Between 1st – 7th May, 2016, Arab Group for the Protection of Nature (APN) and Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific (PANAP) undertook a joint documentation mission in the Occupied West Bank and the Naqab region of historic Palestine inside the Green Line to better understand the human rights implications of the illegal production, trade, and dumping of pesticides, the dumping of industrial and domestic waste by Israeli settlers, and the culpability of state as well as corporate actors.
The focus of the mission was on the impacts of these practices on health, environment, and agriculture of Palestinians. Representing APN throughout the mission was Advocacy Officer Heather Elaydi, who was joined by PANAP representatives Tanya Roberts-Davis and Dr. Meriel Watts. The mission was organized with the help and expertise of the Palestine Environment Quality Authority, Ministries of Agriculture and Environment, Palestinian Farmers’ Union, Bayader Association, and Palestinian Voluntary Work Committee.
As a result of the mission, five allegations against the state of Israel and actors operating within Israel in need of immediate international attention were brought to several UN Special Rapporteurs on time for their June meeting in Geneva.
Through site visits and meetings, the delegation had the opportunity to speak with government officials, union leaders, workers, farmers, pastoralists, medical personnel, educators and students in Hebron, Qalqilya, Salfit, Tubas, Jericho and Tulkarem Governorates. By bringing greater international scrutiny to the human rights violations and environmental harm imposed on Palestinian communities caused by the illegal production, dumping and trade of pesticides and the dumping of industrial and domestic waste by Israeli settlers, it is the intention of APN and PANAP to seek opportunities for challenging the current untenable situation with international pressure in ways that can complement the commendable responses to these issues that Palestinian civil society and government actors are already taking.
Some of the key findings of the mission included:
1. Denial of rights to access critical information
2. Denial of rights to critical water sources
3. Denial of rights to the highest attainable standard of health
4. Denial of rights to self-determination and sovereign decision making
5. Corporations, including those headquartered abroad, are complicit in these violations 