Can We Talk about Palestine? Environmental and Climate Justice

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Jan 23, 2024 Palestine
Carlos Latuff and the caption is just "Free Palestine," 2005 Carlos Latuff and the caption is just "Free Palestine," 2005

Can We Talk about Palestine? Environmental and Climate Justice

By : David N. Pellow

[This article is part of a roundtable that is a product of a public forum that Academics for Justice in Palestine (AJP) at UCSB held on 8 December 2023. To see all other entries in this roundtable, click here.]

My name is David Naguib Pellow and I am a proud member of Academics for Justice in Palestine. I’m not an expert on Palestine-Israel. I am an environmental justice scholar, so I will use this opportunity to offer an environmental justice framing of this struggle. 

Environmental injustice is the term we use to describe the fact that politically, economically and socially marginalized peoples tend to also face disproportionate environmental and climate threats from institutions like governments and corporations. Indigenous Potawatomi scholar Kyle Powys Whyte powerfully connects this idea to settler colonialism, which he defines as the occupation and control of land, water, aerial space and people by an invading population. Therefore, settler colonialism is an example of environmental injustice and racism because it undermines the ecological conditions required for Indigenous peoples to exercise their cultures, economies, and political self-determination. Therefore, just as the founding of the U.S. was an example of environmental injustice and environmental racism, so too was the founding of the state of Israel and the ongoing Nakba. 

Water


Can we talk about Palestine and water? Following Israel’s occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza after the war in 1967, that state took complete control of Palestinians’ water resources and infrastructure. Issa Nijoum, a former citrus farmer from Al-Auja [ujah] recalled “..when they [the Israeli authorities] started taking the water it was like a sickness in a body… slowly the land dried up” (Movement Generation).

Even available sources of water are not always clean. Far from it. In fact, fully 97% of the water that Palestinians in Gaza have been consuming for decades is unfit for human consumption, by WHO standards (Ibrahim).Israel also directly targets water infrastructure for destruction. Water wells and wastewater infrastructure, rainwater cisterns, irrigation systems, and water networks have been destroyed repeatedly by Israeli military forces, in a blatant violation of Protocol I of the Geneva Convention (Dajani).According to the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON), Israeli settlers use Palestinian land as a dumping ground for 90% of Israel’s waste water (Movement Generation). And the longstanding Israeli blockade of Gaza severely limits the entry of materials needed to develop and repair water and sanitation infrastructure, which has led to the inability to maintain the sewage treatment plant, resulting in further water contamination and sickness. 

The state of Israel enacted Military Order 158 a mere four months into the occupation, prohibiting Palestinians from constructing any new water infrastructure if the Israeli army had not first provided a permit (Moussa). Israel controls 80% of water reserves in the occupied West Bank today and makes it virtually impossible to obtain the permits required to build new water installations. This all amounts to what some Palestinians call a “water occupation”—the colonization of native water (Moussa).

Another brutal dimension of this story is that Israel has banned Palestinians from collecting rainwater and even prohibits the possession of rainwater harvesting cisterns. Israeli authorities deem rainwater “a state property”, an extraordinary policy that reflects Kyle Powys Whyte’s definition of settler colonialism, which includes colonizers controlling not only land and water, but also aerial space. The result is totally predictable: about one-quarter of diseases spread in Gaza are caused by water pollution, about 50 percent of Gaza’s children suffer from water-related infections, and 12 percent of the deaths of young children are linked to intestinal infections related to contaminated water (Ibrahim).

Waste and Pollution


Can we talk about Palestine, waste and pollution? The occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 opened up opportunities for environmentally destructive Israeli industries, and many of the most highly polluting companies moved to the West Bank and were provided with tax incentives to do so (United Nations). They were literally paid to poison Palestinians. Israel has been dumping waste, including hazardous and toxic waste, in the West Bank for years. The Palestinian Environmental Authority once uncovered 500 barrels of insecticide dumped in Hebron in the southern West Bank (Frykberg). Israel’s illegal settlements regularly dump garbage and discharge wastewater into West Bank rivers and streams, which includes pesticides, asbestos, and electronic waste, which contain carcinogenic and hazardous compounds.

