Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water

Israel is denying Palestinians their right to access to adequate water by using discriminatory and restrictive policies.

Donatella Rovera, senior researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories said,

“Israel allows the Palestinians access to only a fraction of the shared water resources, which lie mostly in the occupied West Bank, while the unlawful Israeli settlements there receive virtually unlimited supplies. In Gaza the Israeli blockade has made an already dire situation worse.”

The report, “Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water,” says Israel uses more than 80 per cent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, the main source of underground water in Israel and the OPT, while restricting Palestinian access to 20 per cent.  Israel takes all the water from the Jordan River,  the Palestinians get none.

In the Gaza Strip, 90 to 95 per cent of the water from its only water resource, the Coastal Aquifer, is contaminated and unfit for human consumption. Yet, Israel does not allow the transfer of water from the Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank to Gaza.  And because of the blockade on the Gaza Strip and the stringent restrictions imposed by Israel on the entry into Gaza of material and equipment necessary for the development and repair of infrastructure have caused further deterioration of the water and sanitation situation in Gaza, which has reached a crisis point.

A  12 page digest, “Thirsting for Justice: Palestinians access to water restricted” and the feature story of West Bank farmer,  Mahmoud al-‘Alam,  about the day Israeli bulldozers came and destroyed his water supply and his livelihood can also be found on the Amnesty International website along with  the main report.

AIUSA welcomes a lively and courteous discussion that follow our Community Guidelines. Comments are not pre-screened before they post but AIUSA reserves the right to remove any comments violating our guidelines.

80 thoughts on “Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water

  1. more proof that amnesty international has a warped sense of morality and ethics and a total disregard for balance. has it even asked for a response from israel and others? of course not.

    • Amnesty International, in preparing this report, as with all other reports, subjects its text to close review to ensure factual accuracy and political impartiality. Our researchers have consulted with representatives from all sides of this issue and our findings are as outlined in the report.
      The report compiles resources as documented and verified by the United Nations, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
      Please refer to the report's End Notes pages 90 to 104.

  2. more proof that amnesty international has a warped sense of morality and ethics and a total disregard for balance. has it even asked for a response from israel and others? of course not.

    • Amnesty International, in preparing this report, as with all other reports, subjects its text to close review to ensure factual accuracy and political impartiality. Our researchers have consulted with representatives from all sides of this issue and our findings are as outlined in the report.
      The report compiles resources as documented and verified by the United Nations, Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
      Please refer to the report's End Notes pages 90 to 104.

  3. To the Editors

    Your statement above defending this report is false.

    At the end of your own report in the notes: note # 28
    28) The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009, p.27: http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this document cited as a reference by your reports author, on page 16, it states:
    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000. This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year.”
    In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000. This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    This is a water usage ratio of 1.7 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians

    But in the body of the report, page 3, second paragraph of the introduction, the your report states a statistic of a water usage ratio of 4 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians.

    So your statement above is veritably wrong.

    The author of your report did in fact ignore completely the Israeli position, and the Israelis definitely do not agree with the key conclusion of this report, the one that is getting all the sensational media attention, that supposedly Israelis use 4 times as much water as Palestinians.

  4. To the Editors

    Your statement above defending this report is false.

    At the end of your own report in the notes: note # 28
    28) The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009, p.27: http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this document cited as a reference by your reports author, on page 16, it states:
    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000. This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year.”
    In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000. This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    This is a water usage ratio of 1.7 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians

    But in the body of the report, page 3, second paragraph of the introduction, the your report states a statistic of a water usage ratio of 4 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians.

    So your statement above is veritably wrong.

    The author of your report did in fact ignore completely the Israeli position, and the Israelis definitely do not agree with the key conclusion of this report, the one that is getting all the sensational media attention, that supposedly Israelis use 4 times as much water as Palestinians.

  5. To the Editors

    Your statement above defending this report is false.

    At the end of your own report in the notes: note # 28
    28) The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009, p.27: http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this document cited as a reference by your reports author, on page 16, it states:
    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000. This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year.”
    In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000. This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    This is a water usage ratio of 1.7 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians

    But in the body of the report, page 3, second paragraph of the introduction, the your report states a statistic of a water usage ratio of 4 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians.

    So your statement above is veritably wrong.

    The author of your report did in fact ignore completely the Israeli position, and the Israelis definitely do not agree with the key conclusion of this report, the one that is getting all the sensational media attention, that supposedly Israelis use 4 times as much water as Palestinians.

  6. To the Editors

    Your statement above defending this report is false.

    At the end of your own report in the notes: note # 28
    28) The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009, p.27:
    http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-47B7-A8C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this document cited as a reference by your reports author, on page 16, it states:
    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000. This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year.”
    In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000. This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    This is a water usage ratio of 1.7 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians

    But in the body of the report, page 3, second paragraph of the introduction, the your report states a statistic of a water usage ratio of 4 to 1 between Israelis to Palestinians.

    So your statement above is veritably wrong.

    The author of your report did in fact ignore completely the Israeli position, and the Israelis definitely do not agree with the key conclusion of this report, the one that is getting all the sensational media attention, that supposedly Israelis use 4 times as much water as Palestinians.

  7. if there is a response from Israel or a refusal it should be mentioned in the blog post not in some end note, given the content of the post .

    but if you want to be seen as mere partisan anti isreali hacks/bloggers … this is the way to go !

  8. Edie:

    Could you please let my comment be published. It is really more than a bit ironic for a group that claims to defend free speach to practice censorship of ideas they do not like.

    You claim that your report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”. As evidence for your outlandish claim that Israel supposedly agrees with your report you refer readers to the notes section of your report where supposedly references that prove Israeli agreement with the report's claims exists.

    I did exactly as you recommended and I looked at the Notes at the end of the report. There in the notes section of your report I found this:

    28. The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009: http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this Israeli Water Authority document that your report's author saw fit to include as a reference in your own report, the Israeli Water Authority states, on page 16

    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000.
    This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year."

    "In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000.
    This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    So Israel's clear position, that your author must have known about full well about before your report was published yet chose to completly censor from the report, is that the ratio of Israeli to Palestinian fresh water consumption is 1.7 to 1.

    1.7 to 1 is not perfect this is true, 1 to 1 would be better, but it is steadily improving year after year even given the extremely rapid, world leading, rate of growth of the Palestinian population, and certainly this ratio is not convincing evidence of Israeli racism or deliberate cruel infliction of thirst.

    Yet in your report, in the introduction section on page 3 you claim Israel uses “about four times as much.” fresh water as the Palestinians.

    No where in your report do you mention even once that the Israelis have stated the ratio is really 1.7 to 1 and not 4 to 1.

    So your statement above that this report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”, is false.

  9. Edie:

    Could you please let my comment be published. It is really more than a bit ironic for a group that claims to defend free speach to practice censorship of ideas they do not like.

    You claim that your report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”. As evidence for your outlandish claim that Israel supposedly agrees with your report you refer readers to the notes section of your report where supposedly references that prove Israeli agreement with the report's claims exists.

    I did exactly as you recommended and I looked at the Notes at the end of the report. There in the notes section of your report I found this:

    28. The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009: http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this Israeli Water Authority document that your report's author saw fit to include as a reference in your own report, the Israeli Water Authority states, on page 16

    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000.
    This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year."

    "In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000.
    This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    So Israel's clear position, that your author must have known about full well about before your report was published yet chose to completly censor from the report, is that the ratio of Israeli to Palestinian fresh water consumption is 1.7 to 1.

    1.7 to 1 is not perfect this is true, 1 to 1 would be better, but it is steadily improving year after year even given the extremely rapid, world leading, rate of growth of the Palestinian population, and certainly this ratio is not convincing evidence of Israeli racism or deliberate cruel infliction of thirst.

    Yet in your report, in the introduction section on page 3 you claim Israel uses “about four times as much.” fresh water as the Palestinians.

    No where in your report do you mention even once that the Israelis have stated the ratio is really 1.7 to 1 and not 4 to 1.

    So your statement above that this report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”, is false.

  10. Edie:

    Could you please let my comment be published. It is really more than a bit ironic for a group that claims to defend free speach to practice censorship of ideas they do not like.

    You claim that your report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”. As evidence for your outlandish claim that Israel supposedly agrees with your report you refer readers to the notes section of your report where supposedly references that prove Israeli agreement with the report's claims exists.

    I did exactly as you recommended and I looked at the Notes at the end of the report. There in the notes section of your report I found this:

    28. The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009: http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this Israeli Water Authority document that your report's author saw fit to include as a reference in your own report, the Israeli Water Authority states, on page 16

    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000.
    This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year."

    "In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000.
    This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    So Israel's clear position, that your author must have known about full well about before your report was published yet chose to completly censor from the report, is that the ratio of Israeli to Palestinian fresh water consumption is 1.7 to 1.

    1.7 to 1 is not perfect this is true, 1 to 1 would be better, but it is steadily improving year after year even given the extremely rapid, world leading, rate of growth of the Palestinian population, and certainly this ratio is not convincing evidence of Israeli racism or deliberate cruel infliction of thirst.

    Yet in your report, in the introduction section on page 3 you claim Israel uses “about four times as much.” fresh water as the Palestinians.

    No where in your report do you mention even once that the Israelis have stated the ratio is really 1.7 to 1 and not 4 to 1.

    So your statement above that this report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”, is false.

  11. if there is a response from Israel or a refusal it should be mentioned in the blog post not in some end note, given the content of the post .

    but if you want to be seen as mere partisan anti isreali hacks/bloggers … this is the way to go !

  12. Edie:

    Could you please let my comment be published. It is really more than a bit ironic for a group that claims to defend free speach to practice censorship of ideas they do not like.

    You claim that your report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”. As evidence for your outlandish claim that Israel supposedly agrees with your report you refer readers to the notes section of your report where supposedly references that prove Israeli agreement with the report’s claims exists.

