The political economy of water, pricing in Palestine and how to create incentives for cost recovery

The Water Annex of the Geneva Agreement speaks about equitable sharing of water in Israel and Palestine. It stresses the need to protect, preserve and conserve existing water sources; projects must be implemented on a rational economic basis with adequate pricing. We check the progress with the Annex and discuss the water and sanitation situation in Palestine, before dealing with pricing issues, incentives for cost recovery and possibilities for applying the polluters pays principle. Implementing Annex 10 would allow to monitor the progress more closely. Palestine does not get its fair share of water resources, which limits Palestine's agricultural production. However, the international community has become more aware of the situation. The cost of water is known, the principles to be applied to determine tariffs have been tried out and the structure is in place to come to more realistic pricing in the face of the occupation and climate change.