Minister Ghoneim, head of Water Authority, confirmed to the Norwegian Special Envoy for the Peace Process, Tor Winsell, that the Palestinians have the right to access and use their water resources in an equitable and just manner, rejecting Israel's attempts to turn the water issue to a need only, stressing that the Palestinian right to water is a historic right cannot be waived.

This came during the meeting held today at the headquarters of the Water Authority in the presence of a representative of the Norwegian Government, Hilda Harstat, to follow up on developments related to the Palestinian water quota from the Bahrain channel project.

Minister Ghoneim told the Norwegian envoy that the discussion with the Israeli side to reach an agreement guaranteeing Palestinian water share from the first phase of the Bahrain Canal project still witnessing many Israeli delays and prevent the completion of the agreement between the parties in the near future, which will affect negatively the access of the Palestinian side to the quantities of water agreed within this project.

On the other hand, the head of the Water Authority briefed Mr. Winsell on the latest developments regarding the desalination plant project, by signing the agreement to supervise the implementation of the carrier line, which is an important step in the project to be followed by other steps to implement new stages, stressing the pursuit of providing more support to be able to complete the project as soon as possible.

For his part, Mr. Winsell emphasized support in following up all issues raised by the head of the Water Authority and the necessary effort to find appropriate solutions, appreciating at the same time the role played by the water authority in organizing and developing the water sector and continuing pursuit of sustainability of projects.