    I did exactly as you recommended and I looked at the Notes at the end of the report. There in the notes section of your report I found this:

    28. The Issue of Water between Israel and the Palestinians, Israeli Water Authority, March 2009:
    http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/71BC5337-F7C7-47B7-A8C7-
    98F971CCA463/0/IsraelPalestiniansWaterIssues.pdf

    In this Israeli Water Authority document that your report’s author saw fit to include as a reference in your own report, the Israeli Water Authority states, on page 16

    “In 2006, total consumption in Israel was 1,211 MCM, and the population was
    7,117,000.
    This is equivalent to 170 m3 per capita per year.”

    “In 2006, Palestinian consumption in the West Bank was a total of about 180 MCM, and the population was 1,800,000.
    This is equivalent to 100 m3 per capita per year.”

    So Israel’s clear position, that your author must have known about full well about before your report was published yet chose to completly censor from the report, is that the ratio of Israeli to Palestinian fresh water consumption is 1.7 to 1.

    1.7 to 1 is not perfect this is true, 1 to 1 would be better, but it is steadily improving year after year even given the extremely rapid, world leading, rate of growth of the Palestinian population, and certainly this ratio is not convincing evidence of Israeli racism or deliberate cruel infliction of thirst.

    Yet in your report, in the introduction section on page 3 you claim Israel uses “about four times as much.” fresh water as the Palestinians.

    No where in your report do you mention even once that the Israelis have stated the ratio is really 1.7 to 1 and not 4 to 1.

    So your statement above that this report “compiles resources as documented and verified by …Israel”, is false.

  13. Judo – I have no control over what gets published in this blog and what doesn’t although I will flag the editors if there are posts that violate the “terms of use”. Posts are never removed due to an opinion, but usually because of racist or derogatory language that doesn’t add to the discussion.

    As to your second point – your interpretation of the editor’s comment is grasping at straws by leaping to the conclusion that the editors were saying “Israel supposedly agrees with your report”. Very rarely does a government welcome or agree with all the information contained in our reports as they are usually the ones in violation of various laws.

    The editors were pointing out that the information included in our reports come from a variety of credible, verifiable sources including the governments involved (i.e. in this case Israel, PA, Jordan) as well as other sources such as independent, relevant organizations and our own in-the-field investigations.

    Just like any proper investigation, all credible information is examined along with forensic, physical evidence and testimony gathered and conclusions are made. Amnesty International has an outstanding reputation and is respected around the world not only by human rights activists, but governments because of our discretion and solid research. Amnesty is often welcomed by governments to come in for de-briefings.

    Amnesty International takes no political position in any region of the world, but advocates for the respect of human rights for everyone as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

  14. Settler imperialisms, which steal other peoples' earth, steal their waters as well.

    It's in their nature, as are their denials, even as they divert the waters from the people who are the people of the land.

    The world vomits in disgust at this continued spectacle of spoliation , but this i must say : i am deeply impressed by Amnesty's continuing unbowed position & stand, despite the oprobrium cast on it by the wingnuts of the right & the extreme right. Amnesty's biggest corroborator by far are Israel's own actions, which work faster to disprove her "champions" than we ever could.

    Thank you Edith & Amnesty, for speaking for the thirsty & the voiceless — until the day they come back to their own land & their own homes.

  15. Settler imperialisms, which steal other peoples’ earth, steal their waters as well.

    It’s in their nature, as are their denials, even as they divert the waters from the people who are the people of the land.

    The world vomits in disgust at this continued spectacle of spoliation , but this i must say : i am deeply impressed by Amnesty’s continuing unbowed position & stand, despite the oprobrium cast on it by the wingnuts of the right & the extreme right. Amnesty’s biggest corroborator by far are Israel’s own actions, which work faster to disprove her “champions” than we ever could.

    Thank you Edith & Amnesty, for speaking for the thirsty & the voiceless — until the day they come back to their own land & their own homes.

  16. Compare Israel and Canada to see which country is the racist one.

    Israelis use 300 liters of fresh water a day according to Amnesty.
    But Canadians use 4000 liters of fresh water a day.

    source: http://www.environmentalindicators.com/htdocs/ind

    90% of the population of the West Bank has safe drinking water, according to Amnesty.

    But only 25% of Canadian Indian Reserves have safe drinking water, according to the Government of Canada.

    “ In 2001, a follow-up assessment revealed that almost three quarters of drinking water systems on-reserve posed significant risk.  Most recently, in March 2007, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development released a progress report on First Nations drinking water indicating that the water systems of 97 First Nations communities are classified as high risk.“

    source: http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate

  17. Compare Israel and Canada to see which country is the racist one.

    Israelis use 300 liters of fresh water a day according to Amnesty.
    But Canadians use 4000 liters of fresh water a day.

    source: http://www.environmentalindicators.com/htdocs/ind

    90% of the population of the West Bank has safe drinking water, according to Amnesty.

    But only 25% of Canadian Indian Reserves have safe drinking water, according to the Government of Canada.

    “ In 2001, a follow-up assessment revealed that almost three quarters of drinking water systems on-reserve posed significant risk.  Most recently, in March 2007, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development released a progress report on First Nations drinking water indicating that the water systems of 97 First Nations communities are classified as high risk.“

    source: http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate

  18. Compare Israel and Canada to see which country is the racist one.

    Israelis use 300 liters of fresh water a day according to Amnesty.
    But Canadians use 4000 liters of fresh water a day.

    source: http://www.environmentalindicators.com/htdocs/ind

    90% of the population of the West Bank has safe drinking water, according to Amnesty.

    But only 25% of Canadian Indian Reserves have safe drinking water, according to the Government of Canada.

    “ In 2001, a follow-up assessment revealed that almost three quarters of drinking water systems on-reserve posed significant risk.  Most recently, in March 2007, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development released a progress report on First Nations drinking water indicating that the water systems of 97 First Nations communities are classified as high risk.“

    source: http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate

  19. Compare Israel and Canada to see which country is the racist one.

    Israelis use 300 liters of fresh water a day according to Amnesty.
    But Canadians use 4000 liters of fresh water a day.

    source:
    http://www.environmentalindicators.com/htdocs/indicators/6wate.htm

    90% of the population of the West Bank has safe drinking water, according to Amnesty.

    But only 25% of Canadian Indian Reserves have safe drinking water, according to the Government of Canada.

    “ In 2001, a follow-up assessment revealed that almost three quarters of drinking water systems on-reserve posed significant risk.  Most recently, in March 2007, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development released a progress report on First Nations drinking water indicating that the water systems of 97 First Nations communities are classified as high risk.“

    source:
    http://www.parl.gc.ca/39/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/Com-e/abor-e/rep-e/rep08jun07-e.htm

  20. According to the Amnesty Report about 92% of population of the West Bank has good access to fresh running water.

    Obviously I think 100% of all people deserve access to safe drinking water.

    But, do you know that the majority of the third world, ** BILLIONS ** of people, have less access to water than the West Bank Palestinians do yet this is goes completely ignored by Amnesty. Even neighboring Arab countries like Syria have less drinking water access than the West Bank.

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%)
    http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.p

    Aren't you guys at Amnesty ashamed to be even raising this issue of 92% Palestinian water access while ignoring the drinking water problem in the rest of the world, in particular Africa, which at 59% is far far worse than the situation in Palestine?

    Why do the Palestinians with a 92% access to water rate deserved a major Amnesty International report that received world wide media attention, but the continent of Africa with hundreds of millions and only a 59% access to running water gets nothing, ignored, forgotten?

    Why do the billions in not only Africa, but large parts of Asia, South America, and even parts of Europe where the populations have much less access to running water than the Palestinians not count at all according to Amnesty?

    I guess it is just to bad for them that you are obviously really only interested in bashing Israel which is the only reason you produced this report in the first place, due to your blind obsessive hatred of Israel.

    All this report proves is that Amnesty International could not care less about lack of drinking water for the billions of people on this earth who suffer in far worse conditions than the West Bank Palestinians do.

  21. According to the Amnesty Report about 92% of population of the West Bank has good access to fresh running water.

    Obviously I think 100% of all people deserve access to safe drinking water.

    But, do you know that the majority of the third world, ** BILLIONS ** of people, have less access to water than the West Bank Palestinians do yet this is goes completely ignored by Amnesty. Even neighboring Arab countries like Syria have less drinking water access than the West Bank.

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%)
    http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.p

    Aren't you guys at Amnesty ashamed to be even raising this issue of 92% Palestinian water access while ignoring the drinking water problem in the rest of the world, in particular Africa, which at 59% is far far worse than the situation in Palestine?

    Why do the Palestinians with a 92% access to water rate deserved a major Amnesty International report that received world wide media attention, but the continent of Africa with hundreds of millions and only a 59% access to running water gets nothing, ignored, forgotten?

    Why do the billions in not only Africa, but large parts of Asia, South America, and even parts of Europe where the populations have much less access to running water than the Palestinians not count at all according to Amnesty?

    I guess it is just to bad for them that you are obviously really only interested in bashing Israel which is the only reason you produced this report in the first place, due to your blind obsessive hatred of Israel.

    All this report proves is that Amnesty International could not care less about lack of drinking water for the billions of people on this earth who suffer in far worse conditions than the West Bank Palestinians do.

  22. According to the Amnesty Report about 92% of population of the West Bank has good access to fresh running water.

    Obviously I think 100% of all people deserve access to safe drinking water.

    But, do you know that the majority of the third world, ** BILLIONS ** of people, have less access to water than the West Bank Palestinians do yet this is goes completely ignored by Amnesty. Even neighboring Arab countries like Syria have less drinking water access than the West Bank.

