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Water Crisis in Beit Dajan and Beit Furik, Nablus District May 9, 2005
A few kilometers to the east of Nablus, the people of the villages of Beit Furik and Beit Dajan have an additional problem from those of the main city when placed under curfew. The two villages have no access to piped water. If tank trucks are unable to get through the checkpoints, villagers are stranded without access to clean water. Access to precious water resources is a key source of concern in the development a genuinely viable Palestinian state. While, in terms of water resources, the West Bank is one of the richest areas in the Middle East and Jewish settlements have full access to piped water, there are still Palestinian villages remaining unconnected to a central system. These villagers are suffering at the sharp end of Israel’s strategy of confiscating water as well as land resources. A joint population of 14,500 has no access to piped water. Water is bought from tankers at great expense to an increasingly impoverished population. Some villagers have old wells that fail to meet basic hygiene standards, are in urgent need of repair, and cannot meet the needs of the family. Abu and Umm Misref and their three children live in a small house in Beit Dajan. Abu Misref has been out of work for several years. Increasing numbers of unemployed like Abu Misref find it difficult to pay the soaring prices charged by private companies. Development issues such as broadening access to the water network become emergency issues under military closure. The problem is not an isolated one; it is estimated that around 200,000 Palestinians in the West Bank are living without access to piped water.
As water becomes more expensive and less available in the current crisis, the rate of average consumption among Palestinians is decreasing. Military assault has damaged water tankers and pipes, and closure has prevented access for engineers to repair infrastructure. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that the healthy minimum of domestic water consumption is 100 liters per capita per day. The average Palestinian has between 57 and 76 liters per day. The urgent need in these particular two villages is clear from the fact that over 450 people applied for selection for one of only 100 cisterns in a project implemented by the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) and the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
Beit Furik and Beit Dajan are traditional farming villages, where for generations people have depended on the income of the olive harvest and sheep herding. As the population expanded, people sought work in the neighboring city of Nablus, and following the Israeli occupation of 1967, as manual laborers in the Israeli economy. With continuing land confiscation, harassment from settlers, and military closure preventing access to work in the rest of the West Bank and Israel, the villagers are in a desperate economic situation. One Beit Furik beneficiary used to be able to make 200 cans of oil from his olive trees. Four years ago the entirety of his land was confiscated for settlements and military areas. Without an income to buy water, the cistern built by the project is essential for him. (See Tearing at the Roots of Palestine). Others still hold on to a fraction of their land, but people are afraid of gathering the harvest and herding sheep since several farmers have been killed by Israeli settlers. “We have the most extreme of all the settlers close to us in the settlement of Itamar.” In the past the villagers had land in the Jordan Valley; today they have trouble holding on to the land immediately around the village.
Another project beneficiary is Shama Mahmoud, whose husband died ten years ago. With four children and no income, she previously had to take water from family and friends in order to survive. “Water is like air to the people,” says Zahi Zahmout, responsible for a family of 20. “It is the source of life.” At a cost of nearly $6 per cubic meter (35 cubic feet), it is a resource that few can afford. “They drink too much,” sighs shepherd Tawfik Saleh, pointing to his 14 sheep. With his sons, Saleh has six families to support, and at a selling price of around $300, keeping his sheep alive and healthy is essential to keep the family alive. Abu Suleiman lives in one of the oldest areas of Beit Furik, a newer building built in the ruins of a much older family home. When asked how he fetched water without the well, he points to his donkey, tethered in the yard. “We stored our water in here,” explained his daughter-in-law, Umm Hadi. She opened a tank with visible dirt and grime floating on the surface. Water-borne diseases such as cholera, hepatitis, and amoebic dysentery are common in Beit Furik, a village with no health clinic and access to only two local doctors (shared with Beit Dajan). Despite the fact that people boiled the water to try to eliminate problems, waterborne sickness and disease are a regular health concern in the villages, with stomach upsets related to amoebas in the water particularly afflicting the young and the old, the most vulnerable. There are even cases of Hepatitis A. Hamdiyya Afif Hanawi, a member of the Beit Furik Women’s Association, has been able to build a well with project funding. “Now I don’t have to buy water,” she says. “We had an old well, but it flooded and collapsed. I had to buy water continually. With our new cistern, I have enough water for my family, and for the few fruit trees in the garden.” In such difficult economic circumstances, being able to feed the family with home produce is an essential money saver. “This year my lemon tree had fruit for the first time in 10 years.” The support of international donors can help individuals, but a real solution to the unequal distribution of water among Israelis and Palestinians must be found before real development in Palestine can begin. In the meantime, for families in the many localities in the West Bank like Beit Dajan and Beit Furik, simply getting enough water for daily consumption is the priority. Resources: For further information on the Palestinian water crisis: External links last accessed January 18, 2005.
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