Water Shut Off in Labor Dispute

Water workers closed the taps in 16 major Israeli cities and a Jewish settlement bloc in the West Bank after negotiations failed to resolve a dispute over plans to privatize the company, labor officials said. Residents of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem were among hundreds of thousands who woke up to find that their water had been cut off overnight, said Guy Tatza, spokesman for the Mekorot water company’s labor committee. Workers closed the pipes in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba and other towns later in the morning, Tatza said. Residents were without water for no longer than four hours a day, to comply with a ruling by a Tel Aviv labor court judge.