West Bank springs, heritage sites at centre of growing water access dispute
Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank say settler seizures of springs and heritage sites are cutting off water for farming and tourism.
Natural springs and ancient stone pools across the occupied West Bank, long a refuge from the summer heat, are increasingly beyond the reach of Palestinian communities that depend on them for irrigation and tourism, as settlers press ahead with efforts to take over the sites.
In one case this summer, water from a spring serving the Palestinian village of Fasayil was diverted without authorisation to fill an ancient pool nearby. Settlers declared the pool a new tourist attraction named after Herod, the Roman-appointed king of Judea. The site lies in Area C, which is under full Israeli military control under 1990s agreements, and the land was privately owned, according to research by Dror Etkes of the settlement watchdog group Kerem Navot.
COGAT, the Israeli military body that oversees civil affairs in the West Bank, acknowledged the diversion was carried out "without authorization" and said it would investigate.
In al-Auja, in the Jordan Valley, the seizure of local springs has pushed some Palestinian farmers off their land. Murad al-Juba, 53, said he once grew watermelons, cantaloupes, potatoes, eggplants, tomatoes, peppers and pumpkins, and traders carried the produce to Gaza, Hebron, Nablus, Tulkarm and into Israel. After settlers encroached, harassing residents and diverting spring water, he said he has been unable to plant. "There is no water for agriculture," he said.
Hani al-Njoum, the mayor of al-Auja, said settlers had "completely taken over" the spring's waterfall, expelling residents and turning the area into what he described as a quasi-military zone where visitors risk harassment, pursuit or violence. He said the takeover has been devastating for local tourism and farming.
Mohammed Ishaq, a sheep herder displaced from the al-Auja Bedouin community, said the financial toll was secondary. "We lost in Ein al-Auja the gold dust that is the land and water," he said, adding that money can be recovered but land, place and memory cannot.
Younes Arar, director of the Palestinian Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission, said the Jordan Valley holds one of the region's largest water reserves, containing roughly 170 million cubic metres. He argued that blocking Palestinians from water is a major tactic used to drive farmers and residents out of al-Auja.
The contest over water in this fertile strip reflects a wider struggle for control of the West Bank, and particularly the Jordan Valley, which Palestinians regard as the breadbasket of a hoped-for future state and Israelis see as key to their security.