(Environmental) Justice for Palestine

Analysis by Roa Daher, Staff Writer

January 1st, 2021

In the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) latest report examining the environmental conditions in Occupied Palestine, the UNEP’s Executive Director Inger Anderson states that “to protect people and the environment, it is now critical to put in place sound environmental management practices across the occupied Palestinian territory”. In other words, not only are Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank at risk of being killed or severely injured by israeli soldiers for merely existing, or losing control of their car as seen earlier this year in the murder of Ahmed Erakat, but they are also at risk of long-term potentially-fatal health effects caused by the illegal occupation of their land by israelis. 

Environmental justice is a concept that champions an equally distributed environmental burden that does not discriminate against or specifically target a group of people based on ethnicity, socioeconomic class, or race. The environmental justice movement originated in the United States in the 1960s with the aid of the Civil Rights Movementthat raised awareness about the public health risks of environmental degradation like soil, water, or air pollution, and exposure to toxins like heavy metals or pesticides. Minorities like African-Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans were mainly the victims of environmental racism triggering cases of environmental justice. Some of the most infamous incidents of environmental justice in the US include the Love Canal Tragedy, where a residential community was built atop land previously used as a chemical waste dump, resulting in several health effects on the residents, who thereafter have moved and were financially compensated. Since then, the movement has taken on a life of its own to become a transnational network involving large organizations, such as Greenpeace, that deal with issues like the sale of toxic waste to developing countries. 

When it comes to Palestine, the case of environmental justice is even more complex than one would have ever imagined. After all, Palestinians are suffering from assaults to their water, soil, and air quality from the israeli government that also enables israeli corporations, operating on illegal settlements adjacent to Palestinian residential communities, to wreak havoc on the environment. Additionally, Palestine has been experiencing fluctuations in temperature, rainfall patterns, and snow, all of which are consistent with climate change. However, unlike the settlers in israel, Palestinians often do not have the resources to cope with these incremental changes that seem to get worse annually. For instance, Palestinians residing in small villages live in tents and are unable to build houses because israel prevents them from preserving dignified lives. Instead, Palestinians suffer when the snow falls and the temperature drops and then again in the summer, because of the limited access to potable water, which also affects the condition of the surrounding trees. The village of Umm al-Khair gets seven hours of water a week while israelis enjoy an unlimited supply of water. One israeli consumes as much water as four Palestinians, but Palestinians still pay more for intermittent access to the water resources that the israeli government hoards. As for the quality of the water made available to Palestinians: 97% of Gaza’s already-scarce water is unsuitable for human consumption and polluted water continues to be a leading cause of child mortality in Gaza.

To make matters worse, the distribution of water is affected by the israeli separation wall put up in 2004, which shows that the worsening political situation tied to the illegal occupation of Palestine acts as another barrier hindering Palestinians from accessing basic necessities. The 2014 war on the Gaza Strip had environmental consequences that directly affected the health of the Palestinians who survived the war. As if the violence of settlers was not enough, the damage done to the environment is feeds into greater mortality and morbidity rates of Palestinians.

This exact same movement can be seen when it comes to air and soil pollution in Occupied Palestine too. While the compromised quality of water and air can have direct and negative impacts on one’s health, the consequences of soil pollution are further complicated. First of all, the main sources of soil contamination in Palestine are industrial waste that is improperly disposed of by factories and the heavy metals present in bombs that are dropped on Palestinian land. The removal of such toxic materials from the soil is a very expensive and difficult process, and the contamination is very long-lasting. Since Palestinian communities heavily depend on agriculture for sustenance, the toxic chemicals present in the soil will move from the soil to the fruits and vegetables grown. Once the fruits of agricultural labour are consumed, these heavy metals, pesticides, and other harmful substances enter the body and remain stored in different tissues of the body where their concentrations increase with consumption. Eventually, the ingestion of such chemicals could have devastating neurological consequences, among various other effects that would depend on the chemical ingested. Some of these chemicals could cross the blood-brain barrier, while others may cross into the placenta. Exposure to such harmful substances is especially harmful to fetuses, babies, and children, and will have intense physiological consequences in the long run. 

The case for environmental justice in Palestine is completely and utterly tied to the end of the illegal occupation of Palestine by the illegitimate Zionist state. The vast control israel has over the most basic commodities and necessities in Palestine is a clear proof that there is no ‘Palestinian-israeli conflict’. Call it as it is: an illegal occupation of land based on settler-colonialism to create a Zionist state. By using the term ‘conflict’, you are legitimizing the idea that both sides hold equal amounts of power, which is clearly not the case. Israel holds a disproportionate amount of power, most clearly manifested in the support it garners from many powerful and rich members of the international community. When israel controls the supply of water to Palestinians and even in an effort to expel Palestinians from the Jordan Valley, there is a clear imbalance of power that is being used to threaten the existence of Palestinians. In the words of David Naguib in his book “What is Critical Environmental Justice?’, “The Zionist plans for Palestine were premised on the idea that this was a “land without a people for a people without a land” so the non-Jews in the area were generally viewed either with indifference or as an obstacle to the eventual colonization of the land”. The very creation of the illegitimate state of israel has been conditional on disregarding the lives of Palestinians through an occupation that controls every aspect of their lives, including their water supply, and slowly kills them in the process.