FACT: When it comes to water, the Palestinian Authority (PA) shortchanges its own people – sometimes deliberately. The following are examples of the Palestinian-Arab leadership’s abuses of the water issue:

• Since 2000, the Palestinian Water Authority has submitted 76 permit requests to Israel for drilling water, 73 of which were approved. The PA, however, has not implemented two-thirds of the requests. Instead, the PA illegally drills more than 300 unauthorized wells, including in the Western Mountain Aquifer that provides water to Israelis.

• The Palestinian-Arabs steal Israel’s water by drilling illegal holes into Israel’s water lines. Israel has to repair around 600 of these illegal taps each year. When Israel asks to work with the PA to prevent theft through joint water patrols, the PA refuses every time.

• While the PA chastises Israel for water shortage, it does not even use all of its own water. In 2007, out of the 200 million cubic centimeters (cc) of water to which the PA had access, it wasted 20 million cc of it.

• The PA acts irresponsibly with its water usage. It wastes roughly 33 percent of its water on leaks, theft, and lack of upkeep. Farmers use outdated water practices, overwatering and losing water because of mismanagement.

• The PA is not developing new sewage or desalinization plants – a violation of the Oslo Accords it signed with Israel in 1993. The PA has only built one sewage plant in the past 15 years. A horrifying 95 percent of its sewage goes untreated, contaminating the same water sources that lead into Israel.

• In 2009, the PA blamed its water problems on lack of funds. Israel then offered to help finance water development projects, but the PA never responded.

The Palestinian-Arabs’ water negligence is so extreme it is suspect. The international community offered to build a desalination plant in Gaza – an offer that was flat-out refused. The desalination plant would have solved Gaza’s water tragedy, but Hamas (the terror group that controls Gaza) decided to refuse any help and instead tried to smear Israel in the international community for allegedly denying water to Gazans. Similarly, if the PA would choose to implement its permits for legal water drilling (instead of neglecting its people to blame Israel for its shortages), its water situation would drastically improve.

Overall, the Palestinian-Arab leadership chooses smearing Israel over the health of its own people.

FACT: Many argue that Israeli “settlements” (Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – the “West Bank”) are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. This claim, however, is false. Article 49, paragraph 6 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that a country “shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population” to the territory it gains.

Israelis in Judea and Samaria choose to live there on their own free will; the government has never “transferred” or “deported” anyone. Additionally, the Israeli government has never transferred or deported Arabs (Israeli citizens or non-citizens) to or from any territory.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop rightly stated, “I’d like to see which international law has declared them illegal.”

—

Moreover, it is incorrect to call Judea and Samaria “occupied,” seeing as Israel has legal and historical claims to the areas. Israel also won the land in a defensive war from a country that had held it illegally.

Please see “MYTH: Israel Occupies Palestine/The ‘West Bank’” for more information on the “occupation” claim.

***The term “1967 Borders” is misleading, seeing as the lines in question are not from 1967 and they are no borders. The term refers to the cease-fire lines drawn in 1949 by Israeli, Jordanian, and Syrian generals to end the 1948-49 War of Independence. All sides agreed the lines were temporary and did not represent borders. Because of this, the term “1949 Armistice Lines” is more accurate. 

FACT: Asking Israel to return to the 1949 Armistice Lines means calling for the end of the Jewish state. The 1949 lines – nicknamed “The Green Line” – would reduce Israel to indefensible territory. At its narrowest, Israel would only be nine miles wide. To put this in perspective, that is smaller than the length of the Dallas-Ft. Worth Airport. These lines remained in place until four Arab countries, including Syria and Jordan, invaded Israel in 1967 with the goal of wiping it off the map. Israel defended itself, won the war, and expanded its territory to create more defensible borders.

The 1949 lines are indefensible for many reasons:

1. These lines already proved to be indefensible when they acted as Israel’s temporary “borders” between 1949 and 1967. Syria used the high ground of the Golan Heights in the North to attack Israeli civilians in the valleys below on a regular basis for 18 years. Moreover, Jordan used its control of Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”) to attack Israeli civilians in Jerusalem and on the roads in the valleys leading up to the city. During Jordan’s control of the areas, it divided Jerusalem and put snipers in buildings on the Jordanian side. These snipers used the condensed landscape of Jerusalem to shoot civilians on the Israeli side of the city. Jordan also maintained control of the Jordan Valley (on the Eastern edge of the “West Bank”) and allowed weapons to flow freely from the Arab World to the hills overlooking Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

2. The Palestinian Authority (PA), which would take control of Judea and Samaria if Israel withdraws from the land, has a stated goal of Israel’s annihilation and its leaders have pledged to do everything they can to destroy Israel if given the chance. Moreover, the PA currently funds and promotes terrorism on a daily basis. Please see “MYTH: The Palestinian Authority is Moderate and Seeks Peace” to learn more about the dangers of the PA controlling the area.

3. Last time Israel gave land to the Palestinian-Arabs in hopes for peace, Hamas took over (in Gaza) and has since fired thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians and has waged three wars on the Jewish state. Given the fact that the PA is weak and unpopular among Palestinian-Arabs, it is likely Hamas would take over Judea and Samaria. If history is any indicator, Hamas would fire rockets from the hills overlooking Israel’s major cities, economy, and international airport.

4. Giving the Golan Heights to Syria would devastate Israel’s security. As a result of Syria’s civil war, one of three parties could gain control of the land (the same land that overlooks Israeli cities). Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could gain control of the area; Assad calls for the annihilation of Israel and is a descendant of the same regime that fired on Israeli civilians between 1949 and 1967. The other two options are al-Qaeda and ISIS, both of which are terrorist organizations that call for the genocide of Jews and the destruction of Israel.

Returning to the 1949 Armistice Lines would also mean giving up control of the two holiest sites in Judaism. The Jews’ holiest sites all lie in Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”), and until Israel gained control of Judea and Samaria in 1967, Jordan controlled the areas and denied Jewish access to the sites. The Jewish people’s holy sites in these areas include the Temple Mount/Western Wall in eastern Jerusalem (the holiest site in Judaism), the Tomb of the Patriarch and Matriarchs in Hebron, the site of the ancient tabernacle in Shiloh, and more.

If Israel gives these areas to the Palestinian Authority (PA), Jews would lose all rights to these holy sites, seeing as PA leaders have bragged about not allowing Jews into a future “Palestine.”

To learn more about the dangers of Israel returning to the 1949 Armistice Lines, please view ZOA Campus’s fact sheet on the topic.