Yoav Shavit : ‘ Women of Refaiya ’ and the Politics of Water in Palestine
By Yael Heiblum
The three El-Amur girls in Yoav Shavit ’ s 2012 short documentary film
Women of Refaiya wake up every morning at dawn . They go back and forth between their home and the spring , “ down and up ” the hill , to bring 30 buckets of water to their Palestinian village . The walk down the hill takes seven minutes , and the walk uphill — with a full bucket of water on their heads — takes fifteen .
As in many cultures in Africa and
India , collecting water in Palestine is specifically women ’ s work . This is both out of necessity and out of a tradition that dates back hundreds of years in Palestinian culture where women are the arbiters of water .
Samah , Ayat , and Sumaya El-Amur ’ s entire existence has been dictated by water beginning from when they were seven years old . They must do the dishes , feed the cow , heat the water for a shower , and get enough buckets for the day — all before going to school at 7:45 am . The health and wellbeing of their family rest in their hands .
Women of Refaiya does not exoticize or traumatize the story of these girls , but gives a thirteen-minute window into their daily lives . This story , of not only the El-Amur girls ’ relationship with water , but countless other Palestinian families , goes widely unheard or is eclipsed by the larger looming Israeli-Palestinian conflict . In Palestine , access to clean water is not only a physical struggle , but also a very tangible manifestation of a political and social conflict .
Israel controls the main sources of fresh water in Palestine . Any water that does get to the Palestinians through the pipes is mostly unsafe to use and drink due to high levels of pollution . (
In 2015 , 96 % of the available water in Gaza was unsafe to drink .)
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