What Is Environmental Injustice and How Does It Affect Palestine?
Highlights
- According to sociologist Dr Robert Bullard, "environmental justice embraces the principle that all people and communities have a right to equal protection and equal enforcement of environmental laws and regulations." (View Highlight)
- Incinerators are waste-burning plants that produce pollution, causing environmental harm and health issues. They're often built in the poorest, most densely populated parts of the country, meaning those who are better off benefit from clean air, and those who aren’t suffer the consequence. It’s environmental injustice and commonplace all over the world. (View Highlight)
- Israel has been condemned in dozens of resolutions by the United Nations Human Rights Council for its use of force against Palestine. But its force isn’t just exercised through violence and displacement , it’s also exercised through environmental damage. (View Highlight)
- Occupied Palestinian Territory – a term used to describe territories occupied by Israel – has changed a lot over the last century. The systematic destruction of entire villages and towns by things like bulldozers and explosives has had a huge impact on the environment and its residents. (View Highlight)
- Agriculture
It’s a common myth that Palestine was formerly a "desert land". In fact, it was green and fertile, with a thriving agricultural tradition where Palestinian's produced their own grain, olives, melons and grapes, to name a few.
Due to the confiscation of their land, that tradition is no more. Israel built an extensive network of roads and homes for settlers on agricultural land, and the new infrastructure was declared a military zone for Palestinians.
The destruction of perfectly good land forced thousands into desolation, starvation, and extreme poverty. (View Highlight)
- Water
Access to safe, clean water is a basic human right. But sadly, water is a powerful political tool. Israel controls Palestinian water supply, which means water is used to coerce and control Palestinian residents.
The water Palestinians do have access to isn’t always safe. Israel routinely dumps waste and raw sewage throughout Occupied Palestinian Territories, resulting in poisoned water supplies.
And that’s not all. Natural resources, such as water aquifers – a body of rock that holds groundwater – have been taken away from Palestinians. (View Highlight)
- Pollution
Pollution is a silent killer, linked to cancers, miscarriage and other devastating health consequences. Since occupation, a large number of high-polluting companies have moved to the West Bank and were offered tax incentives to do so.
What's more, constant airstrikes in Gaza have rendered the land and its soil dangerous as it contains many harmful toxic metals like cobalt and mercury. (View Highlight)
- Take our sister organisation PENGON, the Palestinian Environmental NGO Network.
They use communications and international advocacy to highlight Israeli control over Palestinian resources and provide digital options to register environmental violations across the territory. They also carry out intervention work with local communities on issues like protecting biodiversity. (View Highlight)