February 13, 2014
Source: Yahoo News
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli
newspapers bristled Thursday after the European Parliament president
criticised the Gaza Strip blockade and suggested that Israelis received
four times more water than Palestinians.
The spat erupted
Wednesday after the far-right Jewish Home party stormed out of
parliament in protest during a speech by Martin Schulz, and it made the
front pages of Israel's main newspapers.
Most commentators were furious about figures mentioned by Schulz over water usage.
"How
can it be that an Israeli is allowed to use 70 litres (18.5 gallons)of
water per day, but a Palestinian only 17," Schulz asked.
But he also admitted he had not had time to verify the numbers.
Shortly
afterwards, Schulz criticised settlements as an obstacle to peace and
warned that the Gaza blockade could "undermine, rather than strengthen,
Israel's security."
This prompted a barrage of heckling from Jewish Home MPs, who then walked out.
"Jewish
Home demands an apology from the president of the European Parliament,
who repeated two lies fed to him by the Palestinians," party chairman
Naftali Bennett said.
He denounced both assertions as "deceitful propaganda."
Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waded in, accusing Schulz of being quick to cast blame without checking his facts.
"What
was disturbing in Schulz's speech was the selective hearing that is
becoming prevalent in many circles in Europe," he said in remarks
published on parliament's website.
"These
are figures which are not true. (Schulz) said he didn't check the
figures but it didn't stop him from straight away casting blame."
The headline in the Israel HaYom freesheet, which is close to Netanyahu, read: "Shock in parliament over slander of Israel."
The
Palestine Liberation Organisation said average daily Palestinian
domestic consumption was 70 litres per person, while the World Health
Organisation recommends a minimum of 100 litres.
"In the southern West Bank, there are communities that use less than 15 to 20 litres per capita per day," it added.
- Schulz taken aback -
In an interview with German daily Die Welt published Thursday, Schulz said he was taken aback by the tirade.
"The
angry reaction from some parliamentarians in Jerusalem surprised me and
made me concerned," he said, adding that he considered his Jerusalem
address to be "pro-Israel".
"The
people who disturbed my speech belong to a party of hardliners who
answer each critical word that bothers them in this way."
Israel HaYom accused Schulz of choosing to use "false libel" provided by anti-Israeli groups.
Other papers published figures showing a completely different picture of Israeli-Palestinian water usage.
The
spat prompted several NGOs to publish their own figures on water usage,
with Friends of the Earth Middle East citing statistics from 2011
showing the ratio was close to four to one.
"The
municipal water consumption per capita per day in Israel in 2011 was
250 litres, while among Palestinians in the West Bank, after taking into
consideration an average loss of approximately 30 percent of the water
-- due to theft and lack of infrastructure -– it was 70 litres," the
group said.
Israeli rights
group B'Tselem also said there was "discrimination in water allocation",
with Israelis receiving "much more water than Palestinian residents of
the West Bank and the Gaza Strip".
According
to the Israeli national water company, Mekorot, the average household
water consumption in Israel is between 100 and 230 litres per person per
day.
For Palestinians in the West Bank connected to the water mains, the average daily consumption is about 73 litres.
Those
not connected to the network -- around 113,000 people -- rely on stored
rainwater and water sold from tanker trucks, which is very expensive.
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