Shimon Tal, the Israeli government's Water Commissioner, underscored that without the precious resource, neither side in the long and bloody Middle East conflict will survive.

But water itself could become a weapon in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians over sharing and dividing land.

Under 1995 peace accords signed by the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, the two must share water from the River Jordan and its underground sources and must not hinder the other side's efforts to build infrastructure.

Tal called the accord "pragmatic" because the regional water shortage is "severe". The official described how a joint committee regularly meets and how the two sides maintain their equipment, even when it can also help the other side.

"Even with the fighting during the Intifada we remained committed not to harm, not to damage the infrastructure, for the two parties understand that water is life," Tal told a debate at the international forum.

Fadel Kawash, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, gave a less rosy picture.

"In the Middle East, water is a political issue," he said. Ten years have passed since the accords, but they have still not been fully implemented, he told the debate.

"The meetings continue but its not not possible to implement all the agreement for political and security reasons," he said.

"Israel's occupation of the West Bank, checkpoints, the confiscation of land, arrests, the demolition of homes and the wall: all this presents a major obstacle to development projects especially in the water sector," he said.

The Palestinian Authority is having to buy water for its growing population, he said. But at the same time, Israel is pumping increasing amounts of water from the underground sources that supply the Palestinian towns of Jenin, Jericho and Qalqiya.

In the West Bank, 40 percent of the population has barely 40 liters (10.5 US gallons) of water per day each, said Kawash. In Gaza, much of the population survives on 80 litres (21 gallons) a day.

With the population of the Palestinian territories, Israel and Jordan expected to increase to 24 million people by 2020, the region will need an extra 1.0-1.5 billion cubic metres of water each year.

"Israel supplies the Palestinian with much more than mentioned in the peace agreement. Its up to the Palestinians to develop new sources," said Tal.

"There is enough water in the West Bank if there is justice and sharing," responded Kawash. The Palestinian Authority is buying water for 250 villages while Israel uses the water it pumps out to irrigate its crops and greenhouses.

The Palestinian Authority has spent 600 million dollars over the past eight years on water and plans to spend another 700 million dollars over the next seven years, said Kawash.

Many hopes in the region rest on a huge project to pump water from the Red Sea into the Dead Sea, where the level is falling critically lower each year.

Jordan's Water Minister Saad Baeri said that in 50-100 years the Dead Sea will be just "a hole".

The Red-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Project aims to take more than two billion cubic metres of water each year from the Red Sea and then desalinate it. Still under the study, the project would enable Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel to each use about 850 million cubic metres of water without killing off the Dead Sea.

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