Water conference 'fails' over Israeli-Arab row

AFP - A Mediterranean water conference ended in "failure" Tuesday due to a disagreement between Arab nations and Israel over a reference to the Palestinian territories, the French secretary of state for European affairs said.
  
"Unfortunately we can not reach an agreement," Pierre Lellouche said at the end of the 4th Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Water in Barcelona.
  
The conference aimed to reach an agreement on a strategy for managing water in the Mediterranean so as to ensure fair access in the volatile region and prevent the issue from becoming a source of conflict in the future.
  
But a reference to "territories occupied" by Israel in a proposed draft text prevented the approval of an agreement at the gathering of Mediterranean Union member states.
  
Israel disagreed with this wording while Arab nations opposed to the alternative formulation of "territories under occupation" proposed by European participants, said Lellouche.
  
The Mediterranean Union groups all 27 EU member states with countries in North Africa, the Balkans, the Arab world as well as Israel in a bid to foster cooperation in the region.
  
It was established in 2008 in Paris by France and Egypt but was temporarily mothballed in early 2009 because of tensions caused by Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.