In Gaza, Israel is waging an invisible environmental war
- November 29, 2023
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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In Gaza, Israel is waging an invisible environmental war
Subject : Environment
Section: Pollution
The environmental and humanitarian damage done by Israel on Gaza strip:
- In October, Israel hit the Jabaliya refugee camp in Gaza with a 2,000-pound bomb twice. The bombs – the second-largest in Israel’s arsenal – left 40-foot-wide craters in the ground and turned the site into a pile of rubble, killing hundreds.
- Israel has also used white phosphorus – a compound whose use in densely populated areas violates international humanitarian law.
- The 2,000-poundMk-84 bombs are generally filled with Tritonal – a mix of one part aluminium and three parts trinitrotoluene or TNT. When it detonates, the soil, water, and air in the blast radius are all exposed to these substances.
- The rubble from broken buildings includes hazardous materials like asbestos, cement, heavy metals, domestic chemicals, and combustion products, which can cause lung irritation or disease, chest pain, or more serious and chronic nervous and respiratory issues in the case of long-term exposure.
An ecological blockade:
- Before Israel’s invasion, the Gaza Strip used to grow a variety of crops including grapefruit, strawberries, Jaffa oranges, almonds, watermelon, eggplants, and of course olives.
- 45% of arable land in the occupied Palestinian territories is covered by olive trees.
- During the second Intifada (2000-2005),Israeli forces accused Palestinian farmers of using olive orchards next to Jewish settlements as a “shield and hiding place to attack”. In response, 3.74 lakh olive trees had been destroyed by the Israeli army and settlers.
- Herbicidal warfare:
- To develop a ‘buffer zone’ between Israel and the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces have conducted “unannounced aerial spraying of crop-killing herbicides (a combination of glyphosate, Oxyfluorfen, and Diuron),” destroying “entire swaths of formerly arable land” in Palestine.
- Glyphosate can damage the eyes and threaten aquatic life.
- Oxyfluorfen can severely irritate the skin and eyes on contact and should be “kept out of water supplies and sewers”.
- Diuron is a herbicide that works by stifling photosynthesis.
Occupation of farmlands:
- Israel has created at least 380 nature reserves and 115 national parks. These parks were yet another way by which Israel could grab Palestinian land – land that could otherwise be used to plant crops. Many of these parks used to be places where indigenous Palestinian and Syrian families used to live.
- 90% of Israel’s forests were grown after the state was created in 1948, with non-indigenous species accounting for 89% of the forest vegetation.
- Israeli forces replaced the olive trees and citrus groves. Pine needles are acidic.So when they fall to the earth, they create inhospitable conditions for other types of vegetation – they are a mono-crop.
WASH – Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene – infrastructure:
- WASH infrastructure is considered civilian infrastructure and [attacking them] is forbidden by the Geneva Conventions.
- Israel also controls the water supply to Palestinian territories. Currently, only one in 10 people in the Gaza Strip have direct access to safe drinking water.
- Cutting power and restricting water supply allows contaminants to spread in desalination plants, including Escherichia coli bacteria that can cause gastric distress.
Impact of the bombing:
- The “bodily accumulation” of heavy metals – many of which are carcinogens (cancer-causing) and teratogens (interfering with foetal development) – “following exposure whilst residing in attacked buildings” is one factor that predisposes women to negative birth outcomes.
Source: The Hindu