The bias has been noted in a number of periodicals, but the most recent summary appears in the November-December issue of Report on Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories, a highly respected research publication of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. The principal researcher and author is Geoffrey Aronson. According to the Oslo II agreement, of the 601 million cubic meters of water available annually in the three main West Bank aquifers, 56.6 percent is earmarked for use in Israel, and 23.8 percent for the use of the 170,000 West Bank settlers, not including those residing in East Jerusalem. This leaves 19.6 percent for the 1.2 million Palestinians living on the West Bank. Under the agreement, which arises from the grossly biased traditions already enforced by Israel in the allocation of water, each Jew gets nearly 10 times as much as each Arab.
Water usage varies somewhat from place to place, but the anti-Arab bias is constant.
Aronson s study provides a breakdown on the amount of water allocated in 1997 to the 5,800 Jews living in the settlement of Kiryat Arba, contrasted with the water allocated to the 119,230 Arabs living in Hebron. In February 1997, the Jewish settlers received 77 cubic meters per person, while Arabs received 21. In July 1997, Jewish daily use nearly doubled, while Arab use dropped. Jews averaged 547 liters per day. The data was published in the Hebrew newspaper, Ha aretz.