There is a growing water crisis in Palestine that affects agriculture, industry, and the health of virtually every adult and child. The water crisis in the Gaza Strip has been building for decades but has reached a critical point. Climate change, population growth, and Israeli policies have limited the supply of water and contaminated the ground water that is available.
In 2007, children at the UN Boys' School in Bureij Refugee Camp, Gaza were asked what they most wanted for their school. The children requested clean drinking water. The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) and our partner in Gaza responded to the children's request and built a water purification and desalination unit for their school. We have sent funds to provide clean drinking water to 15 schools in Gaza so far and hope to complete at least 200 more purification and desalination units at Gaza schools.
Please help MECA continue to meet the needs of children in Gaza by donating to the Maia Project (LINK) and adding your name to this important petition:
To: US President Barack Obama
Cc: Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu
Cc: Israeli Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan
We are writing out of concern for the Palestinian children in Gaza who are suffering from an ongoing water crisis. Diseases like blue baby syndrome, water diarrhea, acute bloody diarrhea and viral hepatitis are on the rise in Gaza. The water quality is threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of children.
In 2007, children at the UN Boys' School in Bureij Refugee Camp, Gaza were asked what they most wanted for their school. The children requested clean drinking water. The Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) and our partner in Gaza responded to the children's request and built a water purification and desalination unit for their school. We have sent funds to provide clean drinking water to 15 schools in Gaza so far and hope to complete at least 200 more purification and desalination units at Gaza schools.
We are calling on the US government to also respond to the children's request for clean drinking water and pressure Israel to stop contributing to the water crisis in Gaza.
There is an extreme shortage of water caused by over-extraction of Gaza's aquifer. Per capita water consumption is only 78 liters per day in Gaza, much below the World Health Organization's recommendation. Israel's trap wells along the border with Gaza are exacerbating this dire situation by preventing rain water from refilling the Gaza Aquifer. Before 2005, Israel's illegal settlements in Gaza consumed almost seven times the amount of water used by Palestinian towns, villages, and refugee camps. The illegal Israeli settlers depleted the aquifer that 1.5 million Palestinians rely on for drinking water. When the settlements were dismantled in 2005, they left a path of destroyed water mains, along with tons of bulldozed sand that intensified the seawater contamination of the aquifer.
Numerous Israeli military attacks on the Gaza Strip have devastated Gaza’s water infrastructure. The twenty-two day assault in January 2009 destroyed or rendered unusable an estimated 800 of Gaza’s 2,000 wells, and caused $5.97 million in damage to Gaza’s water and wastewater treatment facilities. Since January 2009, the Gaza health ministry and the World Health Organization have issued drinking, seafood and swimming advisories.
Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, is responsible for the well-being of the population. In violation of International Law, Israel has been denying people in Gaza adequate access to clean water.
We call on you to demand that Israel:
-
Lift the blockade on Gaza and allow immediate entry to Gaza of spare parts and construction and other material and equipment needed for the repair, reconstruction and maintenance of the water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza.
-
Stop destroying the water and sanitation infrastructure in Gaza.
-
Stop stealing Palestinian water resources.
Sincerely,
