Monday, July 19, 2010

Environmentalism in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank - Part One

The image at left is of Israelis preparing to board a ship near the Israeli coast. Twice now in the first two weeks of July, Israeli Greenpeace activists have boarded coal-laden ships, destined to unload coal for Israeli power plants.

They've been arrested, then released. None were shot in the head by IDF forces.

The Israeli Greenpeace chapters are quite active. I'm trying to learn more about cooperation between Israeli environmental activists and Palestinian environmental groups. Hopefully, I'll have more to report soon.

The Israeli attitude toward environmentalists might be encapsulated in this quote from an Israeli Rabbi's wife's blog:

One pragmatic reason environmentalism is not a popular topic is that its proponents are often the same people who malign Israel constantly, while those who challenge it are also strong supporters of Israel and Jewish causes.


The militant Zionist expansionists stealing Palestinian lands and resources in the West Bank seem indifferent to the fact that their crazy environmental practices there will only pollute the lands they covet to steal next:


I'm trying to find out more about the incredible levels of toxic wastes being dumped unchecked from the new industrial zone complexes tied to West Bank Zionist colonies.

Though not environmentalism per se, this is a good sign:

Hundreds of Israelis managed to overcome years of bureaucratic battles in only two and a half months – without ever leaving the house.


The viral activists used blogs, emails and social networks in order to pressure authorities to connect a Palestinian village to running water.

"We wracked our brains over how to reach people beyond the bureaucracy. We thought about the typical Israeli and how to appeal to him, and then decided to open a blog and act through the internet." Ehud Uziel from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel told Ynet.

The group, in cooperation with Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights Foundation, launched a blog entitled 'One action a day', with the aim of getting the Palestinian village of al-Tawana, located on Israeli territory south of Mount Hebron, water.

No comments: