Israeli Infrastructure Minister, Uzi Landau, threatened that Israeli would cut water supplies if the Palestinians do not install water treatment plants. His statement disregard the fact that Israel is not allowing the Palestinians to built water treatment facilities. Landau stated that “while Israel gives the Palestinians clean water, they destroy nature”, and described the Palestinians as “wicked people”.
In 2009, the Israeli Information Center For Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, B’Tselem, published a joint study with the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority
Environment Unit and Israel’s Environmental Protection agency, revealing that only 81 Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are connected to wastewater treatment facilities.
This issue leads to dumping 5.5 cm of raw wastewater into the valleys and streams of the West Bank.
But Landau insists that nearly %70 of settlements wastewater is treated comparing to only %5 of wastewater from the Palestinian territories.
B’Tselem stated that Israel did not build any advanced wastewater treatment plants in West Bank settlement comparing to advanced plants in Israel.
B’Tselem’s report called on Israel to approve all wastewater treatment facilities, and stated that Israel’s Civil Administration Office needs to approve treatment facilities in areas classified by the Oslo Accords as A and B.
It added that this issue is a major factor behind the failure to build two out of three wastewater treatment facilities planned in the West Bank.
The one and only facility that was approved and built is located in Area B and is connected to Psagot illegal settlement, but the settlement refuses to pay for the treatment.
