Israeli Minister claims Israel provides Palestinians “more than enough water”

Wednesday January 20, 2010 03:12 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

On Monday Israel's National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau told a meeting of German Ministers that Israel gives the Palestinians more than they are required to by treaties.

Uzi Landau (photo wikimedia)

But the Palestinian Authority's Water Board says that this statement is an outright lie.

Palestinians control only 14% of their water and last year received only 90MCM from the 118 MCM allotted by Oslo Article 40.

Even the 118 MCM are nowhere near what is needed for the population.

According to the most recent World Bank report, Palestinians get 34 liters of water per capita per day while Israelis get 280 liters per capita per day. Israelis, including settlers living on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank, are permitted to dig wells 70 meters deeper than their Palestinian counterparts.

Some Palestinians wondered if Landau was referring to Israel's flooding, on the same day he made the statement, of Palestinian villages in the Gaza Valley. Hundreds of Palestinians were displaced from their homes, which suffered severe damage when Israel opened a dam directly toward the Palestinian area.

Link to World Bank report below.

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWESTBANKGAZA/Reso...9.pdf

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