Keynote by H.E. Dr Azmi Al Shueibi

Dr Azmi Shueibi stated that Palestine has a civil society that is relatively strong and well organised and is participatory. The issue of water as a one of the domains in which civil society is trying to engage is part of the complicated situation in Palestine. Palestine does not necessarily represent a model that can be replicated due to the particular complicated circumstances of Israeli occupation and the enemy's control of the Palestinian sources of water. Thus the Palestinian experience in participatory good governance cannot be judged on and built upon in the same way as experiences in other countries.

Nevertheless the Palestine case has similarities with the rest of the Arab region in terms of general policies of decision makers. The view of the citizens in Palestine is the same as the rest of the Arab world that the state is responsible for delivery of all services to citizens who see themselves as consumers. This is the context within which changes need to be promoted towards decentralization and partnerships.

In Palestine and the Arab world there is a decision to reform and to enter into partnerships. It has been recognized that there is poor participation of civil society and that citizens refrain from taking part in public affairs. In order to change this, legislation needs to change, new policies need to be adopted and institutions need to be restructured. Staff also need to be trained in a culture of service delivery, where information is made available and where citizens are able to participate in issues of governance. Whilst there are attempts to change legislation to increase access to information, currently it is still not possible to access information and thus civil society organizations are not able to participate in planning and implementation.

Transparency Palestine has conducted studies into corruption, mostly about nepotism and favouritism and the nature of the sponsoring system. They found that delivery of water infrastructure is linked to favouritism. In this regard areas with links to an influential party, security or parliamentary figure received their water systems whilst other areas which were closer to the city did not. This sponsoring system creates inequality and promotes corruption with regards to water systems. There is a need to ensure transparency and access to information to reduce corruption and so that people know what potential exists financially to provide water and what amounts of water are available.

The experience of EMPOWERS, where participation is promoted reduced social tension and reduced local conflict in water. He mentioned experience in Qabatya, in Northern Palestine, where he stated that there have been some successes and some failures. He emphasized that partnerships are successful when citizens have real interests. Stakeholders must feel a direct improvement. In addition to meetings and workshops there needs to be expenditure on infrastructure. Accountability vertically and horizontally must be done through reports to citizens and they must be able to submit complaints and the officials must respond to the complaints.

The complete address is available in English (translated) and Arabic at the links below