workshop
Cover Letter to MIYA - an International Water Aid Organization
Dear MIYA board of directors,
Palestine and its surrounding subsidiaries have been in the grip of a life threatening water crisis for the last 50 years with little international aid. In recent years the crisis has progressed to the point that on average people in Palestine only have access to .5L/c/d of clean usable water per day. The lack of international intervention means that there is little knowledge on how best to stem this crisis, however by observing efficiency measures and water intakes I am hoping to determine the factors that contribute the most to furthering this crisis. I propose a research based solution that will independently measure water efficiencies across municipalities in Palestine and Israel in order to create a comparative analysis of water loss between the two states. With this data we will be able to make rapid and effective steps in order to bring water to region that is dying without it. Please consider my proposal outlined below.
Sincerely,
Jonathan R. Erskine
Problem Statement and Background
Although access to clean and sustainable water resources remains absent from the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, water continues to be a central, life giving, resource. Without water, it becomes impossible to achieve any of the other goals. While people can survive months with little to no food, from a biological perspective, humans perish within 3 days without access to water. After 2 days, humans have trouble moving any significant distance without fainting. This deep biological reliance on water is present in every organism on earth, and humans are no different(Maldarelli, 2019). This makes water of paramount importance when discussing development and sustainability. Nations that lack water or easy access to water have higher infant mortality rates, a common measure of a country’s development, as well as remain vulnerable from economic and security perspectives(Ezeh et. al, 2014). This is of particular importance in arid regions which lack reliable sources of water, particularly The Middle East - with particular focus on Israel and Palestine. As both states vie for the same water resources, shortages are common. These shortages increase political tensions between the two states, furthering the security risks in the region as both states have remained in a volatile stalemate for many years. On top of this, the governmental and political situations in Israel and The Middle East provide the perfect fuel for water based conflict. This volatility and lack of resource security can be mapped through a variety of methods, from “Data Envelopment Analysis” (DEA) which utilizes efficiency focused data to draw conclusions, to geographical mapping data which allows researchers to view the region from a wholesale perspective.
Water Shortages in Palestine
Water scarcity in Palestine leaves Palestinians with only half the minimum water needed per day. According to the WHO the average water availability to someone in Palestine is .5l/c/d which is half of the minimum amount needed. This is a serious problem as those living in Palestine are unable to focus on meeting other needs crucial to development if they can’t get enough water each day(Lazarova et. al, 2001). Water, being the most basic of resources, is required for both domestic and economic growth - without enough water the odds of timely and successful development in the region are significantly reduced. Especially given the arid environment in which Palestine and Israel are located, water becomes an even more vital resource and has led people to take up arms in order to obtain it. This water scarcity stems from, both, Israeli land acquisition, as well as seawater seepage into crucial aquifers that the whole Israel/Palestine region relies on(Wolf, 1996).
Israel/Palestine are directly on top of several key aquifers, however, seawater seepage has rendered some of these useless and contributes to the water scarcity problem in the region. In a study done by Gasteyer et. al several geographical references are utilized to strengthen their claim. Referencing a map of the naturally occurring aquifers in Israel/Palestine, they explain the conflict in which both the Israelis and Palestinians lay claim to the aquifers. This specifically is an issue in the West Bank, as the Coastal, Northeastern, and Tiberius Aquifers all originate there - leading the Palestinians to claim ownership of them(Gasteyer et. al, 2012) . However, due to the movement of groundwater within those aquifers towards Israel and surrounding countries, Israel lays claim to them as well - using this to justify their acquisition of land in order to siphon from them(Wolf, 1996).
Israel land acquisition is another key factor that draws water away from the Palestinians and into Israeli hands. The Israeli government views the Palestinian land as unproductive and takes it freely to secure resources. This argument would be backed by many Palestinians as they view the creation and maintenance of the State of Israel as a form of imperialism due to the significant historical problems between the two peoples. Language is another key method with which Israel uses to justify their land claims. This includes words and phrases such as “barren” “infertile” and painting the Palestinians as “savages” in the eyes of some Israelis(Alsharif, 2008). This land acquisition has allowed Israel to infringe on the Tiberius aquifer and siphon water from it. This seizure of water has exacerbated the already problematic water crisis and made it even more dangerous for the Palestinians.
