The United Nations, the United States and the European Union have all called on Israel to stop the illegal eviction of Palestinians and the demolition of their homes.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, urged Israel to end its “provocative actions” in East Jerusalem, while calling for it to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied West Bank.

Despite that, the sight of Palestinians in East Jerusalem being forced out of their homes has become an all too familiar scene.

Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reports from occupied East Jerusalem.

6 November 2009
Thursday’s UN vote adopting key recommendations of the Goldstone report on the conflict in Gaza and southern Israel earlier this year is vitally important for ensuring that those, on both sides, who committed war crimes and other violations of international law will now be held to account, said Amnesty International.

“Both Israel and Hamas in Gaza have been served due notice, in this defining General Assembly resolution, that they must immediately conduct credible, independent investigations into the alleged grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law committed during the conflict,” said Yvonne Terlingen, Head of Amnesty International’s Office at the UN on Thursday.

“The clock is now running and we urge both parties to act without further delay. The UN has spoken up today for accountability and for an end to the cycle of impunity that has for so long obstructed the search for peace and justice between Israelis and Palestinians.”

The UN General Assembly resolution, based on the findings of the UN Fact Finding Mission led by Justice Goldstone, which concluded that both Israeli and Palestinian forces committed war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity, was adopted by a large majority: 114 states voted in favour, 18 voted against and 44 abstained. The USA and 7 European Union (EU) states voted against the resolution while Russia abstained.

“We deeply regret that the USA and the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia voted against the resolution and failed to support the need for accountability, justice and human rights that are so vital for victims of abuses in this conflict,” said Terlingen.

The resolution calls on the UN Secretary-General to transmit Judge Goldstone’s report to the Security Council, which has powers to refer the situation in Gaza to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court if Israel and Hamas prove unable or unwilling to conduct independent investigations that meet international standards. It also calls on the UN Secretary-General to present a progress report to the General Assembly in three months’ time.

“We urge the UN Secretary-General to now appoint independent experts in human rights and international humanitarian law to assess whether any investigations that are conducted by Israel and Hamas meet the required international standard”, said Terlingen.

The findings of the Goldstone report echo those of an Amnesty International team that investigated alleged violations in Gaza and southern Israel during and in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, in which hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including some 300 children, and three Israeli civilians were killed.

“Almost one year on, those who suffered war crimes and other gross violations of their rights, are still waiting for justice”, said Amnesty International. “It is our fervent hope that today’s UN General Assembly resolution will act as a catalyst to make justice and reparation a reality for the victims on both sides.”

By BOUTHAINA SHAABAN

When you read a news story saying that “the United Nations called on Israel to stop demolishing Palestinian homes and put an end to the policy of forced evictions in East Jerusalem, warning that there are 60,000 Palestinians threatened of becoming homeless,” you cannot but wonder about the role of the international organization today and about the goal for which it was created on the eve of the victory of the forces of freedom against Nazism and Fascism and whether it is the same organization authorized by history and the world’s peoples to guarantee the right to ‘self determination’? Is it the same organization charged with “putting an end to colonialism”? Is it the same organization which believes in the right of all peoples to freedom without discrimination in terms of race or religion? If it is the same organization, why does it allow Palestinian civilians suffer from the brutality of armed settlers?

The evasive and shameful language of the UN’s call comes in the context of the submission of the Security Council to the Zionist will, and consequently commits a historic disgrace in the form of ignoring the legitimate political, civil and human rights of the Palestinian people including their right to life and freedom. For the UN not to take any initiative or measure which leads to giving the Palestinian people the right to self determination will remain a disgrace in the history of the organization which will never be removed.

The Palestinians have been under a racist settler form of colonialism for over sixty years; and they are targeted with a campaign of ethnic cleansing launched by armed gangs of settlers supported by Israel’s police and army.

This is unparalleled in the 21st century in terms of the crimes which include siege, murder, food poisoning, starvation, assassination, demolishing houses, scorching crops, destroying farms, raping prisoners, trafficking in the organs of captives and preventing Palestinians from moving between their villages, farms and schools.

