Netanyahu Accuses EU Parliament Chief of “Selective Hearing” over Palestinian Water Claims –

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netanyahuIsraeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu accused European Parliament President Martin Schulz of “selective hearing” on Wednesday for repeating during a visit to the Knesset an unverified claim that Israelis use four times as much water as Palestinians.

“The president of the European Parliament visited Ramallah and heard from some Palestinians about water usage….According to the statistics we received from the Palestinian Authority, including in official releases from the Palestinian Water Authority and our data, this number is not true, but is significantly smaller,” Netanyahu said.

“The parliament president said frankly, ‘I haven’t checked.’ But that didn’t stop him from making repeated [accusations] right away. They hear, they don’t check, they hurl [accusations].” Netanyahu said baseless accusations tend to make Israelis ignore all criticism. (Ha’aretz)

Schulz stated that the Palestinians received 17 liters of water per person compared with 70 liters per Israeli, implying that Israelis were receiving about 4.1 times more water than Palestinians. However, data from the Israel Water Authority showed Israelis having only about 1.2 times as much fresh water available to them. The Water Authority also maintained that Palestinian water availability was lower due to massive water losses stemming from leaking pipes and water theft, estimating that water losses in the West Bank amounted to 33%.

PA Water Supply Has Increased by 50 Percent Since Oslo

According to the Oslo agreement of 1995, Israel pledged to provide the Palestinians with 28.6 million cubic meters of water a year. In fact, Israel has been providing 60 million cubic meters, a 50% increase.

Moreover, the Israel Water Authority reports that the Palestinians have dug more than 250 pirate wells in the West Bank and over 3,000 in Gaza, causing serious harm to the underground water table.

{Matzav.com Israel News Bureau}


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