From: NefeshBarYochai <void@invalid.noy>
Newsgroups: can.politics,comp.os.linux.advocacy,alt.society.liberalism,alt.politics.democrats.d,alt.politics.trump
Subject: The Gaza war is an environmental catastrophe
Organization: The International Network of Orthodox Mental Health Professionals
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2024 23:15:01 -0400
Ever-worsening shortages of water and electricity. Catastrophic
flooding in dense urban areas. Food insecurity exacerbated by drastic
temperature increases, reduction in overall rainfall, and the
long-term impact of toxic chemicals.
This is what climate researchers Khalil Abu Yahia, Natasha Westheimer,
and Mor Gilboa, writing in +972 Magazine more than two years ago,
predicted was in store for Gazas near-term future. Israels ceaseless
bombardment of the Strip over the past 11 months has caused
unspeakable humanitarian consequences, but it will also have dramatic
and lasting effects on Gazas already imperiled natural environment
and indeed, that of the entire region.
It is near impossible to think about the climate crisis amongst this
much death and destruction, Westheimer wrote this past November,
after Abu Yahia was killed in an Israeli airstrike. But the reality
is, this last month has set Gaza even deeper into a humanitarian
crisis, and its two million residents are more vulnerable to the
impacts of climate change than ever.
In June, the Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy at the Arava
Institute for Environmental Studies published an extensive new report
on the environmental impact of Israels ongoing assault on Gaza. The
report covers myriad environmental harms of the war from the vast
amount of toxic dust released by bombing buildings, to the breakdown
of waste management, and the destruction of water treatment facilities
and proliferation of water-borne illnesses.
While it is Palestinians in Gaza who face the most severe threat, the
report makes clear that the entire territory between the Jordan River
and the Mediterranean Sea is part of one ecosystem, in which health
and environment are interconnected in a vulnerable equilibrium. This
was made particularly evident by the recent discovery of poliovirus in
Gazas wastewater. The Israeli army set about delivering Polio booster
shots to Israeli soldiers, before eventually agreeing to a vaccination
campaign for Palestinian children in the territory under the age of
10; Israel has also taken a sudden interest in reconstructing the
wastewater management infrastructure that it destroyed.
The report also highlights the link between armed conflict and global
warming. On July 21, the planet experienced the hottest day on record;
in the Middle East, temperatures are rising on average twice as fast
as the rest of the world.
To better understand the environmental impact of the war, +972 spoke
with Dr. Mariam Abd El Hay, a researcher in social dynamics and the
environmental impacts of conflicts and a Palestinian citizen of Israel
from the city of Tira. Abd El Hay is the author of the new report, to
which Elaine Donderer and Dr. David Lehrer, the centers director,
also contributed. The interview has been edited for length and
clarity.
https://www.972mag.com/gaza-war-environmental-catastrophe/