Gareth Smith, Byron Bay
It’s so good to see Byron Shire locals helping to relieve Ethiopia’s water crisis through their Wellwishers charity which has sunk 510 wells since 2002, changing the lives of 220,000 people: brilliant! (Echo, April 30).
Byron Friends of Palestine support the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) which, through its Maia (‘water’ in Arabic) campaign, has provided clean water to 16 large UN schools in Palestinian refugee camps and to 22 kindergartens in refugee camps, towns, and villages.
They achieved this despite Israel’s blockade of water purification units, destruction of Gaza’s electricity generating station and water infrastructure.
Operation Cast Lead, for example, destroyed or made unusable 800 of Gaza’s 2,000 wells and caused $5.97 million in damage to Gaza’s wastewater treatment facilities.
While Israelis enjoy 300 litres of water/day per capita, Palestinians average about 70 litres/day against the World Health Organisation’s recommended 100 litres/day per person.
Access to clean water is a basic human right and Israel’s water deprivation tactics are a violation of international law which the world community should not tolerate.