http://stockholm.hostmaster.org/articles/poisoning_the_wells_zionist_biological_warfare/en.html
In the mythology of modern Israel, the events of 1948 are often framed as a war of survival, a moment of national birth amidst existential threat. But beneath this narrative lies a darker, well-documented history of war crimes — including the deliberate poisoning of Palestinian wells and water supplies. Far from isolated aberrations, these acts formed part of a broader strategy of depopulation, deterrence, and territorial consolidation — one that continues today through the destruction of water infrastructure in the occupied West Bank and the total siege of Gaza.
Poisoning water sources, especially with biological agents, is not merely a battlefield tactic. It is a war crime under international law, a weapon of mass suffering, and a crime against human dignity. In 1948, these acts were already illegal under the Hague Convention IV (1907) - to which Israel, by continuity of obligation and later accession, is bound. This essay lays out the documented history of Zionist water poisoning operations, their legal implications, and the continuity of this tactic from the Nakba to the present.
In May 1948, as Zionist forces laid siege to the Palestinian city of Acre, the Haganah’s covert Science Corps (Hemed Bet) deployed a typhoid-based biological agent into the city’s water supply. The goal was to weaken the civilian population, create panic, and accelerate flight.
This was the first known use of bacteriological weapons by Zionist forces during the war. It was not the act of rogue operatives, but a planned military operation targeting civilians.
Shortly after Acre, the same unit attempted to carry out a similar typhoid poisoning operation in Gaza, then under Egyptian administration. This time, the operatives were arrested by Egyptian security forces before they could deploy the pathogen.
Though the attack failed, it demonstrates a clear pattern of biological warfare tactics coordinated across multiple fronts.
In the lead-up to the Nakba, Palestinian villages northwest of Jerusalem — including Biddu and Beit Surik — reported attempts by Zionist forces to poison or sabotage local wells. These villages were strategically located along the supply routes to Jerusalem.
While microbiological evidence was never recovered (likely due to time and destruction), the pattern fits the known operational profile of Zionist sabotage in rural areas.
Located just west of Jerusalem, ’Ayn Karim experienced a sudden outbreak of illness after Haganah raids targeted the water reservoir in the village.
This incident illustrates how psychological and biological tactics were used in tandem, not only to cause harm but to sow fear and encourage flight.
In the Galilee, the Palmach attacked Ein al-Zeitun, killing many residents and expelling the rest. In the aftermath, Zionist forces destroyed the village’s wells and water conduits to ensure no return.
The destruction of water sources was not just incidental damage. It was a calculated strategy to depopulate villages permanently.
Declassified IDF records show that Zionist forces planned to poison or disable water sources in multiple Galilee villages, particularly those near armistice lines.
These plans show that water poisoning was part of a broader doctrine (“Plan Dalet”), not limited to one or two isolated incidents.
The actions outlined above constitute clear and multiple violations of international humanitarian law, in effect at the time of the 1948 war:
The weaponization of water did not end in 1948. It evolved, becoming a central feature of Israel’s occupation infrastructure.
Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank routinely destroy or contaminate Palestinian water tanks, wells, and irrigation systems.
Water denial has become a core tactic of settler colonial expansion, following the same logic used in 1948: control the land by cutting off life.
In Gaza, Israel has enforced a total siege since 2007 - one that has targeted not only borders and electricity, but water purification, sanitation, and medical infrastructure.
Actions:
Effects:
The siege transforms water - essential to life - into a weapon of punishment. It is the modern continuation of a doctrine first deployed in the poisoned wells of 1948.
It is true that the accusation of “well-poisoning” was once a malicious antisemitic libel, used to justify the murder of innocent Jews in medieval Europe. But to acknowledge real, documented cases of Zionist forces poisoning Palestinian water is not to resurrect that libel. It is to speak truth to historical and legal reality.
Criticism of Israeli military and settler tactics - including biological warfare - is not antisemitism. It is a moral obligation rooted in international law, historical accountability, and the lived experience of Palestinian victims. Silence in the face of such crimes does not protect Jews - it protects war criminals and dishonors the victims of real antisemitism throughout history.
From Acre to Gaza, from sabotaged village wells to the slow suffocation of Gaza’s aquifers, the use of water as a weapon defines the logic of Zionist settler-colonialism. It is a tactic of removal, deterrence, and domination - and it has never stopped.
To poison water is to poison life. And to remember the poisoned wells of Palestine is not to invoke ancient libels, but to confront modern crimes - with truth, with law, and with the demand that water, and justice, flow freely again.