Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports his Department has received on the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to access water from the Eastern Mountain Aquifer.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not received any reports on the efforts of the Palestinian Authority to access water from the Eastern Mountain Aquifer. However, the UK regularly raises issues of water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories with the Israeli authorities, including stressing the urgent need for Israel to take immediate and practical measures to improve the current unacceptable situation and ensure fair distribution of water in the West Bank and Gaza.