In an office just a few minutes away from the city centre in Ramallah, Dr. Ayman Rabi scurries to submit a report on the latest efforts of the Palestine Hydrology Organization. As acting executive director and co-founder of the organization, Dr. Rabi reflects on the founding days and the current efforts and accomplishments of the group. In a low voice and with a slight smile he remembers: “We’d drink and eat and live in the office for 22 days. We kept going as a hydrology group and contacting the outside world through this work.”
The Hydrology Group was founded in 1987 at the peak of the first Palestinian uprising in light of increasing Israeli violations against Palestinian water resources. Presently, a humanitarian crisis engulfs regions across Palestine. In Gaza, 1.3 million out of the 1.9 million people living there require some form of humanitarian assistance. According to the UN, more than 55% have unmet energy needs, 47% have food insecurities and only a small group have access to water. Zena Agha, a policy fellow with the U.S think tank al-Shabak said that this resembles eco-apartheid whereby “while Palestinians and Israeli inhabit the same physical terrain, vulnerable Palestinians – those under occupation and siege – will suffer the effects of climate change more severely purely as a consequence of their ethno-religious identities.”
Perpetual electricity cuts have further exacerbated the already volatile conditions of living in Gaza where 90-95% of water is contaminated. In the West Bank, demolitions by Israeli forces of Palestinian structures have further impeded access to natural resources such as water and agriculture. Palestinians have resorted to creative solutions for survival, and the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network- Friends of Earth Palestine (PENGON-FoE) has become a leading organization in bridging together these endeavours.
