WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #32: Gaza: silent ecocide (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 In the exquisitely anthropocentric narrative of the conflict in

Palestine, a crucial aspect that transcends geographical and political
borders is ignored or mostly only mentioned: the environmental impact.
---- The devastation carried out by the Israeli army is not limited to
the human and material losses and the unspeakable suffering that we
witness every day but extends to a global dimension that profoundly
affects the climatic balance of our planet; several environmental
research institutes, climatologists and independent professionals have
published data relating to the first months of the conflict that are
already frightening in themselves and that must be multiplied for the
remaining period since the criminal genocidal activity of the IDF has
never diminished; in the first two months of the conflict, greenhouse
gas emissions generated by military operations exceeded the annual
carbon footprint of over 20 nations vulnerable to climate change. A
detailed analysis shows that most of these emissions, quantified at 281
thousand tons of CO2 equivalent, equal to the burning of at least
150,000 tons of coal, derive from the Israeli air and ground offensive
on Gaza. In addition to CO2 emissions, the conflict has left deep wounds
in the ecosystem of Gaza:
- according to the monitoring of Euromed Human Right monitor, in the
first five months of the conflict, Israel dropped 25,000 tons of bombs,
an amount capable of releasing the equivalent of energy released by two
atomic bombs, this has had a devastating impact on the environment, with
experts reporting serious soil contamination and a significant
deterioration in air quality;
- the destruction of water and waste treatment infrastructures has
exacerbated the environmental crisis with direct effects on public
health as evidenced by the increase in acute respiratory diseases and
pollution-related pathologies;
-the waste crisis in Kan Yunis, where the accumulation of solid waste
has increased from 150 tonnes to over 450 tonnes per day.
Although it is the Palestinians in Gaza who face the greatest threat, it
is the entire territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean
that is compromised, a single ecosystem in which health and the
environment are interconnected in a fragile balance (this has been
particularly evident with the recent discovery of the polio virus in
Gaza's wastewater).
A recent report by the United Nations Environmental Protection Agency,
published in June, provides horrifying data from satellite surveys and
estimates that the bombs have destroyed 37% of homes and severely
damaged 27%, producing 39 million tonnes of debris of various kinds with
serious pollution of land and water.
The rubble contains dangerous substances, unexploded ordnance, waste of
all kinds, asbestos, dust that poses risks to human health, which the
longer they continue over time, the more serious damage they will cause
to the environment; following the closure or destruction of wastewater
treatment plants, untreated water, which contains pathogens and
dangerous chemicals, pollutes the land and beaches where over 2 million
Palestinians try to survive; water and land are also contaminated by
heavy metals that are in destroyed solar panels and in the numerous
chemicals contained in exploded ammunition.
The waste management system has collapsed, the air is assessed as
seriously polluted by fires from open-air burning of wood, plastic and
waste; in this context, the risks of all types of diseases, whether
acute, chronic, infectious, and very difficult to predict, increase
dramatically.
The environment of the Gaza Strip was already in difficult conditions
before October 7, with strong pressure on ecosystems due to the high
population density and recurring conflicts; in a condition of
socio-economic deprivation in a vulnerable area, the recent destructions
underway have virtually nullified all efforts made to improve
environmental management systems.
It will take decades to return to a dignified and acceptable living
condition.
During Cop 28 (i.e., the UN conference on climate change held last
winter in Dubai), the impact of military activities in general on the
environment was the great absentee. On that occasion, the Israeli
delegation reiterated its contribution by presenting innovative
solutions for the capture and storage of CO2, for water collection or,
again, plant-based alternatives to meat; nothing of the ongoing conflict
and the military activities that in recent years have determined climate
impacts was addressed (it is also well known that the most moral army in
the world boasts of taking into account the vegan choices of male and
female soldiers, providing them with food and clothing of non-animal
origin). In the realized dystopia that looms over us, where war is peace
- ignorance is strength - freedom is slavery, lies and hypocrisy are now
normal practices in the exercise of power. The greenwashing practiced by
the governments of technologically developed countries that set
themselves up as moralistic exporters of democracy is revolting, no
ecosystem is spared from the direct and indirect consequences of war
destruction. In addition to the enormous direct human losses, the
effects on health visible today are only the tip of the iceberg and what
will happen next can only be roughly estimated in the absence of a
return to peace, a peace that cannot be achieved without the affirmation
and consolidation of a more just and equal society, with equal rights
and dignity for all peoples, values that unfortunately, often, cannot be
achieved through conferences or declarations of principle but that must
be conquered at the cost of many sacrifices and suffering.
Alongside the peoples who fight against patriarchal/colonialist turbo
capitalism, first of all the ecosystem, because Palestine and Lebanon
are the people, the land, the animals, the plants... they are the
resilient and resistant spirit of those who refuse to succumb to the
occupier.

Free Palestine, Free World.

A subscriber
___
Sources:
https://www.treccani.it/
https://valori.it/
https://zeitun.info/
https://www.unipd.it/

https://umanitanova.org/gaza-ecocidio-silenzioso/
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