The village of Ma'asara and six adjacent villages are entrapped between the settlements of EfratTeqoa (half an hour from Jerusalem). Aside from the constant closure and the expansion of the settlements, the people in the area suffer  from  the severe scarcity of water.

A year and a half ago we were approached by people from Maasara, asking to assist them in solving the repeated summer water shortages.  After preliminary efforts which yielded no decisive results, we were lucky to be contacted by the French water engineers’ group Hydrologists without Borders who, following a tour of the Bethlehem district, decided to carry out the project of water supply in Maasara.  The French side contributed their expertise, and also raised money to cover the cost of the pipes.  Many villagers, from Maasara and from the nearby villages, volunteered in the work.  Thanks to this wide-scale recruitment, the project ended earlier than was expected.

Ta’ayush members assisted the project all along.  To celebrate the end of the project a bus full of Ta’ayush members and French-Palestinian solidarity organizations (Hydrologists without Borders, Shalom-Peace-Salam) traveled to Maasara (on Friday, the 24th of October) to meet the local people and to finish the project together. We marched through the streets of the village with dozens of the local people, and were addressed by local activists during the improvised meeting.

This multi-faceted project was unique for Ta’ayush, and it is important to assess its benefits and shortcomings. We believe that as other infrastructure projects it contributed not just to the  well-being of the Palestinians in the West Bank but also to their Sumud (Firm Standing). It is then a part of our ongoing efforts to promote cooperation with Palestinians, strengthen their resistance to the occupation and encourage non-violent means of struggle. We hope that the experience gathered in Maasara will contribute to future bilateral and multi-lateral projects throughout the occupied territories.  The French activists have already expressed their hope to cooperate with us in two planned projects, one in Yatta, in southern Hebron/al-Khalil Mountains, and the other in Za’atara, east of Bethlehem. We will have to decide on these matters in the near future.