Land and Forests


Can we talk about Palestine, land and trees? At the dawn of the state of Israel’s birth in May 1948, native trees (such as oaks, carobs, and hawthorns) and agricultural crops (olives, figs, and almonds) were systematically uprooted and replaced with European pine trees (Masalha). These planted pines reduced biodiversity and harmed the local environment because pines shed needles that are acidic and prevent the growth of underbrush plants and these trees are also highly susceptible to fire because of their resins (Qumsiyeh and Abusarhan). Meanwhile, since 1967, some 800,000 olive trees have been uprooted by the Israeli state, threatening the livelihoods of thousands of Palestinian families (Chelala). 

The Jewish National Fund is an organization established in 1901 to develop land for Jewish settlement in what was then Ottoman Palestine, and to this day the Fund refuses to sell land to non-Jews. It is now the region’s largest private landholder and is best known for its campaigns to rehabilitate “degraded” forests and plant new ones. At least 46 Jewish National Fund forests are located on the ruins of former Palestinian villages that were depopulated during the founding of Israel (Masalha). Many of these forests are also located on sites where mosques once stood (Davis). Over 180 Palestinian villages that were destroyed in 1948 are now Israeli recreational sites or national parks where the state celebrates its alleged commitment to “environmentalism” while concealing the fact of the Nakba. This is an example of what some scholars call “coercive conservation” or “settler environmentalism” in which Indigenous peoples are expelled to make way for settlers who can enjoy nature without having to think about the inconvenient truth of the violence that made that experience possible. That’s also the story behind the national parks in this country.

Resistance and Hope


Can we talk about Palestine, resistance and hope? Every poet, author, musician, dancer and artist throughout the Palestinian Diaspora is producing texts, words, music, imagery, and movement that are the heartbeat of this beautiful revolution.

In the West Bank and Gaza, the Union of Agricultural Works Committee is a Palestinian small-scale farmer movement that represents more than 20,000 people doing important work with seed banking and reclaiming thousands of hectares of land to empower Palestinian farmers. 

Organizations like the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (PIBS) work to reconnect Palestinian youth with the land, building food sovereignty, water reclamation projects, sustainable architecture, and aquaponics to create resilience in the face of climate change. 

And speaking of climate change, considering that the overwhelming majority of energy used by the state of Israel comes from fossil fuels (Kaminer, Fahoum, and Konrad); considering that barely a third of the Israeli population views climate change as a serious concern (Haaretz); and considering that war and militarization are the single most ecologically destructive activities that humans can engage in, Palestinian resistance against the occupation is a critical component of the global movement for environmental and climate justice. 

I close with the words of anti-Zionist Jewish scholar-activist, Uri Davis, who writes:

“It is possible to bulldoze a Palestinian village to the ground and cover the ruins with a J[ewish] N[ational] F[und] forest. It is not possible to eradicate the native Palestinian village cactus, the sabr [subrah]…Tear the sabr down, and it will always re-emerge” (Davis). 

So you and I, we all must become the sabr today, tomorrow and for future generations. They may tear us down, but we will always re-emerge to peacefully and lovingly move forward our joint struggle toward collective liberation for all, which most definitely must include Palestinians and Israelis—who will only know freedom and security when this bloody occupation is finally brought to an end. So I say with love in my heart, Free Palestine, Free Palestine, Free Palestine!
Aug 30, 2017 Lebanon
Tadween Editors By :
Tadween Editors

Education in the Time of Virality

Widespread access to the internet has facilitated means of acquiring news and information at rates unseen in earlier eras. As individuals, we have the ability to post and spread political information, social commentary, and other thoughts at will. This has caused an information overload for users of social networking sites. In a fight for views, reposts, and clicks, creators, both corporate and not, have been forced to develop new tactics to inform their audiences. This response to a new mode of information consumption also forces a reconsideration of how we understand knowledge production. Much of the information put forth into the world is absorbed passively, such as through characters’ storylines in books, films, and television - and this information accumulates over a lifetime. What, then, happens when knowledge is actively consumed (as is done when reading, watching, or listening to news stories), but the manner through which the information is presented still conforms to the brevity generally associated with more passive knowledge intake?

