Israel admits it cut water supplies to tens of thousands of Palestinians in parched areas of the West Bank during a nasty heatwave, but blames the Palestinian Authority for failing to upgrade water infrastructure to transfer all of the water that's needed.

This is a major hardship in the Salfit region of the West Bank and in three villages east of Nablus, where homes have had no running water for more than two weeks.  Factories are shut, gardens and plant nurseries have been ruined, and Palestinian farmers have been forced to sell off their livestock or watch the animals die of thirst.  Those who can afford to are compensating by having water trucked in.  Those who can't are trying to get by on old and sour agricultural wells, or even with bottled water. 

Israel Water Authority and the Foreign Ministry Uri Schor said the Palestinian Water Authority is refusing to approve additional water infrastructure in the West Bank through the joint water committee, "which has led to the old and limited pipes being unable to transfer all the water needed in the region."  But the Palestinian Water Authority denies dragging its feet on infrastructure improvements, and accuses Israel of holding back the water as a form of coercion to get the Palestinian Authority to approve a separate water project to feed an Israeli region.

The water shortage is expected to last all summer.