Toxic Apartheid Israel in the West Bank city of Tulkarem

galway | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Tuesday March 23, 2010 22:41

by TD - Free Palestine Campaign

Spreading like the cancer that the output from the factory induces

Toxic Apartheid Israel : Specialising in the manufacture of pesticides, fertilisers and other chemicals, the Israeli company, Geshuri, forced to leave the Israeli coastal city of Netanyana on account of its plants toxic emissions simply relocated to land, stolen for the purpose, on the outskirts of the Palestinian city of Tulkarem in the north-east of the West Bank where the pollution, unabated and continues apace.

Geshuri toxic emissions

Following a court case in Israel, it was moved to Tulkarem in the mid-eighties. The Geshuri complex of factories sited in the shadow of the Apartheid-Annexation Wall has been expanding ever since, spreading like the cancer that the output from the factory induces. In addition to the land confiscation, the factory has a severe deleterious effect on the health of the local community. 2.5 dunums in the immediate vicinity of the factory have been polluted to the point where they are no longer agriculturally viable. Trees in the area are decaying; those that remain alive exhibit stunted growth. Pollution from the factory also widely affects other agricultural land in Tulkarem and has seeped into underground water sources in the area. Noxious carcinogenic fumes from the Geshuri factory have also adversely affected the health of the population. Respiratory problems and eye infections, which are most likely to afflict the very young and elderly, are the most commonly reported problems. It is also believed by medical experts that the pollution caused by the plant has led to cancer cases, although to confirm this no studies have been carried out to date. With the processing of household waste in the Geshuri Industrial Park there are attendant rat infestations.

The chemical complex is beyond the control and power of the PA as the Israeli occupying "Civil Administration" watch over and protect it - where for 11 months of the year the prevailing west to east winds blow the emissions into Tulkakem and in the one month when the winds shift direction and blow from east to west into Israel the factories cease their carcinogenic activities.

Tulkarem activist Faiz Al Tanib spearheads the campaign against the Geshuri complex and the Apartheid-Annexation Wall.

Faiz al-Tanib