Israeli Settlers Cut Off Palestinian Farmers’ Water to Fill a Swimming Pool

Marketed as a tourist site for Israelis only, the pool has the explicit backing of the Israeli government.

By Sharon Zhang, Truthout

Israeli settlers seized the water supply from a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank earlier this summer, preventing Palestinian farmers from growing crops in order to fill a swimming pool.

Palestinians in Fasayil, in the Jordan Valley, a particularly fertile section of the West Bank, have had their water cut off for months now. In May, settlers began arriving at a nearby illegal settlement, Petza’el, and started diverting the water from the village into an archeological site.

For generations, Palestinians in Fasayil have relied on the water from the local spring supply to grow crops, adding to the local food supply and serving as a livelihood for many. They have also often used it domestically when Israeli officials have deprived Palestinians of water in the area — an Israeli practice with a long history in the West Bank, Gaza, and beyond, with the goal of ethnic cleansing.

Now, their greenhouses and fields normally alive with crops sit barren, farmers told Reuters this week. Such water theft could be considered a crime under international law.

“Our water supply remains cut off to this day, depriving us of the water we depend on for our homes, our livelihoods, and our agricultural land,” said Saad Nemer, a Palestinian farmer. He normally grows eggplant, zucchini, and watermelon, but now cannot plant crops at all. “The settlers cutting off our water has caused us losses and has meant that many families will lose their work and their livelihoods.”

This deprivation is done in service of an Israeli swimming pool, dubbed “Herod’s Pool” by the settlers. Marketed as an Israeli tourist site, the pool has the explicit backing of the Israeli government. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has pledged 3 million shekels, or just over $1 million U.S. dollars, to backing the project. Settlers plan to build out recreational areas surrounding the pool.

A large sign put up by the pool touts Smotrich’s support, and bears the logo of his far-right political party. The pool filled an archeological site that experts now say is damaged, and Palestinians avoid the area.

Settler Yishai Shreiber bragged to Reuters about the Israelis scaring off Palestinians from approaching the pool.

“Now that they see this entire mass of people, all these large groups of Jews coming here to bathe, they are afraid to come here,” Shreiber said.

“When you show them what the truth is, meaning when you show who is strong, who is really the owner of the house, then they will simply flee,” he added.

Nemer said that he could fix the irrigation pipeline, which was seized by settlers in June. But locals have been prevented by settlers from doing any work — despite Nemer having paperwork from Israeli authorities showing that he owns the land.

One Palestinian landowner told Haaretz last month that, even if they fixed the irrigation pipe, settlers would just seize the water again.

The landowner also told the publication that, in fact, Palestinians had themselves considered filling the pool a decade ago. But the Israeli military governing body stopped them from doing so, telling them that doing so would be “criminal” and that they “would be arrested” if they attempted it.