Without rapid international intervention, Palestine’s water resources could be entirely gone within the next 7 years. This is a result of Israeli land acquisition as well as the seawater seepage that continues to plague the costal aquifers. Additionally, the threat of water shortages continues to rise across the globe. Meaning that without urgent and effective intervention, even more countries could fall victim to the same, or similar, fate as Palestine. Water is fundamental to human life and continued existence, without it we simply cannot develop and survive.
Methodology
The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) relies on measuring the performance of input to output ratios, thus works well to determine how Palestinian municipalities can increase the efficiency of their already low water resources and prevent further loss. Originally proposed by Charnes et. al in 1981, it continues to be a useful tool, with clear advantages over other tools, such as regression. While regression gives uniform values for all inputs and outputs, DEA gives some inputs and outputs more weight depending on how critical they are in the overall water supply. It can be structured around inputs or outputs. Meaning some inputs can be given more weight and some outputs can be given less depending on their strength. The most important thing that DEA can do is measure returns to scale (RTS). The RTS assigns weight to inputs and outputs depending on their overall effect on the scale of the municipality being measured - making it a versatile tool for a measure of any municipality. RTS is useful as it is part of variable returns to scale (VRS), which allows the DEA to minimize inputs and maximize outputs simultaneously and allows the DEA to measure the overall relative efficiency of each municipality measured. The VRS is measured through the BCC method, and demonstrates the returns to scale. BCC uses several variables, where xij and yrj are inputs and outputs respectively. VRS is shown here:
RTS model is shown here:
RTS is either increasing, decreasing, or constant depending on if Mu null is greater than, less than, or equal to zero. Additionally, the primal model of RTS breaks the different municipalities into two groups, either efficient (on the frontier) or inefficient (below the frontier). Y and X are the matrices of outputs and inputs respectively. S- and S+ are the shortfalls in production and consumption slacks. For this model, efficiency is achieved if all slacks are equal to zero. Additionally, eT represents the summation vector. The combination of these equations allows the large data to be taken and crunched into small, more digestible numbers. After these two equations are utilized they results are taken and inserted into a final function called the RTS additive primal model, seen here:
This final equation takes the culmination of the other two equations in order to give final efficiency values. A municipality is deemed “efficient” according to DEA if the change in the consumption and production slacks are equal to or greater than zero. This makes the data easy to use and easy to insert into larger charts since the outputs all range around zero. A collection of data in obviously necessary for this to work. Specifically the water losses (in this example all losses and gains measured in the New Israeli Shekel, the currency in Palestine), water and energy spending, maintenance and other expenses, including salary of workers and total revenue. Example table can be seen here, courtesy of Alsharif et. al: 
This data, as well as the same data for 2000, 2001, and 2002, is summarized and inserted to a program with the equations pre-loaded. This large dataset allows us to look at each individual municipality as well as Palestine on the whole. The final results from this analysis can be seen here:
The ability to look at each individual municipality allows us to cross reference spending and efficiency along preexisting geographic data. With this we can view how different water sources are used and with what level of efficiency, meaning that we can, both, demonstrate possible solutions for the present, as well as make predictions about when the water will run out in the future. The level of preparedness that the DEA provides is crucial for a region undergoing a water crisis, as crises such as this one often last for many years without stopping. Additionally, when the data is graphed over many years, it is possible to see clear trends in efficiency and use in order to determine if the changes implemented (if any) actually made a difference in the region.
In order to further the research that has already been done, the ability to account for other, more random variables, must be included. The inclusion of a confidence interval would be a very basic way to account for any possible random errors that may have occurred and resulted in skewed data. This would make it easier to predict potential eventualities, as well as create a clearer picture of the present.
Research Proposal
Due to the multitude of factors that could potentially be driving the water crisis in Palestine, it is useful to focus on a specific factor in order to determine the extent to which it contributes to the crisis. This allows us to see whether the investigated factor is something that warrants further investigation, or whether the investigation can be turned towards another, potentially more pressing, factor. As Israeli expansion and water acquisition has been shown to contribute to the water crisis in the region, a comparison between Palestinian and Israeli water use is called for. Using data envelopment analysis as a comparative tool between Israeli and Palestinian water municipalities, I plan to answer the question “to what extent have Israeli land and water claims contributed to the water crisis in Palestine.” Through the use of data envelopment analysis as well as water accessibility data we will be able to compare the water use efficiency of Mekorot (Israel’s national water and sanitation company), to the Palestinian Water Authority. This comparison of efficiency data to civilian water accessibility will allow us to see a trend in both states in order to determine the extent to which Israel is responsible to the water crisis in Palestine. I hypothesize that Israeli land and aquifer acquisition results in heightened water scarcity in the region. However we can only determine this through research. The research will require independently sourced data for water use, both from Mekorot and the Palestinian Water Authority. By independently gathering data we will be able to reduce bias that could be present in the data if we simply gathered the officially reported numbers. However, once this data is collected, the actual analysis will produce reliable results with low error that can be extrapolated to other areas of the water crisis. The results of this study will be useful for lawmakers and international organizations as it will allow them to determine the best way to provide the crucial aid needed to curb the continuing crisis.
