Days of Palestine – Ramallah
Israeli confiscation of Palestinian land and continued settlement building strain the land resources and the environment, because of the associated problems of waste disposal, construction of road networks, and exploitation of natural resources.
Evidence shows that much of the settlement wastewater is being disposed of on Palestinian land, causing serious health implications for the local population.
In this report, we will shed light on the serious environmental impact of settlements’ wastewater discharge in the occupied West Bank.
Environmental impact
Speaking to the Palestinian Information Center reporter, agricultural engineer and director of the Land Research Center in Nablus Mahmoud al-Saifi said that large amounts of raw wastewater are disposed of by the Jewish settlers in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, threatening to pollute the West Bank Aquifer.
A large amount of the wastewater is untreated sewage that flows into Palestinian valleys and onto agricultural land, he added.
He pointed out that 198 Jewish settlements and 315 outposts were illegally built in the West Bank, creating a health hazard for many communities.
The settlement’s untreated wastewater has destroyed the soil of Palestinian villages, causing often ancient olive trees to die, he continued.
Israel’s cunning methods
For his part, Palestinian local activist Khaled Maali told the PIC that the Israeli occupation is using cunning methods to cover up its settlement’s wastewater discharge on the Palestinian lands.
Some wastewater-treatment plants were established in West Bank settlements. However, they are not enough to treat all the settlement sewage, he added.
He pointed out that settlements wastewater affects the environment in three ways:
1- It causes serious changes to the topographic structure of the land and pollutes the air with huge amounts of dust. In addition, the solid waste generated by the factories is burned in open air.
2- All the trees will die due to the pumping of the sewage into agricultural lands.
3- The settlement of untreated wastewater will also affect the West Bank Aquifer.
40 million cubic meters of wastewater
Jewish settlements discharge approximately 40 million cubic meters of wastewater onto Palestinian land per year.
An estimated 90 percent of all settlement wastewater is discharged untreated directly into West Bank valleys.
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