Raw sewage, unexploded ordnance plagues Gaza

[Purveyor]

A new report by the U.N. Developmental Program finds many Palestinians in Gaza City living in squalor and abject poverty and surrounded by unexploded ordnance.

From the IRNI:

Unexploded ordnance (UXO) and the uncontrolled dumping of rubbish pose the greatest environmental and public health risks to residents of the Gaza Strip, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP). A further study is planned by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

Increased discharges of raw sewage, the contamination of ground and drinking water, polluted agricultural fields and other environmental effects stemming largely from the recent 23-day Israeli offensive in Gaza will be the focus of an upcoming UNEP assessment to be conducted by a team of eight experts in May.

Assessment results are expected by early July.

“Contamination of water and land, and the handling of hazardous waste and rubble are the most pressing issues ,” said UNDP environmental officer Husam Tubail.

Hazardous waste includes waste from healthcare facilities, asbestos and other material mixed up with the rubble. It also includes UXO, said Tubail.

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/raw-sewage-unexploded-ordinance-plagues-gaza/

[izquierdista]

1. Send it to Israel

If the pollution was being carried into Israel, either in the groundwater or airborne, I'll bet something would be done about it.

[Scurrilous]

2. Gaza Laid Bare

<snip>

"Israel’s air assault on Gaza began with attacks on the Strip’s main police stations, including one in Rafah’s densely populated Junaina neighborhood which left twenty-five officers dead. Over the course of the war, approximately two hundred and fifty civilian policemen would be killed and every major police office damaged or destroyed, according to figures provided by the Ministry of the Interior.

When it became clear that policemen were being targeted, officers were ordered to don plain clothes uniforms and continue their patrols carrying sticks rather than guns to avoid detection. Trestle-table desks were set up amidst the rubble of bombed police stations to maintain the administrative network of law enforcement in the Strip, and the thirteen thousand-strong police force continued to function. “We would not allow the Israeli aggression to bring chaos to our streets,” says Ihab Al-Ghusain, a spokesperson for the Ministry. “We simply made the best of what we had.”

The Geneva Convention stipulates that to be considered a legitimate military target, objects must contribute to military action. “Police were not combatants and could not represent legitimate targets unless actively engaged in hostilities,” claims Sarah Leah Witson, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch.

There was no significant increase in theft or looting during the war, although several calls were made to an emergency police hotline reporting incidents of over-pricing by merchants. “We have a bad history of safety in Gaza,” says Mr. Al-Ghusain, “and as a result people here have suffered. In times of crisis, people need the reassurance of a working police force more than ever; we could have everything else, but without security we have nothing. That’s why it was so important to keep going."

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[henank]

3. Whatever happened to the billions of dollars in aid

sent to the Palestinians by the EU, the UN and all those other alphabet soup agencies?

Could it possibly have been used to line Palestinian officials' pockets and to buy armaments to be used against Israel rather than for repairing the sewage and perhaps, :gasp:, even feeding their citizens?

:sarcasm:

[Violet_Crumble]

4. What billions of dollars in aid have gone to Gaza since OCL ended?

I'm sure you won't have any trouble providing links to support yr claim...

[henank]

5. Your billions of dollars coming right up

Obama authorizes $20 million in aid to Palestinians

Billions pledged to help rebuild Gaza

India provides aid to Palestine

Aid to Palestine exceeds Marshall Plan

Hmm. I wonder. Could it be that those billions of dollars are being redirected to terrorist elements and that is why their sewage is collapsing? Why! Perish the thought!

[Violet_Crumble]

7. Pledging is very different than the funding being received...

What I need to see is something supporting yr claim that the funding (billions, remember?) was received by the govt in Gaza. Once you've done that, then you can start speculating on what it's being used for, but until then yr just speculating based on something that doesn't appear to be correct...

[shira]

9. reality, not fantasy Violet -- funding was received by the PA before OCL and the sewage problem

was not fixed then. Where did all that taxpayer money go?

