Wednesday, March 28, 2007

This Situation Stinks

Families in Gaza can rightly complain about being dumped on, and the unlucky Bedouin community of Umm Naser, located just 300 meters from the border with Israel, found themselves awash in a fecal flood yesterday.

To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, America’s erstwhile Secretary of Defense, shit happens. It sure does. These villagers literally were caught without a paddle up a chest-deep brown-water creek. Rescuers gagged, and reporters witnessed angry survivors firing bullets at local politicians who came belatedly with photographers to pose beside the stinking mess. At least five people drowned, 35 were injured, and nearly 100 tin shacks were submerged in raw sewage. More bodies are expected to be retrieved, and emergency efforts to prevent further collapses on half a dozen cesspools underway. Now the fault-finding has begun in earnest.

The Palestinian Authority was forced to halt some sewage projects due to sanctions against Hamas, but the undersized treatment plant near Umm Naser was not one of these. True, the United Nations warned in 2004 that these sewage facilities were woefully inadequate and a spill was inevitable unless capacity was increased. Delays were caused by security concerns rather than equipment shortages, authorities insist. But Gaza City's mayor, Majid Abu Ramadan, said the makeshift sewage holding tank gave way on Tuesday morning because locals had dug soil away from an earthen embankment that shored it up and then hawked the dirt to building contractors for $70 a truckload. Subsequently, a sewage tsunami swept away the posessions of the dirt poor and desperate.

The aged sewage treatment plant, built by the World Bank near the frontier, stored incoming waste in seven holding basins. But the growing population now produces quadruple its capacity, so government officials stored the overflow in the nearby dunes, creating a foul lake of sewage covering nearly 110 acres. Bulldozers are reinforcing the remaining cesspools and Mekorot,Israel's national water company, is providing a couple of high-powered pumps. The choking odor drifts over the border. Smells rather like Katrina-- a predicted tragedy which ineptitude worsened.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are "dirt poor" because of the corruption of their own leadership. How much did Arrafat have hidden away in the banks? Could have fed a lot of hungry children.

And where is the rest of the Arab world when these poor 'unfortunates' are starving? Where is the aid? Where are the truckloads of food and medicine? Who is opening their doors wide and providing land to Palestinian immigrants?

Oh, wait. . .that's right. It's only the families of Suicide Bombers who get a pay-out. The rest of their 'brethren' can suck it for all they care.

The Palestinians are a violently, dangerous Welfare State. It is long past time when they should be decisively dealt with.

"Bullets not Bowel Movements"!!!!!

Anonymous said...

these guys were bedouin , not urban types, and their roving lifestyle is precluded by sealed borders. Which also is the hassle with aid--Arab and otherwise--arriving where it is needed, They don't wanna be a welfare state.

Anonymous said...

Hey fahid

How much was Arrafat worth when he took the big dirt nap?

Boo Hoo, they don't want to be a welfare state. I guess it seems like good economic sense to them to buy explosives instead of food.

Anonymous said...

The folks at SmoothStone point out that the Gazan militants have been using pipes meant for their new sewage system and diverting them to build homemade rockets. If so, it sure got them in the shitstorm with this poor Bedouin village. Here is the link for an article in the Jeru Post that got their wheels spinning:

Anonymous said...

The IDF worries about an eco-terror attack (check out http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3383665,00.html