The struggle for the right to water continues in Bardala village, in the north of the Jordan valley. Water in Bardala, as in the whole of the Jordan valley, is controlled by Israelis. They built their own water well in the centre of the village (which is area B) and started controlling the Palestinian one in 1974; since then, Israelis have directed most of the water to nearby settlements. In order to grow their crops and water their livestock, villagers had no choice but to connect to Israeli pipelines and take back their own water.

In the last year Israeli military have carried out repeated actions aimed at breaking and confiscating Palestinian pipelines. In the last three months, soldiers have arrested five residents as a punishment for resisting Israeli plans and as a way to keep the population in constant fear. In order to have their relations released, families of the arrested had to pay thousands of shekels. On the 5th of March soldiers and workers from Mekorot company (which holds the virtual monopoly on water resources in the West Bank) entered the village once again and started digging in order to search the pipelines for Palestinian pipe extensions and remove them (I have reworded this sentence for clarity). As they did not confiscate the material, it was easy for villagers to come overnight and re-connect the pipes to the main system.

In the last two months, however, the occupation forces have begun a new project that is meant to move the Israeli water grid outside the village. The new pipeline will be moved to the surrounding area, and 80% of it will pass through a closed military firing zone not accessible to civilians. Moreover, the pipe will be protected by a layer of concrete and an alarm system which will allow Mekorot to control the situation from afar and keep the Palestinians away from it. Besides bringing water to nearby settlements, the idea is to have a part of it going to the Negev region, as Bardala is an area rich in water resources.

The new project, which will start in the summer, threatens the existence of the whole village, which takes its major source of livelihood from farming. This is part of the general occupation strategy, whose end goal is to force Palestinians to leave their land by making life unbearable.