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%)
    http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.p

    Aren't you guys at Amnesty ashamed to be even raising this issue of 92% Palestinian water access while ignoring the drinking water problem in the rest of the world, in particular Africa, which at 59% is far far worse than the situation in Palestine?

    Why do the Palestinians with a 92% access to water rate deserved a major Amnesty International report that received world wide media attention, but the continent of Africa with hundreds of millions and only a 59% access to running water gets nothing, ignored, forgotten?

    Why do the billions in not only Africa, but large parts of Asia, South America, and even parts of Europe where the populations have much less access to running water than the Palestinians not count at all according to Amnesty?

    I guess it is just to bad for them that you are obviously really only interested in bashing Israel which is the only reason you produced this report in the first place, due to your blind obsessive hatred of Israel.

    All this report proves is that Amnesty International could not care less about lack of drinking water for the billions of people on this earth who suffer in far worse conditions than the West Bank Palestinians do.

  23. According to the Amnesty Report about 92% of population of the West Bank has good access to fresh running water.

    Obviously I think 100% of all people deserve access to safe drinking water.

    But, do you know that the majority of the third world, ** BILLIONS ** of people, have less access to water than the West Bank Palestinians do yet this is goes completely ignored by Amnesty. Even neighboring Arab countries like Syria have less drinking water access than the West Bank.

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%)

    http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.pdf

    Aren’t you guys at Amnesty ashamed to be even raising this issue of 92% Palestinian water access while ignoring the drinking water problem in the rest of the world, in particular Africa, which at 59% is far far worse than the situation in Palestine?

    Why do the Palestinians with a 92% access to water rate deserved a major Amnesty International report that received world wide media attention, but the continent of Africa with hundreds of millions and only a 59% access to running water gets nothing, ignored, forgotten?

    Why do the billions in not only Africa, but large parts of Asia, South America, and even parts of Europe where the populations have much less access to running water than the Palestinians not count at all according to Amnesty?

    I guess it is just to bad for them that you are obviously really only interested in bashing Israel which is the only reason you produced this report in the first place, due to your blind obsessive hatred of Israel.

    All this report proves is that Amnesty International could not care less about lack of drinking water for the billions of people on this earth who suffer in far worse conditions than the West Bank Palestinians do.

  24. to CAS
    You "applaud AI's work for human rights for all people.?"
    Really?

    So if Amnesty “works for human rights for all people” as you claim and is not just obsessed with anti Israeli hatred as I claim, why is that Amnesty never once in all its history mentioned in any report hat for example the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of 66 million people, only 46% of the population have access to safe drinking water?

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%) http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.p

    So more than 30 million people in just this one country alone, the DRC, have no access to water, but Amnesty has never once seen fit to even once ever mentioned this in any report ever in the history of the organization,

    But for the 180,000 Palestinians out the 2.3 million residents of the West Bank, 8%, that Amnesty claims do not have good fresh water supplies, Amnesty organizes a major report and with world wide publicity?

    So what is it?
    Is it hatred of Israel that motivates AI, or just racism against Africa that leads AI to ignore massive suffering in Africa while obsessing over Palestinians?

    Palestinians enjoy a humanitarian situation amongst the best in the entire third world by ever indicator of public health. The Palestinian humanitarian situation is better, according to the United Nations, than **BILIONS** of people on earth. This is a fact. Child and maternal mortality, access to drinking water etc. etc..the list goes on. In all these humanitarian areas areas Palestinians are better off than nearly all the billions of people of the 3rd world in all these areas accroding to the UN.

    Go ahead Edie, try to deny this, and please show me any official UN WHO stats (with a url reference) that show otherwise.

    Of course all Palestinians, like all people deserve water, and hopefuly the the 180,000 will be hooked up as soon as possible, but how does this sad case rate a major human rights campaign even though the West Bank Palestinians have a better water supply situation than almost all of Africa and South America and even neighboring Arab countries like Syria, wihich has both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers but manages to provide for its people with less water than the Palsistinians get in bone dry Palestine?
    (source as above)

    Obviously your claim that "AI works for human rights for all people" is false since it has shown with its near total lack of attention to far worse water issues elsewhere that it couldn't care less about the Billion 3rd worlders with much less access to fresh water than the Palestinians

  25. Thank you Amnesty for this report. As a jewish man who is ashamed of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, I applaud your work for human rights for all people. Keep up the good work.

  26. to CAS
    You "applaud AI's work for human rights for all people.?"
    Really?

    So if Amnesty “works for human rights for all people” as you claim and is not just obsessed with anti Israeli hatred as I claim, why is that Amnesty never once in all its history mentioned in any report hat for example the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of 66 million people, only 46% of the population have access to safe drinking water?

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%) http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.p

    So more than 30 million people in just this one country alone, the DRC, have no access to water, but Amnesty has never once seen fit to even once ever mentioned this in any report ever in the history of the organization,

    But for the 180,000 Palestinians out the 2.3 million residents of the West Bank, 8%, that Amnesty claims do not have good fresh water supplies, Amnesty organizes a major report and with world wide publicity?

    So what is it?
    Is it hatred of Israel that motivates AI, or just racism against Africa that leads AI to ignore massive suffering in Africa while obsessing over Palestinians?

    Palestinians enjoy a humanitarian situation amongst the best in the entire third world by ever indicator of public health. The Palestinian humanitarian situation is better, according to the United Nations, than **BILIONS** of people on earth. This is a fact. Child and maternal mortality, access to drinking water etc. etc..the list goes on. In all these humanitarian areas areas Palestinians are better off than nearly all the billions of people of the 3rd world in all these areas accroding to the UN.

    Go ahead Edie, try to deny this, and please show me any official UN WHO stats (with a url reference) that show otherwise.

    Of course all Palestinians, like all people deserve water, and hopefuly the the 180,000 will be hooked up as soon as possible, but how does this sad case rate a major human rights campaign even though the West Bank Palestinians have a better water supply situation than almost all of Africa and South America and even neighboring Arab countries like Syria, wihich has both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers but manages to provide for its people with less water than the Palsistinians get in bone dry Palestine?
    (source as above)

    Obviously your claim that "AI works for human rights for all people" is false since it has shown with its near total lack of attention to far worse water issues elsewhere that it couldn't care less about the Billion 3rd worlders with much less access to fresh water than the Palestinians

  27. to CAS
    You "applaud AI's work for human rights for all people.?"
    Really?

    So if Amnesty “works for human rights for all people” as you claim and is not just obsessed with anti Israeli hatred as I claim, why is that Amnesty never once in all its history mentioned in any report hat for example the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of 66 million people, only 46% of the population have access to safe drinking water?

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%) http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.p

    So more than 30 million people in just this one country alone, the DRC, have no access to water, but Amnesty has never once seen fit to even once ever mentioned this in any report ever in the history of the organization,

    But for the 180,000 Palestinians out the 2.3 million residents of the West Bank, 8%, that Amnesty claims do not have good fresh water supplies, Amnesty organizes a major report and with world wide publicity?

    So what is it?
    Is it hatred of Israel that motivates AI, or just racism against Africa that leads AI to ignore massive suffering in Africa while obsessing over Palestinians?

    Palestinians enjoy a humanitarian situation amongst the best in the entire third world by ever indicator of public health. The Palestinian humanitarian situation is better, according to the United Nations, than **BILIONS** of people on earth. This is a fact. Child and maternal mortality, access to drinking water etc. etc..the list goes on. In all these humanitarian areas areas Palestinians are better off than nearly all the billions of people of the 3rd world in all these areas accroding to the UN.

    Go ahead Edie, try to deny this, and please show me any official UN WHO stats (with a url reference) that show otherwise.

    Of course all Palestinians, like all people deserve water, and hopefuly the the 180,000 will be hooked up as soon as possible, but how does this sad case rate a major human rights campaign even though the West Bank Palestinians have a better water supply situation than almost all of Africa and South America and even neighboring Arab countries like Syria, wihich has both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers but manages to provide for its people with less water than the Palsistinians get in bone dry Palestine?
    (source as above)

    Obviously your claim that "AI works for human rights for all people" is false since it has shown with its near total lack of attention to far worse water issues elsewhere that it couldn't care less about the Billion 3rd worlders with much less access to fresh water than the Palestinians

  28. Thank you Amnesty for this report. As a jewish man who is ashamed of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, I applaud your work for human rights for all people. Keep up the good work.

  29. And thank you, C.A.S., for standing with the increasing numbers of Jewish sisters & brothers standing up for the Palestinians & ( hopefully ) against Zionism & its system of apartheid !!

    Is this the Zionist's last recourse, then ? To make the water deprivation of Palestinians look good by comparing it with the abysmal water & sanitation disasters on Indian reserves ?? !!

    It's poetic justice that Judo Nimh's arguments for apartheid Israel place him right next to the other worst apologists of genocide on this blog — the Sinhalese who justify their genocide against the Tamils by comparing it favorably with the US genocide against the Indians, the Iraqis & the Afghans.The exact similarity of the argumentative weapons used by these apologists of war, racism & genocide is not an accident , but a logical fallout of their identical & coinciding policies. They are the fitting company they keep.

    The reason AI hasn't raised the Indian reserves' water situation is not because AI doesn't think it's a terrible violation of the Indian peoples' rights to safe drinking water, but because the water situation on the reserves is perhaps not at this moment part of an ongoing deliberate campaign or planned policy to expropriate the remaining lands of the Indians outright & throw them open to rapid settlement while driving the survivors out of the country itself, as Israel relentlessly attempts. It IS still genocide going on in Native lands in Canada, but right now Amnesty has to focus only on cases where racial, ethnic or national flashpoints simmer & explode. For these we have to look towards Palestine & Sri Lanka, among other lands. Canada's is mostly a cold war on the Indians now, Israel's a red hot war against the Palestinians.

  30. to CAS
    You “applaud AI’s work for human rights for all people.?”
    Really?

