Thread by @jan_selby

One thing I will comment on is this from Israeli Energy Minister Israeli Katz: 'For years we supplied #Gaza with ... water ... instead of saying thank you, they sent 1000s of human animals to slaughter, murder, rape & kidnap babies, women & elderly' 1/

I won't comment on the last bit, just on the point about water - as I know something about it ...2/

First, Israel hardly supplies any water to Gaza even in normal times. The big issues as far as water supplies are concerned at the moment are not these supplies from Israel (only 10 mcm annually) but no power supplies, the destruction of Gaza's power plant, 3/

and the wider destruction of water and wastewater infrastructure. No power is crucial - no power for water delivery or wastewater treatment. No power is much more important than no water - with electricity/fuel Gaza's can desalinate and get water from wells. Without it not. 4/

The question of why Gaza gets so little water from Israel is also worth commenting on, as it perfectly illustrate much about Israel-Gaza-West Bank dynamics. It's not because it doesn't need it. It obviously does - it doesn't rain that much in Gaza, 5/

and there's no way it should be self-sufficient in water. The reason it doesn't receive much water from Israel is that Israel's water networks bypass it, going round it to supply Israeli communities to the east and south. Just as in relation to 'security', so also water: ...6/

longstanding Israeli policy has been to cut Gaza off and hope that it sinks into the sea. 7/

In case you are wondering why Israel should even supply Gaza with water, then also consider this: thr situation on the West Bank is the exact reverse! 8/

It rains plenty in most of the West Bank, and as s result the West bank has plentiful groundwater resources. But there, Palestinians are forced to import water from Israel! The city of Ramallah now gets all of its water supplied by pipe from Israel. Annaul rainfall in Ramallah 9/

is higher than London's! But Israeli restrictions on Palestinian well drilling in the West Bank have meant that Palestinians have turned to Israel for piped supplies. And in this case, Israel has been happy to oblige. 10/

There thus exists a crazy situation (even before recent events) where Gaza, which has meagre water resources and cannot be self-sufficient, hardly receives any water from Israel, whereas the West Bank, with its heavy rains, is compelled to import it - and uphill! 11/

As final points, it's also worth noting that this water isn't just 'given' by Israel, in two regards. First, it is paid for. The water received by the West Bank and Gaza alike is paid for by the Palestinian Authority. And second, ...12/

much of this is water which, first in 1948-9 and then 1967 and by Israeli settlers, has been taken by force. Water is the conflict in microcosm. 13/

This and related stuff is discussed in my book published last year. I don't want to use this to self-publicise. But here it is anyway. With Gaza's power plant on the cover, it seems appropriate to share right now. end 14/ cambridge.org/core/books/div…

One last thing, as I should have been clear on why Israel is happy to supply water to the West Bank. 3 reasons: first, because Israel has got plenty of water and is happy to find markets for it; 15/

Second because the water is supplied to West Bank Palestinian communities through water networks constructed for Israeli settlements; West Bank settlements and Palestinian towns and villages there have both been integrated into Israel's national water supply network, ... 16/

as part of its policy of de facto annexation. And third, because Israeli policy has been to try to keep the PA and Palestinian elites in the West Bank happy, to co-opt them, e.g. by providing a basic amount of water. The 2nd and 3rd factors do not apply in the case of Gaza. 17/

As with water, so with the conflict's overall political geography: Israeli policy to the West Bank has been to colonise and co-opt; whereas to Gaza it has been to isolate, imprison. And as a footnote: Whatever happens next, it's hard to imagine this continuing. End 18/