contrast, access to water from the Mountain Aquifer has not been entirely cut off - currently all water utilized by Palestinians in the West Bank flows from this source.137 However, Israel has strategically used various policies and regulations to impede and deny aquifer access to Palestinian communities in a manner consistent with the creation of a coercive environment. The denial of access to essential local water resources has created a reality for many Palestinians in which they are unable to meet the demands of their daily life, and therefore are forced to leave their areas in search of greater water availability. The Israeli government drafted military orders that explicitly targeted the water resources of the West Bank after the occupation. Military Orders 92 and 158, issued in 1967, put the Israeli army in control of all water-related issues in the oPt and banned the construction of any new water installations by Palestinians without first receiving a permit from the army. Included in the latter order was a provision that any installation or resource without a permit would be confiscated.138 This hegemonic control over the oPt’s water was then replicated and institutionalized by the Oslo II Accord in 1995, which allotted 80 percent of all mountain aquifer water in the West Bank to Israel in contravention of international law.139 Today, Israel is using 85 percent of the water in the occupied territory for its own benefit and that of the JewishIsraeli colonizers. Palestinians, with access to the remaining 15 percent of the water, are water-dependent on Israel and must buy water from them to meet the demand of the population. This policy contravenes international law, which clearly establishes that the occupying power can only utilize the resources of the occupied territory, such as water, if it is for the benefit of the protected population or if justified by military necessity. This Oslo II Accord also created a Joint Water Committee (JWC) made up of both Israeli and Palestinian representatives to implement the new water policies.140 The JWC is responsible for dividing aquifer water between the separate Israeli and Palestinian water supply systems and granting approval for water projects in the West Bank.141 Despite the presence of Palestinians in the JWC, Israel’s veto power in the committee has resulted in so many denials or delays of permits for Palestinian water projects that the Palestinian Water Authority has stopped submitting permit requests 137 Amnesty International, Troubled Waters, 8, supra note 35.; Lazarou, Water in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 5, supra note 132. 138 Amnesty International, Troubled Waters, 12, supra note 37. 139 Oslo II, Annex III, Article 40, supra note 39. 140 Ibid. 141 EWASH and al-Haq, Joint Parallel Report, 7, supra note 132. 40