“War” for water in the Jordan Valley

Heat, drought, fear of water reserves and falling groundwater levels dominated this summer in Germany. Of course there are worse things, where absolute drought is not a scenario of the future, but the reality of today. In the Jordan Valley Israelis and Palestinians they have been in the knife for more than 20 years, without any solution being found. Both sides blame each other, while at the same time both sides demand more water.

“I have to carry water”

The Palestinians consider that the management of water resources belongs exclusively to Israel in their occupied land and this is a key point of conflict between the two peoples. Of course, the situation particularly affects the Palestinian farmers. Omar Bisharat’s farm is located north in the Jordan Valley. The thermometer shows 30 degrees. Dust and stones everywhere. Only a dirt road leads there. Water is a rare commodity here. “I have to carry it,” he says, “it’s difficult and expensive. I can barely make ends meet financially. Often the drums are confiscated by the Israeli army. Life is hard”.

Bisharat welcomes us to a windowless brick hut. An iron roof covers the pen and provides some shade for the sheep. In the background are the green cultivated lands of a settlement of Jewish settlers. A green oasis in a barren, desert-like landscape. Bisharat protests. “They have trees there, nothing grows here” he says. “There they are connected to the water supply network, here we are not. They have houses, we don’t. Our children have to sit in the heat.” A daily water dispute. Most of the Jordan Valley is under Israeli occupation.

Unequal distribution of water

Israel also has a military administration. Everyone who lives here claims water: Palestinians and Jewish settlers who have built many settlements on Palestinian land and live off agriculture. There has been repeated international outcry because the settlers have more water than the Palestinians. A few kilometers west, David Elhayani welcomes us to his office. It has two air conditioners and the toilet water comes from the mains. He is the head of the Jewish settlement and sees things differently. “The villages there are all green. Where did they get water from? From God? There is always water here, but not enough for everyone. And when they say there is no water, it is not true. There is water.”

To this day, agreements of the 90s are still being implemented during a period of recession in Israeli-Palestinian relations. However, the final negotiations never took place. And so an old regime applies. The population increased, water became scarcer, and the Palestinians in the Jordan Valley are not simply allowed to drill wells, they must get water largely from Israel.

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