Posts Tagged ‘water’
Wadi Fuqeen: Valleys of Hope and Despair
November 15th, 2010 • Awareness, Film & Documentary
Tags: occupied, settlement, The Friends of Wadi Fuqeen, wadi fuqeen, water, west bank
Al Jazeera’s documentary series, Witness, highlights the crisis in Wadi Fuqeen.
from Friends of Wadi Fuqeen: “This is a film about our adopted village of Wadi Fuqeen, its link with people in the Israeli town of Tsur Hadassah and their struggle against pollution. The villagers work closely with people from Tsur Hadassah to try to win peace for the whole community.”
Witness – Valleys of Hope and Despair
The battle over access to clean water sources is ongoing across the West Bank, with illegal Israeli settlements frequently blocking access and polluting Palestinian farmers’ irrigation.
But in the valley of Wadi Fukin, Palestinian and Israeli villagers work together on projects to preserve water supplies and protect their local environment. This cooperation is exceptional in the region, but the huge gains both sides have made are now threatened.
The separation wall is approaching and will physically divide the communities, putting an end to their collaboration and adversely affecting local water sources.
Local farmer Abu Mazen, some of his neighbours and their Israeli counterparts took the authorities to court to halt the construction of the wall. This timely film looks at an issue of crucial importance to both Palestinians and Israelis and sets the context to the villagers’ legal fight.
The story of how Palestinians and Israelis in one West Bank village are working together to preserve water supplies.
Besieged Gaza Denied Water
April 28th, 2010 • Awareness, News
Tags: blockade, gaza, siege, water
Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip has brought immense sufferings to Palestinians living in the coastal territory. The siege even impedes the supply of water, the most basic need for human survival.
Now – 80 per cent of Gazans lack access to clean water.
The head of Gaza’s water authority says he has plans and the means to import water from other countries until self-dependency is reached, but Israel’s blockade is the only thing in the way.
River Jordan: A Thirst for Peace?
April 10th, 2010 • Awareness, News
Tags: drought, magazine, national geographic, river jordan, water
Measuring sticks at the Ziglab Dam in Jordan.
National Geographic’s recent ‘Water’ issue highlighted the River Jordan as a possible cause through which a path to peace could be found…
National Geographic "Water" issue
A source of conflict between Israel and its neighbors for decades, the Jordan River is now depleted by drought, pollution, and overuse. Could the fight to save it forge a path toward peace?
For a biblical stream whose name evokes divine tranquillity, the Jordan River is nobody’s idea of peace on Earth. From its rowdy headwaters near the war-scarred slopes of Mount Hermon to the foamy, coffee-colored sludge at the Dead Sea some 200 miles downstream, the Jordan is fighting for survival in a tough neighborhood—the kind of place where nations might spike the riverbank with land mines, or go to war over a sandbar. Water has always been precious in this arid region, but a six-year drought and expanding population conspire to make it a fresh source of conflict among the Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians vying for the river’s life-giving supply.
All of which makes the scene one morning last July all the more remarkable. Accompanied by military escort, three scientists—an Israeli, a Palestinian, and a Jordanian—are standing knee-deep in the Jordan River. They are nearly 40 miles south of the Sea of Galilee, under the precarious ruins of a bridge that was bombed during the Six Day War of June 1967. The scientists are surveying the river for Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME), a regional NGO dedicated to building peace through environmental stewardship. It’s a scorching hot day in a former war zone, but if these men are concerned about the danger of heat stroke, getting clonked by a chunk of falling concrete, or stepping on a mine washed downstream by a flood, they’re hiding it well.
Read the rest at National Geographic…
Don’t miss the stunning imagery and animated map accompanying the article:
URGENT! Wadi Fuqeen Village Under Curfew
February 23rd, 2010 • Action, Awareness, News
Tags: curfew, irrigation, settlement, sewage, village, wadi fuqeen, water
We urge all members to contact their MPs or MEPs about Wadi Fuqeen – use our directory for contact information…
“Curfew in Husan leaves Wadi Fuqeen without access to Bethlehem plus freshwater springs and 2,000 year old irrigation system under threat.”
Two evenings ago, villagers in Wadi Fuqeen were alarmed to hear the sounds of trouble with the Israelis in the nearby village of Husan, which lies slightly to the east. A curfew was immediately imposed upon it. This means that the Wadi Fuqeen will be isolated for few days as well because villagers can only gain access to Bethlehem if they go through Husan. This is the reality caused by the winding path of the separation barrier and many so called ‘security measures’ imposed by the Israelis.
In any case, Israeli jeeps have now begun to patrol the village of Wadi Fuqeen on a regular basis. ‘Flying’ checkpoints have also begun to appear at the entrance to the village – both during the day and overnight.
Two weeks ago three workers from the district of Hebron were beaten by the Israeli soldiers in an area to the northeast of the village while trying to sneak through into Israel in order to find work. They were later admitted to Beit Jala hospital.
The separation wall is not yet fully in place around Wadi Fuqeen. The route of the wall is subject to a legal challenge and this has somewhat delayed its building, although many of its footings are already in place. The village is therefore a favourite route for those impoverished Palestinians desperate to find illegal work in Israel. They try to slip through without being seen by the Israeli patrols.
Looking at longer term developments, Wadi Fuqeen is facing a worrying situation in relation to its water sources. Something is drastically affecting the water table. Local springs that held water just a couple of years ago are now dry, leaving the fields around them suddenly barren. The village’s 2,000 year old agricultural system of wells and terracing is now under threat.
For further in-depth information on this extremely worrying development, please visit the Wadi Fuqeen Village website… – In addition to the above update, there is lots of background information on the website that will help with letter-writing.
In particular, the problem with the water sources and the problem of the sewage spillages from the illegal settlement of Beitar Illit need highlighting. Read more: The Settlers Next Door: Notes from Wadi Fukin & watch this video:
