It's that time of year again. To keep cool during those long sizzling days, when one has to think ten times before wasting precious water on a cold daily shower, I switch on the TV to an Israeli channel and impatiently wait for the commercial break. The deep blue Mediterranean water shimmers in the background, so enticing, and ever so inviting to a scorched Palestinian like me. The commercial lasts for 30 seconds and that's all the time I need not only to feel cool and refreshed, but also outraged. I angrily turn off the TV, close my eyes, and pretend I'm surfing the waves.
Fantasy is the only sane escape from a sordid reality.
Suddenly the phone rings and rudely brings me back to the heat. I tell her that the water has been cut off for three days. This price is nearly triple the actual cost of the water but the private water providers know that people will pay because they must drink. They also make you pay for more water than you can store. If, for instance, you only have five water reservoirs on your rooftop, they'll bring you enough water for ten reservoirs, charge you for it and then drive away with the extras to sell it elsewhere.