Very little research has gone into measuring comparison efficiencies between Israel and Palestine, especially when considering the water crisis, as such, this study will allows us to uncover new and interesting conclusions. On top of that, measuring water use and efficiency are both fairly simple tasks, however, the information that it provides will be hugely beneficial. This is because there are only a few outcomes of this research. First, if we notice that Israel and Palestine score similarly on the efficiency ratings, but Israel maintains more water, we can conclude it is likely that Israeli monopolization of local water resources is a primary driving force behind the crisis. Alternatively, if we notice significant differences in the efficiency scores between the two states, we can determine that there exist larger problems to consider outside of simply Israeli water acquisition. Lastly, it is possible that our final results are inconclusive, however this is unlikely as we plan to collect a large amount of data, and compare it to civilian water accessibility. This small number of potential outcomes makes this seemingly small study hugely useful. Even if the results don’t indicate that Israel is at fault for the crisis, it allows us to rule them out as a potential cause, and focus our research on other areas - while still using our results from this study in order to determine what potential cause to investigate next. Moreover, the lack of research that has gone into this particular humanitarian crisis means that there will always be more to uncover. This is important because it means that this area of study will continue to stay relevant, and that we can make a real difference by using the results of the study to push governments and corporations towards providing the aid that the region desperately needs.
This study relies on the data envelopment analysis tool initially proposed by Charnes et al. in 1981to provide efficiency scores for the water departments of Israel and Palestine. This tool was chosen for its usefulness when considering large datasets, as well as the easy to understand outputs. These two factors were paramount in choosing to use this tool for analyzing efficiency. The DEA relies on measuring the performance of input to output ratios, thus works well to determine how these municipalities can increase the efficiency of their already low water resources and prevent further loss. It continues to be a useful tool, with clear advantages over other tools, such as regression. While regression gives uniform values for all inputs and outputs, DEA gives some inputs and outputs more weight depending on how critical they are in the overall water supply. It can be structured around inputs or outputs. Meaning some inputs can be given more weight and some outputs can be given less depending on their strength.
However, employing the DEA on its own will only give efficiency measures - which are useful for determining how to retain water, but fall short when trying to compare the two states. We plan to gain more insight into the severity of the crisis, while looking for any profound differences in water acquisition and use between Palestine and Israel. In order to do this, we will compare annual reported water intake for both countries, and compare it to the amount of water per capita per day. This will allow us to see if the majority of the water is going to civil use, or if it is being diverted to agriculture or industry. By examining the efficiency numbers and the daily per capita water availability then comparing them to the annual water acquisition numbers, we can see where the greatest shortfalls are. Additionally, it will help us see if Israeli water monopolization is at fault for a large part of this crisis. We will be able to determine if Israel is at fault for a large part of the water crisis if their efficiency measures match that of Palestine, but their daily per capita water access is higher. If both of these conditions are met, and we can see a large amount of water diverted to agriculture or industry by Israeli, it will serve as further evidence for the claim - indicating that this is in fact not a human development concern, rather, a human rights concern
Independent data collection is paramount in ensuring that this study produces viable, unbiased, results. By relying exclusively on reported data from the water management agencies, the data becomes far less trustworthy, and the potential for bias increases. We plan to remediate this by independently collecting data on water usage and intake from Israel and municipalities in Palestine. This is crucial for our research as it eliminates any potential bias either state may have in over-reporting or under-reporting water use in order to skew the results. This data collection would occur over the span of a year, and could be done through automated systems similar to the kind that already exist on the commercial market. Safeguards could easily be put in place to prevent tampering, and in the event of tampering they would be relatively inexpensive to reinstall making it a viable solution.
