Israel has set out less stringent regulations in industrial zones in settlements and even offers financial incentives such as tax breaks and government subsidies. This policy has made it more profitable to build and operate waste treatment facilities in the West Bank than inside Israel.
Even without a peace plan, environmentalists have recognised that the pollution and water problems need common solutions.
The humanitarian problems posed by the substandard living conditions in Gaza require the attention of international actors associated with the peace process. If the living conditions in Gaza do not improve in the near future, the region will inevitably experience another round of conflict, more violent than the last.
This assessment seeks to identify all the potential environmental impacts of 2014’s Operation Protective Edge almost a year after it came to an end. Its findings are based on participatory research in which more than ten experts and almost a thousand Palestinians from the Gaza Strip participated.
This report found that insurmountable domestic legal barriers were creating environmental injustice.
The broad objectives of this study were to: highlight the longer-term effects and implications of current developmental and social trends and challenges affecting the Gaza Strip; raise awareness of these both locally and internationally; and, inform the strategic programming of the UN.
The report reveals in a striking manner the linkages between environment and security in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The aim of this desk study was to outline the state of the environment and identify major areas of environmental damage requiring urgent attention.
