Environmental Nakba

The report details how the Israeli occupation of the West Bank manifests as an 'environmental Nakba,' involving the systematic expropriation of land and water, the dumping of toxic and nuclear waste, and the establishment of polluting industries in 'seam zones.' It highlights specific cases such as the villages of Kafr Dik and Om Elkheir, and the Wadi Qana nature reserve, to illustrate how environmental degradation and 'green washing' are used to displace Palestinians and facilitate settlement expansion.

• Israel employs various legal frameworks, including Ottoman, British Mandate, and Jordanian laws, to expropriate Palestinian land, often designating areas as closed military zones or required for security to preempt the establishment of a Palestinian state.
• Water resources in the West Bank are heavily skewed toward Israeli use; Israel controls the Eastern, Western, and North Eastern aquifers, with more than 85% of the water abstracted for Israelis and less than 15% for Palestinians.
• In the Bedouin village of Om Elkheir, a stark disparity in water access exists where settlers in the nearby Karma’el settlement use 300 litres per person per day, while Palestinians use only 15 litres, transported manually over long distances.
• The West Bank is used for the dumping of Israeli waste, including industrial, chemical, and nuclear waste. In Qalqilia, a waste site established in 1980 has led to water contamination with lead and 17 poisonous chemicals, correlating with high levels of cancer and gynaecological irregularities in Jayyous and Azzun.
• Israeli settlements frequently discharge untreated wastewater onto Palestinian agricultural land. For example, the Ariel settlement's treatment plant ceased functioning in 2008, causing wastewater to flow into the Al Matwi stream and Salfit land.
• The 'seam zone' behind the separation wall is used to house Israeli industrial estates, such as Nitzanei Shalom, where companies like Gishuri operate with minimal environmental controls and provide poor working conditions for Palestinian laborers.
• Nature conservation is used as a tool for ethnic cleansing; in Wadi Qana, the area was declared a nature reserve by Israel, which allowed for the establishment of settlements and the extraction of water while Palestinians were forbidden from cultivating their land.

APA

Al Butmah, A., Peek, B., & Scandrett, E. (2013). Environmental Nakba. Friends of the Earth International. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06-foei-palestine-report-eng-lr.pdf

Chicago

Al Butmah, Abeer, Bobby Peek, and Eurig Scandrett. Environmental Nakba. Friends of the Earth International, 2013. https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06-foei-palestine-report-eng-lr.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Al Butmah |first1=Abeer |last2=Peek |first2=Bobby |last3=Scandrett |first3=Eurig |title=Environmental Nakba |publisher=Friends of the Earth International |date=September 2013 |url=https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06-foei-palestine-report-eng-lr.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{albutmah2013environmental, author = {Al Butmah, Abeer and Peek, Bobby and Scandrett, Eurig}, title = {{Environmental Nakba}}, institution = {Friends of the Earth International}, year = {2013}, month = sep, url = {https://www.foei.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/06-foei-palestine-report-eng-lr.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }