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Cooperation Article 40 encourages cooperation in the water and sewage sector. The expectations for such cooperation were high from the Palestinian perspective. In light of the agreement, Palestinians expected cooperation with the Israelis concerning regional development programs; water production- and development-related projects agreed upon by the JWC within the framework of the joint IsraeliPalestinian -American Committee; promotion and development of other agreed-to water- and sewage-related joint projects, in existing or future multilateral forums; expedited water-related technology transfer, research and development, training, and setting of standards; and development of mechanisms for dealing with waterrelated and sewage-related natural and man-made emergencies and extreme conditions. Status of Implementation In general, the status of the implementation of Article 40 has not met Palestinian expectations. Reviewing the same five major issues mentioned above, the following section tries to summarize implementation and what has actually happened and been implemented regarding the agreed-upon actions mandated by Article 40. Additional Water Quantities According to Article 40, the total agreed-upon quantity of water supplied to the Palestinians was to range between 70 to 80mcm/yr. Of this, 28.6mcm/yr were to be provided to meet the immediate needs of domestic use; an amount of 29.4mcm/yr was approved by the JWC. The actual quantity of water supplied from the approved amount, however, has only been 19.7mcm/yr. This is because the 5mcm/yr approved for distribution in the Gaza Strip has not yet been implemented and the 24.4mcm/yr approved for pumping in the West Bank had an actual yield of 19.7mcm/yr. Here it should be mentioned that the Israeli commitment of 4.5mcm/yr of the 28.6mcm/yr has been met while the Israeli commitment of five mcm/yr to the Gaza Strip has not been fulfilled. The remaining quantity of 40.6 to 50.6mcm/yr over the 29.4mcm/yr was also not implemented. A first component of 19.1mcm/yr was to have come from seventeen wells approved by the JWC: three drilled wells of 4.1mcm/yr in Hebron and Bethlehem area and 15.0mcm/yr from the remaining fourteen wells. Of these, three wells of 5mcm/yr have reached the stage of tenders and the remaining eleven wells of 10mcm/yr are being developed or in need of funding. A second component of 21.5 to 31.5mcm/yr from wells was submitted for approval to JWC. The above numbers show that the quantities of water agreed upon according to Article 40 have not been implemented. The shortfall can be attributed to lack of funding or delayed approval by the Israeli representatives at the JWC. Water and Sewerage Networks During the past 15 years and since the signing of the Oslo Agreement, different water and sewerage projects have been implemented. According to Article 40, any The Oslo II Accords in Retrospect 45 water or sewerage projects must receive approval from the JWC. During the last 12 years, the Palestinian side submitted 384 projects to the JWC. While 232 projects were approved, 53 were not. Approval for some 99 projects is still pending. This suggests that roughly 65% of the submitted projects were approved. Yet of the 232 approved projects, only 138 projects were actually implemented while 79 projects were not (25 projects are partially implemented and 11 projects are in different stages of completion). Ultimately, this means that only 40% of the submitted projects were actually implemented. The situation regarding the progress of sewerage projects is even worse. While 16 sewerage projects were submitted to the JWC for approval, only 8 of the submitted projects were approved and 8 were not approved. Out of the 8 approved projects, only 1 project is implemented and 2 projects are under implementation. To conclude, it can be said that due to the steady efforts of the Palestinian Water Authority, the water sector has improved in many areas of the West Bank, especially in areas where new water supply systems were installed. In the Gaza Strip, the lack of the additional supply of 5mcm/yr by the Israelis and the poor condition of the Gaza groundwater aquifer has made it impossible to see improvements as meaningful as those found in the West Bank. Data and Information The lack of data remains one of the biggest problems facing the Palestinian Water Authority. That is why the data and information provisions in Article 40 were of great importance to the newly established Palestinian...

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