Chevron, Total and Shell exemplify the devastating impacts of private transnational corporations on peoples and the planet. But the case of Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, highlights a parallel phenomenon: the transnational operations of state-owned corporations implicated in human rights violations. Mekorot profits from the systematic theft and control of Palestinian water resources as a key player in the machinery of Israeli occupation and human rights violations.[1] Its operations in the occupied Palestinian territory reveal how corporate power backed by state violence and protected by global investment systems can be used to entrench colonial domination. The case of Mekorot forces us to widen our analysis of corporate power.

A corporate engine of water apartheid

For decades, Mekorot has played a central role in the Israeli regime’s control over Palestinian lives through water.[2] The company manages the water system, which includes the diversion of water from the occupied West Bank to illegal Israeli settlements, while Palestinians are denied access to their own resources.[3,4] According to a 2023 report, Mekorot has forcibly taken over Palestinian water sources, reduced supply quotas for Palestinian communities, and routinely cut off water to entire villages, especially during peak summer months.[5]

“Palestinians’ lack of access to water resources is not a logistical failure or a bureaucratic oversight – it is policy. Mekorot implements a deliberate, systemic practice of racialised water control: abundant for settlers, scarce for the colonised.”

Member of Palestinian civil society

In some Palestinian villages, people survive on as little as 20 litres of water per person per day – well below the World Health Organisation’s minimum recommendation of 50-100 litres.[6, 7] As of 2024, in Gaza, that number is as low as 2-9 litres of water per person per day.[8] Meanwhile, Israeli settlers in the same region enjoy near-unabated access to an average of 247 litres of water per person per day.[9] 

Many communities in the West Bank are also prevented from developing any water and sanitation infrastructure, and almost all (97%) of the available water in the Gaza Strip is unfit for human consumption. Amidst the climate crisis, lack of access to water has especially dire consequences for Palestinians. The adaptive capacity of Palestine to climate change relies on the availability of freshwater resources and is severely diminished.

This is apartheid in action – an institutionalised regime of domination, control and exclusion based on identity. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, apartheid is classified as a crime against humanity.[10] Mekorot’s active participation in this system, therefore, places it in clear violation of international law and makes it a legitimate target for campaigns demanding corporate accountability and decolonisation.[11]

Neocolonialism and the global architecture of impunity

As a transnational actor, Mekorot also sells its technologies and services worldwide – from India to Argentina to Romania – under the guise of sustainability and expertise in efficient water management.[12] These partnerships allow Mekorot to whitewash its role in the occupation while expanding its influence and profits. This kind of international expansion is considered by many to be the export of apartheid infrastructure, bringing with it a model built on exclusion, inequality and control.[13, 14] 

Like many transnational corporations, Mekorot operates with near-total impunity. It is the product of a system designed to protect corporate crimes under the banner of “development,” “security,” and “innovation.” Although state-owned, Mekorot operates transnationally as a neo-colonial entity that uses many of the same instruments of market expansion, policy influence and corporate whitewashing as private TNCs.[15, 16] Its role in enforcing water apartheid in Palestine makes it a clear example of a corporate agent of structural violence. Mekorot’s case exposes how the architecture of impunity can be upheld not just by private capital but by state-owned corporations that benefit from international investment frameworks and voluntary corporate accountability regimes.

Resistance and Palestinian liberation

Mekorot is a clear and dangerous example of how transnational corporations can operate as arms of state violence. It profits from the theft of Palestinian water, entrenches apartheid and hides behind international partnerships and greenwashed PR campaigns.[17, 18, 19] But it is also vulnerable. Its reputation, its contracts, and its legitimacy can be challenged.

Mekorot’s global footprint has faced increasing resistance from communities and movements worldwide.[20, 21] Public pressure from civil society and human rights groups has forced firms and municipalities in countries like the Netherlands and Argentina to cancel contracts with the company.[22, 23] 

Palestinian communities have never accepted the theft of their land, their resources, or their future. Despite demolitions, arrests, and harassment, they continue to dig cisterns, build rainwater harvesting systems, and organise popular committees to defend their rights.

International solidarity has also played a vital role. The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement has put Mekorot on notice, building campaigns that connect water apartheid in Palestine to broader struggles against climate injustice, corporate power and colonialism.[24] The dominance of transnational corporations is reinforced by outdated antitrust frameworks, weak regulatory systems, and a failure to address structural inequality.[25, 26] This level of corporate power and impunity calls for true regulation and justice. Amidst the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people in which transnational corporations are complicit, we continue to demand a UN Binding Treaty on transnational corporations and human rights.

As part of the Global Campaign to Reclaim Peoples’ Sovereignty, Dismantle Corporate Power and Stop Impunity, we need to hold these TNCs accountable for their human rights violations and ensure affected communities have access to justice. We’ll continue to not only expose Mekorot’s crimes, but the global system that enables them.

References

[1] [2] [3] [5] [12] [14] [15] [17] Who Profits (2023), Dried Up: Mekorot’s involvement in the Israeli occupation.

[4] Amnesty International (2009), Troubled waters – Palestinians denied fair access to water.

[6] Bethan McKernan (2023), A precious resource: how Israel uses water to control the West Bank. The Guardian.

[7] United Nations (n.d.), Global issues: Water.

[8] [11] Human Rights Watch (2024), Extermination and acts of genocide: Israel deliberately depriving Palestinians in Gaza of water.

[9] BTSELEM (2023), Parched: Israel’s policy of water deprivation in the West Bank.

[10] International Criminal Court (1998). Rome statute of the International Criminal Court.

[13] [18] [20] [24] BDS Movement (2014). International week against Mekorot.

[16] Mekorot (n.d.). International operations.

[19] Transnational institute (2023). Arab-Israeli eco-normalisation: Greenwashing settler colonialism in Palestine and the Jawan.

[21] Victor Swezey (2023). Amid Gaza war, activists in Argentina aim to expel Israeli water company. Al jazeera.

[22] BDS Movement (2013). Dutch water company terminates relationship with Mekorot following government advice.

[23] BDS Movement (2014). $170M Argentina loss for Israeli water firm Mekorot as BDS spreads southward.

[25] Asmaa Ashraf (2023). Sumud: Amidst Israel’s assaults on water supplies we must talk about Palestinian resistance, not resilience. New Arab.

[26] Manal Shqair (2024). Eco-sumud and the Palestinian struggle for eco-social justice. War resisters international.