Uploaded December 2010 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
A film offers a devastating portrait of Israel's stranglehold over Palestinian water resources.
"The simple figures are stark enough. The three million Palestinians who live in the West Bank only have access to 15 per cent of the water contained in the aquifers beneath their territory. And of that, they have to buy half from Mekerot, the Israeli national water company. The remaining 85 per cent goes to keep six million Israelis in the comfort to which they have become accustomed. So, in effect, it is Israel which controls how much, and when, the Palestinians can drink. The result is one of the least well-known, and most devastating dimensions of the last four decades of military occupation.
The consequences in terms of underdevelopment, health, hygiene, and daily humiliation, are graphically illustrated in a new documentary film by Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker Rima Essa and former Al-Ahram Weekly journalist Peter Snowdon. Drying up Palestine was made for Ramallah-based NGO House of Water and Environment, and is composed almost entirely of first-person testimony, as ordinary people describe and demonstrate the inconvenience and indignity which Israel's water imperialism inflicts upon them."
Read More: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/892/re82.htm
Drying up Palestine: dryinguppalestine.org
The full documentary is available at The House of Water and Environment (HWE): http://www.hwe.org.ps/Vedio/Vedios.aspx
A film offers a devastating portrait of Israel's stranglehold over Palestinian water resources.
"The simple figures are stark enough. The three million Palestinians who live in the West Bank only have access to 15 per cent of the water contained in the aquifers beneath their territory. And of that, they have to buy half from Mekerot, the Israeli national water company. The remaining 85 per cent goes to keep six million Israelis in the comfort to which they have become accustomed. So, in effect, it is Israel which controls how much, and when, the Palestinians can drink. The result is one of the least well-known, and most devastating dimensions of the last four decades of military occupation.
The consequences in terms of underdevelopment, health, hygiene, and daily humiliation, are graphically illustrated in a new documentary film by Palestinian-Israeli filmmaker Rima Essa and former Al-Ahram Weekly journalist Peter Snowdon. Drying up Palestine was made for Ramallah-based NGO House of Water and Environment, and is composed almost entirely of first-person testimony, as ordinary people describe and demonstrate the inconvenience and indignity which Israel's water imperialism inflicts upon them."
Read More: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/892/re82.htm
Drying up Palestine: dryinguppalestine.org
The full documentary is available at The House of Water and Environment (HWE): http://www.hwe.org.ps/Vedio/Vedios.aspx
