Protest over West Bank refuse tip

Friday prayers near the site of the rubbish dump in Deir Sharaf

Hundreds of Palestinians have protested in the northern West Bank against what they fear is an Israeli plan to re-open a controversial rubbish dump.

The dump is close to important underground water sources.

The area outside the village of Deir Sharaf, near the city of Nablus, was used as a dump until 2005.

Israel says no decision has been taken on re-opening it but Palestinians say Israeli work crews have recently returned to the site.

Artesian wells in the area supply water to local villages and Nablus.

Legal appeals

After Friday prayers at the site outside Deir Sharaf, demonstrators waved signs reading "Stop Dumping Settler Waste on Palestinian Lands" and "Waste Destroys the Palestinian Environment".

"This is a very dangerous place to dump waste because it is going to pollute water in Palestinian lands," said Mohammed Abu Safat, a geologist at al-Najah University in Nablus.

He said that tens of thousands of people depended on the water from the nearby wells.

The waste dumped at the site before 2005 was from towns in Israel and settlements in the West Bank.

A spokesman for Israel's military co-ordinator of activities in the Palestinian territories said no decision had been taken on reopening the site.

"There are some preliminary plans but nothing substantial," Maj Peter Lerner told the AFP news agency.

"In any case, if the site were reopened it would be used for all the residents in the area, not just Israel and the settlements."

Palestinian officials said they planned to meet representatives from Israel's environment ministry on Sunday.

They say they will try to prevent the reopening of the site by holding regular protests and launching legal appeals.