Greenpeace protest new sea dumping permit for Israeli company

AN ISRAELI company accused of unloading toxic waste off Cyprus has prompted Greenpeace’s ire by securing a new sea dumping permit.

Greenpeace activists yesterday blocked the entrance of fertilizer producer Haifa Chemicals in response to the new permit issue.

Activists dressed in white overalls and black chemical masks chained themselves to the main gate and prevented plant employees and trucks from entering or leaving.

A huge banner was also unfurled over a plant stack, which read “Stop Sea Dumping”.

Greenpeace accuses Haifa Chemicals of recklessly using the Mediterranean as a waste bin for dumping toxic sludge.

“A special permits committee, which includes delegates from several ministries, last month allowed Haifa Chemicals to dump an additional 2,000 tons a month until March 31, 1999,” Greenpeace Mediterranean campaigner Ofer Ben-Dov said yesterday.

Over a 13-year period, the US-owned firm is accused of having dumped some 650,000 tones of toxic industrial waste into the Mediterranean.

“The Israeli government should have symbolised the end of the UN declared Year of the Oceans by halting this polluting business,” said Ben-Dov.

“Instead, it is again insulting the residents along the shores of the basin, especially Israel, Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon, by allowing the dumping of Haifa Chemicals poison in international waters.”

Earlier this year, Greenpeace mounted an undercover operation at sea and caught the Israeli company dumping toxic sludge off Cyprus.

During a meeting with Greenpeace in July, Israeli Environment Minister Rafael Eitan made a commitment to stop the dumping by the end of this year.

The Cyprus and Israeli authorities have said the sludge poses no risk to human health.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.