When waste becomes an instrument of apartheid and occupation.
Recently, Al Jazeera published an in-depth field report revealing a major environmental crime committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories — a topic still too little covered by the media. The principle is simple: consumption for us, waste for you.
Below, we reproduce the content of Al Jazeera’s report without any modification:
By Ghina Al-Khatib – April 14, 2025
Israel is gradually turning the West Bank into a massive landfill for toxic waste by transferring its hazardous waste there instead of processing it within its own territory, where strict environmental laws apply. At the same time, Israeli authorities prevent the Palestinian Authority from developing waste treatment infrastructure and from protecting Palestinians from the devastating environmental impacts of this pollution.
For several years now, Israel has been transferring sewage sludge, medical waste, used oil, solvents, metals, electronic waste, and batteries into the West Bank, effectively turning the occupied territories into a dumping ground for Israeli waste, according to a report by the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies (Madar).
These types of waste pose a major danger due to their non-biodegradable nature, leading to accumulation in the soil, contamination of water sources and vegetation, with serious consequences for the health of local populations.
According to the United Nations, the dumping, illicit trade, and illegal management of toxic and hazardous waste are considered environmental crimes—illegal activities that harm the environment for the benefit of individuals, groups, or businesses.
Between 2021 and 2022, the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority documented 51 cases of illegal transfers of hazardous waste from Israel to the West Bank—acts that qualify as environmental crimes according to the UN definition.
These cases involved construction waste, agricultural waste, used oils and batteries, medical waste, plastics, and even rotten meat, according to the 2023 "State of the Environment in Palestine" report, which notes that these figures represent only a fraction of the actual amounts introduced by Israel.
The Toflan landfill, in the West Bank, for smuggled Israeli plastic waste (Al Jazeera / AFP).
Evading regulations
Contacted by Al Jazeera, Walid Habbas, a researcher at the Madar Center, explained that Israel circumvents its own environmental laws by transferring its waste to the occupied territories— a policy he describes as an extension of the colonial project.
He also stated that some Israeli polluting companies and factories have been relocated to the West Bank, where they operate without oversight, while also contributing to the expansion of settlements.
According to the Israeli organization B’Tselem, the occupation administers more than 15 waste treatment facilities in the West Bank, including six that specialize in hazardous waste.
The Madar Center report identifies 10 Israeli companies that specialize in treating various types of hazardous waste transferred to the West Bank. These companies are located in industrial zones attached to Israeli settlements established on Palestinian land.
Among the main affected areas are Ma’ale Efraim (east of the village of Douma), west of Ariel, the industrial zone of Shilo east of Ramallah, Mishor Adumim east of Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, as well as other industrial zones like Barkan, Kedumim, Atarot, and Metarim near Hebron.
These facilities handle huge landfills of solid and construction waste. Each year, they receive about 350,000 tons of Israeli hazardous waste, taking advantage of relaxed environmental regulations applied in the settlements.
Two types of companies
In the West Bank, there are two types of Israeli companies involved in waste management. The first group includes companies that are officially registered and authorized by Israeli authorities, operating in the 35 Israeli industrial zones established in the occupied territories, according to Habbas.
These industrial zones were created with the aim of expanding settlements and reinforcing infrastructure for settlers. The companies based there enjoy broad freedom of action, free from regulatory constraints—especially in so-called "Type A" areas, which benefit from specific advantages.
The second group consists of informal networks operating without authorization, particularly in the illegal treatment of electronic waste through incineration.
According to Habbas, Israel sells this waste to subcontracting networks that carry out uncontrolled burnings in the West Bank, posing a serious threat to the environment.
These networks operate within a black market, run by traffickers protected by the Israeli army. Their activity is especially concentrated in the southern Hebron region, where electronic waste is burned in the open air, worsening the environmental crisis.
A growing danger
In 2024, Palestinian authorities located seven Israeli dumping sites in Qalqilya and intercepted 6,000 tons of Israeli waste in Salfit during four operations, according to the annual report by the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority. In addition, the settlement of Ariel discharged 120,000 tons of untreated sludge into the region.
Habbas emphasizes that Israel deliberately prevents the Palestinian Authority from developing infrastructure to manage hazardous waste. He believes that “the chaotic management of the waste issue prevents the Authority from intervening even in areas where it could organize collection and treatment.”
The Heinrich Böll Foundation revealed that in 2021, over 200 electronic waste processing workshops were installed by Israel in the village of Idhna, west of Hebron. Their activities lead to soil contamination by toxic chemicals such as mercury, which eventually pollute groundwater.
The organization adds that incinerating electronic waste pollutes crops, threatens biodiversity and food quality, and has serious repercussions on public health.
Substances like lead, mercury, and cadmium—present in batteries and electronic waste—can remain toxic in the environment for decades, affecting ecosystems, fauna, and flora.
Wastewater and sewage sludge also contaminate underground aquifers, which are the main source of drinking and irrigation water for a large portion of the Palestinian population.
Health and economic losses linked to air pollution caused by waste incineration in the West Bank are estimated at about 9.1 billion shekels for the 2023–2030 period. In 2022 alone, the health and economic cost was estimated between 880 million and 1.3 billion shekels, including agricultural losses, healthcare expenses, and environmental damage, according to the Madar Center.
As a reminder, Palestine joined the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal in 2015. It uses the legal mechanisms of the convention to denounce illegal transfers of Israeli waste onto its territory, notably by filing complaints with the Convention Secretariat.
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