Report: Violence and Terror of Settlers Lead to Palestinian Water Source Deprivation

SadaNews - A report prepared by the National Office for the Defense of Land and Resistance to Settlement stated that the violence and terror of settlers dominate the scene in the deprivation of Palestinians from water sources.

The office's weekly settlement report, issued today, Saturday, highlighted the settlers' aspirations and their repeated assaults on water stations and wells in the A'in Samiya area east of Kafr Malik, northeast of Ramallah, which is a symbol of ongoing suffering, including the displacement of citizens and attacks on a source of water.

A'in Samiya is considered one of the most important groundwater sources in the northeastern area of Ramallah, containing five operational wells with depths ranging from 100 to 500 meters. The total production capacity of its wells is estimated at about 12,000 cubic meters per day, representing 17% of the daily quantities supplied by the Jerusalem Governorate Water Department.

The A'in Samiya wells directly supply 19 residential communities, which include: Deir Dibwan, Burqa, Beitin, A'in Yabrud, Kafr Malik, Taybeh, Ramoun, Deir Jarir, Silwad, Al-Mazraa Al-Sharqiya, Abu Flah, Al-Mughayer, Turmus Ayya, Sinjil, Jaljulia, ‘Aabwain, ‘Aroura, and the Nawabani farms.

A'in Samiya also jointly supplies 14 communities through the Ramallah station, which are: Dora Al-Qari’a, Al-Jalazoon camp, Jifna, A'in Sinya, Birzeit, Birzeit University, Abu Qash, ‘Atara, Deir Sudan, ‘Ajul, Jibiya, Barham, Kubar, Abu Shkheidim, and Al-Mazraa Al-Qibliya.

The total number of beneficiaries from the water of A'in Samiya wells, either fully or partially, is about 110,000 citizens.

The weekly report stated that dozens of Bedouin families from the K’aanbah tribe were forced to evacuate a settlement that had been established in the area for 40 years on private properties of Kafr Malik residents, which are registered in the land registry. It noted that the settlement had been subjected to assaults by settlers who initially established four grazing outposts on the surrounding hills and organized concentrated campaigns of pursuit, threats, and reduction of grazing areas, which forced them to dismantle their structures and leave after the area became home to dozens of grazing outposts that encircle herders and Bedouins, and even harass passersby using the winding roads in the area. Many of these outposts are established illegally, even under occupation regulations, yet none have been demolished; rather, they have been legitimized through collusion and partnership between the occupation army and police and terrorist gangs, which create a coercive environment threatening the Palestinian existence in the region.

The report noted that after the displacement, water sources in the area were next in line; last week, the Jerusalem Governorate Water Department announced the complete cessation of pumping from water wells and stations in the A'in Samiya area as a result of the increasing assaults by settlers on facilities and vital resources in the area. Its crews lost control over the entire water system in A'in Samiya due to a series of assaults that directly targeted electricity networks, pumping equipment, communication systems, and surveillance cameras, leading to a complete halt of operations and disruption of supplies to dozens of Palestinian villages and towns in the north and east of the Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate.

The water department warned that if the situation persists, it would result in a catastrophe threatening more than 110,000 citizens by depriving them of their basic right to water.

The report indicated that the occupation authorities control water sources, distributing water to Palestinians through the Israeli "Mekorot" company, which has gradually reduced the quantities of water allocated to them over the years, exacerbating the water crisis during the summer, especially since the occupation controls additional distribution points in Ramallah and Al-Bireh governorate. In addition to the assaults by settlers on the water source of the department in A'in Samiya and the vandalizing of its properties and assaults on its crews, after a branch water station in the eastern plains of Kafr Malik had been attacked by settlers on the network of wells, pumps, and pipes that draw water from the spring and vandalized, this was just one of several attacks carried out by settlers targeting Palestinian springs and water stations by vandalizing them, diverting their paths, or controlling them.

The report pointed out that the residents of the aforementioned area have long been targeted by the terror of the occupation army and settler gangs, a terror that successfully displaced the remaining residents of the A'in Samiya settlement, whose number had reached about 200 Palestinians, who were forced to leave their lands after settlers and the occupation army turned their lives into hell, due to the violence they endured over the years from occupation forces and severe restrictions on housing construction, infrastructure development, including demolitions, and the violence of settlers, which was fully supported by the occupation army and even by the judiciary, which permitted the demolition of a school in the area.