This research would relatively inexpensive to fund, and the benefits of it are assured. With the results of this research we could determine the best way to combat this water crisis that threatens to claim over a million lives within in the next 10 years. We have the capabilities and abilities to uncover and utilize data that would be beneficial from both a human development standpoint and a human rights standpoint. A high estimate of the costs would be around $10,000 in order to supply and install the equipment needed to measure the water usage. However, outside of those expenses there are no others, as the data collection systems work automatically. This research has the capacity to save lives, both now, and in the future. The question for this research isn’t why, rather it’s when. This type of research needs occur within the next five years if we hope to have a chance at making a functional difference, and the earlier we can begin the more power we have to make the vast changes required the stem the Palestinian Water Crisis.
Bibliography
Gasteyer, Stephen, Jad Isaac, Jane Hillal, and Sean Walsh. “Water Grabbing in ColonialPerspective: Land and Water in Israel/Palestine.” Water Alternatives 5, no. 2 (2012):450–68. http://www.water-alternatives.org/index.php/allabs/179-a5-2-15/file.
This article seeks to address and note the damage that Israeli land acquisition has on Palestinian daily water supplies. On top of that, it seeks to answer the question “is this neo-imperialism” and if so, how does it affect the development of Palestine. In order to explore both ideas, Gasteyer et. al, frame the idea of water shortages and land acquisition as a form of neo-imperialism, in which the Israeli government views the Palestinian land as unproductive and takes it freely to secure resources. This argument would be backed by many Palestinians as they view the creation and maintenance of the State of Israel as a form of imperialism due to the significant historical problems between the two peoples. The article discusses the use of language as well as a tactic for land acquisition. This includes words and phrases such as “barren” “infertile” and painting the Palestinians as “savages” in the eyes of many Israelis. Under Amartya Sen’s definition of human development, that development is furthered by the increase of personal and societal freedoms, this use of governmental power to take resources from an already resource scarce area would certainly demonstrate the infringement on personal and societal freedoms. More specifically, it can be classified as violating 3 of Sen’s 5 “instrumental freedoms’’ including political and economic freedoms, as well as “transparency guarantees.” The violation of political and economic freedoms is fairly obvious, as the Israeli government is taking a resource vital to personal health and economic well being without the consent of the Palestinians. However, when considering the idea of “transparency guarantees” it becomes harder. This source would argue that as the Israeli government portrays themselves as wanting to help the Palestinians, while simultaneously disparaging them in order to take their resources, this freedom has been institutionally infringed upon - resulting in slowed development. This article also exposes the departure from the United Nations’ (UN’s) development goals - specifically access to enough clean water. Gasteyer et. al utilize several geographical references to strengthen their claim. Referencing a map of the naturally occurring aquifers in Israel/Palestine, they explain the conflict in which both the Israelis and Palestinians lay claim to the aquifers. This specifically is an issue in the West Bank, as the Coastal, Northeastern, and Tiberius Aquifers all originate there - leading the Palestinians to claim ownership of them. However, due to the movement of groundwater within those aquifers towards Israel and surrounding countries, Israel lays claim to them as well - using this to justify their acquisition of land in order to siphon from them.
Lazarova, V., et al. “Role of Water Reuse for Enhancing Integrated Water Management in Europe and Mediterranean Countries.” Water Science and Technology, vol. 43, no. 10, 2001, pp. 25–33., doi:10.2166/wst.2001.0571.
This source is meant to give a fundamental understanding of what water scarcity is and how it affects different areas of the world. Additionally, it seeks to use “integrative techniques” to solve scarcity problems - specifically the problem of water scarcity in arid areas. This article includes several graphs and charts that show global water use percentage compared to the United States and South Africa - demonstrating how inefficient our global water use is. This article uses 7 key ways in order to address water scarcity and overuse: “(1) developing any undeveloped water resource, including desalination of brackish or sea water, (2) wastewater treatment and reuse, (3) inter-basin transfer, (4) more efficient irrigation systems, (5) minimising water leakage, (6) application of adequate charges for water, and (7) importing water from neighbouring countries.” Specific to Palestine and the Middle East, the authors reference a wastewater reuse system in which waste and grey water is cleaned and desalinated for future use. However, the problem with this type of system is that it is expensive to maintain and initially build. Contrary to this, the article references how places in Namibia have been reusing wastewater and the benefits that these types of facilities provide outweigh the costs. Outside of the monetary costs, the social and cultural work that must be done to get the citizens on board with this large of a project is extensive and can take a serious toll.
