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On October 27th Amnesty International released a report declaring that Palestinians are deprived of access to water by discriminatory Israeli water policies. The report finds that Palestinians are allowed access to only a small fraction of shared water resources, the majority of which lie in the occupied West Bank. Compared to Palestinians, Israelis consume four times as much water per person, per day. Additionally, restrictions on the movement of people and goods prohibit Palestinians from obtaining the construction materials necessary to build and maintain a water infrastructure. Painting a damning picture, the report also details the contrasts that the daily-quality-of-life access to water – or the lack thereof – produces: “Israeli settlers, in violation of international law, have intensive irrigation farms, lush gardens, and swimming pools.” Across the border, many Palestinians cannot even grow enough food for their personal consumption, or to maintain livestock. One researcher said, “Obtaining even poor-quality subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barley afford.”

GUEST: Omar Barghouti, is a leader in the International Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and is touring the Unites States speaking about the campaign, Garrick Ruiz, local activist with the BDS-LA Coalition.

Omar Barghouti will speak tonight The Question of Palestine: Justice, Freedom, and The Ethical Role of Intellectuals, at Monday November 2nd, 7-9 pm at Tape Hall of Humanities (TTH) 101, University of Southern California.

Find out more about the BDS-LA Coalition at bdsinla@gmail.com, or at www.bds-la.org.