BREAKING NEWS

Foreign Ministry refutes Amnesty report on Palestinian access to water

Foreign Ministry refuses

The Foreign Ministry refuted an Amnesty International report on Tuesday, which called on Israel to divide up shared water resources and end discrimination against Palestinians in favor of settlers. In a statement, the Foreign Minister stated that according to the existing water agreement, the Palestinians are allocated 23.6 million cubic meters of water per year, but "in actual effect, they have access to twice as much water." The statement went on to say that Israel has "extensively surpassed the obligatory quantity" of water supplied to the Palestinians, while the Palestinians have "significantly violated their commitments under the water agreement" by neglecting the construction of sewage treatment plants despite "foreign funding earmarked for this purpose," as well as drilling over 250 unauthorized wells. Israeli offers to supply the Palestinians with desalinated water were rejected due to political concerns, said the Foreign Ministry, adding that "Israel has reduced significantly its use of fresh natural water since 1967, consistently closing the gap between Israeli and Palestinian consumption."