"…at a time when the Israeli public debates whether to water their lawns or wash the car, Palestinians suffer from a shortage of water to meet their most basic needs” – B’Tselem

 Before the decade-long drought set in in the late 1980's, Palestinians per capita consumed one-third as much waster as Israelis for household use. Furthermore, since the first and second Intifadas began in 1987 and 2000 respectively, the gap in consumption has grown.

The per capita water use in the Palestinian territories is between 60-80 liters per day which does not meet the recommended World Health Organisation standards of 100 liters a day per person. Under the Oslo Accords, Palestinians have access to 57 cubic meters of water per person per year. Israelis however get 246 cubic meters per capita per year. In 2002, an Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem issued a report that “Palestinian household water consumption has fallen by half in comparision to that of Israelis: 60 liters per person per day (lpd) to 350 lpd. Some NGO sources based in the Territories have reported through BBC that parts of the West Bank have a consumption rate as low as 16 lpd. The WHO international minimum standard is 50 lpd.

Contributing to the limited accesibility is the restriction of water trucks into the Territories by the Israeli government. Since the first and second Intifadas, water trucks have been denied entrance to many of the villages in the Territories that have no connection to a system of piped water. Access to water in these towns is based on these deliveries from trucks.  In order to obtain water, Palestinians must collect water from nearby streams, some of which are polluted. Kerosene is used in some areas to disinfect the water, which further endangers the health of the people who consume such a combination.

There are times in which these water trucks are allowed to enter all areas in the Palestinian territories. However, another factor in obtaining clean water is price. Because of the scarcity of water in the overall region, the price of it is often times high. This poses further burdens on the Palestinians, who by living in an area without piped water are most likely already poor as it is.