After a seasonal rainstorm Saturday night, many Palestinian areas have
experienced extensive flooding due to the Annexation Wall constructed
by Israel that has blocked water drainage.
Iad Salamah Rabi’a, 29, was killed and his brother Ra’ed Rabe’a, 40, was injured when both were carried away by floodwater in the village of Kherbitha near Ramallah.
The rainwater also flooded hundreds of acres of Palestinian farmland in the village of Wadi Beit Omin, south of Qalqilia in the northern West Bank.
The Israeli Annexation Wall acted as a ‘dam’, blocking water from draining, as the walls are made of concrete, without drainage.
Since 2002, environmental groups and municipal authorities have warned about the problem of drainage caused by the Wall, which has previously caused sewage to backup onto people’s homes in the city of Qalqilia.
Eyewitnesses said that citizens of Kherbitha village called the Palestinian Police to ask them to contact the Israeli side to open water passages in the area to avoid more losses in their fields which were covered by the water.
