Cistern. cc: wikipedia
Last week, on the “Universal Water Day” we participated in a protest against the destruction of Palestinian’s cisterns. We, together with St. Eve and other organizations called on the Supreme Court not to allow the destruction of the rain water reservoirs in Area C in the West Bank.
Destruction of cisterns and reservoirs abuses the basic rights of the Palestinian villages that are not connected to the water network. The right to water is based on basic Jewish moral principle regarding how to treat a stranger ( even enemies: Proverbls: “if he be thirsty (your enemy), give him water to drink”) and also based on the international law. Since 2010 there has been a great increase in the destruction of cisterns and reservoirs.
A Great Increase in Cistern Destruction
Many of the water reservoirs in area C are considered illegal because it is almost impossible for Palestinians in the West Bank to receive planning permits. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the goal is to evict Palestinians from the villages to the big towns in order to to reduce their lands and even to push them out from area C that is under the control of Israel. Many rural Palestinian communities depend on the reservoirs to live and will not be able to survive without them.
Our representative in this event was Adv. Neta Amar-Shif, who was from the leaders of the petition we submitted a few months ago demanding to return the Palestinians planning authority in area C, and among other things, to prevent the destruction of the rain water reservoirs.
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