    So if Amnesty “works for human rights for all people” as you claim and is not just obsessed with anti Israeli hatred as I claim, why is that Amnesty never once in all its history mentioned in any report hat for example the Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of 66 million people, only 46% of the population have access to safe drinking water?

    Source:
    World Health Organization, United Nations
    World health statistics 2009.
    Table 18. Access to improved drinking-water sources (%)
    http://www.who.int/whosis/whostat/EN_WHS09_Full.pdf

    So more than 30 million people in just this one country alone, the DRC, have no access to water, but Amnesty has never once seen fit to even once ever mentioned this in any report ever in the history of the organization,

    But for the 180,000 Palestinians out the 2.3 million residents of the West Bank, 8%, that Amnesty claims do not have good fresh water supplies, Amnesty organizes a major report and with world wide publicity?

    So what is it?
    Is it hatred of Israel that motivates AI, or just racism against Africa that leads AI to ignore massive suffering in Africa while obsessing over Palestinians?

    Palestinians enjoy a humanitarian situation amongst the best in the entire third world by ever indicator of public health. The Palestinian humanitarian situation is better, according to the United Nations, than **BILIONS** of people on earth. This is a fact. Child and maternal mortality, access to drinking water etc. etc..the list goes on. In all these humanitarian areas areas Palestinians are better off than nearly all the billions of people of the 3rd world in all these areas accroding to the UN.

    Go ahead Edie, try to deny this, and please show me any official UN WHO stats (with a url reference) that show otherwise.

    Of course all Palestinians, like all people deserve water, and hopefuly the the 180,000 will be hooked up as soon as possible, but how does this sad case rate a major human rights campaign even though the West Bank Palestinians have a better water supply situation than almost all of Africa and South America and even neighboring Arab countries like Syria, wihich has both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers but manages to provide for its people with less water than the Palsistinians get in bone dry Palestine?
    (source as above)

    Obviously your claim that “AI works for human rights for all people” is false since it has shown with its near total lack of attention to far worse water issues elsewhere that it couldn’t care less about the Billion 3rd worlders with much less access to fresh water than the Palestinians

  31. Edie: I would like to know from Amnesty International or Donatella Rovera if she denies the truth of any of the following, and if not why did she not include this little factoid in her report:

    Fact 1)
    At the time of the Interim agreement that Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed in September 1995 (Oslo 2), 20% of Palestinians in the West Bank were not connected to a running-water network.

    Fact 2)
    By 2009 only about 8% of the 2.3 million Arabs in the West Bank was still not connected to a running-water system. Despite the sharp decline, from 20% not connected in 1995 down to 8% in 2009, because of the increase in the Palestinian population, which is growing at a world record setting pace of 2.25% per year, the number of West Bank Arabs who are not still connected to a running-water system has remained about the same over the last 14 years, 215,000 in 1995 compared to some 180,000 to 200,000 in 2009.

  32. And thank you, C.A.S., for standing with the increasing numbers of Jewish sisters & brothers standing up for the Palestinians & ( hopefully ) against Zionism & its system of apartheid !!

    Is this the Zionist’s last recourse, then ? To make the water deprivation of Palestinians look good by comparing it with the abysmal water & sanitation disasters on Indian reserves ?? !!

    It’s poetic justice that Judo Nimh’s arguments for apartheid Israel place him right next to the other worst apologists of genocide on this blog — the Sinhalese who justify their genocide against the Tamils by comparing it favorably with the US genocide against the Indians, the Iraqis & the Afghans.The exact similarity of the argumentative weapons used by these apologists of war, racism & genocide is not an accident , but a logical fallout of their identical & coinciding policies. They are the fitting company they keep.

    The reason AI hasn’t raised the Indian reserves’ water situation is not because AI doesn’t think it’s a terrible violation of the Indian peoples’ rights to safe drinking water, but because the water situation on the reserves is perhaps not at this moment part of an ongoing deliberate campaign or planned policy to expropriate the remaining lands of the Indians outright & throw them open to rapid settlement while driving the survivors out of the country itself, as Israel relentlessly attempts. It IS still genocide going on in Native lands in Canada, but right now Amnesty has to focus only on cases where racial, ethnic or national flashpoints simmer & explode. For these we have to look towards Palestine & Sri Lanka, among other lands. Canada’s is mostly a cold war on the Indians now, Israel’s a red hot war against the Palestinians.

  33. Edie: I would like to know from Amnesty International or Donatella Rovera if she denies the truth of any of the following, and if not why did she not include this little factoid in her report:

    Fact 1)
    At the time of the Interim agreement that Israel and the Palestinian Authority signed in September 1995 (Oslo 2), 20% of Palestinians in the West Bank were not connected to a running-water network.

    Fact 2)
    By 2009 only about 8% of the 2.3 million Arabs in the West Bank was still not connected to a running-water system. Despite the sharp decline, from 20% not connected in 1995 down to 8% in 2009, because of the increase in the Palestinian population, which is growing at a world record setting pace of 2.25% per year, the number of West Bank Arabs who are not still connected to a running-water system has remained about the same over the last 14 years, 215,000 in 1995 compared to some 180,000 to 200,000 in 2009.

  34. Obviously, "Judo Nimh" hasn't read the report carefully. Nor does he (?) recognize that there are Palestinians in Gaza also, so the consumption comparison isn't limited to Israel vs. the West Bank, but Gaza also, "where 90-95% of the water is polluted and unfit for human consumption." So, apparently, one must not talk about this situation?

    Thanks AI, keep up the great work!

  35. To Haithem El-Zabri:

    The report mentions Gaza, on just on 2 pages of the 12 page report.
    The rest of the report's 10 pages is focused entirely on the West Bank.

    So therefore I ask of Donatella Rovera, author of this report if she will please deny that over the last 14 years since Oslo 2, the percentage of West Bank Arabs not connected to a running water system has **DROPPED** from 20% to less than 10 % even though the population of West Bank Arabs increased by 40% in this same time period, and if she refuses to deny this then why did she suppress this from her report. That is a fair question is it not?

    About Gaza I have a different question.
    Gaza and the brother Arab Muslim country of Egypt have a 20 kilometer long border that has not had a Jewish soldier anywhere near it for 3 years. Nothing is stopping Gazans from importing any water or well repair supplies they need over this border except thousands of Egyptian soldiers.

    This report like all other Amnesty statements only ever calls on Israel to “Lift the blockade” but Amnesty has never ever once made a similar demand of Egypt to stop blockading Gaza from its border with Gaza. Why is it that Egypt's blockade of Gaza is not mentioned in this report, only Israel's?

  36. Obviously, “Judo Nimh” hasn’t read the report carefully. Nor does he (?) recognize that there are Palestinians in Gaza also, so the consumption comparison isn’t limited to Israel vs. the West Bank, but Gaza also, “where 90-95% of the water is polluted and unfit for human consumption.” So, apparently, one must not talk about this situation?

    Thanks AI, keep up the great work!

  37. Dear El Zabri,

    was just thinking of Gaza myself all this time !!

    But it seems, if one were to believe Judo Nimh, it's the Palestinians themselves who're to blame for their water crisis, for growing sooo fast as a population that they can't be supplied with enough drinking water !! i confess i never saw this one coming !!

    But Nimh, while he is dead silent about Gaza, also never addresses the above report's actual & uncontested point, that even in the West Bank the DIVISION of water is hugely unequal, as the Jewish settlers there get a disproportionately vaster , indeed unlimited, abundance of water in comparison to the water that's "allowed" & "allotted" the Palestinians by the Israeli apartheid state. Excepting those Palestinians, of course, who're punished by Israel by having their water supply unilaterally bulldozed & terminated !! And the little water that the West Bank Palestinians ARE allowed is totally contingent upon their & their taskmaster Abbas' continued compliance with Israel's military & settlement operations in the region, with Gaza a constant deterrent example held up for them to appreciate through the years of this unprecedented & unparalleled blockade of a whole populace !!

    Nimh doesn't seem to"get" what this huge uproar about the Palestinians' plight is all about !! But it's not today, but for decades, that Israel has been diverting the waters of the region to its Jewish population at the expense of the Palestinians & the other peoples here . It would actually be incredible were it not so — for settler imperialism will do this everywhere it goes, to the detriment of the indigenous peoples. For it cannot canibalize the earth without draining her blood at the same time .

  38. To Haithem El-Zabri:

    The report mentions Gaza, on just on 2 pages of the 12 page report.
    The rest of the report’s 10 pages is focused entirely on the West Bank.

    So therefore I ask of Donatella Rovera, author of this report if she will please deny that over the last 14 years since Oslo 2, the percentage of West Bank Arabs not connected to a running water system has **DROPPED** from 20% to less than 10 % even though the population of West Bank Arabs increased by 40% in this same time period, and if she refuses to deny this then why did she suppress this from her report. That is a fair question is it not?

    About Gaza I have a different question.
    Gaza and the brother Arab Muslim country of Egypt have a 20 kilometer long border that has not had a Jewish soldier anywhere near it for 3 years. Nothing is stopping Gazans from importing any water or well repair supplies they need over this border except thousands of Egyptian soldiers.

    This report like all other Amnesty statements only ever calls on Israel to “Lift the blockade” but Amnesty has never ever once made a similar demand of Egypt to stop blockading Gaza from its border with Gaza. Why is it that Egypt’s blockade of Gaza is not mentioned in this report, only Israel’s?

  39. On Gaza, if Israel is really preventing water well repair parts from entering Gaza, this is wrong and they should let them it. I do not mean concrete or cement should be let in since this is entirely diverted once inside Gaza not into humanitarian projects but entirely into building bigger and better bomb proof military fortifications for the brave Hamas leadership to hide under under safe and sound during wars while the Gaza women and children sit unprotected above, but if there is any other needed water or sewage treatment supplies, spare parts etc. at the Israeli border they should be allowed to pass according to international humanitarian law, and I am the first to condemn this if they are not.

