A malfunction in an Israeli-operated well in the West Bank has caused a severe water crisis, affecting the villages of Beit Iba, Tell, Qusin, Beit Wazan, Sarra, Jit and several villages in the Jenin area in northern West Bank, according to residents.
Iman Mahmoud Ismail, deputy head of the Beit Iba village council west of Nablus, told Radio Alam, “A technical malfunction in the main pump led to a water outage affecting about 90 percent of the village of Beit Iba and the surrounding villages.” He said the well is located on Beit Iba land inside Area A, which is governed by the Palestinian Authority; the well, however, is operated by the Israeli company Mekorot. “We were told that the repair of the malfunction will take a month,” he added.
According to community activist Abdul Rahman al-Banna, there are “more than 50,000 citizens who cannot find a glass of water to drink.” He told the Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper, “We are thirsty in every sense of the word. We have exhausted all means to no avail, domestic wells have dried up, and water springs have become rare, at a time when consumption doubles during the summer.”