Israel may halt new Palestinian city over 'green concerns'

[oberliner]

JERUSALEM — Israel's hawkish environment minister, who backs continuing Jewish settlement in the West Bank, said on Wednesday he was seeking to halt construction of a new Palestinian city over "green" concerns.

Gilad Erdan told Israel's army radio it was "a mistake" for Israel to allow the Palestinians to break ground on the massive new project to build a city called Rawabi just north of Ramallah.

Asked if he was trying to halt construction of the project, which will cost some 700 million dollars (570 million euros), until it complies with certain environmental criteria, Erdan replied: "Exactly."

"I don't like the establishment of that city. I think it was a mistake to allow it," he said, claiming that the Palestinians had no proper plans for managing sewage or other waste generated from the city, which will house some 40,000 people.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gsI34Wv3qLS9p0_OALbeXV1csr0Q?docId=CNG.1e1a9fce48fee772c40344d3f21d3cc9.2f1

[ConsAreLiars]

1. No surprise that different standards are applied to invaders and the indigenous population

by the invaders' apparatchniks and their apologists.

By contrast:

The Zionist settlers across the West Bank constitute a major threat to the Palestinian territories, particularly with regard to the dangers posed by the industrial waste being pumped onto the land from their factories. This waste water pollutes the subterranean water reservoir as it flows into valleys and agricultural land and from there into the underground water flow causing great harm to both farmers and the environment.

For example, raw sewage from the illegal settlement of Jalbou in Jenin is polluting the agricultural land in the area. While it is extremely dangerous to discharge human waste into open fields, it is particularly hazardous when the effluent consists of industrial waste water and solids, mineral paints and various other metals, as is the case with the discharge from the settlement of Barqan in Qalqilya. The waste discharged from the settlement of Emmanuel contains a high concentration of salts coming from its desalination plant mixed in with sewage which drains into the nearby Qana valley.

Similarly, sewage from the settlement of Alfei Menashe flows through closed pipes to a sewage pumping station at 'Kibbutz Eyal' within Israel, passing the village of Habla in Qalqilya. However, the inadequacy of other pumps and facilities results in leakage and the sewage flows instead to the village of Habla and Qalqilya, creating a lake of waste harmful to both the health of local residents and the environment.

Sewage from the settlement of Efrat also flows into the agricultural area of the city of Bethlehem damaging large swathes of land as it joins the sewage coming from the settlement of Daniel al-Darar. Agricultural land from the village of al-Khadar is also badly affected.

More at: http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/1326-west-bank-settler-waste-a-disaster-ravaging-farms-and-generations

[shaayecanaan]

2. Are you mellowing in your old age or what?

If I didnt know better I'd swear that this article was sympathetic to the Palestinians.

[azurnoir]

3. well there is this from B'tselem

Water issues under the Oslo Accords

Pursuant to the Interim Agreement, the parties established the Joint Water Committee (JWC), the body charged with approving every new water and sewage project in the West Bank. The JWC is comprised of an equal number of representatives of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. All its decisions are made by consensus, and no mechanism is established to settle disputes where a consensus cannot be attained. This method of decision-making means that Israel is able to veto any request by the Palestinian representatives to drill a new well to obtain the additions stipulated in the agreement.

http://www.btselem.org/english/Water/Oslo_Accords.asp

thi seems to be the applicable part and if I am reading this right Israel has to agree to any work the Palestinians do on the water system

there is also this it is aUS sponsored plan for waste water treatment in the new WB city

https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&tab=core&id=eccb39a603b9fc0a2f7157721a81a20a&_cview=1

[oberliner]

4. Old age is always ten years older than I am

You really don't read my posts much if you think I am sympathetic to the Palestinians.

Maybe turn your filter off and broaden your horizons.

[shaayecanaan]

5. As old as you feel?

\"You really don\'t read my posts much if you think I am sympathetic to the Palestinians.\"

Well, Im no mind reader, but I had guessed as much, yes.

[oberliner]

6. Good one!

I'm glad that post can stand for posterity.

Until they wipe the internet clean, that is!

[Donald Ian Rankin]

14. Is this a typo?

I do read your posts, and I don't think you're sympathetic to the Palestinians, but I did think you thought you were.

[oberliner]

15. Yes indeed - hence the self-mockery when it was pointed out

And if you don't think I am sympathetic to the Palestinians then you haven't read my posts. Or you've read them selectively.

There is nobody involved in this conflict whom I have more sympathy for than Palestinians.

And that's no typo!

[azurnoir]

16. Ah so you do leave words out accidently I thought so when I read it n/t

[oberliner]

17. Would that I were as skilled a typist as you!

I can but do my best.

[azurnoir]

18. Apparently you are lol n/t

[azurnoir]

7. Interesting considering settlements dump wastewater too

Ariel settlement dumps sewage on Palestinian town

According to the Palestinian Water Authority, the settlement of Ariel has been pumping its sewage directly into the nearby Palestinian village of Bruqin, creating a dangerous and unhealthy situation for the residents of Bruqin.

According to the Mayor of Bruqin, the situation has become acute, with sewage contaminating groundwater and crops throughout the area.

<snip>

Israeli sewage dumping on Palestinian land is common, and Israel controls 80% of the water in the West Bank, despite the fact that it is on Palestinian land.

<snip>

The head of the Palestinian Water Authority, Shadad Al-A'tili, recently told Mayor Samara that the Palestinian Authority does have the technology available to construct sewage pipes and pumps that could divert the sewage, but that "the occupation authorities are obstructing the implementation of mechanisms that can solve the problem."

Israeli authorities have refused to issue the permits that Israel requires for the village to be able to construct the necessary pipes that would divert the Israeli sewage away from their town.

http://www.imemc.org/article/58538

[oberliner]

8. Amazed that you are not able to see through this

You really think the opposition is based on wastewater?

[azurnoir]

9. opposition to what ? Rawabi? edited

opposition is a very broad word so I am asking to make sure we're on the same page before I answer

[oberliner]

12. Yes, Rawabi nt

[azurnoir]

13. My post was about the means

by which halting the building would be accomplished not the reason(s) why

[shaayecanaan]

10. Well, why don't you tell us how you feel about it? -nt-

[oberliner]

11. I feel that it is all about politics

Note this quote from another article on the same topic:

“It is quite strange that on one side people can’t build one room or a balcony and on the other side they can build thousands of apartments,” Erdan said, referring to Israel’s 10- month partial halt of building in settlements that expired Sept. 26.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-05/israeli-minister-erdan-may-ask-to-halt-work-on-palestinian-west-bank-city.html

[txaslftist]

19. LOL.

Of course. Whatever excuse it takes to deny the Palestinians their rights.