UN: Gaza is dumping sewage into the sea

Brittany Grenzig
I. UN: Gaza is dumping sewage into the sea
Jerusalem Post
May 1, 2008
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1209626990507&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

II. This article is about the contamination of the Mediterranean Sea due to Gaza dumping tons of sewage and waste into the area. Since January, they have dumped approximately 60 million liters of sewage into the sea, contaminating the sea and endangering the environment as well as citizens of the area. Many people bath in the water and also eat seafood from these waters. Also, the sewage is flowing to other coasts on the Mediterranean Sea and therefore contaminating other areas other than Gaza. Their reason for the build up of sewage is that there is not a sufficent enough of electricity available to treat the sewage and clean up the area. However, the majority of their electricity comes from Israel. Because of this, Israel helped to develop a plan to clean the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and get rid of the sewage.

III. Reactions:

A) This article relates to the AP World History theme "Impact of technology, economics, and demography on people and the environment" because Gaza's poor technology and low economy led to the dumping of sewage into the Mediterranean which led to the endangering of the environment and people of this area.
B) In this article, it is said that Gaza has dumped approximately 60 million liters of sewage into the Mediterranean Sea since January. However, it also says that they have been dumping the sewage into the sea for years, but it has only become a major problem recently.
C) The newsreporter and writer of this article is a male who we can assume is from Israel since the newspaper is from Israel.
D) There could be indication of bias from the writer of this article because the writer is from Israel. In the article, Israel is portrayed as being a "helpful hand" to Gaza for giving them so much money and helping them out with their problems. With this in mind, we could say he might feel boastful because of the fact they are being so generous, resulting in possible bias towards Gaza.
E) It would be helpful to hear from someone who is being affected by the contaminated waters of the Mediterranean Sea to get a better understanding of this article. This would provide me with information about how serious the situation is towards people who use the waters and how it affects their everyday life.
F) I think it is a horrible thing that Gaza is contamintating the Mediterranean Sea and that they have been doing it for years. Since it has been going on for such a long time, I am surprised they did not look to fix this problem earlier before it got to a more horrific state that it is at now. Polution is a major problem today in many areas and this article demonstrates how it affects people and their everyday lives. However, I think it is good Gaza and Israel are looking to fix this problem immediately to keep people safe.