- Violation: Destroying water lines on the pretext of licensing issues.
- Location: Bardala village / Tubas governorate.
- Date: February 4th 2020.
- Perpetrator: The Israeli Occupation forces.
- Victims: People of the village.
Description:
Tuesday, February 4th 2020, at 10:15 am the Israeli occupation forces accompanied by two military bulldozers raided Bardala village in the northern Jordan Valley , and carried on destroying plastic water pipes using sharp tools , which had a devastating impact on agricultural lands in the village , noting that the water pipes are used for irrigation.
According to the records of Tubas and The northern Jordan Valley Directorate of agriculture , the targeted plastic pipes were 700 m long , of which 500 m have a 2 inches diameter, the rest are 200 m long with a 6 inches diameter , and closed three water holes before withdrawing at 3:00 pm.
Reportedly, the targeted pipes provide water for 800 dunums of irrigated agriculture, in addition to providing 3 neighborhoods of domestic water (about 1600 people).
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Bardala village council head Zaid Sawaft told LRC the following:
“Seven months ago, last July 2019, the Israeli Occupation Forces demolished thousands meters of water pipes and closed number of water holes, this was followed by destroying a water reservoir in Sahel Qa’oun , today more water lines were destroyed to leave people of the village without water , which reflects the occupation’s heavy target to the agricultural sector during these time of water shortage.”
Looting water in broad daylight:
Bardala has an artesian cistern that pumps 240 m3 / per hour, it used to cover the needs of irrigated farmlands In the village , and in 1975 The Israeli National Water Company “Mekorot” dug two artesian wells near Bardala’s cistern, which resulted the complete drainage of the cistern , which had a devastating impact on agriculture.”
Later on, the Israeli Civil Administration started selling water to farmers for 1.5 shekels per Cup , water is pumped by two tunnels from the Mekorot company.
Services council members in the Jordan Valley Mohammed Sawafta told LRC the following:
“Despite the natural population growth and the development in the agricultural sector the occupation still refuses to increase the village’s water share. In reality, The share is notably decreasing which affects the agricultural sector, farmers had the only choice to dig water holes to irrigate their farmlands.”
About Bardala:[1]
25 km to the north of Tubas, Bardala village is surrounded by the Green Line (north), Raba (west), Ain al Baeda (east) and Tubas (south).
It has a population of 1607 people( 2017 census). Its total area is 18329 dunums, of which 404 dunums are considered built-up area.
The Israeli occupation devoured 252 dunums of its land to build bypasses road , especially road no.90. It also confiscated 819 dunums to build the Separation Wall and isolated 2100 dunums of Bardala land as a result.
According to Oslo Accords, 90% of the village is classified as area “C”, which is under Israeli authority while only 5% is area “B” that is under the control of PA.
- Area B (910 dunums)
- Area C (16845 dunums)
[1] GIS-LRC
