The Palestinian Water Authority comments on the building of a desalinization plant in Hadera

Israel has recently reconfirmed its intention to implement the decision of the Local Israeli Assembly for Organization and Building to give a piece of land from the Hadera area to build a desalinization plant for the benefit of the Palestinian Authority. This decision was made based on a recommendation from the American, Israeli and Palestinian Joint Committee on Water. The news was first published by the Israeli media and then republished by Al-Quds on page 2 of its February 8, 2006 issue.

The Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) was astonished when Israeli authorities denied Al-Quds' report, and was even more astonished when just last week the Israeli media republished the same news it had denied in 2006. The PWA has recently expressed its point of view on the construction of the desalinization plant in view of achieving Palestinian Water Rights. It states that the Palestinian side is unwilling to purchase water at such a high cost from sources that are on the Mediterranean Coast and Jordan River , knowing that this water in fact partially belongs to the Palestinians but is inaccessible for them.

The PWA would like to establish its opinion on the matter to avoid unnecessary and untruthful blaming in the future:

* The Palestinian side has refused to discuss the issue in tripartite meetings and the issue has not come up in meetings of the American, Israeli and Palestinian Joint Water Committee.

* The Palestinian side refuses to resort to alternative water supplies, such as desalinization, before regaining its rights to the water from the aquifers and the River Jordan.

* Israel's desalinization plans do not deal with the issue of Palestinian water rights.

* The PWA is astonished that Israel is publishing this news at the same time as its ongoing attacks on Gaza , which are an attempt to wipe out the Palestinian population living there, have demolished or cause extensive damage to building infrastructure, and have destroyed a number of water pipes.

* The PWA claims that the two desalinization projects, one in Hadera and the other in Caesarea, are part of the Israeli strategy to cut back on its water use by approximately 380 million cubic meters by the end of this year and by 700 million cubic meters by 2015.

The PWA has requested that the American side comment on what has been published in the news on this issue, since it has been given the approval to do so by the Israeli, Palestinian, American committee.