[When I lived in Safareen] I used to live next to my brother and when we bought a water tank our wives used to fight over who used more water than the other. When we wanted to use a little more water or even wash the laundry, we would fight over it. The scarcity of water made us so uncomfortable; so of course, water was one of the main reasons we left the village. We used to have to be so careful about using water and you would always hear us yelling “close the tap,” or we would delay doing the laundry. Now in Tulkarem, we can use the water, we can freely use the washing machines and even the toilets. Back in 2002, when we were still living in Safareen, we went to Thinabeh [village] in Tulkarem and spent some time there with family. We found water, green land, we discovered everything was comfortable. When I was in Thinabeh, if I left for work at 7:30 am I would arrive at 8 am on time. So my wife suggested “Why don’t we live here?” I found life was so much easier than in Safareen. Water, electricity, everything was available in Thinabeh. No issues at all. Life was easier, so we moved to Thinabeh. Services like water and electricity were always a problem [in Safareen]. [The decision to leave Safareen] wasn’t taken easily though; I hadn’t planned to leave this village at all. I love Safareen so much; our village is one of the most beautiful villages with good, friendly people. We all lived one life and we all loved each other. I swear to God we used to sleep at each other’s homes when we were doing Tawjihi [high school final exams in Palestine]. We had one village, one family. I swear to God, the fact that I left my village saddens me, sometimes I almost cry about the situation in the village. There are multiple reasons behind our choice, but Israel was the cause to all of them.” J. Saleh, Safareen, Tulkarm. Interview: 20 February 2017 The combination of policies, practices and systems mentioned in this section have cut Palestinians off from their plentiful water sources so successfully that daily life and the existence of local agriculture and livestock industries have become unsustainable in hundreds of communities in the West Bank.177 It is therefore transparent that denial of access to water is a significant contributing factor to a coercive environment which often forces people to leave. “The denial of adequate water has caused the relocation of the local 177 D’Cunha, “The First Plague,” 302, supra note 145. 48