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ATA, West Bank -- One slip, and Issa Abu Shakr's 5-year-old nephew plunged into the fetid stream of sewage that flows outside the family's West Bank home.
The contact with the filthy water required blood transfusions and a 10-day hospital stay, Abu Shakr says.
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US projects were to have dried up the toxic flow that threatens the Abu Shakrs and bring more water to the Seidats. But the money has disappeared into the morass of Mideast politics.
Projects meant to make sweeping changes in the Palestinians' quality of life -- such as the sewage treatment plant that was to have been built near Issa Abu Shakr's home in Yata village near Hebron -- have been put on hold.
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But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice indicated in a recent visit to the region that this wouldn't happen unless Hamas moderates its refusal to recognize Israel's existence.
Other major donors have continued smaller-scale infrastructure projects. But it is the United States the Palestinians depend on for water and sewage treatment, says Naim El-Mani at the Palestinian Water Authority.
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http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/03/09/palestinian_water_projects_held_up_by_us_sanctions/