Deprivation of water by Basil Adara

The settlers and the army cooperate in depriving the Palestinians of access to water sources, especially in the hot summer. The state prevented Palestinian villages from obtaining a water network in Masafer Yatta, and when the Palestinians established it in 2019, the army destroyed it.

In the past, the Palestinians established water wells dug into the ground to collect rainwater and use it for the house and for sheep. They also established wells in the pastures, Last year, the occupation demolished five wells in the village of Khallet Al-Dabaa and two in Al-FakhitLast year, the occupation demolished five wells in the village of Khallet Al-Dabaa and two in Al-Fakhit

On May 25, 2023, the army invaded with bulldozers in the villages of Zweidin and Umm Qusah.

The army began to demolish two water wells, Oday from Umm Qusah, a 30-year-old shepherd. “I always remembered the existence of these wells here. I used to come with my father and brothers for our sheep to drink. I grew up and now I drive the sheep here. These two wells were built in the eighties, when we leave the house in the morning We only come back in the evening, so during the day we need to give water to the sheep. We cannot go home and then go back to the field several times a day. The distance is long. These two wells benefit 2000 sheep. The wells were built on private lands, but all the shepherds use them.

“They opened the roof of the well and started putting soil and rocks inside it. The water that was supposed to suffice us for a few months was wasted. Within half an hour it was wasted. With this simplicity they make us suffer through destruction, now we need to bring tanks of water on a daily basis with us on the field by agricultural tractor.”

Other water sources are controlled by the settlers with the help of the state, 

Ali Suliman, a shepherd,  owns agricultural land in the village of Thala. We have been cultivating the land for decades, and in the seventies my father built a well in the land. This is the first year that the settlers have begun encroaching on land. In the spring, he started destroying our crops by letting his sheep into our fields, and he started bringing his sheep to the water well,

We put up a simple tent beside the well for shade for us and the sheep and for our needs of food, a teapot and a bucket of the well. On Sunday 06/11/2023 the settler threw the tent and our  things inside the well and started to threw stones inside the well. We have lost a large amount of the year's crop. The loss is irreparable. The settlers control our crops and water right under our eyes, in the presence of the army and police who say one thing (go complain), but to no avail on the land. The settler has the power and the word in the field

In al-Tuwanah, since the establishment of Khafat Ma’on, settlers have controlled an agricultural water well that was used by Palestinians for their sheep and crops, It is controlled by settlers for swimming and recreation in it. They were photographed and complaints were submitted dozens of times without results. The settlers also control a water spring located beside the road that leads to the outpost of Abigail, which was recently legalized.

  The settlers called the spring the name Abigail, and they come to it to swim as well, while the Palestinian farmer is deprived of water

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