Abu Dis Waste Disposal Site

Last updated

Abu Dis is a Palestinian town in the Jerusalem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority bordering Jerusalem. Since the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Abu Dis has been part of "Area B", under joint Israeli and Palestinian control. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, Abu Dis had a population of 10,782 in 2007. [1]

Contents

A waste disposal site was constructed in Abu Dis in the 1980s, in accordance with the 1987 Solid waste Disposal Master Plan for Judea and Samaria, and it was planned to operate for 20 years. The site is located between Abu Dis and Ayzrya on the eastern side of the separation barrier. It lies between Israeli settlements: Ma’ale Adummim [2] and Qedar. The site is in "Area C", an area under the Oslo Accords, [3] over which Israel has complete authority.

While the Abu Dis landfill serves both Israel and Palestine, a majority of the waste originates in Israeli cities and settlements. Jerusalem, including East Jerusalem, constitutes for 90% of the waste. A small percentage of the waste comes from Israeli settlements within Palestine, and Palestinian communities contribute 6% of the waste. [4]

Costs and Restriction

Two factors are prohibiting Palestinian access to the site: the landfill levy, and restricted access.

1. The Landfill Levy

A levy is a tax that is intended to internalize the environmental cost of disposing of waste. In the case of the Abu Dis disposal site, there is a levy that is imposed on both sides (Palestinian and Israeli governments) for using the site. However, the economy of Israel is vastly different from that of Palestine (West Bank). For instance, the GDP of the West Bank per capita, in 2008, was $1485.30 [5] while the GDP of Israel per capita, in 2008, was $28,291.90. [5]

2. Restricted Access

Palestinians are legally allowed to dispose of their waste at the site; however, Palestinian access to the site is restricted in other ways. Local councils are facing financial strains paying levies, which means they often cannot enter the site legally. Also, Israeli security concerns at times of conflict cause greater restrictions, prohibiting Palestinians from reaching the site. [6]

Environmental Damage and Health Risks

The Abu Dis waste disposal site is located above a mountain aquifer. Dissolving limestone above the aquifer poses a risk of polluting the groundwater. The acidic elements in the water, especially leachate, are dangerously polluting a valuable source of water. [7] Abu Dis waste disposal site is considered to be an "unsanitary waste dumpsite" because of the leachate being leaked into the aquifer and affecting freshwater used by both the Israeli and Palestinian side. [8]

Leachate collecting tanks are visible at the site; however, there is no sufficient information on the efficiency of the tanks in preventing the toxin seepage in the groundwater, in addition the location of these leachate tanks are exposed and poorly maintained. [9]

Burning of waste is internationally unacceptable because it emits gases that contain toxins such as ammonia and hydrogen sulphate. [10] The accumulation of waste in the site is creating an unbearable stench that is carried in the wind and affecting Bedouin communities living nearby. Also, there is a risk of Methane exploding since the site is poorly managed; there are many concerns that the severe environmental risks are endangering human lives in the region. [11]

1. International Law

According to International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the expropriation of land within occupied territories can only occur when due to military necessities for the benefit of the local population. The 1907 Hague Regulations state that the property of the occupied state must not be seized or destroyed unless "imperatively demanded by the necessities of war". [12] Article 55 of the Hague Regulations states that the properties of the occupied territory must be "safeguarded" and the occupying power can act only as "administrator". [13] Article 147 of the Geneva Convention also affirms that " extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly" is to be considered a breach of the convention. [14] These provisions require the occupying power to preserve the natural environment of the occupied territories and to protect it from degradation. [13] They are affirmed by both the Rio Declaration which notes that the States are obliged to ensure that no damage is caused to environment of other States that fall under their jurisdiction or control [15] and The Basel Convention requires that waste that is exported to another State is “managed in an environmentally sound manner” [16] and that the quantity of waste exported is “reduced to the minimum consistent with the environmentally sound and efficient management of such wastes”.The Convention emphasises the need to “protect human health and the environment against effects which may result from such movement [of waste].” [17]

2. Oslo Accords

The Oslo I (1993) and Oslo II (1995) Accords between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) laid out provisions for the two Parties cooperation and communication on environmental projects. According of Article 12 of the agreement, a committee on both sides should be established to ensure "environmental cooperation and understanding". [18] This Joint Israeli-Palestinian committee would work together in implementing regulations and requiring an environmental impact assessment for major development programs that deals with solid waste disposal. [19] In addition, Article 12 demands for the "protection of the environment and the prevention of environmental risks, hazards and nuisances including all kinds of soil, water and air pollution” and recognizes the “unsatisfactory situation of the environment in the West Bank” and the “mutual interest in improving this situation” for which Israel’s active assistance to the Palestinian side is required. [20]

