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Settlers resume the dumping of waste in Palestinian residential area

February 16, 2014 at 3:03 pm

Israeli settlers have resumed use of a deserted garbage dump in Qauseen and Deir-Sharaf villages near the Palestinian West Bank city of Nablus. Local residents have expressed fears of the health hazards and disastrous effects on underground water supplies.

Residents told the Jerusalem based Palestinian newspaper, Al-Quds, they had noticed settlers’trucks off-loading their garbage in the deserted dump, which became full with hundreds of tons of waste in a very short period. 


The dump is located 100 meters away from the residential houses and close to two artesian wells that supply drinking water to thousands of people in the two villages and several parts of Nablus.

Nablus’governor, Jabreen al-Bakri, told Al-Quds, “We were surprised when we saw the Israeli trucks offloading garbage from the settlements and from within Israel. This is disastrous for the people, their farms and their water resources.”

Previously, the Israelis attempted to use the dump before work was stopped after popular protest and official Palestinian efforts. Al Bakri pledged to start a new campaign against the Israeli use of the dump before it becomes permanent.
 
Meanwhile, the director of the anti-pollution department in Quseen, Jamal al-Baz, said, “The Israelis placed large tanks and other heavy machinery in the area in an effort to make it a permanent dump.” He pointed out that the offloaded garbage contains construction and industrial waste, as well as plastic and other unknown material.

Al-Baz said that the Israeli workers on the site claim that they have permission from the Israeli Supreme Court to use the site.