Petition: No to the theft of water in Palestine. No to ACEA-Mekorot cooperation.

Sign the petition calling on Italian water utility ACEA to terminate the agreement with Israel's national water company Mekorot, responsible for serious violations of international law and human rights. Mekorot illegally extracts water from Palestinians sources, provides that pillaged water to illegal Israeli settlements and implements policies of water Apartheid against the Palestinian population.

Each signature sends an email to ACEA and the Rome City council, majority shareholder in ACEA. Nearly 6800 have already signed!

Below the text of the petition (organizational endorsements may be sent to: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo. )

On December 2, 2013, during the Italy-Israel summit, ACEA, Italy’s leading water utility, and Israel's national water company Mekorot signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The agreement provides for cooperation through the exchange of experiences and expertise in the water sector.

The experience that Mekorot has matured, however, is based on serious violations of international law and human rights. As documented in the report by the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, Mekorot illegally extracts water from Palestinian aquifers, causing Palestinian water sources to dry up, and then supplies the pillaged water to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

In addition, Mekorot, to whom the Israeli military authorities "transferred" all Palestinian water infrastructure in 1982 for the symbolic price of one shekel (0.20 Euros), practices systematic discrimination in the supply of water to Palestinian communities, who are forced to buy their own water from the Israeli company at prices decided by Israel. Mekorot regularly reduces water supply to Palestinians, by up to 50 per cent, in favor of Israel’s illegal settlements and intensive agriculture, creating what Al Haq refers to as "water apartheid." In fact, the per capita consumption of Israeli settlers is 369 liters per day, while that of the Palestinians is 73 liters, well below the minimum amount recommended by the World Health Organization of 100 liters.

International organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented how Israel exercises total control over Palestinian water resources and how Israeli water policies are a means for expulsion, which impede development and force the Palestinian people to leave their lands. The Israeli organization Who Profits describes Mekorot as "the executive arm of the Israeli government" with regards to water issues in the occupied Palestinian territories and states that "it is actively engaged in the management and maintenance" of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine.

For the reasons above, Vitens, the main water supplier in the Netherlands, on advice from the Dutch Government, recently interrupted a cooperation agreement with Mekorot, citing its commitment to international law as motivation for the decision.

By entering into this agreement with Mekorot, ACEA becomes complicit in these serious violations. ACEA is also in breach of its own Code of Ethics, which touts its endorsement of the UN Global Compact on corporate social responsibility, where the protection of human rights is a top priority. In addition, the cooperation between ACEA and Mekorot goes in the direction of commercial exploitation of water resources, in contradiction to the public management of water as a universal good.

Those of us who hold dear the fundamental right of access to water and the protection of all human rights, call on:

ACEA to follow the example of Vitens and immediately terminate the agreement with Mekorot.

the City of Rome, as the majority shareholder, to take all actions necessary so that ACEA ceases all cooperation with Mekorot.

so that all local authorities whose water service is provided by companies in the ACEA Group to take steps to ensure that ACEA ends the agreement.

the Italian government to follow the example of the Dutch government and actively discourage commercial ties with those who violate international law.

Our commitment is not only to public water, but also for water free of human rights abuses.

Committee Against the ACEA-Mekorot Agreement

Endorsed by:

Coordinamento Romano Acqua Pubblica

Forum Italiano dei Movimenti per l'Acqua

Rete Romana di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese

BDS Roma

Action, Roma

Amici della Mezzaluna rossa Palestinese

Aqua Alma Onlus, Prevalle (BS)

ARCI

Associazione Amicizia Italo-Palestinese Onlus, Firenze

Ass. Cult. Lab. Soc. 100celle, Roma

Associazione Italia-Nicaragua

Associazione LiberaRete

Associazione onlus Pace per Gerusalemme, Trentino

Associazione per la Pace Nazionale

Associazione YODA, Bologna

AssoPace Palestina

BDS Firenze

Casale Podere Rosa, Roma

Circolo SEL Aurelio Boccea di Roma "Adriana Cacciamani"

Circolo SEL Ispra, Roma

Circolo Terre d'Acqua Prc, San Giovanni in Persiceto (BO)

Cobas Acea

Cobas Lavoro Privato

Comitato "Con la Palestina nel cuore", Roma

Comitato BDS Campania

Comitato di Quartiere Tamburi, Taranto

Comitato Fasano per Gaza

Comitato Italiano Contratto Mondiale sull'acqua

Comitato Monteverde per la Palestina, Roma

Comitato No Expo

Comitato Piazza Carlo Giuliani Onlus

Comitato Salaam Ragazzi dell'Olivo-Comitato di Milano-Onlus

Comitato Salaam Ragazzi dell'Olivo, Trieste

Comitato salernitano per la pace e il disarmo

Comunità di base di San Paolo, Roma

Comunità Palestinese di Roma e del Lazio

Confederazione Cobas

Confederazione Cobas, Pistoia

Consiglio Metropolitano, Roma

Coordinamento Campagna BDS Bologna

CUB Lazio Pubblico Impiego e Sanità Italiana

Ecomapuche Amicizia Mapuche – Italia

FIOM CGIL

Forum Palestina

Gazzella Onlus

Palestina Rossa

Per non dimenticare Gaza, Roma

RedAzione di Radio Vostok

Redazione Libera.tv

Rete di Solidarietà con la Palestina – Milano

Rete Ebrei contro l’occupazione

Rete Radiè Resh nazionale

Rifondazione Comunista Follonica

SCI Italia

Statunitensi contro la Guerra, Firenze

Transform Italia

U.S. Citizens for Peace & Justice, Roma

Un ponte per...

Individuals:

Prof. Angelo Baracca, Firenze

Luigi de Magistris, Mayor of Naples

Nicoletta Dosio, Val Susa

Elena Giuliani, Genova

Haidi Gaggio Giuliani, former Senator

Luisa Morgantini, former Vice President, European Parliament

Giovanni Russo Spena, former Senator

Vincenzo Vita, former Senator

Sources:

Al Haq, Water For one People only: Discriminatory Access and ‘Water-Apartheid’ in the OPT (2013)

Who Profits, Mekorot’s involvement in the Israeli occupation (2013)

Human Rights Watch, Separate and Unequal: Israel’s Discriminatory Treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (2010)

Amnesty International, Troubled Waters: Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water (2009)