    But that is not the real point of this report, is it? This report was not produced to bring attention to the suffering of the impoverished people of Gaza.

    This report was produced for the sole purpose of trying to portray Israel as a racist apartheid state and to incite hatred of Jews. A clear example of this is the propagandish use of pictures of swimming pools in West Bank Jewish settlements. Without also showing pictures of swimming pools in Palestinian cities (all major Palestinian cities on the West Bank have public swimming pools and pictures of them can be found in seconds with google) the deliberate psychological intent of the author of this report with the use of this picture of the Jewish swimming pool is to dehumanize and to provoke hatred towards Jews.

    This is exactly why Amnesty always avoids like the bubonic plague any mention of the fact that the largest, most powerful Muslim Arab state on earth, Egypt, is a full and equal participant in the blockade of Gaza from its border, and lets even fewer goods across than Israel does. If you mention that one of the two full partners in the blockade of Gaza is Arab Muslim you are really going to have to twist your logic into a pretzel to then argue the blockade is racism towards Arab Muslims, so therefore Amnesty suppresses Egypt's role in the blockade from all its reports on Gaza.

  40. Dear El Zabri,

    was just thinking of Gaza myself all this time !!

    But it seems, if one were to believe Judo Nimh, it’s the Palestinians themselves who’re to blame for their water crisis, for growing sooo fast as a population that they can’t be supplied with enough drinking water !! i confess i never saw this one coming !!

    But Nimh, while he is dead silent about Gaza, also never addresses the above report’s actual & uncontested point, that even in the West Bank the DIVISION of water is hugely unequal, as the Jewish settlers there get a disproportionately vaster , indeed unlimited, abundance of water in comparison to the water that’s “allowed” & “allotted” the Palestinians by the Israeli apartheid state. Excepting those Palestinians, of course, who’re punished by Israel by having their water supply unilaterally bulldozed & terminated !! And the little water that the West Bank Palestinians ARE allowed is totally contingent upon their & their taskmaster Abbas’ continued compliance with Israel’s military & settlement operations in the region, with Gaza a constant deterrent example held up for them to appreciate through the years of this unprecedented & unparalleled blockade of a whole populace !!

    Nimh doesn’t seem to”get” what this huge uproar about the Palestinians’ plight is all about !! But it’s not today, but for decades, that Israel has been diverting the waters of the region to its Jewish population at the expense of the Palestinians & the other peoples here . It would actually be incredible were it not so — for settler imperialism will do this everywhere it goes, to the detriment of the indigenous peoples. For it cannot canibalize the earth without draining her blood at the same time .

  41. On Gaza, if Israel is really preventing water well repair parts from entering Gaza, this is wrong and they should let them it. I do not mean concrete or cement should be let in since this is entirely diverted once inside Gaza not into humanitarian projects but entirely into building bigger and better bomb proof military fortifications for the brave Hamas leadership to hide under under safe and sound during wars while the Gaza women and children sit unprotected above, but if there is any other needed water or sewage treatment supplies, spare parts etc. at the Israeli border they should be allowed to pass according to international humanitarian law, and I am the first to condemn this if they are not.

    But that is not the real point of this report, is it? This report was not produced to bring attention to the suffering of the impoverished people of Gaza.

    This report was produced for the sole purpose of trying to portray Israel as a racist apartheid state and to incite hatred of Jews. A clear example of this is the propagandish use of pictures of swimming pools in West Bank Jewish settlements. Without also showing pictures of swimming pools in Palestinian cities (all major Palestinian cities on the West Bank have public swimming pools and pictures of them can be found in seconds with google) the deliberate psychological intent of the author of this report with the use of this picture of the Jewish swimming pool is to dehumanize and to provoke hatred towards Jews.

    This is exactly why Amnesty always avoids like the bubonic plague any mention of the fact that the largest, most powerful Muslim Arab state on earth, Egypt, is a full and equal participant in the blockade of Gaza from its border, and lets even fewer goods across than Israel does. If you mention that one of the two full partners in the blockade of Gaza is Arab Muslim you are really going to have to twist your logic into a pretzel to then argue the blockade is racism towards Arab Muslims, so therefore Amnesty suppresses Egypt’s role in the blockade from all its reports on Gaza.

  42. re: Egypt. The crossings going into and out of the Gaza Strip are not all equal and designed differently for different purposes. The Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was created to allow ONLY Palestinians to enter/exit. Since the blockade on Gaza, the function has changed somewhat allowing non-Palestinians to cross on occasion as well as some medical supplies as well as facilitating the exchange of Palestinian patients to Egyptian hospitals. The crossing is in no way designed to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian supplies on a large scale. Israel has also required that goods going into and out of the Gaza Strip must be controlled by Israel as a security measure.

    Because of this Israeli requirement to control supplies into and out of the Gaza Strip as well as their complete control over airspace, sea and land borders Israel is the party usually targetted when speaking of the blockade although I do agree that I believe Egypt has an international obligation to do more concerning this crime.

  43. re: Egypt. The crossings going into and out of the Gaza Strip are not all equal and designed differently for different purposes. The Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt was created to allow ONLY Palestinians to enter/exit. Since the blockade on Gaza, the function has changed somewhat allowing non-Palestinians to cross on occasion as well as some medical supplies as well as facilitating the exchange of Palestinian patients to Egyptian hospitals. The crossing is in no way designed to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian supplies on a large scale. Israel has also required that goods going into and out of the Gaza Strip must be controlled by Israel as a security measure.

    Because of this Israeli requirement to control supplies into and out of the Gaza Strip as well as their complete control over airspace, sea and land borders Israel is the party usually targetted when speaking of the blockade although I do agree that I believe Egypt has an international obligation to do more concerning this crime.

  44. That's correct, Edith .

    Egypt wouldn't be helping in Israel's Gaza blackade if it weren't for her collusion with the prime architect orf the siege, Israel herself. Amnesty's focusing on the root, not just the fruit, here.

    Judo Nimh doesn't talk of the medicine, food, & power scarcities hit by the blackade, & throws the whole issue of cement & housing into a cooked up Hamas angle, although the people have stood by Hamas, their sole legally elected government . Hamas hasn't bowed or collapsed under the blitzkrieg. If Hamas is to be blamed for its resistance, why not adopt the Goldstone report to find out just how much ? Why stonewall the entire investigation ?

  45. Edie:
    Egypt has a 20 km border with Gaza and has large cities on the Egyptian Sinai Mediterranean coast just a few miles west of Gaza complete with modern port facilities perfectly suitable for the unloading of humanitarian cargo and supplies and nice paved roads going right up to the Gaza border.

    Also, an economic blockade of a country engaged in a declared armed conflict such as the Hamas government of Gaza is doing is not a crime under international law. It is a perfectly legal act under the International Laws of War and is recognized under the UN charter. The only thing that is illegal under international law is if Israel were blocking humanitarian goods ( like water well pumps !!!) and causing a humanitarian crisis. Gaza has a humanitarian situation that is way better off than the vast majority, better than billions of people across the third world according to every indicator of public heath, child and maternal mortality, life span etc. from the UN WHO statistics, so Gazans, being healthier than 500 million people in just Africa alone according to the UN WHO, is not in a humanitarian crisis.

    a. savage
    What you are saying about medicine, food and electricity being blockaded is false. No food or medicine is stopped, and the repetition of these lies is what has led to this ridiculous situation described below in my reference where the UN is spending millions to **THROW AWAY** expired, unneeded and unasked for medicine that people sent to Gaza.

    70% of the electric power in Gaza has always been provided free of charge by Israel by way of numerous high voltage power lines that cross over the border from Israel to Gaza and connect directly the Israeli power grid to the Gaza power grid. These lines have never been cut, including during the middle of the war last year. And, by the way, it is this exactly this Israeli supplied electricity that runs most of the water well pumps and sewage treatment in Gaza, something this AI report on water also did not mention in any way.

    Source:
    The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories , SPECIAL FOCUS August 2009 UN OCHA oPt :

    “In August 2009, the number of truckloads allowed to cross from Israel into Gaza was 2,620, an increase by approximately 15 percent compared to July 2,231.”

    “Food supplies made up the highest proportion of total truckloads, 77 percent, with the remaining truckloads consisting of fuel supplies, including cooking gas (six percent), hygiene and cleaning materials (six percent), agricultural raw materials (three percent), and other supplies (eight percent).”

    “During August 2009, approximately 9.7 million litres of industrial fuel (not included in the truckload count) were delivered from Israel to the Gaza Electric Power Plant (GPP), which supplies 30% of Gaza’s power needs. The other 70% of Gaza’s electrical power continues to be supplied by direct cross border connection to the Israeli power grid.”

    “The provision of adequate medical services has also been challenged by recurrent shortages of pharmaceuticals and consumables. While the Israeli clearance procedures at the crossings have occasionally caused delays in their supply, these shortages occur mainly due to poor management and distribution of available supplies, unreliability of estimated needs, inefficiencies in the procurement process and funding shortfalls. The large influx of drug donations during the “Cast Lead” offensive has had only a moderate impact in the current stock levels, mainly due to a lack of coordination which resulted in the delivery of massive amounts of nonessential items, much of them with short expiry dates. As a result these items have not been able to
    be utilized and have caused a significant problem relating to storage and disposal of unused drugs and medical equipment and has resulted in increased storage costs and disposal costs. As of July 2009,
    there were 77 essential drugs (or 15 percent of the essential drug list) and 140 disposable items (or 20percent of the essential list) out of stock.”

  46. That’s correct, Edith .

    Egypt wouldn’t be helping in Israel’s Gaza blackade if it weren’t for her collusion with the prime architect orf the siege, Israel herself. Amnesty’s focusing on the root, not just the fruit, here.

