US embassy cable - 05TELAVIV4201

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 004201 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR NEA/RA, NEA/IPA, OES/IHA, OES/ENV, OES/STC AND 
OES/PCI 
STATE PASS USAID FOR EGAT/AG/IP AND ANE/MEA 
HHS FOR STEIGER AND PASS FOGARTY CENTER 
INTERIOR FOR USGS/INTERNATIONAL 
EPA FOR INTERNATIONAL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, EAID, EAGR, TBIO, SOCI, KHIV, PREL, KPAL, KWBG, IS, ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, GAZA DISENGAGEMENT 
SUBJECT:  GAZA NGO LEADER DESCRIBES HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT 
CHALLENGES 
 
Sensitive but unclassified - please handle accordingly. 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  According to Jamal Safi, chairman of the 
Environmental Protection and Research Institute (EPRI) and 
winner of the prestigious Zayed International Prize for the 
Environment, key health and environmental challenges for 
Gaza include blood-borne infectious diseases, lead 
poisoning, misuse of pesticides, solid waste management and 
disposal, sewage and wastewater treatment, and water 
scarcity.  Safi stressed the importance of involving NGO's 
in efforts to resolve health and environmental problems in 
Gaza.  End summary. 
 
The Environmental Protection and Research Institute 
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--- 
2. (U) EPRI was established in 1989 and registered 
officially in 1991 as a nonprofit nongovernmental 
organization and an independent institute in the Gaza Strip. 
The institute was founded by a group of Palestinian 
scientists dedicated to protection of the environment and 
the public interest through applied research and public 
awareness efforts.  EPRI is focused on research and 
development in public health, environment, and agriculture 
and the promotion of environmental planning, effective 
management strategies, awareness, education, public and 
expert information, monitoring, and pollution control.  EPRI 
has carried out joint research with outstanding U.S., 
European, Israeli, Egyptian, and Jordanian academic 
institutions.  It is a repeat grant recipient under the 
USAID Middle East Regional Cooperation Program (MERC). 
EPRI's 30-member consulting committee includes experts in 
agriculture, public health, environmental health, public 
awareness, education, management, pesticide chemistry and 
toxicology, neurotoxicology, pharmacology, microbiology, 
biochemistry, physiology, organic chemistry and medical 
technology. 
 
Health Risks in Gaza:  Infectious Diseases, Lead Poisoning 
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----------- 
3. (SBU) Dr. Safi discussed Gaza health and environmental 
challenges with ESTH Officer over lunch in Tel Aviv June 23. 
The most serious infectious diseases are blood-borne, 
including Hepatitis B and C.  Hepatitis B infected six 
percent of blood donors in 1994-95.  That rate is now down 
to three percent due to efforts by EPRI.  The Hepatitis C 
infection rate has dropped from 2.6 to less than 0.5 percent 
over the same period.  EPRI trained Ministry of Health staff 
in analysis of Hepatitis, provided presentations and 
lectures to doctors and blood technicians, and carried out 
community education and outreach to stem the spread of these 
diseases by discouraging at-risk behaviors.  EPRI and others 
also focused on clans and extended families where infection 
rates were sometimes as high as 50-60 percent.  Safi said 
that had been no new AIDS cases since 1993 in Gaza; all 
those infected with AIDS before that time had died. 
 
3. (SBU) Major sources of lead exposure in Gaza include 
smelters, battery factories (manufacturing and recycling), 
radiator repair shops, used lead-based paints, leaded 
gasoline, and flour from stone mills.  Point exposures 
include occupational and industrial settings, and use of a 
particular input to cosmetics.  EPRI has carried out a pilot 
study on lead poisoning among children, together with the 
CDC and Hebrew University.  They discovered a 17.2 percent 
rate of lead poisoning among children in "hot spot," areas 
with high concentrations of lead.  The overall rate was 
approximately five percent.  Children of lead-exposed 
workers are also at high risk for lead poisoning.  The 
Ministry of Health does not carry out any lead poisoning 
analysis, Safi said.  EPRI and Ben Gurion University are 
preparing a full MERC proposal to examine hot spot risks. 
 