Pew Research estimates that over 70% of Americans use their phone to read the news. This is nearly a 25% increase since 2013. The constant barrage of advertisements in online articles does not make consuming news easy to do on a phone, thereby forcing media outlets and their competitors to change and adopt new tactics. Applications such as Flipboard have tried to mitigate these frustrations by simply providing the full article without the ads on their own platform, but many people still turn to sources like The Skimm. In attempting to distill a day’s worth of news coverage on domestic affairs, foreign affairs, pop culture, and sports into a few quips, undeniably both texture and nuance are lost. To compete with these services, CNN, the New York Times, and other mainstream news sources are doing the same and producing articles that give the, “Top 5 News Moments to Start Your Day,” or a, “Daily Brief.” Of course, looking at the language differences between the New York Times daily summary versus The Skimm’s, one can tell which is a more comprehensive news source. Even so, slashing the word count still takes a toll on clearly informing the public. The question then becomes, after quickly skimming through these summaries, are people doing more readings to cover what was lost? Or has “the brief” become the new standard for knowledge production and awareness?

It is more than likely that a significant portion of The Skimm’s subscribers do go on to read the full article linked in the email, but the growing popularity of similarly quick and fast news sources has had an impact on how much information viewers and readers actually understand. Between 2011 and 2014, The Skimm was founded, along with AJ+, Now This, Upworthy, and BuzzFeed News’ more serious journalism section. Undeniably, all of these sources produce and publish very important information, and make this information accessible to a larger audience. However, their production and marketing strategies hinge upon condensing very nuanced topics into videos that are, on average, only seven minutes long, as well as optimizing their materials for social media audiences. Now, it is ridiculous to expect highly textured and complicated issues to be thoroughly represented in these videos or posts. Even research based texts do not touch upon all of the complexities of a topic. The problems arise when looking at how viewers perceive themselves and their level of knowledge after actively searching out the products of, for example, AJ+ and Buzzfeed, for information. Carefully refining their materials to fit the shortened attention span of people scrolling through Facebook, social media news organizations have found their niche audience. Their products provide a simple way to deliver information to those who want gather knowledge on the “hot topics of today,” but do not what to do the leg work to be truly informed. These videos are spread throughout Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms in a manner that says, “Watch this, and you will know what is going on in the world.”

Understanding how information is being pushed out into the world is almost as important as the content of the information. None of these outlets claim to provide comprehensive knowledge, but in being popular sites for information, the question becomes: do they have a responsibility to encourage their viewers to continue to inform themselves about these issues? Having a well-informed society is phenomenal, but if in informing society we are also forever altering how we consume knowledge to favor brevity over nuance, what consequences could come with this change? We must ensure that the consumption of these videos does not become a license for people to see themselves as truly informed and thus appropriate for them to take the microphones at protests and speak over those who have a solid and textured understanding of the issues. Information content is incredibly important, as is spreading knowledge, and AJ+, Now This, and the like have become important role models in showing how issues should be accessible to everyone and not clouted in jargon. But we must simultaneously consider the unintended side effects that these styles of videos have on knowledge production. Ultimately, it is a mutual effort. Just as producers must be watchful of their content and method of dissemination, we as consumers must be mindful of how we digest and understand the news we take in.