    Judo Nimh doesn’t talk of the medicine, food, & power scarcities hit by the blackade, & throws the whole issue of cement & housing into a cooked up Hamas angle, although the people have stood by Hamas, their sole legally elected government . Hamas hasn’t bowed or collapsed under the blitzkrieg. If Hamas is to be blamed for its resistance, why not adopt the Goldstone report to find out just how much ? Why stonewall the entire investigation ?

  47. Edie:
    Egypt has a 20 km border with Gaza and has large cities on the Egyptian Sinai Mediterranean coast just a few miles west of Gaza complete with modern port facilities perfectly suitable for the unloading of humanitarian cargo and supplies and nice paved roads going right up to the Gaza border.

    Also, an economic blockade of a country engaged in a declared armed conflict such as the Hamas government of Gaza is doing is not a crime under international law. It is a perfectly legal act under the International Laws of War and is recognized under the UN charter. The only thing that is illegal under international law is if Israel were blocking humanitarian goods ( like water well pumps !!!) and causing a humanitarian crisis. Gaza has a humanitarian situation that is way better off than the vast majority, better than billions of people across the third world according to every indicator of public heath, child and maternal mortality, life span etc. from the UN WHO statistics, so Gazans, being healthier than 500 million people in just Africa alone according to the UN WHO, is not in a humanitarian crisis.

    a. savage
    What you are saying about medicine, food and electricity being blockaded is false. No food or medicine is stopped, and the repetition of these lies is what has led to this ridiculous situation described below in my reference where the UN is spending millions to **THROW AWAY** expired, unneeded and unasked for medicine that people sent to Gaza.

    70% of the electric power in Gaza has always been provided free of charge by Israel by way of numerous high voltage power lines that cross over the border from Israel to Gaza and connect directly the Israeli power grid to the Gaza power grid. These lines have never been cut, including during the middle of the war last year. And, by the way, it is this exactly this Israeli supplied electricity that runs most of the water well pumps and sewage treatment in Gaza, something this AI report on water also did not mention in any way.

    Source:
    The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories , SPECIAL FOCUS August 2009 UN OCHA oPt :

    “In August 2009, the number of truckloads allowed to cross from Israel into Gaza was 2,620, an increase by approximately 15 percent compared to July 2,231.”

    “Food supplies made up the highest proportion of total truckloads, 77 percent, with the remaining truckloads consisting of fuel supplies, including cooking gas (six percent), hygiene and cleaning materials (six percent), agricultural raw materials (three percent), and other supplies (eight percent).”

    “During August 2009, approximately 9.7 million litres of industrial fuel (not included in the truckload count) were delivered from Israel to the Gaza Electric Power Plant (GPP), which supplies 30% of Gaza’s power needs. The other 70% of Gaza’s electrical power continues to be supplied by direct cross border connection to the Israeli power grid.”

    “The provision of adequate medical services has also been challenged by recurrent shortages of pharmaceuticals and consumables. While the Israeli clearance procedures at the crossings have occasionally caused delays in their supply, these shortages occur mainly due to poor management and distribution of available supplies, unreliability of estimated needs, inefficiencies in the procurement process and funding shortfalls. The large influx of drug donations during the “Cast Lead” offensive has had only a moderate impact in the current stock levels, mainly due to a lack of coordination which resulted in the delivery of massive amounts of nonessential items, much of them with short expiry dates. As a result these items have not been able to
    be utilized and have caused a significant problem relating to storage and disposal of unused drugs and medical equipment and has resulted in increased storage costs and disposal costs. As of July 2009,
    there were 77 essential drugs (or 15 percent of the essential drug list) and 140 disposable items (or 20percent of the essential list) out of stock.”

  48. There's something about evil when it stirs, moves, manifests.

    For example : There's a qualitative difference between the views given by general supporters of repression on any issues, & the views offered by Zionists in support of Israel.

    The views of the former are exactly those, tbey're views only, & they show a gap between the supporter of repression on the one hand, & the actual sites & situations of the repression on the other. In other words, these apologists are not directly involved in th repression.

    The Zionists, on the other hand, manifest a vivid & visceral connection to the actual & concrete repression being daily & hourly visited upon the dispossessed people in question, the Palestinians. This is because of the omnipresent, overarching nature of settler imperialism within the Zionist state.

    The Zionist views aren't simply a matter of lies. They represent an entire phenomenon, a systemic, miasmic web cast over a corralled & netted mass of victims who cannot move hand nor foot towards realising their own identity, let alone their freedom, without being entangled in the master folk's machinery of evil, this all – encompassing network of tangible illusions & giant iron walls of containment.

    Judo Nimh's exercises in outright mendacity — beyond chutzpah , beyond chutzpah !! — are breathtaking. His complete denial of the overwhelming evidence of the Israeli blockade's denial of basic foods, vital medicines, & other elementary necessities to the besieged populace is part & parcel of the massive Zionist denial of the overall Holocaust being physically undergone by the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories as well as in Israel.But here, now, let me stay within the question of water.

    1. Israel's construction of "Jews only" roads crisscrossing the Occupied Territories has given the Jewish settlers & other Israelis EXCLUSIVE access to scarce aquifers guarded by permanent Israeli military installations.

    2. 20 % of Gaza is occupied illegally by a few thousand Jewish settlers who water their lawns & fill their swimming pools while a million Palestinians live in a water – free zone.

    3. The main aquifers for Israel's water supplies are in the West Bank. Israel controls all the water supply of the Occupied Territories,reserving 80 % of it for the personal use of its Jewish citizens while rationing the remainder to the Palestinian population, even cutting back on the water quotas for the 3 million Palestinians in the Territories.

    4. In military operations in Gaza since 2006, the Israeli military has systematically targetted & destroyed water & waste water systems, power plants and electricity networks.

    In one July 2006 attack into Gaza's Wadi al Salaq, the Israeli army damaged some 850 meters of the water network system, damaging the connection systems to 35 homes as well.

    A 15 – 19 July Israeli army raid in Beit Hanoun methodically destroyed more than 180 rooftop water tanks of the people's homes there. Israel is at war with the entire Palestinian population, not just their legally elected government.

    5.In November 2008, Israel's refusal to allow fuel into Gaza forced the shutting down of Gaza's ONLY POWER STATION, causing a blackout that made Palestinians come out onto the streets with candles in a massive protest. A water and sanitation crisis followed, with military strikes damaging the water supply.

    Sara Roy in an article in the London Review of Books detailed an excruciating decline in, among other things, food & water purifiers.

    6. Bill & Kathleen Christison, former CIA analysts, reported that Israel was deliberately depriving Gaza of food, medicine, fuel ( paid for by the EU ) for producing electricity, fuel for running generators, fresh , clean water, and spare parts for sewage treatment plants, which plants consequently began breaking down, so that sewage poured into the streets, and MILLIONS OF LITERS OF SEWAGE flowed into the Mediterranean Sea.

    7. Jonathan Cook reports that after the first few days of its war on Gaza, Israel widened its definition of "Hamas -affiliated targets" to include electricity generating stations and sewage lines.

    8. During the Gaza war itaself, one million Palestinians lived without electricity, and 250,000 without any running water. Wastewater pumping stations shut down, and sewage burst into populated areas.

    Judo Nimh tells Edith Garwood that an economic blockade against "a country" ( watch it ! has Gaza become "a country" now ?? are the settlers aware of this ?? ), a country engaged in armed conflict isn't a crime under international law & is recognised under the UN Charter.

    And yet for almost 2 years, Israel has prevented imports of food, fuel & electricity into Gaza, in what the UN ITSELF CONSIDERS AN ILLEGAL BLOCKADE.

    As for international law, articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention protect civilians against the VERY KIND of Israeli army actions described above. Article 33 prohibits collective punishment of civilians in particular.

    In fact the Israeli blockade has so effectively impeded the UN's own supply of food to 750, 000 Gazans that the UN spokesman commenting on the situation last year said :" This has become A BLOCKADE AGAINST THE UN ITSELF" ( emphasis mine ).

    And the Commissioner General of the UN's refugee agency said, "Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution."

    Contrast this picture with Judo Nimh's astounding claim that Gaza "is not in a humanitarian crisis" !!!!

    Compare it to Israel's own Rafael Eytan, who spoke of keeping the Palestinians bottled up like "drugged roaches in a bottle".

    Contrast Judo Nimh's praise of postwar Gaza, that it's heaven compared to Africa, contrast that POSTwar picure to even the PRE – Gaza war picture, written by the eminent historian Tony Judt, when he depicts the settlers "frolicking in grass – fringed swimming pools," heedless "of the Palestinian children a few meters away festering & rotting in the worst slums on the planet." Contrast them.

    And then meditate over what postHolocaust philosophers meditate over, when they study what they call the nature of evil.

  49. A note for Judo Nimh.

    In an apartheid society as in all others, one cannot but be conditioned to an extent by the prevailing relations of social & national production.

    An individual buttressing the system he's part of is as incomplete as i who am against the system i'm part of.

    The circle is turning for him as for you & me.

    Somewhere along it, we'll converge, him & me, when apartheid is ground to dust under that wheel.

  50. There’s something about evil when it stirs, moves, manifests.

    For example : There’s a qualitative difference between the views given by general supporters of repression on any issues, & the views offered by Zionists in support of Israel.

    The views of the former are exactly those, tbey’re views only, & they show a gap between the supporter of repression on the one hand, & the actual sites & situations of the repression on the other. In other words, these apologists are not directly involved in th repression.

    The Zionists, on the other hand, manifest a vivid & visceral connection to the actual & concrete repression being daily & hourly visited upon the dispossessed people in question, the Palestinians. This is because of the omnipresent, overarching nature of settler imperialism within the Zionist state.

