The Palestinian people have been suffering due to a drastic cut-off of water from Israel's Mekorot water company, a 100% government owned organization. According to Haaretz, the Salfit region in the West Bank and three villages east of Nablus have had no access to running water for over two weeks. Their factories have been shut down, agriculture is ruined and animals have either died or been sold to regions with running water.

These region's only access to water has been from agricultural wells, paying for mineral water or from nonprofits who have come to aid the region such as USAID and ANERA.

The Palestinian Water Authority have stated that the Mekorot water officials said the supply cuts were going to last the entire summer. Haaretz sources said that "there is a water shortage and everything must be done to assure that the local reservoirs in the settlements stay full so that the necessary pressure can be maintained to stream the water through pipelines leading to other settlements and Palestinian communities".

There seems to be two sides to the story, as Israeli officials state they cannot send the settlements an increase in water because their old pipes will not support the water transfers.

But the Palestinian Water Authority officials deny these allegations, stating that the pipes do not need to be upgraded. USAID, for example, just finished the new pipeline in Deir Sha'ar to serve the population in Hebron and Bethlehem." He states that if Israel increased their pumping rate from this pipeline, more than half a million Palestinians would receive the necessary water supplies.

Why does Israel control Palestine's water?

The 1995 Oslo II Accords established agreements on the Western Aquifer Basin that included licensing of wells and changes in water allocations. Currently, the basin is being slowly depleted. Israel controls 100% of the aquifer and extracts 94% of its water, while the Palestinians only get 6%.