The story that follows came to our attention during the 2011 Being Peace retreat in Israel and Palestine. We were asked by people from the village of Deir Istya to help a farmer harvest his olives. His trees were very close to the an outpost of the settlement of Revava in the West Bank, and the army had not given him enough days to finish the work alone. We were happy to help. When we got there we could see that for many months the raw sewage from the settlement had been dumped a few terraces above his land and was seeping into his terraces.
This seems something impossible to imagine, so we want to share some pictures and words.
Harvesting trees surrounded by raw sewage.
A dead tree and dead bird,
probably a result of the raw sewage
seeping through the land.
A truck arrives to dump
the sewage
into the valley.
Settlement houses, and
tyre tracks filled
with sewage water.
Some days later a friend called the appropriate authorities to report the situation.
At 11am our friend phoned the regional council to report that sewage was spilling out of the settlement of Revava. And received a text message immediately to say they had received her alert.
She also called the Secretary of the Revava Settlement and an hour later he phoned back;
Friend: I was in the area and I saw that sewage was in the valley and I wanted to alert you.
Secretary: Who are you? Who do you work for? Where are you from?
Friend: I'm (...) from (...), {our friend gave their name but I'm leaving it out for now} but why are you being aggressive? I'm not being aggressive to you, I'm phoning because I'm concerned about a situation, that I feel you too should be concerned about. The fact that there is sewage spilling from your village is a health hazard and environmental concern.
Secretary: Yes I know and I want this problem solved.
Friend: Whose responsibility is it to fix it?
Secretary: It's the regional council's.
Friend: Do they know about it? And what are they doing about it?
Secretary: Who are you? What were you doing in the area?
Friend: I was just there, I'm just an individual. I was there in the valley, why are you being aggressive?
Secretary: I think you're not saying the truth about who you are, that you have a hidden agenda. It is not plausible that you would be just taking a walk.
Friend: I don't have a hidden agenda, I saw the sewage and I was concerned and I thought you would want to know. Do you not take a walk around the area?
Secretary: That's enough I'm ending this conversation now.
Friend: Why? What are you worried about?
The secretary hung up.
At 3pm the regional council phoned our friend to say they were aware of the problem and it was being dealt with.
When our friend asked;
"What is actually being done?" and "How long have you known about it?"
They replied that the person dealing with it isn't here.
There is no conclusion. This is not yet resolved if or when it is we will update this page. This is not an isolated story. This is a story of occupation; lack of consideration and care for your neighbours. We have been told a large part of the settlement is built on land taken from Palestinian villagers without compensation, and perhaps all of it is. The settlement continues to grow, taking land from the Palestinian farmers.
Illegal by international law, illegal as recognised by the Supreme court in Israel, but legal according to the right wing government of Israel.
May all beings live with health, peace and respect,
Nathan
UPDATE:
Thankfully the sewage no longer drains into the valley directly. A pipe has been installed over Palestinian farm land destroying many olive trees in it's path. Some believe that the pipe will be used as a further excuse to allow the ignorant expansion of the settlement over privately owned land of the surrounding Palestinian villages.