Water apartheid is a daily reality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. But Scotland is not free from complicity in this. As the Scottish Green Party raises a motion in Parliament urging the Government to withdraw subsidies to Eden Springs UK, Tariq Al-Bazz charts the link between this Scottish water company and its Israeli parent company which sources its water on illegally occupied territory on the West Bank.
In Scotland we have it pretty good as far as water is concerned. There’s loads of it, and we can even afford to sell some to our poor neighbours down south. But what if those neighbours chose to bomb our cities, invade our country and proceed to surround all our population centres with settlements guarded by heavily armed troops? What if they poured lots of money into these settlements, gave settlers loads of privileges, and commandeered our water for themselves? “It couldn’t happen here”, you might say. Everyone has an equal right to water – even if we do have to pay for it. That’s what the people of Palestine thought before they were hounded out of their land and occupied by the state of Israel. Water apartheid is now a daily reality for Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank.
The facts speak for themselves. Israelis use three times as much water as Palestinians. Palestinian water usage barely reaches the minimum daily standard of 100 litres per person per day as defined by the World Health Organisation. Israel exerts strict control over water availability, and ensures that its own population is plentifully supplied with water, whilst restricting that provided to Palestinians.
Water is legally defined as (Israeli) public property. As such a permit is required to drill new wells or fix existing ones. Permits go through eighteen stages of approval in various administrative departments. Furthermore, quotas limit the drawing of water from each well. In many cases, Palestinians are deprived of access to water resources by being deprived of access to their land in general. Israeli land grabs are frequently carried out by establishing military areas on natural reserves, especially in the Jordan Valley.
Israel also makes no effort to maintain the water system. Neglect of infra-structure is a deliberate Israeli policy which also goes well beyond the water sector. The amount of public expenditure in the Territories in all fields is less than the fiscal revenues that Israel collects from the Palestinian population.
In addition to not authorizing construction of new water networks and repeatedly rejecting requests to be connected to existing networks, the Israeli Civil Administration often destroys or confiscates the modest structures that Palestinians build to collect water. Through settlements and Mekerot, (the state water company), Israel damages existing Palestinian access to water by drilling deeper, more advanced wells in close proximity to Palestinian wells or streams, causing a reduction in the yield of Palestinian water sources.
The extreme water crisis felt by Palestinians is only magnified by the blatant overuse of water in nearby Israeli settlements. As mentioned above, the average Israeli consumes up to 350 litres of water each day, Israeli settlers typically consume even more, despite living among a majority Palestinian population denied proper access to water.
In the Jordan Valley, for example, there are 56,000 Palestinians and 9,400 settlers. Settlers use six times more water than Palestinians. This discrepancy in water allocation is particularly brutal in the hot summer months when Israeli settlements are provided with an uninterrupted flow of water while Palestinians are often cut off from the pumps.
All this colonial domination by Israel flies in the face of international law and human rights.
According to the Israeli human rights organisation, B’Tselem “Article 55 of the Hague Regulations limits the right of occupying states to utilize the water sources of occupied territory. The use is limited to military needs and may not exceed past use. Use of groundwater of the Occupied Territories in the settlements does not meet these criteria and therefore breaches article 55.”
But what relevance does all this have to us in Scotland? Well, it seems that the Scottish Government has been complicit in supporting water apartheid in Israel. In October last year the Government announced the award of a £156,000 grant to Eden Springs UK. Eden Springs is the largest provider of water coolers to workplaces and offices in Scotland. It supplies drinking water to most Scottish Health Boards, to a large number of Scottish Councils, Universities, Colleges, and office complexes. The Scottish Enterprise Grant followed a meeting in January 2010, between John Swinney, then Cabinet Secretary for Finance & Sustainable Growth, and the UK Managing Director of Eden Springs.
Eden Springs UK is a subsidiary of Eden Springs Ltd of Israel. This company extracts water from the Salukia spring in the Golan Heights, where it also has a bottling plant. The Golan Heights is part of Israel’s colonialist expansion in the Middle East. It is Syrian Territory illegally occupied by Israel since June 1967. The UN condemns Israel’s actions in illegally occupying the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights and in Security Council resolution 242 emphasised “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” and affirmed that a just and lasting peace can only be established when there is a “withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied”. In effect, Eden Springs is stealing water from the Golan Heights.
