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West Bank Villages Face Shortage Of Water While Settlements Thrive

Palestinian villages such as Al Hadidiya in the Jordan Valley are suffering from chronic water shortages, write Layan Masri and Loor Awwad.
A Palestinian from the herding community of Al Hadidya in the Jordan Valley herds livestock September 12, 2011. Struggling to survive on the land, al Hadidiya is an example of a community at the sharp end of life in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contrasts with the relative prosperity of the Palestinian Authority's administrative capital in Ramallah, where new government buildings symbolize efforts to build institutions ready for statehood. To match Insight: PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL/STATEHOOD.  Picture taken

The dirt roads leading to the Palestinian community of Al Hadidiya can be recognized from the tire tracks from cars and tractors in the winter mud.

Al Hadidiya is located in the northern Jordan Valley, a small village with a population of less than 200. Most of them are children, women and elderly, as most of the younger people have moved out in search of jobs or to pursue higher education. Palestinians residing there live in tents surrounded by arid mountains and rocky fields.

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