On Tap How Israel Uses Water To Control West Bank

In occupied villages, farms owned by Israelis are flourishing, while Palestinians often do not have enough water to drink

- Bethan McKernan

Mahmoud Haj Mohammed stands on the roof of his family's home in the occupied West Bank village of Jalud and points towards a clump of cypress trees on the opposite side of the valley.

He has just got back from his job at a concrete factory in the nearby city of Nablus, hot and tired, jeans covered in grey flecks of cement. The 32-year-old began working there two years ago, after the seizure of a key part of his family's land by Israeli settlers made it unviable to farm.

"It's easy to see where the settlers are. Look at the olive grove below the cypress," Haj Mohammed said. "That is our land, but we are not farming it. See how close together the trees are? That's because the settlers have access to the water supply and proper irrigation. Compare it to our trees, the ones that are spaced out more, and not in neat rows." Water is one of the most precious resources in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Israel controls about 80% of water reserves in the West Bank, but both the West Bank and Gaza Strip face severe water stress and drought.