10/23/2010

Palestinians urge water strategy

Palestinian National Authority Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad attends the joint signing of the Declaration of the Mediterranean Climate Change Initiative at the resort hotel of Vouliagmeni near Athens on October 22, 2010. ( LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images) 

October 22, 2010 (KATAKAMI / FRANCE 24 / AFP) – Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayaad on Friday called on the international community to help find a solution to the difficult access to water in the occupied territories.

More should be done for the Palestinians to have access to the available resources respecting international rules on the sharing of water resources, Fayaad said after Mediterranean countries signed a declaration on the fight against climate change in the region.

“Obviously, this is a challenge, an effort that must be made within the framework of the political process to settle the problem but a solution must be found to make water more available” for the Palestinians, he said.

Fayaad said that “less than 10 percent of the (Palestinian) population has access to drinking water in Gaza”.

“IsraĆ«l takes 90 percent of the water and leaves us with only 10 percent,” he added.

“Our situation is particularly difficult, our problems are real, water consumption is below the average recommended by the World Health Organization.”

The regional conference on climate change in the Mediterranean which is also attended by Israel was called at the invitation of Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou ahead of a UN summit in Cancun November 29 to December 10.