How greed, hatred and corruption engulfed a Palestinian...

Radiate_Truth · How greed, hatred and corruption engulfed a Palestinian...

How greed, hatred and corruption engulfed a Palestinian village in sewage
By Reuven Koret March 30, 2007

Umm Nasser sewage spill

The Passover story tells of Pharaoh's pursuing chariots engulfed in the sea, but the Palestinian village of Umm Nasser, the site of regular rocket launchings against Israel, earlier this week had an even more ignominious fate: drowning in its own accumulated excrement.

"Cesspool of corruption" took on a whole new meaning for the northern Gaza village. The whole incident took on the attributes of a metaphor for what Gaza has become under the Palestinian Authority, and a sign of how the situation may continue to deteriorate if the PA is allowed to continue in power.

The Palestinians were quick to accuse the Israelis, as usual, for the flood of putrid excrement that engulfed a Gaza village, killing five, including two babies. As noted in our original story Palestinian Environment Minister, Dr. Yousef Safia, blamed Israel for the flooding, claiming that Israel had threatened to bomb construction on a modern sewage system if they began working on the project.

But even the locals eventually had to admit that the cause of the levee collapse was the theft by locals of sands from the containing embankment. And metal Israel provided for upgrading the sewage system was used instead to create rockets to fire into Israel.

The worst may lie ahead, since the underlying problems are not being addresses. Further deadly sewage floods are feared. The collapse has been blamed on residents stealing sand from an embankment. Funds and intended for improving infrastructure were diverted for making weapons to attack Israel.

Aid officials say construction of a modern sewage treatment plant has been held up by constant Israeli-Palestinian fighting. The meaning of this constant fighting? "Umm Nasser is about 300 metres from the border with Israel, in an area where Palestinians have frequently launched rockets into Israel and Israeli artillery and aircraft have fired back. The situation worsened after Hamas-linked militants captured an Israeli soldier last June in a cross-border raid, and Israel responded by invading northern Gaza."

The Gaza City mayor blamed the collapse on local people digging dirt from an earthen embankment around the structure and selling it to building contractors, the AP reported.

The existing plant in northern Gaza -- located just a few hundred metres from the frontier with Israel -- stored incoming waste in seven holding basins. But with the burgeoning population producing nearly four times as much waste as the plant could treat, local officials were forced to store the overflow in the nearby dunes, creating a lake of sewage covering nearly 45 hectares, according to the United Nations.

The embankment around one of the seven holding basins, weakened by the theft, collapsed, sending a wall of sewage cascading into the neighbouring village of Umm Naser.

The wave killed two women in their 70s, two toddlers and a teenage girl. It injured 35 others, hospital officials said. More than 200 homes were destroyed, health officials said.

"This is a human tragedy," said Public Works Minister Sameeh al-Abed.

Rescue crews and gunmen from the militant Hamas group rushed to search for people feared buried under the sewage and mud. Most residents fled or were evacuated.

Rescuers in wetsuits paddled boats through the layer of brown foam floating on the green-brown rivers of waste. Others waded up to their hips into the sewage.

Angry residents drove reporters out of the area and mobbed government officials. When Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh arrived to survey the damage, his bodyguards had to fire in the air to disperse the crowd, according to the AP report.

In one house, everything from the television to the sink was covered in muck. The town was filled with the smell of human waste and dead animals.

"We lost everything. Everything was covered by the flood. It's a disaster," said Amina Afif, 65, whose small shack was destroyed.

The collapse will force officials to divert the waste into the other six basins, increasing the danger to those basins as well. Another collapse could send sewage flooding into nearby Beit Lahiya, a far larger town, local officials said.

Fadel Kawash, head of the Palestinian Water Authority, said the sewage level had risen in recent days, creeping up the earthen embankments.

Gaza City Mayor Majid Abu Ramadan, who leads a council of Gaza municipalities, blamed the collapse on endemic lawlessness. He accused local residents of stealing the dirt and selling it to building companies for 300 shekels ($70) a truckload.

The Jerusalem Post reported earlier this month that metal provided by Israel had been used in the construction of those terrorist rockets. And why was Israel selling the Palestinians metal? "For the construction of a sewage system in Gaza."

Israel tries to help Palestinians built a sewage system and the Palestinians divert the money and metal to create rockets to attack Israel. Palestinians then sell the sand from an embankment holding back a cesspool, and one fine day are engulfed in their own excrement.

The story may not have the biblical proportions of Pharaoh and his chariots, but it would be difficult for a creative writer to construct a more fitting illustration of tragic justice.

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