Impeding Gaza’s ability to move beyond its own destruction, the blockade is being exacerbated by climate change, and even an hour of rain floods Gaza’s neighborhoods.

Muna Shaheen on how Israel changed the face of nature in order to alienate Palestinians from their land and identity.

As the global climate crisis continues to worsen, many families in Gaza are feeling the devastating effects of climate change. These impacts are compounded by Israel’s 14-year siege on the territory as well as repeated attacks, including the war last May. Hussni Mohanna, the spokesperson for Gaza City’s emergency committee, tells Mondoweiss that the city tries its best to alleviate the infrastructural issues caused by the wars, but the odds are stacked against them. With the limited budget and resources it has, it cannot keep up with the rapidly changing climate. 

The biggest obstacle to saving the fragile ecosystems of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea is Israel.

Israeli settlement expansion is not only illegal, it is also destroying Palestine’s environment through the urbanization of the West Bank.

The olive harvest in Gaza was down by 65% this year, leaving many farmers without enough crop to sell. Experts say this dip was due to rising temperatures from climate change.

We in Palestine and activists around the world are not satisfied with the progress to address this existential crisis. We are not merely in a “climate emergency” but in a global catastrophe — an environmental Nakba.

Israel needs to change its economic doctrine which sees water as nothing more than a commodity to be sold or traded, and a political ideology that is fixated on holding on to as much water as possible.

The catastrophic climate crisis is fueled by global inequality and engineered by complicit governments and corporations that put profit before people and planet. Everywhere, the least powerful are the most affected. Indigenous Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and apartheid, with no control over their land or natural resources, are highly vulnerable to the climate crisis.

Robert Cohen writes, with the global climate emergency upon us, “Zionism is one of many obsolete ideologies which needs to be ditched if we’re to build a sustainable future for all of us. In contrast, Judaism itself, shorn of its Zionist overlay, has plenty to offer as we look for radically different ways to relate to each other and the planet.”