Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Israeli siege against Gaza brings heavy toll on environment

Israeli siege against Gaza brings heavy toll on environment
Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:10:05
Ashraf Shannon, Press TV,Gaza

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Arab Environmental Day …. Israeli forces still violates the Palestinian environment in the Gaza Strip
Source: Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights in Gaza

October 15, 2008

14 of October is the Arab environmental day, where on the same day in 1986 Arabian ministers and officials met in Tunis and announced October 14th Arab Environmental Day. This decision was taken to allow each citizen to feel that they belong to their local and Arabian unity environment because any environmental problem that will arise in one Arabic country will negatively impact the neighboring country.

This day comes while the Palestinian environment is still suffering from the violations of Israel occupation. Since Hamas took over Gaza Strip, Israeli government imposed a deadly siege on Gaza closing all borders and restricting entry of basic goods for every day life and impacted in providing the necessary services to people especially in the health sector.

In addition to that, the Israeli Authorities prevented the completion of some projects which aims at developing the work of environmental associations that work in sectors of water, sanitation and solid waste. As a result there are no solutions for the environment problems, for examples the crisis of "Um Alnaser" village northeast of the Gaza Strip, and Al-Amal wastewater pool in Khanyounis south of the Gaza Strip. Also, no maintenance has been carried out in the three wastewater treatment stations where Gaza and Rafah stations have not had any rehabilitation or development since 1983.

Moreover, that there is the problem of solid waste in the Gaza Strip, where there the shortage of fuel for the trucks which transfer the solid waste into landfills. For example, in Rafah city the garbage is gathered in a small yard in Tal Al-Soultan area and later transferred to Sofa landfill north of Rafah according to fuel availability. The statues of the three landfills in the Gaza Strip are currently full and need to be expanded.

Also, the shortage of fuel since April has negatively impacted the working hours of water wells and sewage pumping stations. In some cases, water wells and sewage pumping stations have stopped operations completely.

Another problem which has risen from the imposed siege is the pumping of around 60,000 cubic meter of un-treatment sewage into Gaza Sea, which affects on the sea life and pollutes the seawater. Also, the huge mountains of garbage near residential areas affect on human health and consequently pollute the surround atmosphere.

These measures and Israeli siege is considered as a collective punishment not only against people but also against the environment, where according to the professionals the pollution is increasing from the burning the solid waste soil due to the inability of transferring it.

On the occasion of Arab Environmental Day, Gazens need support and assistance from the Arabs to stop the Israeli violation and to protect Human rights especially the right of living in clean environment.

In this day, Al-Dameer Assoc mentioned that the international community must adhere its responsible and perform its duties towards the Palestinians who suffered from the Israeli occupation and its violation.

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