Cancer prevail among Palestinians as a result of Israeli waste dumping

In statements today to Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper, Yousef Abu Safiya, the Palestinian minister for environmental affairs, stated that the Palestinian Ministry of Environmental Affairs, despite of its recent assumption of its duties, works to establish the systems and plans for protecting the environment in the Palestinian areas, especially as the Israeli occupation mostly destroyed the infrastructure and the continuation of Israeli domination over the greatest part of the Palestinian areas.

He said the ministry faces great difficulties in implementing the strategy for protecting natural resources.

Moreover, the Palestinian minister said, "The existence of the settlements and the continuation of their construction causes serious problems where these settlements deposit their solid, liquid and toxic wastes in illegal ways in residential areas, which lead to the deterioration of health conditions as a result of the presence of deadly chemicals in these wastes that affect the water resources."