Wolf, Aaron T. “‘Hydrostrategic’ Territory in the Jordan Basin: Water, War, and Arab-Israeli Peace Negotiations.” Water: A Trigger for Conflict/A Reason for Cooperation, 10 Mar. 1996.
This article provides a backdrop for the preexisting political conditions that occurred at the end of World War One (WWI) and how the borders that were created continue to plague the water crisis in Palestine. The source additionally seeks to address how river borders, referred to as “hydro-strategic territory”, influence the current crisis in Palestine. The Jordan River, which divides Israel and Palestine, is one of the most indispensable rivers in the water crisis as both Israel and Palestine lay claim to it. This article makes the claim that using rivers and other bodies of water as a way to define territorial boundaries is outdated and creates more conflict. It uses Israel and Palestine as an example of this since they both lay claim to the water and resources that The Jordan provides. The river remains an international boundary, and as such, nobody can truly end the dispute - creating more conflict. The article uses several other examples such as the Indus River between Pakistan and India, which continues to serve as a catalyst for violence between the two nations.
Under Amartya Sen’s definition of human development this creation of disputed water lengthens the process towards healthy development. This is a result of the continued tensions that arise from these shared waterways, in addition to the inaccessibility of these waterways to the domestic populace. This keeps Palestinians - and Israelis - locked where they are in the developmental process as they are unable to acquire the most basic of resources: water.
Geospacially, this article utilizes next to no maps, however, it does rely heavily on several datasets which it references throughout the entirety of the article. These datasets serve to demonstrate the ease with which the region of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Israel were divided up following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Additionally, it references the reliance on waterways as a guideline for international boundary drawing. By referencing this data alongside pre-existing maps of the region, you can see that France and England relied almost entirely on the waterways. This resulted in an incredible amount of conflict in the region, especially when looking at the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948, the majority of these clashes were centered around crucial waterways - especially the Jordan River which continues to create conflict between Israeli and Palestinian forces.
This article specifically looks at how historical processes and the creation of governments resulted in the instability of the governmental processes in the region. This relates closely to the human development pattern of governmental stability while simultaneously seeking to answer the scientific question of:
“Does territory exist over which sovereignty has been sought politically or militarily, or which would be insisted upon in the course of current territorial negotiations, solely because of its access to water sources, and in the absence of any other compelling strategic or legal rationale?”
This question isn’t fully answered by the end of the article, however it does serve to provide a framework for the rest of their investigation. This framework was crucial as it allows us, the reader, to understand the objective of the research. On top of that, the idea of hydrostrategic territory which is introduced by the authors of the article serves to exemplify the UN development goal of continued access to clean and renewable water resources - specifically in regards to how governments control citizen access to these resources.
Alsharif, Kamal, et al. “Governance of Water Supply Systems in the Palestinian Territories: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach to the Management of Water Resources.” Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 87, no. 1, 2008, pp. 80–94., doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2007.01.008.
This source focuses on a “data envelopment analysis” (DEA) of the use of water by the various organizations in Palestine. It relies on this technique of data analysis to confront the question “What physical changes can Palestine make in the next 7 years in order to avoid a total water crisis?” The DEA serves mainly to measure efficiency of water use. This carries a significant amount of importance to those living in the West Bank, as 3 of the regions main aquifers originate there.
Already signs of seawater seepage as well as human and chemical waste pollutants have been found in wells that rely on those aquifers. These are the first signs that water use by countries reliant on those aquifers - Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon - is grossly inefficient. This inefficiency - evidenced by the pollutants in the water - results from water agencies in the region taking water out of the aquifers faster than it can be replenished. The poor and arid soil also contributes to the pollutants in the aquifers as wastewater can quickly seep into the ground without adequate time to filter out harmful chemicals. Additionally, the varying levels of water use by those who rely on the aquifers is discussed in the article - which makes the construction of consistent water management even more difficult as they can’t count on consistent use.
