Blowback: The sewage intifada of Gaza
Without going into background politics, one result of the Israeli siege imposed on Gaza from 2007, is that few, if any, spare parts and tools are allowed into Gaza for repairs and maintenance of its handful of wastewater treatment plants;3 especially of the new World Bank-funded plant rendered dysfunctional by Israeli bombs.4 Israel categorises most such equipment as ‘dual use’, items that can conceivably be used to manufacture weaponry.
“We may not care about infant mortality in Gaza, but the seawater contamination in the strip is going to reach Israel’s shores…Israel is shooting itself in the foot.”1
The dire sewage situation was compounded by the closure of tunnels through which cheap diesel fuel was smuggled, enabling the running of the sewage treatment plants and the electricity plant empowering them. Power is now only supplied in Gaza for a few hours per day.
The difference now is that things are becoming untenable for Israel as well, and for this reason alone change may come. As an Israeli journalist wrote last year: “We may not care about infant mortality in Gaza, but the seawater contamination in the strip is going to reach Israel’s
