Middle East Monitor / July 6, 2022
Israeli forces destroyed water pipelines today in the village of Duma, in the occupied West Bank to the south of Nablus, Wafa has reported. The destruction is seen as being part of the apartheid state’s efforts to control all water sources in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The head of the local council in Duma, Suleiman Dawabsheh, said that Israeli occupation forces escorted a bulldozer to the local spring and demolished the water infrastructure that the village council had set up, along with the fence that was built around it.
He added that this was the main water supply used by local Palestinians for their cattle. Moreover, he pointed out that the village has already been suffering from serious water shortages due to Israel’s ongoing destruction of Palestinian land and infrastructure in the occupied territories. An effort by the council to have such destruction stopped by an Israeli court was to no avail, said the local official.
Israel violates international law by destroying and pillaging water resources in occupied Palestine. It then uses stolen water to increase the supply to illegal Israeli settlements, which have a much higher demand and consumption rate. The state discriminates blatantly by not boosting or even protecting water supplies to Palestinian communities.
Dawabsheh noted that Israel’s restrictions force Palestinians to buy water directly from the occupation state, even as it prevents them from constructing their own wells or engaging in other projects to enhance access to fresh water.
Like hundreds of other Palestinian towns and villages in the West Bank, Duma is located in “Area C” according to the Oslo Accords, putting it under full Israeli military and administrative control.
