By Xinhua,
Jerusalem : Israeli national water company Mekorot on Tuesday said it supplies more water to the West Bank than was required under the Oslo agreement, denying allegations that Israel is creating a grave water shortage in the Palestinian territory with a discriminatory policy.
Mekorot provides 500 million cubic meters per year for the West Bank, or 30 percent more than required under Oslo, and the water supply to the area has even increased despite water cutbacks and severe shortage in Israel, the company announced.
The company accused Palestinian water thieves of stealing up to 50 percent of the water supply in some areas, such as Bethlehem and Hebron.
Meanwhile, Israeli Water Authority spokesman Uri Shor told The Jerusalem Post that the distribution of water between Israel and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is based on an agreement between the two sides, and “Israel has observed the agreement.”
Currently, Israel supplies some 80 percent of the West Bank’s water needs.
Shor accused the Palestinians of not doing a good job of distributing their water resources, with some areas suffering shortages while others having too much.
He also blamed the shortage in the West Bank on the water thieves, adding that “the PNA does nothing about it.”
The comments came shortly after Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said in a statement that a grave water shortage is hitting a large part of the West Bank largely due to Israel’s “discriminatory” water policy and continuous drought.
The group said the per capita consumption of water in the West Bank now stands at 66 liters a day, about two-thirds of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended minimum amount, while the figure among Israelis is 3.5 times that of Palestinians.
“The chronic water shortage results in large part from Israel’s discriminatory policy in distributing the joint water resources in the West Bank and the limits it places on the Palestinian (National) Authority’s ability to drill new wells,” said the statement, adding that the accumulated effects of recent dry years will make the shortage even worse this summer.
The group called on Israeli government “to ensure immediate, regular, adequate supply of water to every resident of the West Bank without discrimination, and to allow the Palestinian National Authority to develop new water sources.”