Two physicists are defying the Israeli army to bring this village sustainable energy & clean water

BY: SWIKAR OLI

Palestinian residents in the Southern Hebron hills of the West Bank don’t have access to electricity, save for a rare few who can afford expensive diesel generators. Israeli soldiers have tried restricting the villages’ energy access and have generally been a looming threat to its residents in order to move them off Area C, a region that makes up two-thirds of the West Bank, and into Areas A and B. According to Haaretz, one of Israel’s oldest newspapers, residents’ “every trip to get water can lead to a traffic ticket and a fine of NIS 1,500,” and “eight of their 12 communities” on the slopes of Southern Hebron “are slated for demolition.”

Living inside the firing zone, this is the daily reality for 25 small communities on the West Bank.

Photo By: Eduardo Soteras

Villagers harvest rainwater in cisterns and is then collected in buckets. One family alone can lift upwards of 60 buckets a day.

Photo By: Tomer Applebaum

Photo By: Eduardo Soteras

Comet-ME ignores the soldiers and required permits to bring the villagers “basic necessities.” The NGO, created by two Israeli physicists, has provided the area with sustainable electricity and “clean water systems.” The sunny hills where the wind can really pick up due to its elevation from sea, was ideal for wind turbines and solar panels. With help from the German government, Comet puts up the infrastructures for free. To avoid trouble, Positive News UK reports, “The team often erects turbines at night to avoid confrontation with the Israeli authorities who have previously halted installations.”

Since Comet-ME started, 25 area villages have each received their own electricity-generating infrastructure, which is around 1,600 people, Haaretz estimates, and the change in their lives is measurable. For example, having electricity means being able to use the more efficient electric churners to make butter or cheese. As Positive News reports, “family incomes have grown by as much as 70 per cent since the electric goods were introduced.”

Comet-ME putting together a turbine for the wind turbine installation.

Photo By: Eduardo Soteras

Photo By: Shachar Polakow

The Israeli army has been pressuring Comet-Me in the area since the NGO began work, which the army intends to use for military training. Israeli Civil Administration, West Bank’s governing body, “has issued demolition orders for 15 of Comet’s 25 installations,” Haaretz reports, citing the lack of permits. Elad Orian, Comet-ME’s co-founder, told the newspaper it didn’t need permits because, “In principle, I don’t believe we have to ask for permits from an occupying force to supply basic services. And practically speaking, it is perfectly clear that if we ask for them, that will set in motion a complex, energy-draining process that will drag on for years and ultimately elicit a negative answer.”

Germany has put pressure on Israel to halt any plans for demolition, and the fate of the grid may be affected by the Israeli High Court’s decision to accept the villagers’ petition, which has a thousand signatures and states the hillside residents’ right to live on the land they feel is theirs.