Of course Eden Springs UK does not itself source its water from the Golan. Its main depot is in Blantyre, although it has other sites in Inverness, Aberdeen, & Dundee. However, this is part of an international company whose complicity with water apartheid in Palestine is well established. Alex Salmond has said in the past “you can’t have normal relationships if you believe another country has been involved in what Israel has been involved in”. I agree with him and ask therefore that his administration withdraws its support from an organisation that is complicit in Israeli apartheid. It is time that the Scottish Government acted on its principles and withdrew its grant to Eden Springs.
#1 by Mick Napier on August 6, 2012 - 3:40 pm
I have personally visited a tiny school for Bedouin children in the Jordan
valley, with a small stream running behind it which formed a pool in one
place.
Jewish settlers come to use the pool every Saturday. The children and
teachers are banned from using the water in the stream at any time under
threat of harsh punishment from the Israeli military regime there (known as
the ‘Civil Administration’).
The water apartheid system Israel enforces throughout the area it illegally
occupied will horrify anyone who becomes aware of the basic facts. The aim
is to drive out the parched Palestinians to make way for Jewish-only
settlements under Israeli military control.
#2 by Alec on August 6, 2012 - 5:26 pm
The SPSC has… well, lied really is the only word to describe contracts awarded to Eden Springs before (a copy of the source article, including the pointless embellishment that CalMac is the only ferry provider between the Scottish mainland and various islands is here):
~alec
#3 by James on August 6, 2012 - 5:39 pm
Without getting into the wider rights and wrongs, a newspaper that doesn’t even quote the other side of the argument is probably not terribly convincing. Also, the public sector doesn’t officially boycott unless sanctions are imposed, as far as I know, so it would make sense to say “oh well, the contract lapsed” in some situations.
#4 by Alec on August 6, 2012 - 6:20 pm
With respect, James, the only side of the argument relevant there was whether or not East Lothian Council and other public bodies cancelled contracts with Eden due to pressure from the SPSC and admitted to doing so.
They didn’t.
Those contracts which did end did so naturally (even then, public bodies were being pressured to cut-back on expenses such as
ponceyunnecessary bottled water in a country with perfectly adequate on-tap supplies) or when Eden Springs itself withdrew from that part of Scotland. .Add to that the ferries which, even if CalMac were the only provider, didn’t have much bottled water onship.
It was the SPSC which appropriated an unconnected event and presented it as relevant to their campaign.
As such, I take any claims pertaining to Eden Springs with a pinch of salt (including the relevance of any Israeli operations by it or its parent company).
There currently is a drought in the entire region, and the above photograph of Ma’ale Adunim pool was taken several years ago. Furthermore, it is part of a major conurbation in and around J’slem, whereas Jiftlik is to the north east on the Jordanian border.
~alec
#5 by Alec on August 6, 2012 - 7:32 pm
As attributed to Salmond:
I’m prepared to believe a lot of unflattering things about Salmond, but the only sources I can find online for this are pieces by Napier.
If Salmond did say it, I’ll concede the point. Then ask why he’s able to take a considered approach when it comes to trade with China.
~alec
#6 by Mick Napier on August 6, 2012 - 11:03 pm
Alec parrotts earlier Zionist accusations about SPSC inflating claims of boycott successes. The Zionist claims are disproven by the letter from Eden Springs to Scottish Enterprise complaining that “Eden Springs UK is being targetted by the Scottish P{alestine Solidarity Campaign” and that this boycott campaign “is threatening the future of Eden Springs UK”.
The previous allegations of manufacturing boycott successes would seem to be refuted.
As anyone knows who is familiar with the subject, many institutions go in for “silent boycott” rather than take a public stand for human rights and face sanctions from pro-Zionist or UK state authorities.
I suggest Alec write to Alex Salmond and ask him if he uttered the words attributed to him, words which are a credit to him, though Alec seems to deprecate support for the Palestinian appeal for boycott. What did he or his father do when others were opposing South African apartheid?
Or look here, Alec: http://bit.ly/atFJr1 then concede the accuracy of SPSC materials.
#7 by James on August 6, 2012 - 11:38 pm
It does seem unlikely that the Jewish Chronicle would make that up.
#8 by Alec on August 7, 2012 - 12:32 am
James, is that an admission that the J-Post article is an accurate portrayal of events?