All this happens under the full gaze and silence of the ‘civilized’ world which fully supports the Israeli government and fully ignores the savage crimes committed each day by Jewish settlers and Israeli soldiers. This silence is also a crime against the Palestinian people, because it allows Israeli politicians and generals and their allies to carry on with their crimes against civilians and violate the Geneva conventions and international humanitarian law.

The UN call on Israel to “stop removing [demolishing] Palestinian houses” comes on the backdrop of demolishing the houses of the Hanoun and Ghawi families in al-Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem, and even removing the tent they built on the street near their house and confiscating its contents which consisted of covers to ward off the cold, and some utensils. The tent housed fifty persons of the two families who, up until a few months ago used to live in their home demolished by Israeli occupation soldiers in their policy of Judaizing Jerusalem.

Every now and then, the UN or the EU acknowledge that “destroying the homes of Palestinians is a violation of international law”. But if this and the other crimes referred to above are violations of international law, why do not they move their conscience to protect the security of Palestinians? The question is: what will the United Nations or Europe do? Will they limit themselves to acknowledging that Israeli acts are in sharp contrast with the UN Charter and international humanitarian law, while armed Jewish settler gangs continue to murder, demolish and set fires in Jerusalem, Nablus, Hebron and other places without any deterrent and without being brought to account?

If all these crimes committed daily against Palestinians do not amount to ethnic cleansing and genocide, what does? In America White settlers, centuries ago, used to throw contaminated blankets on Indians to kill them. Today, Israel’s rulers deprive Palestinians of food and medicine, burn crops and poison drinking water in order to kill the Palestinians or force them to leave. The UN calls this crime “forced eviction”. So, is there voluntary evection? After all the crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces and armed gangs of settlers, the UN only “calls on Israel to stop demolishing houses”. Maybe, it forgot to add, “please!”What Palestinian civilians urgently need now is an investigation into Israeli crimes to be reported to an international organization which still retains some self respect and concern for what remains of its credibility.

The crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces, the terrorization of unarmed Palestinian civilians by armed settlers have become a shame for humanity which should not be tolerated. The acts of these settlers and their supporters in the Israeli government and financiers in the Western pressure groups return the world to the law of the jungle. Considering the shameful incapacity of the United Nations and president Obama’s reiteration of his commitment to “Israel’s security” on the 14th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish settler – while he should have expressed an equal commitment to Palestinians’ security – makes it incumbent on the free people of the world and its intellectuals, including Jewish intellectuals, to raise their voice against Israel’s war criminals so that Jews are not eternally shamed for committing war crimes and genocides. They should not keep silence concerning these crimes and should not be satisfied with preventing Israeli criminals from travel. They should be brought to justice in the same way the world has brought to justice other criminals responsible for killing and occupation before them.

Jewish intellectuals in particular should ask themselves why should their government be built on the ruins of the lives and freedom of another people; Why their government should commit crimes of killing children, massacres, home demolition and assassination and then try to justify these crimes and blame all those who want to bring it to account? Why do not Jewish intellectuals face this historical moral dilemma in the Zionist entity?

When Nazi Germany committed massacres against the Jews and other peoples, the Germans faced this dilemma and passed laws banning anti-Semitism. When the world paid the price of Japanese wars and ambitions, Japan took a historical and final decision against war. Why would Jewish intellectuals think they should justify all the acts of Israeli politicians and generals? How can they justify the fact that Ehud Olmert is prosecuted for financial corruption and not for his and others’ crimes against Palestinian and Lebanese children and civilians? Why do they even consider these criminals heroes who should be secured and defended? Why do they form governments consisting of criminals competing with their records in assassination, murder and massacres against Palestinian civilians? These crimes are crimes against humanity by any standard. Why do not they criticize, in their culture, their rulers who have the blood of children on their hands? Silent Jewish intellectuals are responsible for the continuation of crimes which bring them all eternal shame as a result of their silence concerning these crimes.

The United Nations and the European Union, and all those who use evasive language in describing crimes which should prompt the world’s indignation and anger share the responsibility. History will condemn those who remain silent towards these crimes and will remember and thank only those who defend Palestinian children and the right of the Palestinian people to live in dignity, freedom, security and safety on their national soil.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23891.htm

Bouthaina Shaaban is Political and Media Advisor at the Syrian Presidency, and former Minister of Expatriates. She is also a writer and professor at Damascus University since 1985. She has been the spokesperson for Syria and was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. She can be reached through nizar_kabibo@yahoo.com

Netanyahu again called on this leadership to agree to recognise Israel as a Jewish state, saying this was, and remains, the key to peace. And he went on and on and on about it.

