Israel 'using chemical weapons'

2006-12-20 23:18

Algiers - Israel was accused on Wednesday by a Palestinian minister of using illegal chemical weapons in the Palestinian territories.

"Analyses carried out in laboratories outside Palestine have shown that Israel has had recourse to banned chemical weapons and depleted uranium" in the territories, environment minister Yussef Abu Sofia said.

He further accused Israel of having "transported major quantities of dangerous chemical products into the interior of the Palestinian territories thereby seriously polluting the water table".

"The destruction of the environment by the Israeli occupation forces continues," he said.

Abu Sofia quoted figures from the Palestinian agriculture and environment ministry to the effect that "two million trees have been uprooted (by the Israelis) in the past six years, half a million of them olive trees".

He said that Israel had refused the United Nations environment programme and the International Atomic Energy Agency access to the Palestinian territories to look into the situation.

- AFP