Budapest: The head of the Water Authority, Eng. Mazen Ghunaim affirmed that water in Palestine is a political issue of great humanitarian dimensions, due to the policies of the Israeli occupation controlling the Palestinian water sources, which continues its violations aimed at depriving Palestinians of their water by continuing the illegal settlement expansion, devouring the Palestinian lands, and establishing the apartheid wall, in addition to obstructing the projects and development plans for this vital sector.

This came during his meeting with the Romanian Minister of Environment, Water and Forests, Barna Tanczos, on the sidelines of the Budapest Water Summit.

Eng. Ghunaim pointed out that the water sector requires serious and rapid work to develop the infrastructure and expedite the implementation of emergency projects to ensure the provision of water services to citizens, through cooperation with various countries and institutions of the international community to develop the Palestinian water sector and implement strategic projects. These include the Central Desalination Plant Project in Gaza, which suffers from the scarcity of potable water, and several important projects in the West Bank aimed at improving the quantities of water supplied to citizens and developing the sewage sector.

For his part, Minister Tanczos addressed the water reality in Romania and the future steps set out by his ministry to ensure water sustainability and to cope with climate changes. Tanczos also confirmed his country's readiness to support the Water Authority in technical issues and capacity building for the crews working in the areas of integrated water management and institutional building, as well as benefiting from the Romanian experience in this area.