“For 62 years the Palestinians have been saying ‘No’ to the Jewish state. I am once again calling upon our Palestinian neighbours – say ‘Yes’ to the Jewish state. Without recognition of the Israel as the state of the Jews we shall not be able to attain peace… Such recognition is a step which requires courage and the Palestinian leadership should tell its people the truth – that without this recognition there can be no peace… There is no alternative to Palestinian leaders showing courage by recognising the Jewish state. This has been and remains the true key to peace.”

As Ha’aretz noted in its report, Netanyahu’s demand for Palestinian acceptance of Israel as a Jewish state is for him “a way on ensuring recognition of Israel’s right to exist as opposed to merely recognising Israel” (my emphasis). This, as Ha’aretz added, is the recognition which Netanyahu and many other Israelis see as the real core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the name of pragmatism, willingness to “merely to recognise” Israel – meaning to accept and live in peace with an Israel inside its pre-June ‘67 borders – has long been the formal Palestinian and all-Arab position. Why does it stop short of recognising Israel’s “right to exist”, and why, really, does it matter so much to Zionism that Palestinians recognise this right?

The answer is in the following.

According to history as written by the winner, Zionism, Israel was given its birth certificate and thus legitimacy by the UN Partition Resolution of 29 November 1947. This is propaganda nonsense.

* In the first place the UN without the consent of the majority of the people of Palestine did not have the right to decide to partition Palestine or assign any part of its territory to a minority of alien immigrants in order for them to establish a state of their own.
* Despite that, by the narrowest of margins, and only after a rigged vote, the UN General Assembly did pass a resolution to partition Palestine and create two states, one Arab, one Jewish, with Jerusalem not part of either. But the General Assembly resolution was only a proposal – meaning that it could have no effect, would not become policy, unless approved by the Security Council.
* The truth is that the General Assembly’s partition proposal never went to the Security Council for consideration. Why not? Because the U.S. knew that, if approved, it could only be implemented by force given the extent of Arab and other Muslim opposition to it; and President Truman was not prepared to use force to partition Palestine.
* So the partition plan was vitiated (became invalid) and the question of what the hell to do about Palestine – after Britain had made a mess of it and walked away, effectively surrendering to Zionist terrorism – was taken back to the General Assembly for more discussion. The option favoured and proposed by the U.S. was temporary UN Trusteeship. It was while the General Assembly was debating what do that Israel unilaterally declared itself to be in existence – actually in defiance of the will of the organised international community, including the Truman administration.

The truth of the time was that the Zionist state, which came into being mainly as a consequence of pre-planned ethnic cleansing, had no right to exist and, more to the point, could have no right to exist UNLESS … Unless it was recognised and legitimized by those who were dispossessed of their land and their rights during the creation of the Zionist state. In international law only the Palestinians could give Israel the legitimacy it craved.

And that legitimacy was the only thing the Zionists could not and cannot take from the Palestinians by force.

No wonder Prime Minister Netanyahu is more than a little concerned on this account.

Israel’s leaders have always known the truth summarised above. It’s time for the rest of the world to know it.

http://www.alanhart.net/israel%E2%80%99s-right-or-not-to-exist-the-facts-and-truth/#more-1001
Alan Hart is a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent who covered wars and conflicts wherever they were taking place in the world and specialized in the Middle East. Author of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews: The False Messiah (Zionism, the Real Enemy of the Jews). He blogs on www.alanhart.net

“The academicians and experts invited to your university to speak on this issue know first hand the victimization at the hands of Pro-Israel forces. They have risked much for the truth and are honorable men and women.”

“Right and wrong are the same in Palestine as anywhere else. What is peculiar about the Palestine conflict is that the world has listened to the party that has committed the offence and has turned a deaf ear to the victims.”

– Famed British Historian Professor Arnold Toynbee

“In the name of justice there cannot be subjection and in the name of peace
there cannot be impunity.

