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Israel: World Bank Report on West Bank Water Distorts Facts
[Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs] Israel on Tuesday rejected allegations by the World Bank of a disproportionate division of water with the Palestinians. Israel has fulfilled all its obligations under the water agreement with the Palestinians, and has even extensively surpassed the obligatory quantity. According to paragraph 40 of the Israel-Palestinian interim agreement, 23.6 million cubic meters of water are to be allocated to the Palestinians annually. In actual effect, they have access to twice as much water. The Palestinians, on the other hand, have significantly violated their commitments under the water agreement, specifically regarding illegal drilling (they have drilled over unauthorized 250 wells) and handling of sewage (they allow the sewage to flow into streams, polluting both the environment and groundwater). The authors of the report met with Israeli officials and were briefed on all the factual details. Yet they chose to rely totally on unsubstantiated information supplied by the PA, which raises serious questions over the credibility of the report and the intentions of its authors.