‘We have to cut back on everything’: Palestinian farmers in West Bank say water is in short supply

On the outskirts of Ramallah, Palestinian farmer Youssef Shraiteh relies on water for cultivation and for his family’s daily needs at home.

His 120-acre plot of farmland has a spring that the village has relied on for years, he said. Up to 60 family members used to grow vegetables, olives, citrus, and all sorts of other fruits on the land. And 30 years ago, the village was connected to a main water system. 

But the water supply is erratic, he said. 

“Sometimes the pipeline is only open one day every two weeks. And in the summer, every month or two, we experience pain.” 

As Israel’s war in Gaza continues, its impact on the lives of Palestinians like Shraiteh, in the occupied territories of the West Bank, can be felt acutely in terms of water access.

The moment you cross into the West Bank from Israel, giant plastic storage tanks become visible on the horizon — they’re dotted across the rooftops of single homes, apartment buildings, and commercial real estate. 

These tanks are filled with water — black for hot and white for cool — because access to the fundamental resource has become unreliable. 

“Unfortunately,” Shraiteh said, “those black tanks mean our lives in this country are dark. For generations, our families have suffered under Israeli occupation.” 

For Shraiteh’s daughter Izdihar, the shortages impact all aspects of their lives.

“It means we have to cut back on everything — showering, cooking, cleaning the house.”

That irregularity falls on the Palestinian Authority, which purchases water from Mekorot, Israel’s national water company. But according to Amnesty International, it’s Israel that determines how much it will sell to Palestinian water utilities.

Not long after Oct. 7 last year, Shraiteh said he went to water his farm and was threatened at gunpoint by Israelis living in a nearby settlement who told him not to come back.

They blocked the road with rocks and dirt and put up a gate, he said. For the last six months, he has not returned to his farm. 

“My life is there. It’s my existence,” he said. “I don’t know why they did this.”

Sources in the Israeli Civil Administration, Israel’s governing body that operates in the West Bank, speaking off the record told The World that Palestinians are exaggerating such claims.

They also said that Israel supplies water to the Palestinian Authority, but after that, it’s their responsibility to deliver it fairly.

Abdelrahman al-Tamimi is the director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group for Water and Environmental Resources Development in downtown Ramallah. 

He said he’s well aware of the pressure that has been brought by Israeli authorities on Palestinians in the West Bank since Oct. 7, specifically when it comes to water. 

He said some of the blame goes to the Palestinian Authority for not attending to the needs of its people.

“First of all we need real estate, democratic state, transparent state, and in my opinion Palestinian Authority failed to play this role, that’s why the election is the only solution to have a good government, transparent authority, and good governance,” Tamimi said. 

As for Israel, Tamimi thinks the internationally recognized borders – the Green Line – should not dictate the environmental reality. 

“Water can be a conflict factor, but [it] also can be a cooperation factor if there is a good will. Because God doesn’t recognize the so-called Green Line. The water comes from the sky to the Palestinian mountains, underground flows to Israeli mountains, the water comes from Israel to Gaza,” Tamimi said. 

From the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, there is one hydrologic basin, he pointed out. “Unfortunately the Israelis want to see that whole area under their control,” Tamimi said. 

Tamimi said the hope is slim that water can be a cooperative factor at the moment. 

“No Palestinian farmer will accept seeing his fruits and his plants drying up while the settlers have swimming pools. This is racism, totally racism,” he said. 

Those black and white water tanks carry a painful symbolism in this particular water crisis. It leaves one with the sense that compromise between both sides is still out of reach.