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Basic right

Jun 23,2016 - Last updated at Jun 23,2016

When all else fails Israel resorts to one form of collective punishment or another against the Palestinians to make their lives unbearable and perhaps drive them to leave their country. 

This is what is happening now, with Israel deciding to drastically cut down the water supply to several key areas in the West Bank, including the cities of Nablus and Jenin. 

The Israeli water company Mekorot has been doing that for weeks now — right in the middle of the summer and even during the holy month of Ramadan. 

Israel’s excuse is that the Palestinians are overusing and wasting water. The irony is that the source of this water being denied to Palestinians is Palestinian aquifers. 

The right to water is a basic human right recognised by all international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to which Israel is a state party. 

Palestinians do not exactly have swimming pools all around the country or in their backyards to be accused of wasting water. 

One glance at the landscape of Israel would reveal that many Israeli houses, including the ones in the Palestinian territories, are inundated with swimming pools to make life for Israelis occupying Palestinian lands even more comfortable. 

The Palestinians should take action and file complaints to the UN Security Council and to all relevant UN agencies about the use of water as a weapon.

 

The sooner this is done the better to protect Palestinian rights to their own sources of water.

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