The heads of 18 Jewish and Arab local councils from the Sharon region and western Samaria, who represent about one million residents, appealed Tuesday morning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to personally intervene against illegal burning of waste - some of it toxic - on both sides of the 1949 Armistice Line. It is estimated that dozens of fires are being waged in the area every day - by business owners, farmers, criminal elements and residents themselves in communities without formal waste disposal infrastructures.
The situation has worsened to the point where half of the children in a daycare center in the Samarian Jewish community of Tzofim have been suffering from asthma for the past six months. Other symptoms include a feeling of suffocation, difficulty breathing, skin irritation and burning eyes. Chairman Yossi Dagan of the Samaria Regional Council said, "The state of Israel has the tools to stop this, and we trust the government and the minister of environmental protection, who is the best minister the state of Israel has had in recent years, to act on the matter urgently."