Water expert Jad Isaac tells media that Palestinians are trapped buying 100 million cubic metres (26 billion gallons) of water annually from Israel while their own springs are seized to force displacement.
In the eastern occupied West Bank, the al-Auja spring has flowed for centuries, serving as one of the largest and oldest water basins in Palestine.
But Palestinian families who have relied on it for generations say Israeli settlers are effectively stealing the water, creating a crisis that experts are calling “water apartheid“.
An Israeli settlement outpost now stands between the villagers of al-Auja and their water source. Residents report that settlers have fenced off the area and installed pumps that siphon water directly from the aquifer, leaving Palestinian pipes dry.
“The settlers banned us,” Salama Kaabneh, the mukhtar (chief) of the Kaabneh clan, told media Arabic’s Givara Budeiri. “There is a motor pulling water from the same basin … 800 metres [2,625 feet] deeper than the spring’s opening.”
A systemic imbalance
In an interview with media, Jad Isaac, director of the Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (ARIJ), revealed the staggering scale of inequality created by Israeli military control over water resources.
“The Israeli settler consumes approximately seven times the amount of water a Palestinian citizen gets,” Isaac said.
“The Palestinian individual’s share does not exceed 80 litres [21 gallons] per day,” he explained, noting that in some marginalised communities, that drops to below 15 litres [4 gallons] – “far below the global minimum recommendation of 100 litres per day”.
This inequality is visible from the sky. Drone footage obtained by the Reuters news agency reveals withered, brown Palestinian greenhouses sitting adjacent to lush, green settlement agriculture that thrives on the seized water.
The ‘Oslo trap’
With their natural springs seized or blocked, Palestinians have fallen into what Isaac describes as a “trap” set by the Oslo Accords.
“Israel refused to negotiate on Palestinian water rights … replacing the issue by demanding Palestinians submit their needs to the Israeli side, which then sells it to them,” Isaac said.
He noted that the Palestinian Authority is now forced to purchase more than 100 million cubic metres (26 billion gallons) of water annually at market price from Israeli companies—effectively buying back their own natural resources.
Isaac said that under military orders, Israel has taken “full control” of water sources, citing recent moves to establish a “crimson wall” in the northern Jordan Valley to further separate Palestinian communities from their agricultural lands.
‘Slow displacement’
Rights groups warn that this engineered thirst is a strategic method to force Palestinians to abandon their homes.
According to data provided by ARIJ to media, more than 56 water springs in the West Bank have been subjected to repeated settler attacks or takeovers.
“The seizure of springs … indicates a clear shift from merely controlling resources to using water as a direct pressure tool on the population,” Isaac warned.
“Many families are pushed into internal or external migration due to the loss of livelihoods, which constitutes a slow displacement of rural Palestinian communities.”
‘We have returned to the wells’
The seizure of water resources appears to have explicit backing from the Israeli government.
In a video circulating widely online, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has praised settlers for taking physical control of the springs.
“I see the results of your wonderful work. We have returned to the water wells and regained control over all these areas,” Smotrich is heard saying in the viral clip. “It is a pleasure to tour here. You are heroes; keep up your work.”
While the minister cheers, Palestinian infrastructure is being dismantled.
“Israel prevents Palestinians from building dams to collect rainwater and imposes restrictions on work in Area C,” Isaac noted, adding that the separation wall alone has isolated 31 Palestinian artesian wells.