[Violet_Crumble]

10. You still haven't bothered reading the OP. It's about the results of OCL...

From the article: 'Increased discharges of raw sewage, the contamination of ground and drinking water, polluted agricultural fields and other environmental effects stemming largely from the recent 23-day Israeli offensive in Gaza will be the focus of an upcoming UNEP assessment to be conducted by a team of eight experts in May.'

Which is why when I asked Henank for links, he provided ones that talked about pledges of funding to the PA after OCL. But like I said, pledging and the money actually being receieved are very different things, which is why I asked for information about how much funding has been received by the govt of Gaza since OCL ended. That must be clear enough for just about everyone here to understand, I hope...

[shira]

6. sewage problem existed well before OCL

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6498835.stm

http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/01/02/gaza_sewage_water_disaster_looms/5312/

Hamas has been doing such a great job as state-builders for the elected govt of the people.

But it's better to revise history and pretend facts don't matter and everything is debatable. So therefore, it's Israel's fault and case closed. :eyes:

[Violet_Crumble]

8. It'd help if you read the OP before commenting...

Then you would have spotted this: 'Increased discharges of raw sewage, the contamination of ground and drinking water, polluted agricultural fields and other environmental effects stemming largely from the recent 23-day Israeli offensive in Gaza will be the focus of an upcoming UNEP assessment to be conducted by a team of eight experts in May.'


So therefore, it's Israel's fault and case closed.

Yeah, how dare I ask someone for links to support a claim they made about funding being received in Gaza! What next????

[Sezu]

11. Hamas has said before what its priorities are and

good governance isn't among them. The PLO hasn't done all that much better either. Yet some insist they are ready for their own state when after billions and billions over the years all they have to show is what they now have. Reality doesn't sit well with misinformed ideologically driven utopians.

[Vegasaurus]

12. Billions and billions and billions of dollars to the Palestinians

and what do they have to show for it?

Raw sewage and abject poverty.

Seems that they need someone to help manage their affairs, since the money goes to weapons and political greed (and Mrs. Arafat;s shoe collection).

Why else would so many people still be living like this, after 60+ years of global assistance, the likes of which no other country on earth has received?

[TimesSquareCowboy]

14. Just hazardng a guess, I'd say it's bombing and confiscation of resources.

But it's just a guess.

[oberliner]

13. What is the source for this article?

Your Raw Story link says it's "From the IRNI"

What is the IRNI?

[excess_3]

15. people complain about turning garbage dumps into parks

people complain about anything.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x274344
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=124&topic_id=274197&mesg_id=274197

[bemildred]

16. Well, I appreciate your support for cleaning up the damage in Gaza.

:hi:

[Scurrilous]

17. Life among the ruins in Gaza - Amira Hass

<snip>

"Wadi Gaza is an agricultural region southeast of Gaza City. The ruins of Hussein al Aaidy's family home are immediately apparent. The houses (and several other heaps of ruins) are scattered among budding hills, lazing goats and fields that have been plowed but not sown. Up until nine years ago, these houses were surrounded by orchards and other fruit trees. Until the Israel Defense Forces bulldozers uprooted everything in order to safeguard the Israelis driving to the settlement of Netzarim.

The thousands of heaps of ruins in the Strip have now become part of the landscape. What attracts attention is when one pile of ruins or another disappears. The Gaza Public Works Bureau has already solicited bids for clearing away the ruins of several public buildings and several mosques. Building contractors have begun to evacuate the rubble, and tents have been set up on the site in order to serve the public and for prayers.

But these are the exceptions. There is no point in clearing away the ruins of the 4,000 buildings and homes that have been totally destroyed, so long as Israel does not permit building materials to be brought into the Strip.

The Gazan Ministry of Public Works also warns citizens not to clear away ruins through private initiative: It's too dangerous. At least 50,000 people, members of 8,000 families whose homes have been destroyed, know that the temporary solution they have found is liable to become a long-term one."

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