So our village hasn’t had water for over 14 days now. Israel usually turns on our water lines every ten days, but have skipped the last scheduled water opening.
As a result, many people’s wells are running out while we’re in the middle of a massive heat wave.
Homes her are built with large water reserves, either in the form of big plastic tubs on top of the house, or underwater wells. These reserves are filled on the days Israel allows us water (although it’s limited and these reserves aren’t always filled all the way) and when they run out…. You’re completely out of water. No toilets, no showers, no drinking water, etc.
To compound the issue, on the hottest days Israeli settlers turn their ACs up creating a massive spike in electricity demand. To compensate, our electricity is shut off.
So we’re in the middle of a heat wave with no water, little electricity, and severely limited movement, facing intimidation campaigns by Israeli soldiers and settlers, and yet we continue to be “in the wrong” for fighting to change this half-life.
Today marks the 15th day without water due to Israeli restrictions. Here’s an Al-Jazeera articles detailing Israelis policy of dominance through the control of water, for those interested: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/israel-water-tool-dominate-palestinians-160619062531348.html
As you’ll see in the article, it’s not even caused by any remote scarcity of water, but simply because Israeli chooses to deprive Palestinians of basic water needs while allowing Israeli settlers to fill their swimming pools and consume on average three times more water per capita than Palestinians.
Palestinians on average consume 73 liters per day, with the World Health Organization standard is at least 100 liters, while Israeli settlers - the people who receive all our water when Israel cuts it off to us - consume on average 369 liters per day per capita.
Today is day 16 and still running on nearly depleted reserves
Yo we used to HATE having to resort to the beir. Plastic plates, plastic cups, plastic everything til the water came back. Shower? Haha you better use the sink and a damn washcloth spoiled lil American girl
Back when we lived in my grandma’s house, on the days the water and electricity were cut, we’d do just that for showers..and the WORST part was having to share the water with the others in the house, and when you have a big family…..you would decide to just forgo “showering” if you didn’t get to go first or second, because the idea of using that water was just disgusting x_x. Also what I hated about using our old beir [well] was that it wasn’t the most tightly sealed one, and so when we’d resort to using it…the water had a very discernible taste to it that just made your entire body squirm as you wondered what it was giving it that taste.
Bringing this back to give people a sliver of what life is like under Israeli occupation.
We were without water for 17 days. Exact dates are in the notes but I’ve already lost them myself, but this took place in July of 2017.
It was not the last time we were without water for such a long stretch, nor was it the first. Israel uses it’s absolute control over Palestinian resources as a means of keeping us “in check” and as a form of collective punishment.
