ANKARA, April 7 (Xinhua) -- An agreement has been reached on cancellation of a deal on water shipping from Turkey to Israel, semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Friday.

    Turkey and Israel made such a decision due to the rising shipping costs of water in special tankers.

    Anatolia quoted Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regevas saying that rising international oil prices had made it more expensive to import water via tankers.

    "Both sides agreed in discussions because of the changes in the costing that it was no longer feasible," Regev said.

    However, the two countries have agreed to assess alternative projects that enable water shipping to Palestine and Jordan as well as Israel in the future, Anatolia quoted sources as reporting.

    "Turkey and Israel have no difference of opinion. We are continuing to work with Turkey and there is a working group dealing with this issue and we are looking at other alternatives," Regev said.

    In 1997, Turkey established a water-treatment facility on Manavgat River to meet the needs of countries in the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East that have water shortage. The facility has an annual capacity of 180 million cubic meters.

    The deal on water sale to Israel from the facility was signed on March 4, 2004.

    Under the deal, Turkey was to ship 50 million cubic meters of water annually from its Manavgat river for 20 years. Enditem