This morning, at the request of organizer
Ali Abu Sawish, from the National Association for Services and
Development, our ISM delegation went to the Municipality Office
of Nusairat. There, we met with the Mayors of Nusairat and Al
Buriej, as well as a Minister for Technology in Nusairat. These
men explained for us the water situation in the Middle Area of
Gaza. While we are still piecing together the story, this is what
we've learned (forgive the spelling errors).
The water distribution for the Middle Area
(MA) comes from two main wells, with two supplementary wells for
the different camps. The three municipalities in the MA rotate
control of the main wells. Unfortunately, since the start of this
Intifada (about two years) one of the main wells was damaged by
an Israeli military bulldozer. They are quite close to the border
of the Net Sarim settlement. Workers attempting to perform maintenance
on the working well have been shot at consistently. The broken
well is 6 meters from the settlement fence and no one has been
able to get near it to assess needed repairs. We hear unconfirmed
reports of land mines near the well. These main wells not only
provide the majority of the water for the MA (2000 cubic meters/day
per well), but this is the best water available, pumped from underneath
the Net Sarim settlement. The supplementary wells have high salinity,
as well as a high nitrate count. (chloride - 1000mg/cubic meter
- should be less than 250 nitrates - 100mg/cubic meter - should
be less than 50).
At one time, there was a grant from U.S.A.I.D.
to build a desalination plant. This grant would have only covered
capital costs of building the plant. But the cost of water would
have risen above $3.00/cubic meter and the local population can
only afford $1.00/cubic meter. (Plus the difficulties of waste
disposal, as a result of the desalination process.) The municipalities
have also attempted to negotiate with Mikharot, the Israeli water
company, for additional water, but Mikharot would not agree to
sell adequate quantities for Gaza. The struggle for water in the
Occupied Territories is not news, nor are the difficulties of
water privatization globally. This, among many, is a concrete
demonstration of a people being denied access to the basic human
right of adequate water.
We, as a delegation of internationals from
the U.S., Canada and Britain, chose to approach the Israeli army,
as our first tactic in a campaign to address the problem of this
well. 11 of us walked into the entrance of Net Sarim, passports
and hands high. We told the soldiers that our plan was to escort
the workers to the broken well, but that we wanted to inform the
soldiers in order to guarantee the safety of the workers. Not
surprisingly, they were unable to do so and referred us to the
D.O.C. They refused to give us their names or the names of any
commanding officers. We are still attempting to negotiate the
web of bureaucracy that has ensued, but do not have much hope
for this. We are willing to escort the workers, but without secured
permission, they are understandably fearful of taking this step.
We see this as a long-term campaign that will most likely outlast
our brief stay here.
