News

Despite pandemic, Israeli army shoots at water tanks in Palestinian village

B'Tselem has concluded that the shooting is deliberate, and “an illegal act of collective punishment.”

The residents of Kafr Qaddum are no strangers to Israeli military incursions in their village, which sits northwest of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank. 

For the past nine years, the residents of the village have been holding weekly demonstrations against the confiscation of their village’s land for the use of settlement expansion and the permanent closure of the main road connecting the village to Nablus. 

Nearly every week they are met with violence on part of Israeli forces, which has over the years resulted in severe injuries, disabilities, and even death. 

In recent weeks, however, Israeli forces have been practicing a new tactic of suppression in the village, one the Israeli rights group B’Tselem has slammed as “collective punishment” in a new report published Wednesday. 

Since the beginning of April, Israeli forces have been documented shooting holes into the water tanks on the rooftops of people’s homes in the village, causing hundreds of dollars worth of damage and significant loss of water resources for the community. 

According to B’Tselem, soldiers have shot and damaged 24 water tanks in the village, in some cases damaging the same water tanks multiple times over the course of a month. 

Many of the affected residents have temporarily patched up the holes in their tanks using screws and glue, but they say it’s a temporary fix that  won’t last much longer. 

Eventually, they’ll be forced to purchase new water tanks, which cost around $125 — a lot of money for most Palestinian families, especially during the COVID-19 crisis when many people do not have a steady income. 

“Now, because of the coronavirus, we have to be especially careful about cleanliness,” Assem Aqel, whose family lost more than 450 litres of water one day, said in a testimony to B’Tselem.  

“We have to shower, wash our clothes and wash our hands more often. It’s also the water we use for cooking and drinking. I don’t understand how the soldiers can be so heartless and damage water tanks like that. Water is the main source of life for every human being,” he said. 

B’Tselem has concluded that “the shooting is deliberate”, and described the damage to the tanks as “sheer abuse” and “an illegal act of collective punishment.”

“As residents now have to follow strict hygienic measures, including frequent handwashing, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, this conduct is even graver,” B’Tselem said. 

“Nevertheless, the shootings have continued unabated for several weeks. This indicates that rather than the random initiative of a particular soldier, this conduct is at least condoned by the commanders on the ground, in blatant disregard for residents’ lives and property.”

Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including the people of Kafr Qaddum, do not have consistent access to running water as a result of policies of the Israeli government, which controls the water supply in the West Bank. 

Instead, Palestinians must stock up on water during supply hours, and store their reserves in rooftop water tanks that can hold between 500-1,000 litres of water. 

Rights groups have long criticized Israel for its policies that directly result in severe water shortages for Palestinians, and a clear disparity in access to water between Palestinians living in the West Bank versus Israeli settlers. 

On average, Palestinians in the West Bank have access to 73 litres of water per day, compared to the 100 litre minimum recommended by the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, Israeli settlers have access to constant running water, and an average of 240-300 litres of water per person per day. 

3 Comments
Most Voted
Newest Oldest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Again, I must question what authors or editors are thinking here!

What, exactly, is the meaning of “despite pandemic”?

So in the absence of a contagious disease, shooting at water tanks (never mind people, etc.) is kosher? Or would the much-feared virus, joining the ranks of Palestinian resistance, paralyze the trigger finger of the USZionist snipers — but this time they managed to shoot through?

Please explain. One might offer many different theories but none seem to make sense and I would hate to lose tonight’s sleep trying to figure it out.

Important:

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/tamara-nassar/facebook-appoints-israeli-censor-oversight-board?utm_source=EI+readers&utm_campaign=b0df350534-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e802a7602d-b0df350534-290645253

“Facebook appoints Israeli censor to oversight board” The Electronic Intifada, by Tamara Nasar, 26 May, 2020

EXCERPT:

“Facebook has hired the former director-general of Israel’s justice ministry as a member of its new oversight board.

“This body will effectively determine what content to censor or permit on the social media platform.

“Emi Palmor headed the justice ministry from 2014 until she was dismissed from her post last year.

“Under her direction, the Israeli justice ministry ‘petitioned Facebook to censor legitimate speech of human rights defenders and journalists because it was deemed politically undesirable,’ Palestinian civil society groups stated this month.

“The groups condemned Facebook’s selection of Palmor, warning of her potential role in muzzling freedom of expression and censoring human rights defenders, particularly Palestinian, Arab and Muslim voices on the platform.

“The Palestine Digital Rights Coalition, the Palestinian Human Rights Organizations Council and the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network are urging Facebook to ‘consider the grave consequences that electing Emi Palmor may have particularly on Palestinian human rights defenders and on freedom of expression online in defense of Palestinian rights.'”

FOR SHAME, israel, FOR SHAME!!!