[This article was published originally Tadween`s Al-Diwan blog by Diwan`s editor, Mekarem Eljamal.]
Aug 30, 2017 Lebanon
Tadween Editors By :
Tadween Editors

Education in the Time of Virality

Widespread access to the internet has facilitated means of acquiring news and information at rates unseen in earlier eras. As individuals, we have the ability to post and spread political information, social commentary, and other thoughts at will. This has caused an information overload for users of social networking sites. In a fight for views, reposts, and clicks, creators, both corporate and not, have been forced to develop new tactics to inform their audiences. This response to a new mode of information consumption also forces a reconsideration of how we understand knowledge production. Much of the information put forth into the world is absorbed passively, such as through characters’ storylines in books, films, and television - and this information accumulates over a lifetime. What, then, happens when knowledge is actively consumed (as is done when reading, watching, or listening to news stories), but the manner through which the information is presented still conforms to the brevity generally associated with more passive knowledge intake?

Pew Research estimates that over 70% of Americans use their phone to read the news. This is nearly a 25% increase since 2013. The constant barrage of advertisements in online articles does not make consuming news easy to do on a phone, thereby forcing media outlets and their competitors to change and adopt new tactics. Applications such as Flipboard have tried to mitigate these frustrations by simply providing the full article without the ads on their own platform, but many people still turn to sources like The Skimm. In attempting to distill a day’s worth of news coverage on domestic affairs, foreign affairs, pop culture, and sports into a few quips, undeniably both texture and nuance are lost. To compete with these services, CNN, the New York Times, and other mainstream news sources are doing the same and producing articles that give the, “Top 5 News Moments to Start Your Day,” or a, “Daily Brief.” Of course, looking at the language differences between the New York Times daily summary versus The Skimm’s, one can tell which is a more comprehensive news source. Even so, slashing the word count still takes a toll on clearly informing the public. The question then becomes, after quickly skimming through these summaries, are people doing more readings to cover what was lost? Or has “the brief” become the new standard for knowledge production and awareness?

It is more than likely that a significant portion of The Skimm’s subscribers do go on to read the full article linked in the email, but the growing popularity of similarly quick and fast news sources has had an impact on how much information viewers and readers actually understand. Between 2011 and 2014, The Skimm was founded, along with AJ+, Now This, Upworthy, and BuzzFeed News’ more serious journalism section. Undeniably, all of these sources produce and publish very important information, and make this information accessible to a larger audience. However, their production and marketing strategies hinge upon condensing very nuanced topics into videos that are, on average, only seven minutes long, as well as optimizing their materials for social media audiences. Now, it is ridiculous to expect highly textured and complicated issues to be thoroughly represented in these videos or posts. Even research based texts do not touch upon all of the complexities of a topic. The problems arise when looking at how viewers perceive themselves and their level of knowledge after actively searching out the products of, for example, AJ+ and Buzzfeed, for information. Carefully refining their materials to fit the shortened attention span of people scrolling through Facebook, social media news organizations have found their niche audience. Their products provide a simple way to deliver information to those who want gather knowledge on the “hot topics of today,” but do not what to do the leg work to be truly informed. These videos are spread throughout Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms in a manner that says, “Watch this, and you will know what is going on in the world.”

Understanding how information is being pushed out into the world is almost as important as the content of the information. None of these outlets claim to provide comprehensive knowledge, but in being popular sites for information, the question becomes: do they have a responsibility to encourage their viewers to continue to inform themselves about these issues? Having a well-informed society is phenomenal, but if in informing society we are also forever altering how we consume knowledge to favor brevity over nuance, what consequences could come with this change? We must ensure that the consumption of these videos does not become a license for people to see themselves as truly informed and thus appropriate for them to take the microphones at protests and speak over those who have a solid and textured understanding of the issues. Information content is incredibly important, as is spreading knowledge, and AJ+, Now This, and the like have become important role models in showing how issues should be accessible to everyone and not clouted in jargon. But we must simultaneously consider the unintended side effects that these styles of videos have on knowledge production. Ultimately, it is a mutual effort. Just as producers must be watchful of their content and method of dissemination, we as consumers must be mindful of how we digest and understand the news we take in.


[This article was published originally Tadween`s Al-Diwan blog by Diwan`s editor, Mekarem Eljamal.]