    The Zionist views aren’t simply a matter of lies. They represent an entire phenomenon, a systemic, miasmic web cast over a corralled & netted mass of victims who cannot move hand nor foot towards realising their own identity, let alone their freedom, without being entangled in the master folk’s machinery of evil, this all – encompassing network of tangible illusions & giant iron walls of containment.

    Judo Nimh’s exercises in outright mendacity — beyond chutzpah , beyond chutzpah !! — are breathtaking. His complete denial of the overwhelming evidence of the Israeli blockade’s denial of basic foods, vital medicines, & other elementary necessities to the besieged populace is part & parcel of the massive Zionist denial of the overall Holocaust being physically undergone by the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories as well as in Israel.But here, now, let me stay within the question of water.

    1. Israel’s construction of “Jews only” roads crisscrossing the Occupied Territories has given the Jewish settlers & other Israelis EXCLUSIVE access to scarce aquifers guarded by permanent Israeli military installations.

    2. 20 % of Gaza is occupied illegally by a few thousand Jewish settlers who water their lawns & fill their swimming pools while a million Palestinians live in a water – free zone.

    3. The main aquifers for Israel’s water supplies are in the West Bank. Israel controls all the water supply of the Occupied Territories,reserving 80 % of it for the personal use of its Jewish citizens while rationing the remainder to the Palestinian population, even cutting back on the water quotas for the 3 million Palestinians in the Territories.

    4. In military operations in Gaza since 2006, the Israeli military has systematically targetted & destroyed water & waste water systems, power plants and electricity networks.

    In one July 2006 attack into Gaza’s Wadi al Salaq, the Israeli army damaged some 850 meters of the water network system, damaging the connection systems to 35 homes as well.

    A 15 – 19 July Israeli army raid in Beit Hanoun methodically destroyed more than 180 rooftop water tanks of the people’s homes there. Israel is at war with the entire Palestinian population, not just their legally elected government.

    5.In November 2008, Israel’s refusal to allow fuel into Gaza forced the shutting down of Gaza’s ONLY POWER STATION, causing a blackout that made Palestinians come out onto the streets with candles in a massive protest. A water and sanitation crisis followed, with military strikes damaging the water supply.

    Sara Roy in an article in the London Review of Books detailed an excruciating decline in, among other things, food & water purifiers.

    6. Bill & Kathleen Christison, former CIA analysts, reported that Israel was deliberately depriving Gaza of food, medicine, fuel ( paid for by the EU ) for producing electricity, fuel for running generators, fresh , clean water, and spare parts for sewage treatment plants, which plants consequently began breaking down, so that sewage poured into the streets, and MILLIONS OF LITERS OF SEWAGE flowed into the Mediterranean Sea.

    7. Jonathan Cook reports that after the first few days of its war on Gaza, Israel widened its definition of “Hamas -affiliated targets” to include electricity generating stations and sewage lines.

    8. During the Gaza war itaself, one million Palestinians lived without electricity, and 250,000 without any running water. Wastewater pumping stations shut down, and sewage burst into populated areas.

    Judo Nimh tells Edith Garwood that an economic blockade against “a country” ( watch it ! has Gaza become “a country” now ?? are the settlers aware of this ?? ), a country engaged in armed conflict isn’t a crime under international law & is recognised under the UN Charter.

    And yet for almost 2 years, Israel has prevented imports of food, fuel & electricity into Gaza, in what the UN ITSELF CONSIDERS AN ILLEGAL BLOCKADE.

    As for international law, articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention protect civilians against the VERY KIND of Israeli army actions described above. Article 33 prohibits collective punishment of civilians in particular.

    In fact the Israeli blockade has so effectively impeded the UN’s own supply of food to 750, 000 Gazans that the UN spokesman commenting on the situation last year said :” This has become A BLOCKADE AGAINST THE UN ITSELF” ( emphasis mine ).

    And the Commissioner General of the UN’s refugee agency said, “Gaza is on the threshold of becoming the first territory to be intentionally reduced to a state of abject destitution.”

    Contrast this picture with Judo Nimh’s astounding claim that Gaza “is not in a humanitarian crisis” !!!!

    Compare it to Israel’s own Rafael Eytan, who spoke of keeping the Palestinians bottled up like “drugged roaches in a bottle”.

    Contrast Judo Nimh’s praise of postwar Gaza, that it’s heaven compared to Africa, contrast that POSTwar picure to even the PRE – Gaza war picture, written by the eminent historian Tony Judt, when he depicts the settlers “frolicking in grass – fringed swimming pools,” heedless “of the Palestinian children a few meters away festering & rotting in the worst slums on the planet.” Contrast them.

    And then meditate over what postHolocaust philosophers meditate over, when they study what they call the nature of evil.

  51. A note for Judo Nimh.

    In an apartheid society as in all others, one cannot but be conditioned to an extent by the prevailing relations of social & national production.

    An individual buttressing the system he’s part of is as incomplete as i who am against the system i’m part of.

    The circle is turning for him as for you & me.

    Somewhere along it, we’ll converge, him & me, when apartheid is ground to dust under that wheel.

  52. Nov 18th

    My last several comments,which fully comply with the terms of use of this blog have been censored by Amnesty International, which I find amazing.

    I will however, ask Amnesty this simple question and keep asking it:

    In 1995, when the Oslo 2 agreement was signed, which included the water agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the West Bank Palestinian population was 1.7 million of whom 80%, about 1.4 million Arabs, were connected to the running water system.

    Now in 2009, 14 years later, the West Bank Palestinian population is about 2.2 million of whom 92%, about 2 million Arabs, are currently connected to the running water system.

    So in the last 14 years the percentage of Palestinians connected has increased from 80% to 92 %, and the number of those connected has grown from 1.4 million to 2 million, an increase of at least 600,000 West Bank Arabs connected to running water since the water sharing agreement between the two sides was signed.

    By the way, a 92% connection rate in the West Bank is higher than most Arab countries such as for example Syria, the land of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where only 88% of the population has running water according to the WHO.

    So why was this information not included in you water report ?

    Did you keep these unarguable facts out of the report because it contradicts the central predetermined intent of the Amnesty report, which was to falsely paint Israel as supposedly racist and cruelly restricting water unfairly to Palestinians?

  53. Nov 18th

    My last several comments,which fully comply with the terms of use of this blog have been censored by Amnesty International, which I find amazing.

    I will however, ask Amnesty this simple question and keep asking it:

    In 1995, when the Oslo 2 agreement was signed, which included the water agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the West Bank Palestinian population was 1.7 million of whom 80%, about 1.4 million Arabs, were connected to the running water system.

    Now in 2009, 14 years later, the West Bank Palestinian population is about 2.2 million of whom 92%, about 2 million Arabs, are currently connected to the running water system.

    So in the last 14 years the percentage of Palestinians connected has increased from 80% to 92 %, and the number of those connected has grown from 1.4 million to 2 million, an increase of at least 600,000 West Bank Arabs connected to running water since the water sharing agreement between the two sides was signed.

    By the way, a 92% connection rate in the West Bank is higher than most Arab countries such as for example Syria, the land of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where only 88% of the population has running water according to the WHO.

    So why was this information not included in you water report ?

    Did you keep these unarguable facts out of the report because it contradicts the central predetermined intent of the Amnesty report, which was to falsely paint Israel as supposedly racist and cruelly restricting water unfairly to Palestinians?

  54. State imperialism has superceded settler imperialism in Gaza.

    Israel removed the settlers, & ensured the slums remain under her control — & worsen as the inevitable result of that iron control.

    Then anon came Justice Goldstone, ardent believer in Zionism & in Israel's right to start wars in order to assert her right to exist — since the twin rights are inseparable.

    Given the job of heading the UN's FactFinding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, he asserted those twin rights he believed in — but he couldn't avert his gaze looking back at the horror those twin "rights" spawned, for which he along with his report have been turned into a cautionary pillar of salt by Israel's public & establishment.

    Among his report's Conclusions :

    "1891. It is clear from evidence gathered by the Mission that the destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories & residential houses was the result of a deliberate & systematic policy by the Israeli armed forces. It was not carried out because those objects presented a military threat or opportunity but to make the daily process of living, & dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population.

    "The Mission concluded that serious violations of international human rights & humanitarian law were committed by Israel."

    Israeli General Gadi Eisenkot defines the Dahiya Doctrine :

    "What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 [ which was flattened by Israel's blitzkrieg on Lebanon ] will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on …We will apply disproportionate force on it [ the village ] & cause … destruction there … This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved."

    Observes Goldstone :

    "Disproportionate force is exactly what humanitarian law, the law of war, outlaws. War crimes are committed with disproportionate force."

    Goldstone concludes :

    "Our investigation showed that that doctrine was applied in Operation Cast Lead."

    If Israel & Hamas don't act on the report, Goldstone recommends the UN Security Council refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.

  55. State imperialism has superceded settler imperialism in Gaza.

    Israel removed the settlers, & ensured the slums remain under her control — & worsen as the inevitable result of that iron control.

    Then anon came Justice Goldstone, ardent believer in Zionism & in Israel’s right to start wars in order to assert her right to exist — since the twin rights are inseparable.

    Given the job of heading the UN’s FactFinding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, he asserted those twin rights he believed in — but he couldn’t avert his gaze looking back at the horror those twin “rights” spawned, for which he along with his report have been turned into a cautionary pillar of salt by Israel’s public & establishment.

    Among his report’s Conclusions :

    “1891. It is clear from evidence gathered by the Mission that the destruction of food supply installations, water sanitation systems, concrete factories & residential houses was the result of a deliberate & systematic policy by the Israeli armed forces. It was not carried out because those objects presented a military threat or opportunity but to make the daily process of living, & dignified living, more difficult for the civilian population.

    “The Mission concluded that serious violations of international human rights & humanitarian law were committed by Israel.”

