From Baysan to Safed in the northern Palestinian territories, from Ein Gedi to the Negev desert in the south, and from the middle of the Jordan River to the eastern slopes of the West Bank to the west, the northern Palestinian Jordan Valley extends over a total area of 720,000 dunams, accounting for a quarter of the total West Bank area.
These vast areas are not fully enjoyed by the Palestinians. Israel controls 80% of them in favor of the establishment of settlements and army camps, while the Israeli water company «Mekorot» controls about 85% of the northern Jordan Valley, which is within the largest eastern water basin in the Palestinian territories .
The remaining 15% of the water supply to the Palestinians is not fully benefited, as they face shortcomings from the Mekorot Company, which controls all water sources, and sells them to the Palestinians for exorbitant amounts, in addition to the direct benefit of the settlers, who consume eight times as much as the residents. The northern valleys of water.
Serious stage
The water crisis in the northern Jordan Valley is a new one, which has been going on for decades, and has renewed its gravity towards a threat to the Palestinian presence in it, with several measures carried out in the northern Jordan Valley. Israel has intensified raids and inspections of water and tanker transmission lines during the current period. Last September, Israeli forces raided the village of Bardala in the area, closed water outlets that fed citizens, and notified five houses and sheep barns in Tubas in the Jordan Valley.
In August, for several days, troops raided Bardala, a village in the Jordan Valley, and bulldozers destroyed pipelines and seized internal irrigation systems belonging to farmers in the village of Ain Baida near Bardala.
In the meantime, the Israeli water company Mekorot is working to transfer the water line that passes near the village of Bardala, which is used by the people to obtain transfers to transfer water, to remove it within a distance of half a kilometer from the village, to be close to the use of settlements established by Israel on the territory of the northern Jordan Valley According to the head of the Bardala local council, the Bedouin communities in the northern Jordan Valley, Abdul Rahim Bisharat.
Bisharat asserts that the actions of Mekorot and the Israeli government are the beginning of a dangerous phase for farmers, pointing out that depriving the people of water, and their inability to provide it, cause forcible displacement, as they depend on water mainly in their lives, and affect their source of income, which is agriculture and herding livestock. .
Pressures of forced displacement
The president of the local council says: "Israel exerts great pressure against the citizens in the Jordan Valley, through its control over the water sources, and its efforts to control the rest of them, for the forced displacement of their land, and in doing so the people face the threat of thirst and deprivation of all water sources, where they get "On the water they have from Israel in small quantities, it is not enough for their daily needs, or use it to irrigate their farmland and care for their animals."
According to Bisharat, the village of Bardala has two water wells, the second largest in the Jordan Valley, controlled by Israel, pumping about 2,500 cups of water per hour, but the nearby village of Bardala, with a population of 3,000, and the neighboring villages of Ain Baida and Kardala, Only 500 cups in one hour, while the settlers get the largest quota of 2,000 cups of water per hour.
He pointed out that the quantities obtained by citizens in the northern Jordan Valley is not enough for more than 25% of their daily needs only, without securing their crops and livestock, pointing out that the continuation of this crisis means depriving most of the people from their only source of income.
Speaking to Emirates Today, Bisharat pointed out that people, farmers and herders are buying water tanks from the Israeli water company Mekorot to provide the minimum water needs, given the limited water allocated by Israel to the northern Jordan Valley villages, pointing out that the farmer or herder needs Daily to buy more than two drinking water tanks, the price of one tank up to 50 NIS.
Bisharat explains that Israel refuses to grant the necessary permits to drill water wells for Palestinians in the northern Jordan Valley, while the Israeli Mekorot company continuously digs wells in the area to supply settlements with water.
Programmed procedures
Residents of the Jordan Valley are facing an unknown fate in the coming months, given the complete control of the northern Jordan Valley's water resources and their inability to obtain water from the Israeli Mekorot water network.
Aref Daraghmeh, who is in charge of the Al-Maleh village council in the Jordan Valley, says that Israel's policy of controlling the northern Jordan Valley lands and water sources is depriving the residents of most of their properties from agricultural lands and water wells.
“Netanyahu's statements and the measures taken by his government and Mekorot threaten the remaining land and water resources. All Palestinian areas in the Jordan Valley, which are only 20% of the total northern Jordan Valley, will be confiscated, and more than 65% of the population will be directly affected. Especially the owners of agricultural land and livestock.
Daraghmeh told Emirates Today that Netanyahu's actions and his statements to take full control of the northern Jordan Valley are a programmed policy that has been drawn up since 2016, following the increase in the number of settlement blocs in the Jordan Valley.
Thirty-one settlements, mostly agricultural, were built on 12,000 dunums of land, in addition to 60,000 dunums attached to them, and inhabited by 8300 settlers, while most of the settlements in the Jordan Valley belong to the regional settlement councils known as “Arfot Herden”, and “Migilot” »According to Daraghmeh.
Israel controls 400,000 dunams, or 55% of the total area of the northern Jordan Valley, under the pretext of using closed military zones (55.5%). The Palestinian population is prohibited from practicing agricultural or urban activities in these areas.
- Perched on the territory
Palestinian Valley
31 settlements,
Most of them are agricultural,
Erected on 12 thousand
Acres, add to
60 thousand acres attached
Out, inhabited by 8300
Settler, track
Most of the settlements
In the Jordan Valley councils
Regional.
- He faces the people of the Jordan Valley
An unknown fate, through
Coming months,
Under control
Full Sourcing
Water in the valleys
North, and no
Enable them to get
On the water
From the water network
Israeli
«Mekorot».