Health Risks from Use of Pesticides 
------------------------------------------- 
4. (SBU) Safi said that Gazans faced heath risks due to the 
over- and misuse of pesticides.  This situation exists both 
in the Palestinian areas of Gaza and in the Israeli 
settlements, in the latter due to intensive agriculture in 
particular.  EPRI had detected levels in fruits and 
vegetables exceeding international standards.  Monitoring of 
pesticide levels in both water and soil was sorely needed. 
There appeared to be a correlation between pesticide levels 
and growing incidences of cancers in a 1990-99 study of over 
5,000 cases.  EPRI and Israel's Agricultural Research Office 
are preparing a MERC proposal to monitor pesticide residue 
levels in soils in Israel and Gaza.  Safi noted that the 
ability to control pesticide levels will affect Gaza's 
ability to export produce. 
Environmental Problems 
------------------------------ 
5. (SBU) Safi said that solid waste disposal was a major 
problem in Gaza due to a lack of sanitary landfill capacity 
and the absence of a plan for managing solid waste.  Gazans 
produce about 1,000 tons of new solid waste every day, he 
said.  He favored construction of a major incinerator at a 
cost of USD 10-20 as the best solution because burning off 
solid waste would produce electricity and there was not 
enough land in overpopulated Gaza to dispose of the waste 
indefinitely.  As a second-best option, he favored recycling 
and composting.  Safi noted that Gaza had lots of flies due 
to solid waste and mosquitoes because of untreated and 
uncontained sewage. 
 
6. (SBU) Safi stated that there is not enough sewage 
treatment capacity in Gaza, especially in Khan Yunis.  There 
are three large-scale collecting pools, not enough to meet 
the needs of the population.  Sewage not held in those pools 
typically flows into the sea or collects on the ground.  He 
estimated that USD 200 million is needed to resolve Gaza's 
sewage problem, above and beyond assistance projects already 
on the drawing board.  The sewage problem adds to levels of 
heavy metals, nitrates and pesticides in soils and ground 
water. 
 
Water:  High Salinity, Contamination, Shortage 
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7. (SBU) Safi said that Gaza faced a water deficit of 40-60 
million cubic meters (MCM) per year.  (Note:  Most experts 
accept the figure of 60 MCM.  End note).  The WHO standard 
for nitrates in water is 45 parts per million (PPM), but 
some producing wells in Gaza have concentrations as high as 
100 PPM.  Other wells have concentrations of chlorides as 
high as 1,000 PPM, Safi said.  Some wells used for drinking 
water even exceed the contamination standards for 
agricultural use.  Producing wells requiring treatment to 
make them suitable for use are not getting it.  Safi stated 
that Gaza was suffering from an inability to exercise 
Palestinian rights to water from aquifers shared with 
Israel.  He said that Israel proper and Israeli settlements 
in the Palestinian territories receive about 500 MCM from 
the shared aquifers, while Palestinians in the West Bank and 
Gaza receive only 150 MCM.  In particular, he said that 
Israeli dams along the Wadi Gaza, which flows from Israel 
into the Gaza Strip, were capturing up to 20 MCM that had 
reached Gaza in the past.  He also said that Israel "was 
overpumping from wells near the border with Gaza to make the 
Negev green," depriving the coastal aquifer under Gaza of 
those supplies.  (Comment:  Israeli and Palestinian sources 
differ on the extent each uses shared aquifers and Israeli 
capture of runoff that could benefit Gaza.  The estimate of 
20 MCM of previous supplies from the Wadi Gaza is probably 
high.  MFA Water Issues Director has promised ESTH Officer a 
briefing July 11 on Israeli data and perspectives on shared 
aquifers and watersheds; regardless of the accuracy of 
Safi's estimates, the scarcity of high-quality affordable 
water in Gaza is clearly a health, environment and economic 
issue.  End comment). 
 
Role of NGO's in Resolving Environment-related Problems in 
Gaza 
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---------------------- 
8. (SBU) ESTH Officer and Safi touched briefly on the 
pending resumption of meetings of the Israeli-Palestinian 
Joint Environmental Experts Committee, suspended since the 
beginning of the recent Intifada.  Underlining his 
institute's success in addressing health problems and its 
ability to work effectively with outside parties, including 
Israeli institutions, Safi said that the international 
community should look to NGO's in Gaza and the West Bank as 
an important avenue for addressing problems related to the 
environment.  He said not only could NGO's assist greatly 
with the areas of environment, public health and agriculture 
that are the focus of his institute, but that problems in 
those areas should be addressed through regional cooperation 
as well. 
 
9. (SBU) Bio Note:  Jamal Safi was born in the Jabalia 
Refugee Camp in Gaza in 1957.  He has a PhD in Chemistry and 
Toxicology of Pesticides from the Faculty of Agriculture of 
Alexandria University.  Safi has managed to work effectively 
with a range of international partners, including Israelis 
and Americans, despite political turmoil in Gaza.  He stated 
that he got Chairman Arafat to instruct the Health Ministry 
to work with EPRI to control Hepatitis, and that he had a 
personal connection with PA President Abbas as well.  Safi 
won the Zayed International Prize for the Environment in 
2003 for environmental action leading to change in society. 
 
KURTZER