To think that water occupation is oppressive?

[Gardenowl]

Till now I had read on most of the threads that Palestinians rely on water supply from Israel because they have not bothered to build their own water supply, desalination plants etc. But then one of the posters on another thread posted a link to an Amnesty article about water occupation and I was surprised reading it. Most of the article is about West Bank not Gaza.

Isn't this extremely oppressive? And to take water from your land to supply to the neighbouring country? They must feel so helpless.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/11/the-occupation-of-water/

"In November 1967 the Israeli authorities issued Military Order 158, which stated that Palestinians could not construct any new water installation without first obtaining a permit from the Israeli army. Since then, the extraction of water from any new source or the development of any new water infrastructure would require permits from Israel, which are near impossible to obtain. Palestinians living under Israel’s military occupation continue to suffer the devastating consequences of this order until today. They are unable to drill new water wells, install pumps or deepen existing wells, in addition to being denied access to the Jordan River and fresh water springs. Israel even controls the collection of rain water throughout most of the West Bank, and rainwater harvesting cisterns owned by Palestinian communities are often destroyed by the Israeli army. As a result, some 180 Palestinian communities in rural areas in the occupied West Bank have no access to running water, according to OCHA."

"While restricting Palestinian access to water, Israel has effectively developed its own water infrastructure and water network in the West Bank for the use of its own citizens in Israel and in the settlements – that are illegal under international law. The Israeli state-owned water company Mekorot has systematically sunk wells and tapped springs in the occupied West Bank to supply its population, including those living in illegal settlements with water for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes. While Mekorot sells some water to Palestinian water utilities, the amount is determined by the Israeli authorities. As a result of continuous restrictions, many Palestinian communities in the West Bank have no choice but to purchase water brought in by trucks at a much high prices ranging from 4 to 10 USD per cubic metre. In some of the poorest communities, water expenses can, at times, make up half of a family’s monthly income.
The Israeli authorities also restrict Palestinians’ access to water by denying or restricting their access to large parts of the West Bank. Many parts of the West Bank have been declared “closed military areas”, which Palestinians may not enter, because they are close to Israeli settlements, close to roads used by Israeli settlers, used for Israeli military training or protected nature reserves.
Israeli settlers living alongside Palestinians in the West Bank – in some cases just a few hundred meters away – face no such restrictions and water shortages, and can enjoy and capitalize on well-irrigated farmlands and swimming pools."

Did you read the article or the thread at all? Have you been specifically employed to spread disinformation and have a limited repertoire of responses to everything?

Read the article and understand how some Palestinian households spend half their monthly income to buy the expensive water that Israel sells.

If Gazans wish to be as rich and thriving as Israel…

Ha ha, you’re funny. Israel is the biggest recipient of funds from the US worldwide. The US has given them billions. They certainly didn’t achieve their richness by themselves.

Why don't Israel let water from the West Bank go to Gaza?

Kind of undermines the apartheid state claim though.
My civil service boss in israel was a Muslim Arab.
When I have birth in Israel, my obstetrician was a Muslim Arab
My university lecturer was a Muslim Arab.
My uni class mates included Muslim Arabs.
Half the pharamcists in Israel are Arab.
An Arab judge jailed the ex president

Check with Yosef Haddad how he feels as an israeli Arab.

The military occupation of the west bank is different and I,.as an israeli citizen, oppose it.
But Israel itself, despite the problems, is not an apartheid stage.

How do you recommend that is done exactly?

Us gives israel MILITARY aid. It does not give them any other type of aid.
Yep, israel is rich and thriving all on its own. You know, things like Hitech and pharmaceuticals. Sorry if that disappoints you 🤗

I honestly can't express how gross your posts are coming across.

Ad hominem attacks are par for the course when you have nothing else to say, twas always thus.

I mean I found your posts pretty uninformed and dumb but having facts to hand I responded to the points made without throwing out insults.

I knew I'd be misinterpreted. I was not saying I agree with the Israeli response but asking people to stretch their imagination and empathy to the reality of the situation if you were in it. I said already I've always felt sympathy and solidarity with the palestinian people BUT imagine the atrocities recently unleashed by hamas happening here and then the rest of the world saying oh it's your fault, just open the borders etc. Would you open the borders to a place that has just demonstrated what it is capable of doing to anyone in your state who they happen to come across given the chance? Regardless of whose fault it is on a grand scale justice balance would you want to open the borders to a place that has elected such monsters to lead them? You have to be realistic about human nature.

