CAIRO,
April 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – An
international human rights watchdog accused Israel of failing to
investigate the deliberate poisoning of Palestinian farmlands and
livestock by Jewish settlers and the increasingly frequent attacks on
the Palestinian villages in the West Bank.
London-based
Amnesty International (AI) said Monday, April 25, that toxic chemicals
have been repeatedly spread by Jewish settlers in the Palestinian
fields in Hebron, contaminating Palestinian fields and killing
Palestinian sheep, gazelle and other animals, according to the report
on its Web site.
“In
recent weeks, toxic chemicals have repeatedly been spread on fields
located near the villages of Tuwani, Umm Faggara and Kharruba in the
southern Hebron region,” the human rights group said on its Web
site.
“Scores
of sheep as well as gazelles and other animals have been contaminated
by the toxins and several have died.”
“Palestinian
farmers have been forced to quarantine their flocks and stop using the
milk, cheese and meat from them, effectively depriving them of their
livelihood. Since the first poison was discovered near Tuwani on 22
March 2005, more fields have been targeted in the same region.”
Tests
carried out by the Center for Environmental and Occupational Health
Sciences at Bir Zeit University and by the Israeli Nature Protection
Authority revealed that two types of toxic chemicals have been spread
in large quantities in the area, according to AI’s report.
The
toxic chemicals are 2-Fluoracetamide, which is banned in several
countries including Israel and severely restricted in international
trade, and Brodifacoum, an anticoagulant used as rodenticide, it
added.
Deliberate
Attacks
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“These
poisoning incidents appear to be part of a deliberate attack on
the livelihood of Palestinian farmers in the West Bank,” said
Allen.
|
Days
before the first field poisoning incident in Tuwani late March,
Palestinian farmers were told by a security guard from the nearby
Israeli settlement Ma’on to stop grazing their flocks near the
settlement or they would be forced to do so.
On
12 April, one of these toxin chemicals was also found in the Northern
West Bank village of Yasouf, in a field located near the entrance to
the Israeli settlement Tapuah.
The
areas where toxic chemicals have been found are located in Area C,
which is under full control of the Israeli authorities while
Palestinian Authority security forces are forbidden by Israel from
operating in these areas.
“These
poisoning incidents appear to be part of a deliberate attack on the
livelihood of Palestinian farmers in the West Bank,” said Kate Allen
of Amnesty International UK, according to the BBC News Online.
Mohammed
Qanam, head of the Palestinian agriculture ministry in Al-Khalil,
earlier said 82 cattle had been poisoned, 20 of which had died after
eating poisoned fodder in pastures in the southern West Bank.
Up
till now, the Israeli authorities have taken no measures to clean the
toxic chemicals from the affected areas, leaving the task to
Palestinian farmers and international and Israeli peace activists.
“They
also have not taken the necessary measures to investigate the matter
with a view to bringing those responsible to justice,” the human
rights watchdog said.
Contacted
by Agence France Presse (AFP) for a response, West Bank police
spokesman Shlomi Sagi confirmed that despite a month-long
investigation into the initial instance of poisoning, no arrests had
yet been made.
“The
investigation is ongoing and we are gathering intelligence,” he
said.
Recently
Israeli settlers have stepped up attacks and threats against
Palestinian farmers and villagers in these and other West Bank areas,
preventing Palestinians from accessing their land.
Repeated
physical assaults by Israeli settlers from Ma’on and the nearby
settlement outpost of Havat Ma’on on Palestinian farmers and on
international peace activists and human rights workers, including
Amnesty International staff, have not been investigated by the Israeli
police.
