Cross Posted from Times of Israel
Settlers and Palestinians posed a united front against a government plan to build a large refuse dump near Jericho that, they say, will pollute millions of cubic meters of spring water every year.
Residents of the Palestinian villages of Ramon and Nuima, along with Bedouin from the Khavanah tribe and Jewish settlers from Michmash and Rimonim, signed a petition titled “Peace with the Environment” to protest the scheme, Maariv reported on Tuesday.
Backed by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the Benyamin Regional Council, and the Union of Shomron Region Cities, the petition opposes establishing a new dump to serve the large Palestinian cities of Ramallah and El-Bireh. The proposed location for the site is close to the Nahal Machoch stream in the northern Judean desert.
“They brought the tea, we brought the cakes,” said Roi Siman, SPNI coordinator for the Judea and Samaria regions, of a meeting on the issue that was held a few weeks ago. “There is a joint interest. We all understand that the project will produce a threat to damage the environment and us. The campaign provides an opening for collaboration.”
