Israel's PM 'to take charge of' water

Sea of Galilee: Water in the Middle East is scarce

By Elizabeth Blunt BBC, London

In Israel, a parliamentary committee of inquiry has recommended that all water-related matters should come under the direct control of the prime minister's office.

The committee was set up as a result of several years of drought and water shortages, which have increased the friction with Israel's neighbours - Jordan and Lebanon - and with the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinians use less water than the Israelis

Israel was the land which made the desert bloom, but now farmers are starting to grub up their grapefruit and avocado trees and replace them with drought-hardy olives and vines.

After a series of dry years, this year's winter rains have again failed to replenish the Sea of Galilee and the natural underground reservoirs which provide most of Israel's water.

The committee's newly completed report condemns conflicts between departments and bureaucratic delays, and says all aspects of water affairs should come under a single authority, answering directly to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office.

Water politics?

Until now, the authorities in Israel have been reluctant to impose restrictions on the domestic use of water - even for such luxury uses as watering gardens and filling swimming pools.

Israelis use far more water per head than Palestinians or citizens of neighbouring countries and the sight of green lawns in mid-summer has angered Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza.

They depend on the same sources as Israel for their water and worry about the amount being taken from the Sea of Galilee, and from the underground aquifers which lie below the West Bank.

They also have to live with the fact that that Israel controls the water distribution network and can turn the taps on or off at will - in past summers the supply to Palestinian areas has been reduced.

Israel has also cut the amount of water supplied to Jordan, despite past agreements.

Precious link

But there is an acute awareness in the region of how water resources are interdependent.

Israel can reduce the water supply to Jordan, but Lebanon, in turn, controls the rivers which feed the Jordan Basin.

And, if either Israelis or Palestinians pollute the underground reservoirs, they foul their own supply as well as that of their political opponents.

So far both sides in the present uprising have called on their people to respect precious water sources, and not make them part of the conflict.