    Israeli General Gadi Eisenkot defines the Dahiya Doctrine :

    “What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 [ which was flattened by Israel’s blitzkrieg on Lebanon ] will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on …We will apply disproportionate force on it [ the village ] & cause … destruction there … This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved.”

    Observes Goldstone :

    “Disproportionate force is exactly what humanitarian law, the law of war, outlaws. War crimes are committed with disproportionate force.”

    Goldstone concludes :

    “Our investigation showed that that doctrine was applied in Operation Cast Lead.”

    If Israel & Hamas don’t act on the report, Goldstone recommends the UN Security Council refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.

  56. In 1995, when the Oslo 2 agreement was signed, which included the water agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the West Bank Palestinian population was 1.7 million of whom 80%, about 1.4 million Arabs, were connected to the running water system.

    Now in 2009, 14 years later, the West Bank Palestinian population is about 2.2 million of whom 92%, about 2 million Arabs, are currently connected to the running water system.

    So the percentage of West Bank Palestinians connected to running water has increased from 80% to 92%, and the number of those connected has grown from 1.4 million to 2 million, an increase of at least ** 600,000 ** West Bank Arabs connected to running water since the water sharing agreement between the two sides was signed 14 years ago.

    And by the way, a 92% connection rate for Arabs in the West Bank is higher than most Arab countries manage to provide for thier people, such as for example Syria, the land of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where only 88% of the population has running water according to the WHO.

    Why did you not include this information in your water report ?

  57. In 1995, when the Oslo 2 agreement was signed, which included the water agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the West Bank Palestinian population was 1.7 million of whom 80%, about 1.4 million Arabs, were connected to the running water system.

    Now in 2009, 14 years later, the West Bank Palestinian population is about 2.2 million of whom 92%, about 2 million Arabs, are currently connected to the running water system.

    So the percentage of West Bank Palestinians connected to running water has increased from 80% to 92%, and the number of those connected has grown from 1.4 million to 2 million, an increase of at least ** 600,000 ** West Bank Arabs connected to running water since the water sharing agreement between the two sides was signed 14 years ago.

    And by the way, a 92% connection rate for Arabs in the West Bank is higher than most Arab countries manage to provide for thier people, such as for example Syria, the land of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, where only 88% of the population has running water according to the WHO.

    Why did you not include this information in your water report ?

  58. Judo,

    It is always a positive development when more of the population is connected to a water source, but you assume being connected somehow translates into availability.

    It does no good to be connected to a water source if there is no water or not enough water coming down those pipes.

    The report details the inequity in distribution of the water resources available in the region and the many obstacles that are between adequate, clean water and those in need.

  59. Judo,

    It is always a positive development when more of the population is connected to a water source, but you assume being connected somehow translates into availability.

    It does no good to be connected to a water source if there is no water or not enough water coming down those pipes.

    The report details the inequity in distribution of the water resources available in the region and the many obstacles that are between adequate, clean water and those in need.

  60. From discussing the environmental disasters in Copenhagen this week, to the realities on the ground, the nitrate-infested water in Gaza is 300 times higher than WHO standards and is killing as many as half of the 40,000 new born babies. » Read more

  61. From discussing the environmental disasters in Copenhagen this week, to the realities on the ground, the nitrate-infested water in Gaza is 300 times higher than WHO standards and is killing as many as half of the 40,000 new born babies. » Read more

  62. From discussing the environmental disasters in Copenhagen this week, to the realities on the ground, the nitrate-infested water in Gaza is 300 times higher than WHO standards and is killing as many as half of the 40,000 new born babies. » Read more

  63. From discussing the environmental disasters in Copenhagen this week, to the realities on the ground, the nitrate-infested water in Gaza is 300 times higher than WHO standards and is killing as many as half of the 40,000 new born babies. » Read more

  64. Editors:

    The offical WHO statistics posted on the UN web site show Gaza has one of the lowest infant/child/maternal mortality rates in the third world, vastly lower than the continent of Africa, and about equal or better than most of the other Arab and Muslim countries.
    http://www.emro.who.int/emrinfo/index.asp?Ctry=pa

    Palestine 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 25
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 28.0
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 20

    Compare Palestine infant/child/maternal mortality to

    Iran 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 21.8
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 27.7
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 25

    Pakistan 2007
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 78
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 94
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 276

  65. Editors:

    The offical WHO statistics posted on the UN web site show Gaza has one of the lowest infant/child/maternal mortality rates in the third world, vastly lower than the continent of Africa, and about equal or better than most of the other Arab and Muslim countries.
    http://www.emro.who.int/emrinfo/index.asp?Ctry=pa

    Palestine 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 25
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 28.0
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 20

    Compare Palestine infant/child/maternal mortality to

    Iran 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 21.8
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 27.7
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 25

    Pakistan 2007
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 78
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 94
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 276

  66. Editors:

    The offical WHO statistics posted on the UN web site show Gaza has one of the lowest infant/child/maternal mortality rates in the third world, vastly lower than the continent of Africa, and about equal or better than most of the other Arab and Muslim countries.
    http://www.emro.who.int/emrinfo/index.asp?Ctry=pa

    Palestine 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 25
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 28.0
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 20

    Compare Palestine infant/child/maternal mortality to

    Iran 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 21.8
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 27.7
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 25

    Pakistan 2007
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 78
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 94
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 276

  67. Editors:

    The offical WHO statistics posted on the UN web site show Gaza has one of the lowest infant/child/maternal mortality rates in the third world, vastly lower than the continent of Africa, and about equal or better than most of the other Arab and Muslim countries.

    http://www.emro.who.int/emrinfo/index.asp?Ctry=pal

    Palestine 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 25
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 28.0
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 20

    Compare Palestine infant/child/maternal mortality to

    Iran 2008
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 21.8
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 27.7
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 25

    Pakistan 2007
    Infant mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 78
    Under five mortality rate (per 1000 live births) = 94
    Maternal mortality ratio (per 10000 live births) = 276

  68. "This so-called research is eerily reminiscent of ancient blood libels against the Jewish people, when rumors were spread about Jews poisoning wells," said Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress. "Today we are seeing a recurrence of all the worst excesses of anti-Semitism and diatribes that we perhaps naively thought had remained in the Dark Ages."

    Professor Gerald Steinberg, founder of the Jerusalem-based, non-governmental Monitor organization, said the study did not present enough evidence to support its claim. A lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, he said the "accusations are designed to stigmatize Israel and erase the context of mass terror." He said he considers the accusations "a modern form of blood libel," which quotes "many NGO reports that are a mix of false or unverifiable claims."

  69. “This so-called research is eerily reminiscent of ancient blood libels against the Jewish people, when rumors were spread about Jews poisoning wells,” said Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress. “Today we are seeing a recurrence of all the worst excesses of anti-Semitism and diatribes that we perhaps naively thought had remained in the Dark Ages.”

    Professor Gerald Steinberg, founder of the Jerusalem-based, non-governmental Monitor organization, said the study did not present enough evidence to support its claim. A lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, he said the “accusations are designed to stigmatize Israel and erase the context of mass terror.” He said he considers the accusations “a modern form of blood libel,” which quotes “many NGO reports that are a mix of false or unverifiable claims.”

  70. Judo Nimh, there will be a day when you will say "I am sorry", "i didn't know the truth". FREE PALESTINE NOW.

    Amnesty International, Keep Up The Great Work.

  71. Judo Nimh, there will be a day when you will say “I am sorry”, “i didn’t know the truth”. FREE PALESTINE NOW.

    Amnesty International, Keep Up The Great Work.

  72. bmfc:

    So what you are saying is that I, Judo Nimh, do not know the “real” situation just because I am so silly as to base my opinion on verifiable World Health Organization statistics as to the water access and infant/child mortality of the Palestinians .

    But you, bmfc, supposedly know the “real” situation in Palestine much better than me based on what ? Based on phony propaganda, lies without evidence, made up phony statements that directly contradict the verifiable WHO stats?

    bmfc:
    There will come a day, when YOU say "I am sorry I was so easily manipulated by a mass organized false propaganda campaign which unfortunately previously reputable organizations like Amnesty are part of, to without a shred of proof, such as the above water report, to focus all my attention on the Palestinian humanitarian condition, which is in every area among the best in the entire 3rd world according to the WHO,

    and

    you will continue, bmfc to say:
    "I am so sorry that while I was tricked to obsess over comparatively minor Palestinian suffering according to WHO stats, I shamefuly completely ignored the humanitarian conditions in the rest of the 3rd world, where 100s of millions of people, no, billions of people really do endure suffering from real lack of clean water, from real mass infant, child, maternal mortality, and from real disease, starvation, and violence at levels that make Palestine look like Switzerland."

  73. bmfc:

    So what you are saying is that I, Judo Nimh, do not know the “real” situation just because I am so silly as to base my opinion on verifiable World Health Organization statistics as to the water access and infant/child mortality of the Palestinians .

    But you, bmfc, supposedly know the “real” situation in Palestine much better than me based on what ? Based on phony propaganda, lies without evidence, made up phony statements that directly contradict the verifiable WHO stats?

    bmfc:
    There will come a day, when YOU say “I am sorry I was so easily manipulated by a mass organized false propaganda campaign which unfortunately previously reputable organizations like Amnesty are part of, to without a shred of proof, such as the above water report, to focus all my attention on the Palestinian humanitarian condition, which is in every area among the best in the entire 3rd world according to the WHO,

    and

    you will continue, bmfc to say:
    “I am so sorry that while I was tricked to obsess over comparatively minor Palestinian suffering according to WHO stats, I shamefuly completely ignored the humanitarian conditions in the rest of the 3rd world, where 100s of millions of people, no, billions of people really do endure suffering from real lack of clean water, from real mass infant, child, maternal mortality, and from real disease, starvation, and violence at levels that make Palestine look like Switzerland.”

Comments are closed.