The DEA methodology relies on a series of equations in order to establish their measures of efficiency. The measures of efficiency are based off of yearly annual use - as well as consistent water degradation based off of historical records. These equations - while not infallible - are used in this article to give a rough estimate of the amount of time that lawmakers in Israel and Palestine have to come to a solution. An additional variable that comes into play is the lack of access to the Jordan river by those living in Palestine. Since Israel laid claim to the Jordan river, Palestinians have been almost wholly unable to rely on the water there, meaning that a solution to this water crisis should be of paramount importance to lawmakers in the region. Considering all these variables, the equation can be viewed 
This article relates to Amartya Sen’s definition of human development as being by the people and for the people as it gives a time frame and strategies that those in Palestine and the surrounding region can use to help avoid their inclement water crisis. This source, like the others, relates to the UN sustainable development goal of clean water for all - however it specifically relates to the human development pattern of mitigating population growth alongside scarce resources.
Charnes, A., et al. “Evaluating Program and Managerial Efficiency: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis to Program Follow Through.” Management Science, vol. 27, no. 6, 6 June 1981, pp. 668–697., doi:10.1287/mnsc.27.6.668.
This source gives the background information for the creation of the DEA processes dicussed in the methodology section. Charnes et. al proposed the DEA in this paper in 1981 using data from the education sector.
Hoff, Holger, et al. “A Water Resources Planning Tool for the Jordan River Basin.” Water, vol. 3, no. 3, 2011, pp. 718–736., doi:10.3390/w3030718.
This source discusses the use of water from the Jordan River Basin, and serves to use maps as well as data charts to find an answer to the scarcity problems that continue to hound the region. This source is created as a method to address how increasing demand in riparian states can be controlled while simultaneously ensuring the longevity of the water resources that they desperately need. However, the scarcity that this source seeks to address and prevent is already a problem - according to this article all of the riparian states surrounding the Jordan River Basin are suffering from water scarcity - only getting about half the water that they really need. This article talks specifically about the Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM), an international organization dedicated to water resource management. This is an example of Amartya Sen’s definition of human development as it was created by the people for the people. This organization works not to give monetary aid - rather it seeks to employ tools and strategies that can help countries better manage their finite resources. This extends to Palestine and Israel as well. The IWRM has recommended and put in place several strategies to help overcome the encroaching water crisis, however none of them have been unilaterally used throughout the whole region. This limits the effectiveness of the organization on the whole.
Dormido, Hannah. “These Countries Are the Most at Risk From a Water Crisis.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 6 Aug. 2019, www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2019-countries-facing-water-crisis/.
I used this source as it gave a longview of water scarcity on a global level. This source had a fantastic map that showed risk levels for water scarcity in the future. On top of that, it gave an in depth analysis of ways we can solve it.
Ezeh, Osita, et al. “The Impact of Water and Sanitation on Childhood Mortality in Nigeria: Evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys, 2003–2013.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 11, no. 9, 2014, pp. 9256–9272., doi:10.3390/ijerph110909256.
This paper gave insight on child mortality and water scarcity. The conclusion that they came to was that as water scarcity increases, as does neonatal illness and mortality. This study was done over 10 years in Nigeria and measured both maternal and child health in water scarce areas as well as water abundant areas. Water abundance was dictated by access to reliable sources that were also clean and viable.
“League Of Nations Mandate For Palestine As A Jewish State.” Israel Forever Foundation, israelforever.org/state/Mandate_for_Palestine_Jewish_State/.
This is the direct text that introduced Israel as a state by the League of Nations Article 22. This source allows me to reference the creation of Israel as a state.
Maldarelli, Claire. “This Is What Happens to Your Body as You Die of Dehydration.” Popular Science, Popular Science, 2 July 2019, www.popsci.com/dehydration-death-thirst-water/.
As the title suggests, this source gives a scientific rundown of what happens to the human body as it dehydrates. This source is importance to show just how critical water security is. As without water we are rendered deeply ill.
“Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 25 June 2015, www.who.int/topics/millennium_development_goals/about/en/.
This source is the direct text of the Millennium Development Goals put in place by the UN. This source allows us to view the development goals and reference them throughout the paper.
“Neither Law Nor Justice.” B’Tselem, www.btselem.org/node/208972.
This source outlines the extrajudicial detainment and arrest of Palestinians by IDF members. These actions contributed and continue to contribute to the overall tension between Israel and Palestine.
Nichols, Michelle. “U.N. Allows Palestinians to Act More like Full Member in 2019.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 16 Oct. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-un/un-allows-palestinians-to-act-more-like-full-member-in-2019-idUSKCN1MQ2R7.
This source details Palestine’s rights in the UN. It also explains the US’s position on Palestine on the international stage. Additionally, it demonstrates the difference between Palestine and Israel in the UN.