It emphasized that this occupation policy paved the way for the assaults by Jewish terrorist organizations on water sources and the seizure of more and more Palestinian lands, placing them at the disposal of settlers and in their service.

It stressed that the assaults by settlers on the water department in A'in Samiya exacerbated the crisis of the Palestinian citizen's access to their water rights, which are seized by the occupation authorities. With every summer, the water crisis explodes in several governorates in the West Bank, yet Ramallah and Al-Bireh remain under significant pressure to meet increasing needs amid the stubbornness of Israeli authorities to increase the quantities requested by Palestinians, despite the steady increase in the population.

The settlers' assaults on the water network in A'in Samiya remind us of the occupation policy of seizing Palestinian water sources and the discriminatory policy concerning water access between Palestinians and settlers.

According to estimates, the Israeli occupation controls more than 84% of Palestinian water in the West Bank. Additionally, occupation authorities have demolished at least 500 wells for water collection and seized over 52% of Palestinian water in the West Bank for the benefit of residents inside the 1948 territories, and they seize 32% for the benefit of settlements, leaving only 16% of their water for the land and water owners.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) documented in its latest reports that at least 2,895 Palestinians have been displaced from 69 residential communities across the West Bank since the beginning of 2023 due to the coercive environment resulting from the escalating violence of settlers. Of the displaced families, 45% were from Ramallah governorate (1,309 out of 2,895 families), followed by the governorates of Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Tubas, Salfit, Jerusalem, and Jericho – areas where settlers, believed to be from nearby colonial outposts, have launched attacks on Palestinian communities located alongside them.

In this context, among the 636 people displaced so far in 2025, a third of these displaced individuals were from the Jordan Valley region (215 out of 636 displaced people).

On another note, the Judaization and colonization projects continue in various forms in the occupied city of Jerusalem, where the occupation authorities are discussing progress towards the approval of what is known as the "Brown Line" plan for the light rail in the occupied city of Jerusalem, which is a dangerous colonial plan and a direct extension of the Judaization policies and the imposition of complete Israeli control over the occupied city.

The "National Office" noted in its report that this plan does not fall within the framework of infrastructure improvement or the provision of civil services, but is an attempt to impose unilateral facts by force to entrench the map of Israeli colonial interests in the city of Jerusalem. It aims to connect the "industrial zone" in the "Atarot" settlement with the village of Sur Baher, passing through several Palestinian neighborhoods and areas in East Jerusalem, including Ras Al-Amoud, Jabal Al-Mukabber, Bab Al-Amoud, Beit Hanina, and the Old City, to connect East Jerusalem neighborhoods from north to south, through two main sections: the northern section begins from "Atarot" in the north to Bab Al-Amoud, partially relying on the route of the "Red Line," especially between the "Shivtei Yisrael" station and Beit Hanina, and then north along the old Ramallah road (old route 60) up to the industrial area in Atarot. This section includes nine new stations, in addition to stops at seven existing stations currently only used by the "Red Line."

It noted that the occupation government plans to establish a new settlement for the Haredi stream, comprising about 9,000 settlement units. In this regard, the "Bimkom - Planning and Human Rights" organization opposing the plan states that the discussion is focused only on the northern segment of the line's route, which is the part required to implement the aforementioned colonial project.

It adds: Although the brown line is presented as a modern transport project serving Palestinians and Israelis in the city, the reality is that it is primarily promoted to serve settlers, with almost complete disregard for the needs of Palestinian residents, who suffer from overcrowding, lack of infrastructure, and basic services.

The report stated: The so-called Israeli Minister of Jerusalem, "Meir Porush" from the far-right religious party "Agudat Israel," decided to seize properties in Bab Al-Silsilah in the Old City of Jerusalem just hours before his resignation from his position.

He claimed that he relied on a decision that was originally issued after the occupation of the city in 1967, which stipulated the seizure of all properties in the area of Bab Al-Silsilah and the Sharf neighborhood, which were then transferred to the management of the Jewish Quarter Rehabilitation and Development Company.

Under the title "Seizure of Properties in Silsilah Street," Porush sent a letter to the director of the Jewish Quarter Rehabilitation and Development Company stating: "According to the decision made by the Israel Land Authority following the return of the Old City of Jerusalem to the people of Israel in 1967 (as he claims), all properties in the Jewish Quarter were seized and transferred to the management of the Jewish Quarter Rehabilitation and Development Company."