RAMALLAH, West Bank, 20 August 2007 — Residents of the Israeli settlement of Elon Moreh in the West Bank have cut a pipe carrying drinking water to a nearby Palestinian village, and are using it to fill a small swimming pool located at a picnic site, which itself was built on land owned by the village.

The pipe, which carries water to the village of Dair Al-Hatab east of Nablus, was rerouted in order to fill the pool. The pipe channels fresh drinking water into the pool and drains dirty water back into the village’s water system.

“They not only use water that doesn’t belong to them, but they also pollute the drinking water of some of the village residents,” said Yoel Marshak, head of the Israeli Kibbutz Movement’s Special Assignments branch. “The little kids pee in the water, which flows straight into the taps of a Palestinian school.”

The small swimming pool was built at the settlement’s picnic site, which is located about a kilometer from Dair Al-Hatab and on the village’s lands.

“The settlers of Elon Moreh behave like landlords on our private land,” said Ja’far Shtaiyeh, deputy mayor of the neighboring village of Salem.

The civil administration has issued a demolition order for the picnic site following complaints by the Palestinian residents, and said that the order would be carried out in the coming days.

Benny Katzover, one of the settlement’s leaders in Elon Moreh, which was built on lands of Dair Al-Hatab, Salim, and Roujib in 1979, said in response that the pool in question was merely a small hole dug near an archaeological site which travelers visit. He claimed that the water came from a small fountain near Elon Moreh which streams to the village.

“The fountain’s water does not constitute the village’s main water supply, because the village has been connected to Mekorot (the Israeli national water company) for many years. The fountain’s water is used as drinking water for sheep and goats, and as backup in case the water supply is interrupted. No one has blocked the channeling of water to the village,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported yesterday that a group demonstrated against the sale of Israeli food products grown in occupied Palestinian territories during the opening of “Israel Week” at the Galeria Kaufhof department store in Berlin. Protesters held signs reading “No to (Israeli) settlement products” and “Stop the Israel-EU Association Agreement.”