– President Alvaro Uribe Velez of Columba

“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

– Elie Wiesel

The Honorable Marit Arnstad, Chairman of the board

The Honorable Rector Torbjern Digernes

Rarely in history do individuals, minority groups, or institutions have an opportunity to courageously adopt a principled unpopular stand that could be transformative in world affairs.

For sometime during the genocide of Gaza it was two extraordinary Norwegian physicians and humanitarians who risked their lives to save the lives of Gazans.

‘This is what hell must look like’

Two Norwegian doctors witnessed first-hand the nightmare scenes inside Gaza

– Guardian, January 16, 2009

Norway has always been known for its worldwide humanitarian efforts and generous foreign aid. It is no coincidence that Norway is always ranked first in the world by the United Nations.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has just such a historic opportunity tomorrow when it considers voting for an academic boycott of Israel, a nation that for too long has lived by violence, ethnic cleansing, military expansionism, illegal occupations, subjugation of millions of innocent Palestinians, defied all divine and international laws that respect and value human life, and that since its establishment has committed countless terrorist acts and war crimes, lately documented by the Goldstone Report, all with impunity, never accountable for its actions in courts of justice, the U.N., or to all of humanity. The West, especially the U.S., has constantly protected Israel’s interests at the expense of its own interests.

You may remember this headline in Aftenposten, 12/1/06:

“USA threats after boycott support”

“US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice threatened Norway with “serious political consequences” after Finance Minister and Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen admitted to supporting a boycott of Israeli goods.”

A quote by the Nobel Prize Winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn encompasses both Israel’s non stop violence against innocent Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian, and Jordanian civilians and its brilliant intimidating propaganda that established the persecutor as the persecuted.

“Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence. Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method is inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle.”

As a former academician I plead and urge you to take the only righteous stand possible against Israel and that is for your esteemed University to vote yes on an academic boycott of Israel. Your courage will open the door for Universities and other institutions around the world to follow your example.

As a senior medical student at the American University of Beirut Hospital in 1982 I survived Sharon’s genocide of Beirut, unlike the 20,000 innocent Lebanese and Palestinian civilians killed along with the 1,700 Palestinians massacred in the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Chatila under Sharon’s protection, encouragement, and direction. Sharon gave the Christian Phalangists the green light to enter the camps and lit the night sky over the camps to give the Christian Phalangists the light to slaughter the innocent.

I experienced first hand the utter and callous disregard for all human, animal, and plant life in Beirut where hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the south of Lebanon in front of the scorched earth policy of Sharon, a man with a long bloody history of massacres and called the “butcher” and “liar” by his own people.

From the air, sea, and land Sharon unleashed his murderous campaign upon a crowded urban city bombing churches, mosques, hospitals, orphanages, retirement homes, electrical and water plants, roads, bridges, the airport and sea port, not even ambulances and medics were spared. He would bomb bakeries where men, women, and children stood in long lines for scarce bread. Planes would bomb an area and await the gathering of ambulances, medics, and citizens to pull persons out of the wreckage only to bomb it again to inflict more casualties.

Ambassador Phil Habib, Reagan’s personal envoy to stop the genocide in Beirut worked hard to reach a peace agreement between Sharon and Lebanon while promising the safety of the Palestinian civilians upon the departure of Yasser Arafat and the PLO from Lebanon. However, he discovered that Israel could never be trusted to keep its word.

In John Boykin’s book, “Cursed is the Peacemaker” (2002, Applegate Press) he quotes Ambassador Habib as saying.

“I had signed this paper which guaranteed that these people in west Beirut would not be harmed. I got specific guarantees on this from Bashir (President of Lebanon) and from the Israelis–from Sharon’. He said he ‘had been given assurances… that no action would be taken against the Palestinians remaining in the camps…. On the basis of those assurances we (Americans) had given our word. We had been deceived…. Sharon was a killer, obsessed by hatred of the Palestinians,’ Habib said. ‘I had given Arafat an undertaking that his people would not be harmed, but this was totally disregarded by Sharon whose word was worth nothing.’”

As is customary with Israel and U.N. Resolutions, Israel defied and rejected over a dozen UN Security Council Resolutions asking Israel to at least allow humanitarian aid into Beirut.