Surely these actions of hamas give people a bit of an insight into why Israelis don't want open borders with Gaza? You can obviously list a million things Israel have done wrong and have huge sympathy for Palestinians yet simultaneously understand why your average Israeli doesn't want the kind of barbarism we've just seen unleashed on them?

Also surely people can understand that you're not obliged to provide water and fuel to people who want to kill you in your beds?

There is nothing to say to someone like you. I could throw all the evidence in the world your way and you would never acknowledge it 🤷‍♀️

@swallowedAfly
Exactly. They could have focused on building up Gaza after israel withdrew. Demonstrated what the future Palestinian state would look like. Well, they've demonstrated to Israelis what awaits them if they control the west bank too. Any dreams of a Palestinian state are even further away than they were before.

Like what is happening to Palestinian villages in the West Bank?

I don't know. I have actually lived, and will live again, in this region of the world and maybe that changes things a bit. I love the culture in that region in many ways but am also horrified by some aspects such as, for example, the complete disbelief in rape and utter conviction that any woman who is out enjoying herself was clearly asking for it even in relatively moderate middle eastern nations when you really get people talking and being honest. No sane woman would go to the police if she was raped because she's likely to get worse at the police station.

Whether their own or their parents and grandparents or Britain's fault people find themselves loathed and hated and seen as fair game for rape, murder and parading naked through the streets to the cheers of the crowd. You have to be realistic about what you can expect those people to be open to in those circumstances.

Someone like me? Hmm, interesting assertion there. Still the ad hominem, persohal attacks.
I won't make any cogent points since you wouldn't even understand them 🙄
People like you 🙄(aka people who don't agree with you, i assume?)

Genuinely, no. I can never, ever imagine thinking that controlling the lives of 2.2billion people was the solution to anything. I can't imagine living a lovely life knowing right next door there are 2.2billion people, 1 million children that my country is collectively punishing. That in itself is barbaric. I just can't imagine living a lovely life in y country and being cool with knowing that I am contributing towards that. Like what was their plan? Keep them locked up forever? I honestly I just cannot ever fathom being that cruel.

Israel is the biggest recipient of financial aid from the US since WW2. Currently they spend most of it on the military but from 1971 to 1997 they received significant economic assistance.

Where are you referring to?

In which Palestinian village have women been kidnapped, raped and paraded around the streets to be spat upon?
(Presumably you mean by Israelis, not the honour killing stuff)

Oh my goodness. 'Those people', who are those people?

This kind of right/wrong, black/white, simple thinking and ideas just doesn't work on the ground. People will want to defend themselves from people who hate them regardless of whose fault it is.

If my daughter had been kidnapped, raped and murdered and I knew about it because a video had been released of her naked corpse being driven through the streets with the crowds cheering allah akbhar at the site of her desicrated body what would I want?

And yes you can say what about the Palestinians who have seen their children killed by air strikes etc too.

There's no simple black and white solution to the profound amount of harm and trauma people have experienced on either side.

Those people, in my post, clearly refers to Israelis but I suspect you're suggesting I'm referring to Palestinians and dehumanising them?

@Meshigenus The UN and many NGOs still regard Gaza as occupied. Even though Israel renounced control in 2005, they have maintained control over its airspace, borders, electricity and water. Imagine if, say, France controlled all of the UK’s airspace, borders, electricity and water - is that freedom?

Human rights organizations have documented the alleged rapes of Palestinian women in detention centres, along with sexual abuse of boys and sodomy of men by IDF and local police.
Is there an actual verified source for these raped and paraded around women? The 'beheaded babies' claim had no evidence, and was later retracted by the White House.

No of course it's not but if the UK had elected a terrorist group sponsored by a state whose parliament stands up and chants 'death to france' would you really blame France for wanting control over our air space?

@swallowedAfly Hamas was elected the following year. Israel has already set its terms by then. Perhaps the disingenuous withdrawal is what made people vote for Hamas (I don’t know if that is the case but it would certainly make sense).