3. Israeli Law

According to Eyal Zamie, former deputy and legal advisor for Judea and Samaria, “Expropriation of land for public purposes [in the West Bank] is not prohibited. Three pre-conditions must be met: first, the acquisition is made in accordance with the local law; second, the landlord is fully compensated; and third, the acquisition is for a public purpose.” [21] However, Meir Shamgar, the former Israeli Supreme Court President, states, "With respect to expropriation in Judea and Samaria, it should be mentioned that international law generally denies the military government the authority to expropriate land in occupied territories; however, there is evidence supporting the position that it is permissible to expropriate land for the needs of the local population upon payment of compensation.” [22] The Israeli Supreme Court allows the local population to dump their waste at the site since it is 'benefiting' them and this legitimizes the expropriation of land for 'public purpose' regardless of the environmental damage that will be caused to surrounding communities in the area. Also, the Israel State Attorney states that if Palestinian communities were no longer permitted to dispose of waste at the site, it would negate “the very legal justification for the existence of the site,” regardless of their capability of paying levies. He also states, "It is unreasonable to build and operate a waste disposal site in the heart of a certain population, without that population gaining benefit from the site, while it only bears the environmental costs." [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli settlement</span> Israeli communities built on land occupied in the 1967 Six-Day War

Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Jewish identity or ethnicity, and have been constructed on lands that Israel has militarily occupied since the Six-Day War in 1967. The international community considers Israeli settlements to be illegal under international law, but Israel disputes this. In 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found that Israel's occupation was illegal and ruled that Israel had "an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers" from the occupied territories. The expansion of settlements often involves the confiscation of Palestinian land and resources, leading to displacement of Palestinian communities and creating a source of tension and conflict. Settlements are often protected by the Israeli military and are frequently flashpoints for violence against Palestinians. Furthermore, the presence of settlements and Jewish-only bypass roads creates a fragmented Palestinian territory, seriously hindering economic development and freedom of movement for Palestinians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bank</span> Territory in West Asia

The West Bank, so called due to its location relative to the Jordan River, is the larger of the two Palestinian territories claimed by the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the Levant region of West Asia, it is bordered by Jordan and the Dead Sea to the east and by Israel to the south, west, and north. Since 1967, the territory has been occupied by Israel and in 2024 an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice determined that the occupation is illegal under international law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occupied Palestinian territories</span> Occupied Palestinian territory in the Middle East

The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. These territories make up the State of Palestine, which was self-declared by the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1988 and is recognized by 146 out of 193 UN member states.

West Bank and Gaza Strip may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ma'ale Adumim</span> Israeli settlement in the West Bank

Ma'ale Adumim is an urban Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the West Bank, seven kilometers east of Jerusalem. Ma'ale Adumim achieved city status in 1991. In 2015, its population was 38,046. It is located along Highway 1, which connects it to Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area. The international community holds that Israeli settlements in the West Bank, within Israel, termed Judea and Samaria, are illegal under international law. Israel does not agree with this view and the position of successive Israeli governments is that all authorized settlements are legal and consistent with international law.

The Judea and Samaria Area is an administrative division used by the State of Israel to refer to the entire West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, but excludes East Jerusalem. Its area is split into 165 Palestinian "islands" that are under total or partial civil administration by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and a contiguous area containing 230 Israeli settlements into which Israeli law is "pipelined".

Yesha is a Hebrew acronym for "Judea, Samaria, Gaza" – a geographical area, roughly corresponding to the West Bank and Gaza Strip combined. Yesha is one of a number of terms used to describe the areas of former Mandatory Palestine, occupied by Egypt and Jordan and later became a part of a military governorate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli-occupied territories</span> Territories presently occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War

Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights since the Six-Day War of 1967. It previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, the Palestinian territories was split between the Gaza Strip controlled by Egypt and the West Bank by Jordan, while the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights are parts of Egypt and Syria, respectively. The Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and the Golan Heights, where Israel had transferred its parts of population there and built large settlements, is the longest military occupation in modern history.

The status of territories captured by Israel is the status of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, and the Sinai Peninsula, all of which were captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Dis</span> Palestinian village in the West Bank

Abu Dis or Abu Deis is a Palestinian village in the West Bank, in the Jerusalem Governorate of the State of Palestine, bordering Jerusalem. Since the 1995 Oslo II Accord, Abu Dis land has been mostly part of "Area B", under Israeli military control and Palestinian civic control. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, Abu Dis had a population of 12,251 in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Bank areas in the Oslo II Accord</span> Division of the Israeli-occupied West Bank between Palestinian and Israeli control

The Oslo II Accord divided the Israeli-occupied West Bank into three administrative divisions: the Palestinian enclaves as "Areas A and B" and the remainder, including Israeli settlements, as "Area C".

