A/HRC/25/38 Environmental pollution caused by settlements 30. Israeli settlements in the West Bank have exacerbated existing environmental concerns. In a joint study,87 official Israeli sources found that 81 out of 121 Israeli settlements are connected to waste treatment facilities. Nonetheless, 5.5 million cubic meters of raw wastewater continues to flow from settlements into the West Bank.88 Furthermore, 80 per cent of solid waste generated by settlers is dumped at dumping sites not designed as sanitary landfills, located in the West Bank.89 31. Israel transfers electronic waste (e-waste)90 from Israel and Israeli settlements to areas near Palestinian communities in the West Bank.91 For instance, many irregular e-waste workshops in Idhna, Hebron, operated by backyard recyclers, are located near water wells, resulting in toxic chemicals and toxins such as mercury leaking into the ground and contaminating the water supply. Many workshops are located in the vicinity of agricultural lands, posing a threat to the agro-biodiversity and to the quality of agricultural products. According to local physicians, there appears to be a link between e-waste and the rise in various forms of cancer affecting Palestinians.92 32. Human rights organizations have reported and warned of the impact of dumping industrial and chemical waste from industrial Israeli settlements, such as the Barqan Industrial Park and chemical factories93 in the West Bank. For example, the settlement of Ariel dumps liquid waste sewage and industrial waste into a stream and on agricultural land, rendering it contaminated and unworkable.94 Ariel’s treatment plant ceased functioning in 2008 and the settlement’s wastewater has been flowing into the Al Matwi stream and Salfit95 and then west, through agricultural land to the villages of Bruqin and Kufr al-Deek,96 passing near a domestic artesian well.97 33. As noted above (see sect. IV), Israel applies restrictive policies, laws and practices to Palestinian structures in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This also applies to 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 By the Israel Nature and Parks Authority Environment Unit, the Water and Streams Department in the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the environmental-protection staff officer in the Civil Administration. See B’Tselem, “Foul play: neglect of wastewater treatment in the West Bank” (June 2009,) available from www.btselem.org/download/200906_foul_play_eng.pdf. The majority of the 81 settlements are connected to waste water facilities which are dysfunctional, defective and/or do not meet the standards required in Israel. See B’Tselem, “Foul play” (note 87 above). Jad Isaac and Jane Hilal (2011), “Palestinian Landscape and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”, International Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol. 68, No. 4, 413-429, August 2011, p. 426. According to EU Directive 2002a, E-waste, or waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is “electrical or electronic equipment which is waste including all components, subassemblies, and consumables, which are part of the product at the time of discarding”, see United Nations Environment Programme, E-waste Vol. 1 (2007), available from www.unep.org/ietc/Portals/136/Publications/Waste%20Management/EWasteManual_Vol1.pdf Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) in cooperation with the Sunflower Association for Human and Environmental Protection, “The impacts of electronic waste disposal on the environment and public health in the occupied Palestinian territory: a case study from Idhna, Hebron Government” (2012), pp. 4-5. Ibid., pp. 9-10. Isaac and Hilal (note 89 above), pp. 426-427. Friends of the Earth International observer mission to the West Bank, “Environmental Nakba: environmental injustice and violations of the Israeli occupation of Palestine (2012), p. 11. Ibid. B’Tselem, “Foul play” (note 87 above), p. 29. Isaac and Hilal (note 89 above), pp. 413-429. 13