This case demonstrates another major suffering that the Palestinian people had to put up with as a result of the continuing Israeli occupation. It is not enough that the Israeli occupation had crippled the economic development through several barbaric measures that includes heavy taxation, not issuing permits, closure of factories, confiscation of farm land, and exploiting the cheap Palestinian labor to name a few. Now with this case as an example, we try to unveil another monstrous face of occupation which dehumanizes our existence and causes ecological catastrophes that blocks our sustainable development.

The Israeli settlements which were erected one total of more than 54% of the land confiscated from Palestinians not only interferes by the bio-diversity of the country, the control and exploitation of its water resources (surface and ground), blocking the farming of surrounding areas, but also, the Israeli settlers have been discharging their waste water, liquid and solid wastes from the settlements onto neighboring Palestinian Agricultural land. Another mockery of Palestinian rights to exist and develop furthermore is carried on by Israeli industrialist; the occupation authorities had permitted the transfer of several industrial factories from within Israeli to the West Bank because there was a public outcry against these same factories in Israel, and court orders to shut them down. Since no Judiciary or executive authority took any measures to prevent such factories to operate, nevertheless they had the economic incentives to operate unchallenged under less precautionary measures, ignoring all quality and quantity standards set up by Israel itself. They have been dumping their poisonous hazardous by-products into residential and agricultural land causing irreversible ecological damage that had seriously effected the soil, land health and water for many generations to come.

In our case presentation we will take a look at one of those factories. "Geshurei Industries" a chemical factory that produces fertilizers and pesticides was operating in Kfar Saba (within Israel). Due to its negative impact on the people, land and agriculture of Kfar Saba, the people obtained a court order to have the plant shut. The industrialist optioned to move the factory across the green line to the Occupied Territories among Arab Palestinians inhabitants. the factory operated unchallenged from any authority even though there was a court order from Kfar Saba stating that the factories by-products were hazardous and therefore should not operate near a residential or agricultural area. Nevertheless, since 1987 this factory was operating freely in Tulkarem (West Bank) area polluting without any control or standards the soil, water, air, effecting directly 144.1 dunums (one dunum is 1000 m2) of prime agriculture land in the area which is planted with different kinds of vegetables and fruits (zucchini, eggplant, tomato, cucumbers, cabbage, wheat, citrus trees and olive trees), and causing substantial damage to the public health.

Among the damages caused by the factory are:

* Soil and Plantation:

• Decay of the majority of trees and other vegetation near and around the plant. the remaining vegetation in this area have a slow growth rate.
• Around two and a half dunums of the adjacent land has become completely unsuitable for cultivation.
• The presence of a white powder (chemical dust) that covers the leaves of vegetation in the area causing the decrease of productivity, in addition to a liquid substance that leaves a calcium-like residue on the land. Both those substances are dangerous, prohibit normal growth, and sometimes cause the burning of leaves or its dryness. Also this white precipitate act like and insulator on top of plastic homes (green houses) that prevent the heat and sunlight from reaching the vegetation thus causing their death. As a result of the above, farmers were discouraged and do not dare to plant their land fearing loss of effort, time and money due to the expected damage and low productivity.

A soil sample examined by the central cooperative laboratory in Beita, was found to be extremely salty, not arable, has a very strong structure and contains high amount of sodium. All due to the factory by -products and waste water directed toward adjacent agriculture land which was considered the best prime agriculture land in the area.

* Water:

According to a report on a report on ground water sample from the area surrounding the factory, analyzed at the center for environmental and occupational health sciences at Bir Zeit University, the water was found to be extremely acidic PH=4. After some researches on the sample sulfamic acid was found. The acid is a starting material to prepare a herbicide used as a non-selective weed killer. This is a clear evidence of polluting ground water through leakage of chemicals, and a proof of the improper disposing of wastes and by-products.

Total financial losses to the farmers during the period of 1987-1992 is estimated at $266,024; but now and in the near future, the damage will definitely exceed that due to cumulative damage to the land. (1+1 are equal to 2 in this case).

* Public Health:

A very high ratio of health related problems among farmers and people living around the factory was documented. Those includes sever headaches, pruritis, itchy watery eyes, spastic and chronic cough, and bronchial Asthma. The untreated gases polluting the air, causing a very bad odor complicated by the dust emissions and excessive noise pollution when factory in operation makes it very hard for farmers to work in the fields. All this coupled with the expected low productivity results in causing depression and feeling of malaise among farm workers.

Given the significance of this case, our establishment has adopted it, and seek to pursue every legal avenue inorder to have the factory closed or at least at this stage to provide protection to the area and the people living there by proper disposing of wastes and emissions and compensating the public for the damages. The establishment faced many problems in bringing the case to court.....

1- It was hard to convince the Tulkarem area residents and the factory workers to request the protection of their health, land and water because they lack the environmental awareness.

2- LAWE faced problems in presenting the evidence of the damage caused by the factory to court, due to the lack of technical equipment used to analyze the water and soil samples.

To tackle the environmental awareness problem LAWE had resorted to enhance community participation. LAWE took the initiative of organizing a public hearing that included representatives of Tulkarem municipality, the local farmers union, and the landlords of surrounding farms. A three - person committee was elected to do an environmental protection institutions, women institution, health NGO's like the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees (UPMRC), and the Palestinian Agricultural Relief committee (PARC) to organize jointly this campaign that includes lectures, workshops, school education, showing films, writing in the papers, and by distributing brochures and pamphlets to the residents of the area.

LAWE send letters to the Ministry of Interior and the legal counselor asking for a halt to the environmental damage caused by the pollution and to compensate the farmers for the damage to their land and harvest.

A report including the damages caused by the factory, an analysis of the soil, waste water, and blood analysis of the workers and the citizens living near the area was presented to court. Due to the lack of technical equipment, to justify the evidence; in addition, the bias of the Israeli military laws, the court imposed that the workers use masks, prohibited the factory from producing some "toxic materials", forced it to use filters but it fell way short from closing the factory as the case in Israel.

LAWE sent a letter to the factory's official listing the farmer's demandto stop the pollution and asking for compensation for the damage done by factory's residues, but the officials were only ready to pay the compensation to the farmers.

An economic consequence study was conducted; if we consider the vegetation prices constant, follow a semi-linear relationship. and not consider the amount needed to clean the soil, the dollar amount damage from 1992-1997 is expected to be $280,146.

However, the actual damage might be way beyond this figure. Considering the cumulative damage to the soil due to the increased and continued dumping of wastes may render all the land unfit for agriculture in the near future, since the relationship here is not a linear relationship. Also we have to take inconsideration the huge sum of money needed to repair the damage to the soil.

We at LAWE believe that this factory poses a very dangerous threat to the life in the area it is allocated in. The pollution is happening at all levels, water, soil and air. We also feel that any effort using the available technology to try to stop or minimize the damage caused by pollutants are only temporary and the closure of factory is the ultimate goal.