Israeli toxic waste threatens Palestinian life

[TriWooOx]

Quote:Tel Aviv illegally dumps hazardous waste in the Palestinian West Bank, gifting cancer, sterility and mental disorders to the local population.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV, Deputy Director of the Palestinian environmental authority Jamil Mtoor confirmed that Israel cuts disposal costs by discarding its waste on Palestinian territory at the expense of the population.

"For several years, Israeli companies have been dumping solid and hazardous waste in different West Bank villages," Mtoor said.

"They have been using the Palestinian land in a village called Shoukba near Ramallah to dump x-ray films, releasing carcinogens into the environment, and this has left many people with asthma-related illnesses," he explained.

Witnesses report that Israeli companies have also buried the carcasses of thousands of chickens infected with the avian flu virus in Nablus, to the north of the West Bank.

The Palestinian Authority has arrested a number of Palestinians for cooperating with Israeli dumping companies, taking legal action against them.

Another bone of contention is the Israeli nuclear reactor of Dimona, which lies just a couple of kilometers away from al-Khalil (Hebron) to the south of the West Bank.

Israel launched its nuclear activities in the late 1950s with the construction of the Dimona reactor and has attracted a torrent of criticism for developing the sole nuclear arsenal of the Middle East with support from the US.

The residents of several small villages that surround al-Khalil have found areas in the soil which have been sealed with cement. Studies show the radioactivity level in these areas to be very high.

Flies, mosquitoes and many kinds of insects do not exist in the vicinity; only the hardiest of plants survive there.

Around 415 cancer cases and hundreds of abnormal births were reported between the years 1995-2007.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95575...ionid=351020202