Palestine to sign UN Convention on water
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by Johannes Hillje
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 20, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Palestine will sign the United Nation’s Watercourses Convention as soon as they attain independent statehood, a Palestinian official announced at the World Water Forum yesterday.
The 1997 convention covers the uses and sharing of waters that cross international boundaries, including the fresh water of the Jordan River Basin between Israel, the Palestinian West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Shaddad Attili, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, said: "This is an important message as water access is one of the five core issues of the ArabĞIsraeli conflict."
Attili read out a statement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which referred to an unequal allocation of water between the Israeli and Palestinian population. "Palestinian domestic consumption is four times less than that of Israel," he said, adding that Palestinian’s daily consumption is below the minimum recommendations of the World Health Organization.
With signing the UN Convention, the Palestinian Authority aims to reach access to the Jordan River Basin. Besides Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, Palestine would be the fourth signatory of the five riparian country of the Jordan River willing to negotiate about the allocation of the water. Israel has not signed the convention until today. According to the Palestinian Water Authority, the basin is fully controlled by Israel, using 90 percent of the whole water.
Israel’s Head of Water Authority, Uri Shani, representing Israel at the Water Expo of the World Water Forum, doubted the impact of the Palestinian step and blamed his Palestinian counterpart for spreading false data.
Despite from a different situation in Gaza, the amount of water per person in the West Bank is only 10 percent less than in Israel," he said.
However, both sides recognized that negotiations are necessary. Although the UN Convention is not in force yet as it requires the ratification of 35 countries and Palestine would be the 17th signatory.
Shaddad Attili, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, said: "This is an important message as water access is one of the five core issues of the ArabĞIsraeli conflict."
Attili read out a statement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which referred to an unequal allocation of water between the Israeli and Palestinian population. "Palestinian domestic consumption is four times less than that of Israel," he said, adding that Palestinian’s daily consumption is below the minimum recommendations of the World Health Organization.
With signing the UN Convention, the Palestinian Authority aims to reach access to the Jordan River Basin. Besides Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, Palestine would be the fourth signatory of the five riparian country of the Jordan River willing to negotiate about the allocation of the water. Israel has not signed the convention until today. According to the Palestinian Water Authority, the basin is fully controlled by Israel, using 90 percent of the whole water.
Israel’s Head of Water Authority, Uri Shani, representing Israel at the Water Expo of the World Water Forum, doubted the impact of the Palestinian step and blamed his Palestinian counterpart for spreading false data.
Despite from a different situation in Gaza, the amount of water per person in the West Bank is only 10 percent less than in Israel," he said.
However, both sides recognized that negotiations are necessary. Although the UN Convention is not in force yet as it requires the ratification of 35 countries and Palestine would be the 17th signatory.