No, Nick. I said I would concede the point if shown otherwise. I will. Now I’ll return to my question of why he’s able to tolerate trade with China, and add to that the observation that friendly countries most certainly do use fake passports for espionage purposes (including his own).
Got a link for that? Apart from this one, which is a collection of facts (some of which are password protected). Facts, as we know, can be used to mean anything when cited in isolation.
As the JC is considered a trustworthy source, were they lying when they reported you’d fibbed about the Leith Festival?
As for your casual use ‘Zionist’ as a term for all that is foul and base, d’you still view the point blank shooting of unarmed religious students as legitimate resistance? And doing so in starkly contemptuous terms towards Jews (including the ugly “Jewish supremacism” which I only… and I mean only… ever heard from Far Right sources, such as Radio Islam which you’ve removed from the references).
Will you stage the Stalin-era antisemitic play Perdition on Holocaust Memorial Day again?
Now back onto the title piece. Res 242 does not call for the unilateral and complete withdrawal from the territories taken in 1967. It simply refers to territories (note the absence of the definite article). The quoted “the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war” comes from the preamble, not the body of the resolution.
Israel already has withdrawn from those parts of the Golan Heights she was unequivocally required to relinquish.
I have my doubts about the photograph of the ‘reservoir’ at Jiftlik as well. How many agricultural reservoirs have you seen which are built above ground level with walls only a couple of metres in height, surface with a gradient, pipes leading into it (but opening halfway up the wall), decorated inside and steps leading down to the interior, and of a similar area to a swimming pool?
I’m going out on a limb and suggesting it’s a private swimming pool. At the very least, you should confirm when the photograph was taken.
~alec
#9 by Mick Napier on August 7, 2012 - 12:57 pm
Alec is just another Zionist trying to change the subject and defend Israeli apartheid , including water apartheid, meticulously detailed by Amnesty, example: http://bit.ly/QAskoD
Also http://bit.ly/QAskoD
The JP is a pro-illegal settler publication that even denied that Eden Springs had closed its Loanhead depot. Don’t ask me to prove it’s closed, Alec – check it yourself.
Salmond’s words were spoken on Question Time – the quotes given by the JC and SPSC are reliable. Your skepticism is mere childish denial. Time to concede.
The Eden Springs letter is here, again easily retrievable from SPSC website http://bit.ly/Mh1hOq Smoking gun.
The Leith Festival dumped Veolia – silent boycott. I know the people involved. I know what happened, the fights on the Festival Committee before it was decided to dump Veolia. It was ‘boycott, silent’
Alec reveals himself by recycling standard dishonest Zionist claims long since disproved to the satisfaction of scores of MPs. http://bit.ly/MtpG4H
His efforts to confate hostility to genocidal Jewish settlers in Palestine with antipathy to Jews generally is past its sell-by date. People know the difference between hostility to Al Capone and all Italians.
Jewish supremacism in Israel/Palestine is an undeniable fact, an apartheid system that privileges Jews there from birth to death over non-Jews. Jews and Palestinians, for example, are subject to two distinct and unequal legal codes across the West Bank.
I use the term ‘Zionist’ to describe anyone who supports the project to disposses native Palestinians to make way for Jewish colonisation of Israel/Palestine.
The article here on Water Apartheid by Tari Al Bazz is based on incontrovertible facts, easily checked. Alec’s attempts to change the subject are familiar to anyone who raises issues of Palestinian human rights, including the right to adequate water. He is ‘defending’ a truly disgusting system of apartheid.
#10 by Tariq al-Bazz on August 9, 2012 - 9:08 am
What a pity that discussion on this piece had to degenerate into a familiar tussle between an Israeli apologist and the SPSC. Shame that Palestinian affairs can’t get a poper discursive airing on a blog like this.
The basic aim of the piece was to draw attention to the discrepency between word and deed within the Scottish Government. It is not at all clear where the government stands on Palestine, and the Eden Springs grant suggests double standards. Not that the other parties are any clearer. Only the Greens have shown some sense of employing ethical standards in foreign policy issues. Their motion S4M-02992 urging the Scottish Government to end its grant to Eden Springs and not to deal with any company considered to be in breach of international law interestingly has the support of two SNP MSP’s. But where do the other parties stand on this issue. Are they to be as opportunist on Palestine/Israel as they have been in the past,or is a new Scotland going produce a new and real ethical foreign policy ?
Tariq