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You're watching UNICEF Television.

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Hundreds of Palestinian schoolchildren contributed their artistic talents to an exhibition for

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a World Water Day celebration in Gaza, drawing pictures under the theme, Coping with Water

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Scarcity.

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World Water Day performances to an audience of parents, politicians, United Nations and

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non-governmental organizations demonstrated how much the students had learned during a

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UNICEF-supported awareness program about water scarcity and protecting safe water sources.

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I tell my friends not to use too much water.

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We have to save as much water as we can.

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I always warn the girls who leave the tap running to turn it off, and when they don't

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listen to me, I go and do it myself.

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The day also saw the opening of a new well in the courtyard of the unknown soldier.

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Well, water is as essential as land to the Palestinian, or to the future of Palestinian

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people, because without secure and clean water supplies, Palestinians have no future.

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So the children now are the second generation of custodians of Palestinian land and water,

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so they need to learn how to save their future.

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The Palestinian Authority is also trying to solve the problem of water, but really time

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is running out.

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The water crisis means most children in Gaza live on less than the recommended amount of

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20 litres of clean water per day.

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Children whose lives are already threatened by the ongoing conflict here are also at serious

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risk of waterborne infections and disease.

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Working with the Ministry of Education, UNICEF is now supplying safe water to more than 300

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schools in Gaza.

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This month it will begin reaching students in the West Bank in an effort to make sure

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all children here have access to this most essential of life-saving necessities, safe

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water.

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This is Rachel Bonham-Carter reporting for UNICEF Television.

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Unite for Children.