JERUSALEM - Amnesty International accuses Israel of a disproportionate share of pumping water from an aquifer, it controls the West Bank, depriving Palestinians of their fair share.
Based in London, Human Rights Group also said in a report published Tuesday that Israel has blocked the infrastructure projects that would improve the existing water supplies for the Palestinians - both in the West Bank and those living in Gaza Strip.
"This shortage has affected all areas of life for Palestinians," Amnesty researcher on Israel, Donatella Rovera, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday, before the release of the report. "A greater quantity of water must be granted."
Israeli officials deny the accusations.
Water is a major point of contention between Israelis and Palestinians, and is considered a matter to be resolved before the two sides could make peace.
The problem is compounded by the split in the Palestinian territories, with Fatah movement that govern the West Bank, while the rules of Hamas coastal Gaza Strip.
Israelis use more than four times the amount of water per person on average than do the Palestinians, whose consumption is well below the minimum recommended by the World Health, the report said.
The report focuses particularly on the so-called Mountain Aquifer in the West Bank. He said Israel uses more than 80 percent of the water from the aquifer and then the Jewish state has other sources of water, the aquifer is the exclusive offer of the West Bank Water .
Consequently, of the 450,000 Israelis living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are using more water than the 2.3 million Palestinian inhabitants, Amnesty said. Israel captured both areas in Jordan in the 1967 war. The Palestinians claim as part of a future state.
The spokesman for the Israeli government, Mark Regev called the Amnesty International's claims "completely ridiculous" and said Israel has the legal right to the aquifer since it was the first to discover, develop and Pump it.
Israel Regev pump less water from the Mountain Aquifer now than it did in 1967, Palestinian and consumption of freshwater has tripled during this period.
He blamed the Palestinians for not investing in development in the West Bank and said they have not managed to drill wells that have already been approved.
Amnesty accused Israel routinely denies Palestinians permits to run desperately need clean water and infrastructure projects in the West Bank.
Shaul Arlosoroff, an Israeli authority on the forefront of water acquisition and use, says Israeli restrictions in the West Bank to protect an aquifer already taxed from pumping.
In its report, Amnesty also cited serious problems of water supply in the Gaza Strip.
Since Hamas took control of the coastal territory in 2007, the longstanding problems of Gaza with sewage and sanitation of the water deteriorated, Rovera said. During Israel's offensive in Gaza last year, water and sewer pipes suffered serious damage.
Rovera said that the water situation in the Gaza Strip had reached a "crisis point", with 90 per cent to 95 per cent of the water contaminated and unfit for human consumption.
An Israeli blockade of Gaza has ended all repairs to the sewer overloaded band and water systems, ensure that materials and equipment to repair the infrastructure to penetrate, Rovera said.
