A watershed moment
During a discussion on the water shortage in Samaria, Meretz MKs Zehava Galon and Tamar Zandberg referred to a report claiming that Palestinians receive less water than Jewish Israelis; Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan vehemently refuted the claims, calling them ‘a blood libel.’
The Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee convened on Monday to discuss the current water crisis in Samaria, caused by infrastructure problems. During the discussion, a heated argument began between MKs Zehava Galon and Tamar Zandberg (both Meretz) and Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan.
The quarrel erupted after Galon claimed that according to reports, Palestinian villages receive less water than Israeli settlements. Dagan reacted by saying that Galon and those who supported such claims were “spreading lies,” and that such accusations have managed to reach international media, slandering Israel’s reputation and constituting a blood libel against the settlements.
“There is only one pool into which the water is pumped, so that when the Jewish settlements don’t have water, neither do the Arab villages, and vice versa,” responded Dagan. Referring to both Galon and Zandberg, he continued to say, “This is a democracy. You can keep spreading your lies, but what I want to stress is the truth.”
The recurring water shortages in Samaria are a well-known problem come summer, affected by several factors: the existing infrastructure becoming insufficient to meet the growing population’s demands, water theft by Palestinians and an inability to make improvements to the infrastructure due to the Palestinian Authority’s reluctance to cooperate over the matter.
During the last few weeks, the water shortage has become so serious that both Palestinian and Jewish residents in Judea and Samaria have been forced to rely on special tankards for their water needs, with some villages and settlements being cut off for hours. Heads of local councils have been meeting with MKs and ministers in an effort to find a solution to this problem.
Though the different sides have agreed to begin drilling in the Ariel region to help partially meet the need for water, a more long-term solution would require setting up a new infrastructure system, which could take longer than five years.