Forgive my lengthy letter but it’s important that you have the facts from my own personal experience as one who experienced first hand what Israel is capable of and how meager and insignificant are the lives of Palestinians and Arabs in general. They die in silence absent from the western conscience due to the blanket support of most western media outlets, none more so than in America the nation exporting democracy and freedom through smart bombs and biased politicians who if dare to criticize Israel jeopardize their ambitions and become the recipients of the worst media smears. In the U.S. no debate or action is allowed against Israel neither by our own “never challenge” government or by our staunchly Pro Israel media.

The academicians and experts invited to your university to speak on this issue know first hand the victimization at the hands of Pro-Israel forces. They have risked much for the truth and are honorable men and women.

Please, do the right thing and vote for an academic boycott of Israel, a nation that is neither civilized nor democratic, by setting an educational precedent for your university, faculty, alumni, but most importantly for your students, that standing up for principle is the foundation for all laws and human rights for all peoples and not just the powerful few.

Teach them to adopt “freedom from fear” as their guiding principle in life while facing all challenges, especially challenges that discriminate between the powerful and the weak, the haves and have nots, that no people should be victimized by the power of money and weapons.

“Freedom from fear” could be said to sum up the whole philosophy of human rights”

– The late Honorable Dag Hammarskjold

“Giving Flight To Dreams”….Yes, we dare to dream, we dare to act.

With My deepest respect and gratitude for your kind attention and patience. I remain.

Peace be with you, your faculty, alumni, and students.

Mohamed Khodr, M.D., M.P.H.

http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/67894

Ten months after Israels war on the Gaza Strip, the effects of the deadly offensive are still being deeply felt.

Hundreds of Palestinian women lost their husbands in the war and have had to step into their husbands’ roles as the main breadwinners in their families.

Al Jazeera’s Barbra Serra reports from Gaza, where women traditionally used to stay at home to take care of their children.

Now, many widows are struggling to find work.

By ROBERT BURNS (AP) 31st October, 2009

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — U.S. hopes of reviving Mideast peace talks appeared shaky Saturday after a senior Palestinian aide said the Palestinians are unlikely to resume negotiations if Israel does not halt Jewish settlement building.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and aides in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi on Saturday before flying to Israel, where she is expected to meet senior Israeli officials in a push to restart peace negotiations.

An aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press that Clinton had asked Abbas to allow Israel’s government to complete building 3,000 units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and to allow the government to construct public buildings and continue construction in east Jerusalem — a territory Palestinians hope will be their future capital.

Clinton’s request would be a major change for the U.S. administration, which previously had demanded Israel halt all settlement building before negotiations could resume.

“This is a non-starter,” Erekat said. “And that’s why it’s unlikely to restart negotiations.”

U.S. officials did not speak to reporters after the Abu Dhabi meeting.

Palestinians see Jewish settlement building as one of the biggest threats to their ability to form a viable state in the territories of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Over the course of the summer, President Barack Obama had hoped for a fast track to renewed peace negotiations. But Clinton reported to him on Oct. 22 that neither side had taken sufficient steps toward resuming the dialogue.

Clinton arrived in Abu Dhabi early Saturday after a three-day visit to Pakistan.

Obama held a joint meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas in New York in September, hoping it would persuade them to return to negotiations that had broken off more than a year ago. In her report to the president in October, Clinton indicated that the Palestinians had strengthened security efforts and reforms of government institutions, but needed to do more to stop those who carry out or encourage attacks on Israel.

She has indicated that Israelis have eased Palestinians’ freedom of movement and expressed a willingness to curtail the building of settlements in the Palestinian areas. The Obama administration, however, had been demanding an end to all new settlement construction, which the Israelis have refused.

Clinton intends to consult with a range of Arab foreign ministers on the Israel-Palestinian stalemate when she attends an international conference in Morocco on Monday and Tuesday.

Her talks in Jerusalem were expected to include Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who suggested recently that Israelis and Palestinians come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure stability, while delaying a final deal.

He has recommended leaving the toughest issues — such as the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes in the conflict — “to a much later stage.”

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. before leaving Pakistan’s capital on Friday, Clinton played down the prospects for a quick breakthrough.

