The World Water Day is celebrated annually since 1993, under initiative of the United Nations, aiming to draw attention to the importance of drinking water and the need for sustainable management of water resources.
In many countries, appeals are made to the rational use of resources made available to their inhabitants. But in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the population has a more pressing problem: pure and simple access to drinking water for daily consumption.
The United Nations Seminar on Assistance to the Palestinian People, held in Cairo on 6 and 7 February, reached these conclusions:
- Palestinians have access to only 10% of the capacity of the water system of the West Bank, while Israel has complete control over the aquifers of the region;
- Israel has continuously, over-exploited water causing the depletion of aquifers, and then selling it back to the Palestinians;