the single largest water source for irrigation and a significant source for watering livestock,” the report said, adding that some also provided water for domestic consumption in areas not connected to pipelines. “The loss of access to springs and adjacent land reduced the income of affected farmers, who either stop cultivating the land or face a reduction in the productivity of their crops,” the report said. It added that settlers had turned dozens of springs into tourist sites and some were used for swimming.
“Settlers have developed 40 springs as tourist sites, deployed picnic tables and benches and given them Hebrew names … It is generating employment and revenue for the settlements and it is a way of promoting or advertising settlements as a fun place,” OCHA researcher Yehezkel Lein said.
In 2009 a spring named Ein al-Qaws, located near the village of Nabi Saleh, was taken over by settlers from Halamish, forcing villagers to obtain their irrigation water from other sources, the report and residents said.
“The spring was used to irrigate hundreds of olive and fruit trees in the village and the children used to swim in it, now if we try to go to the spring, the settlers and soldiers come and kick us out,” said villager Nariman Tamimi.
Palestinians say settlements, deemed illegal by the International Court of Justice, the highest U.N. legal body for disputes, would deny them a viable state.
