Quotation

From an article by Wael Hmaidan in The Guardian 16/8/06:

‘Four weeks ago an Israeli air raid in the Jiyeh power plant, south of Beirut, caused a 15,000-tonne oil spill into the Mediterranean Sea. . . . now affecting more than 100km of the Lebanese coast. Syria has reported oil hitting its shores, while huge oil carpets now moving towards Turkey may also hit Cyprus and Greece if winds and currents are unfavourable. The UN Environment Programme has labelled this spill as serious as the infamous 1989 Exxon-Valdez incident. . . . Almost a month after the start of the spill, no clean up operations have been started. . . .the oil settles deeper into the sand, rocks and seabed. . . . this will increase the damage to the environment exponentially. The clean-up operations have not begun because of the ongoing siege and daily bombings by Israel. But the situation cannot wait any longer. The oil is highly toxic and will kill all marine life in the vicinity. Several spawning and nursery areas of coastal fish have been decimated. . . . At this time of year, turtle eggs start to hatch, and all baby turtles will need to reach deep waters as fast as possible. . .if they are hampered by oil they will surely die.’