The water resources of Palestine are de facto fully controlled by Israel, and the division of groundwater is subject to provisions in the Oslo II Accord.

The Protocol on Economic Relations, also called the Paris Protocol, was an agreement between Israel and the PLO, signed on 29 April 1994, and incorporated with minor amendments into the Oslo II Accord of September 1995.

An Israeli military order is a general order issued by an Israeli military commander over territory under Israeli military occupation. It has the force of law. Enforcement of such orders is carried out by Israeli military police and military courts instead of civil courts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wadi Qana</span> Valley and stream in Palestine and Israel

Wadi Qana is a wadi with an intermittent stream meandering westwards from Huwara, south of Nablus, in the West Bank, Palestine, down to Jaljulia in Israel, from where it flows into the Yarkon River, of which it is a tributary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levy Report</span> Report that supported Israeli occupation and settlement of the West Bank

The Levy Report, officially called Report on the Legal Status of Building in Judea and Samaria, is an 89-page report on West Bank settlements published on 9 July 2012, authored by a three-member committee headed by former Israeli Supreme Court justice Edmund Levy. The committee, dubbed the "outpost committee", was appointed by Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late January 2012 to investigate the legal status of unauthorized West Bank Jewish settlements, but also examined whether the Israeli presence in the West Bank is to be considered an occupation or not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palestinian Legislative Council</span> Unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority

The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) is the unicameral legislature of the Palestinian Authority, elected by the Palestinian residents of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It currently comprises 132 members, elected from 16 electoral districts of the Palestinian Authority. The PLC has a quorum requirement of two-thirds, and since 2006 Hamas and Hamas-affiliated members have held 74 of the 132 seats in the PLC. The PLC's activities were suspended in 2007 and remained so as of November 2023, while PLC committees continue working at a low rate and parliamentary panel discussions are still occurring.

The Oslo II Accord, also known as the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip or more simply Oslo II, established provisions and policies on the environment in six distinct articles within the first appendix of Annex III, "Protocol Concerning Civil Affairs." The key areas addressed are agriculture, environmental protection, forests, nature reserves, parks, and water and sewage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Area C (West Bank)</span> Oslo II division of the West Bank under full Israeli control

Area C is the fully Israeli-controlled and only contiguous territory in the West Bank, defined as the whole area outside the Palestinian enclaves. Area C constitutes about 61 percent of the West Bank territory, containing most Israeli settlements other than those in East Jerusalem, and more than 99% of the area is off limits or heavily restricted for Palestinians. The area was committed in 1995 under the Oslo II Accord to be "gradually transferred to Palestinian jurisdiction", but such transfer did not happen. The area is richly endowed with natural resources.

Land expropriation in the West Bank refers to the practices employed by the State of Israel to take over Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. From 1969 to 2019 Israel had issued over 1,150 military seizure orders alone to that purpose.

References

  1. ↑ Abu Dis
  2. ↑ Maa'le Adummim
  3. ↑ Oslo Accords
  4. ↑ B’tselem and Bikom, op. cit., p 32.
  5. 1 2 United Nations. "UNdata". Data.un.org. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  6. ↑ 48Ecopeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East, op. cit., p 4.
  7. ↑ Ecopeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East, op. cit., p 3.
  8. ↑ Ecopeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East, op. cit., Map 1
  9. ↑ Ecopeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East, op. cit., p 20.
  10. ↑ Ecopeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East, op. cit., p 14.
  11. ↑ 67Member of the Israeli Higher Planning Council, cited in B’tselem and Bikom, op. cit., p 42
  12. ↑ Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its Annex: Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land (1907). The Hague, 18 October 1907. Article 23 (g) and Article 46.
  13. 1 2 B’tselem and Bikom, op. cit., p 33.
  14. ↑ Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (1949). Geneva, 12 August, Article 147.
  15. ↑ The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992). Principle 2.
  16. ↑ Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, op. cit. Article 4. 8).
  17. ↑ Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, op. cit. Article 2.d).
  18. ↑ Annex III Protocol Concerning Civil Affairs - Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (1995). 28 September. Article 12. A) 22.
  19. ↑ Annex III Protocol Concerning Civil Affairs - Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, op. cit. Article 12. A) 7
  20. ↑ Annex III Protocol Concerning Civil Affairs - Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, op. cit. Article 12.
  21. ↑ Eyal Zamie cited in B’tselem and Bikom, op. cit., p 16.
  22. ↑ Meir Shamgar cited in B’tselem and Bikom, op. cit., p 17.
  23. ↑ Ma’ale Adummim Municipality v. Commander of IDF Forces in Judea and Samaria et al. [2009]. February 22, HCJ 10611/08, sections 55 and 56 of the state’s response.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.