LOC16:15
13:15 GMT
PARIS, Jan 18 (KUNA) -- While declining to officially comment on a French
Parliamentary report that criticizes Israel's water policy in the Occupied
Territories, officials here urged on Wednesday that Israel respect the Fourth
Geneva Convention and the Oslo accords in those regions.
The Fourth Geneva Convention orders the occupying power to ensure basic
services to people under its control and the Oslo accords set out conditions
for sharing of water between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Agreement on this latter issue is part of the difficult Final Status talks
between Israel and the Palestinians side.
The French legislature's report said Israel was practicing a form of "new
apartheid policy in the Middle East" in its water policy and also indicated an
unequal sharing of the water resources between Israel and the Palestinian
population.
"Concerning the problem of water in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, our
position is constant: the pertinent conditions of the Oslo accords, as well as
the Fourth Geneva Convention, applicable in the occupied Palestinian
Territories, must be respected," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero
said.
"In addition, water is one of the five issues in the final status and will
be part of a negotiated agreement between the Israeli and Palestinian parties
on the basis of the pertinent elements of international law," the French
official added. (end)
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