Monday, April 4, 2005

Well, That Stinks!

Israel to dump garbage in W Bank
Israel has decided to dump about 10,000 tonnes of garbage in the occupied West Bank territory for the first time since 1967.

Israeli waste operators plan to launch the project despite international treaties prohibiting an occupying state from making use of occupied territory unless it benefits the local population, Israel's Haaretz daily reported on Monday.

The plan by privately owned waste companies is to deposit garbage in a former quarry near Nablus.

Transferring Israeli garbage to the West Bank will be three times cheaper than taking it to a site in Israel, leaving a greater profit in the hands of the entrepreneurs and operators, the paper said.

Pollution experts fear the garbage will jeopardise Palestinian drinking water sources.

The paper said the new dump will constitute serious environmental hazards and jeopardise the groundwater, because the Israeli civil administration refuses to let Palestinians build modern waste-disposal sites.
More details here.