“We knew it would be a process,” she said. “We knew that it would be challenging.”

Complicating the effort are the responses to international calls for an independent inquiry into Israel’s offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip last winter. A U.N. report by respected South African jurist Richard Goldstone accused Israel and Palestinian militants of war crimes during the three-week operation.

Gaza’s rulers, the Islamic militant group Hamas, said Clinton’s visit was “destined to fail.”

Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.S. could not effectively engage in peacemaking while ignoring Hamas, which came to power in Palestinian elections in 2006 and then seized power in Gaza in 2007. The U.S. says it won’t engage with Hamas until it drops its refusal to accept Israel’s right to exist and meets other preconditions.

Associated Press reporter Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

“From 90 percent to 95 percent of underground water does not meet the standards recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), so it is inapt for human usage,” the report said.

The daily quota of water for each person in Gaza is 80 liter, half of the amount the WHO standard.

“The Gaza Strip suffers from a water shortage of up to 70 million cubic meter per annum due to the natural increase of population,” the report added.

The 1.5 million people of the coastal strip rely on one aquifer as their solo source of water, the report said.

However, the sea water has mixed up with the underground water, making it salty. The bad ways of draining sewage water has also contributed to the crisis, the study showed.

The research warned that the presumed age of the aquifer will not exceed 10 years.

Israel imposes a closure on Gaza since 2007 and the sanctions suspended the building of sewage and water treatment stations due to the lack of spare parts.

Last week, a London-based rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of depriving Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank from water.

It said Israel uses four times as much water as Palestinians and the Jewish state gets most of these water from an aquifer mostly located in the occupied West Bank.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/01/content_12367754.htm

The United Nations is calling on Israel to immediately stop demolishing Palestinian homes in occupied East Jerusalem.

The UN says 60,000 Palestinians may be at risk of being forcibly evicted.

Israel says the houses are built without construction permits, which Palestinians say are almost impossible to obtain.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent Jacky Rowland is in Sheikh Jarrah where Israeli police dismantled a tent set up by a Palestinian family already evicted by Israeli orders in August.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Human rights group Amnesty International said in a report Tuesday that Israeli restrictions prevented Palestinians from receiving enough water in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The report said Israel’s daily water consumption per capita was four times higher than that in the Palestinian territories.

“Water is a basic need and a right, but for many Palestinians obtaining even poor-quality, subsistence-level quantities of water has become a luxury that they can barely afford,” said Amnesty’s Donatella Rovera.

A spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Amnesty’s statement that Israel was depriving the Palestinians of water as “preposterous.”

Israel says it has met its obligations under the 1993 Oslo agreement while Palestinians have failed to meet their own requirements to recycle water and were not distributing water efficiently.

“Israel supplied Palestinians 20.8 million cubic liters above and beyond what it is obliged to do under the water agreement,” said Netanyahu’s spokesman Mark Regev.

Israel, itself facing unprecedented water shortages and rising tariffs, controls much of the West Bank’s supplies, pumping from an aquifer that bridges Israel and the territory.

Israel sells some water back to the Palestinians under quotas agreed in the Oslo accords that rights groups say have not been increased in line with population growth.

The report said Gaza’s coastal aquifer, its sole fresh water resource, had been polluted by infiltration of seawater and raw sewage and degraded by over-extraction.

Israel maintains a blockade of the Gaza Strip, an area taken over by the Islamist Hamas movement which defeated Palestinian forces loyal to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

Israel’s water authority called the report “biased and incorrect, at the very least” and said that while there was a water gap, it was not nearly as big as presented in Amnesty’s findings.

Amnesty said water consumption in Israel was 300 liters a day per person and 70 liters a day in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel’s water authority said those numbers were misleading because they took into account internal distribution and did not compare total water consumption. It said the total figures were 408 liters per day for Israelis and 287 liters for Palestinians.

The Amnesty report described how Palestinians in the West Bank relied on water from tankers that were forced to take long detours to avoid Israeli military checkpoints and roads off-limits to Palestinians.

The situation had led to steep increases in water prices, the report said.

(Writing by Ari Rabinovitch, editing by Andrew Dobbie)
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE59Q00K20091027