In a report just published, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) gives Israel's August 2005 Gaza pullout an "environmental clean bill of health".
"The environmental impact of the former Israeli settlements in the Gaza strip was limited and should not constrain Palestinian land-use plans," it said.
"Other than some localised pollution and issues associated with asbestos, the assessment did not find contamination of water, land or buildings that poses a significant risk to the environment or public health."
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"Other than some localised pollution and issues associated with asbestos, the assessment did not find contamination of water, land or buildings that poses a significant risk to the environment or public health"
UNEP report in March 2006 |
The UN organisation also noted the presence of household and agricultural waste in dumpsites, adding that most of the soil pollution was at the Erez industrial estate in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army destroyed the vast majority of the buildings it evacuated from the Gaza Strip in September last year.
The more than 1.2 million tonnes of rubble left as a result of the pullout has yet to be cleared or recycled.
The responsibility of clearing it lies with the government of Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the Middle East quartet of the UN, the US, the EU and Russia.
Amjad al-Shawa, who heads the Palestinian NGO Network, a consortium of Palestinian NGOs in the Gaza Strip, disagreed with the UN's findings.
Rubble not cleared
"The rubble has not been removed more than six months after the Israeli pullout and this is causing some serious environmental problems," he told Aljazeera.net.
"We fear that the asbestos could pollute the Gaza aquifer (underground source of water)."
Khamess Mahlwi from the Palestinian environment ministry also expressed concern. "Though asbestos was not used in water pipes but only in buildings, the fibres lying around could easily penetrate the ground and hence the aquifer," he said.