The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories threatens the environment

Another reason why indifference towards the Arab-Israeli conflict is intolerable

The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP26), which took place in Glasgow in November, was depicted by the media as a theater of — sometimes empty — promises and of implicit defeats. People expressed their indignation towards Narendra Modi’s last-minute intervention, and India was accused multiple times of prioritizing political and economic aims over the commitment to avoid a global catastrophe. Public opinion deemed this action as intolerable. However, the Glasgow Climate Conference silently witnessed the denouncement of another state that includes in its political agenda an enormous quantity of CO2 emissions: Israel. On the second day of the international conference, the prime minister of the State of Palestine, Mohammad Shtayyeh, reiterated his denouncement of the Israeli occupation defining it as the “most critical long-term threat to the Palestinian environment.” It was not the first time that worrying data concerning the issue had been presented, as it was not the first time that the situation went almost unnoticed on an international scale. For instance, in 2012 the United Nations (UN) raised the alarm by announcing that Palestine would have been inhabitable by 2020 if Israel did not radically modify its expansionary and repressive policies. The human characteristic to adapt to inhumane conditions was once again underestimated.

The Applied Research Institute-Jerusalem (Arij) published several reports which clearly affirmed that, not only do the inhabitants of the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) suffer from the Israeli occupation, but so does the climate. The report published in 2007, perhaps the most complete one, illustrates in detail all the consequences of the Israeli occupation, which are supported by sound scientific evidence. In 2018 another report was issued, which showed rapid escalation of the problem. Given the complex nature of the issue, this article will seek to summarize the most devastating climatic problems that Palestine is facing because of foreign occupation.

Israel’s settlement project in the OPT is grounded on four main pillars: expansion, segregation, fragmentation, and resource exploitation. First of all, one of the main objectives of the Israeli occupation has been expansion, and consists of ensuring control over Area C, an administrative division following the Oslo accords, that represents 66 percent of the West Bank. The Arij report of 2007 underscores the dichotomic appearance of the Palestinian landscape. On one side, Palestinian villages are built on non-fertile soil and favor the organic development of the landscape, on the other one, Israeli settlements are scattered significantly on agricultural lands situated in strategic positions such as the Jordan Valley, in the West Bank’s western edges and the Jerusalem area. Thus, Israel’s expansion entails destruction of cultivations and deforestation: Prime Minister Shtayyeh drew attention to the fact that Israel has uprooted approximately 2.5 million Palestinian trees since 1967, 800 thousand of which were olive trees. Moreover, the settlements are typically characterized by their enormous sizes. This has a twofold aim: to attract colonists and to cover as much land as possible.

Since 1967, Israel has been trying to convince the world that the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict is the segregation of Palestinian communities. This statement is undoubtedly misguided both from a humanitarian and a climatic perspective. The main way of establishing a situation of apartheid is the development of two distinct road networks. Colonists have at their disposal an increasing number of streets, which are mostly strictly forbidden to Palestinians, so that the journey time from the settlements to Israel decreases. Furthermore, Israeli settlements are surrounded by “security streets” of thousands of square kilometers which have no purpose other than circumscribing the living area of the colonists. This further fragments the Palestinian Territories, which are already constituted by two separate land masses. The result of the apartheid regime to which Palestinians are subject is a disproportionate quantity of CO2 emissions caused by an unavoidable traffic jam. For instance, in order to go from the villages to the main cities of the OPT, local inhabitants are forced to face longer journeys in order to avoid Israeli settlements and pass checkpoints, as is now required. The former obstacle is responsible for the supplementary yearly emission of 196 thousand tons of CO2, whereas the latter, according to the Arij report of 2018, for the annual waste of 80 million liters of fuel in the West Bank. In such cases, a classical solution would be the implementation of a public transportation system. However, the fragmentation of the territory and the highly limited freedom of movement of Palestinians makes it impossible.

Israel’s occupation of Palestine is also a story of exploitation. From a resources point of view, Israel parasitically avails itself of Palestinian water. For instance, Palestine is currently undergoing a severe problem of water scarcity. The Arij report of 2007 shows how Israel has been exploiting the territory’s hydric resources since the beginning of the occupation in 1967. In the area, the Jordan River System, the Coastal Aquifer and the West Bank Aquifer System are the three main water resources, and theoretically, they should be shared with Palestine. However, Israel is in control of all of them. Since the occupation, Palestinians are denied their rightful access to the Jordan River and they are compelled to give Israel more than 80 percent of the water coming from the West Bank Aquifer. As a result, the per capita share of water of West Bank inhabitants (excluding settlers) is 79.1 liters per day, whereas in the Gaza Strip, it is 79.9, much lower than the daily required standard recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is 100-150 liters per person. Repercussions are visible not only in the progressive decrease of Palestinians’ living standards but also in the indirect climatic impact. In fact, given the limited availability of hydric resources, Palestinians are forced to exploit the Gaza Aquifer system. Because of its over-usage, 96 percent of its water is undrinkable. Thus, a CO2-consuming purification plant is required. Without considering the impact that such measures have on the inhabitants’ daily lives, we can still evaluate the enormous environmental consequences, which originate also from the necessity of transporting the treated water.

The marginalization of the Arab-Israeli question in the international political discourse can no longer be justified: it is not only a private issue, but a collective one since it is indissolubly tied to the concept of climate justice.

- Margherita Cordellini