32 The Independent Commission for Human Rights - ICHR 1.1.6 Environment Israeli violations continued to affect the Palestinian environment. A systematic Israeli government plan and policy have been designed to target the Palestinian environment, which reflects the civilisation of Palestinian society and a central plank of the Palestinian national identity. The Palestinian environment incorporates a set of national fundamental rights, including natural, historical, heritage, cultural, social, and economic entitlements. Key patterns of Israeli abuses involved the following.36 1.1.6.1 Denial of access to Area C and areas behind the Separation Wall The Israeli occupation has been the greatest obstacle to the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA) staff. Israeli measures prevented the PENRA personnel from discharging functions of oversight, inspection, and law enforcement across Area C. Suspended coordination between the Palestinian and Israeli sides reduce the ability of PENRA staff to access some regions and obstructed their role in prosecuting the smuggling of waste, detecting wastewater flowing from Israeli settlements, and monitoring other environmental violations. The Israeli occupying authorities hampered the ability of Palestinian government bodies to access areas behind the Separation Wall, which contain natural resources and experience environmental pollution activities. For example, a dump site was established on land belonging to the Zeita town behind the Wall in the Tulkarem governorate. A trash compactor was installed on the dump, causing noise and discomfort to the local community. In addition to the spreading of dust, the landfill has blocked stormwater drainage systems and diverted water from its natural flow. Natural resources were depleted by the continued operation of a stone crusher run by an Israeli-European company on land of the Az-Zawiya village, Salfit. Rough stone produced by this stone crusher in the construction of Israeli settlements. In 2021, the Separation Wall prevented Palestinian government bodies and citizens from gaining access to the Um ar-Rihan nature reserve. Located behind the Wall, this area mostly requires access permits. At the same time, the Israeli occupying authorities incorporated tourism enterprises in the nature reserve, collecting fees and making profits in favour of settlers . 1.1.6.2 Smuggling of Israeli waste and construction of dump sites The Israeli occupying authorities continued to dispose of hazardous waste produced by Israeli settlements and areas inside the Green Line on the West Bank land, including through waste incineration, dumping, recycling, sorting, segregation, and restoration of substances with the potential to be used to Israel. Without regard for any environmental or health controls or regulations, this practice was in contravention to international conventions and IHL. In the northern West Bank governorate, nine incidents of smuggling solid and liquid waste were controlled. Persons responsible for these violations were subject to due process laws and stood trial at court. The State of Palestine used the international mechanisms availed by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. The State of Palestine reported to the Secretariat of the Basel Convention violations, involving incidents of smuggling of Israeli waste into the Palestinian territory with a view to forcing Israel to bring it back to its source. A case in point was the smuggling of waste and contaminated soils to areas in the western Ramallah and El-Bireh governorate, particularly the villages of Rantis, Ni’lin, Al-Lubban al-Gharbi, and Shuqba. Hazardous solid, liquid, gaseous, construction, electronic, and electrical waste was smuggled to the areas of Idhna, 36 Letter from the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority (PENRA), 28 December 2021. The Situation of Human Rights in Palestine