Palestine: World Bank reports assesses restrictions on water development

A World Bank report blames Palestinian mismanagement and Israeli restrictions for severe water shortages in Palestinian areas. Palestinians get only a quarter of the water Israelis have access to. The existing problems effect not just daily supply but the development of water resources, water uses and wastewater management. "Water related humanitarian crises are in fact chronic in Gaza and parts of the West Bank," says the report.

For their water Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are completely dependant on scarce resources controlled by Israel. This has led to "systematic and severe constraints on Palestinian development of water resources", says the report, despite the joint governance rules and water allocations established under the 1995 Oslo interim agreement.  

But the Palestinian Authority (PA) too gets part of the blame. It is struggling to establish even a basic water infrastructure and management, concludes the report.

Israeli officials said the report was "grossly misleading" as Israel has a much more developed industrial sector which could skew the assessment. But in Gaza 150,000 Palestinians have no access to tap water at all, a report in the Palestine Telegraph says.

According to the local utility provider, several wells have been destroyed during the Israeli offensive earlier this year. Since then only three out of 80 trucks with spare parts and pipes for the water system have been allowed to enter Gaza. As a result the severe damages to two wastewater treatment plants could not be repaired and continue to affect water quality.

Read the full World Bank report "West Bank and Gaza : assessment of restrictions on Palestinian water sector development : sector note", April 2009. 154 p.

Source: BBC news, 20 Apr 2009 ; World Bank, 20 Apr 2009