Oxfam highlights a largely ignored issue in the Middle East:
Don’t drink the water! EWASH Advocacy Task Force challenges international consul generals to drink water from Gaza, West Bank
The Emergency Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Advocacy (EWASH) Task Force will be distributing water collected from communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to consul generals from Sweden, Turkey, the UK, the US, Spain, France, and the EC. The water, which has been bottled and labelled by EWASH, will be served in four different styles- each representative of a particular water problem plaguing residents in Gaza and the West Bank.
The event, which will take place on 10 December 2009, seeks to highlight the inequalities Palestinians face in accessing clean, safe, drinkable water and is being held to coincide with Human Rights Day.
According to international human rights law, access to water and sanitation is a universal human right. Israel, as an occupying power, has further obligations under the Fourth Geneva Conventions to guarantee the provision of clean water and proper sanitation services in the oPt.