Development in green areas

When I made aliya I thought I could cease to be a Zionist and become an
Israeli. But, I soon discovered that this precious little country of ours was
being despoiled by over-development, and I decided that I had to work to make
Israel environmentally sound. I coined the phrase "green Zionism" to describe
the needs for environmental awareness and advocacy in Israel.
On Thursday May 11, we heard a talk by Avi Cohen (no relation) who is a
physicist by profession, who has become involved as an environmental advocate
in the Sharon area between Herzliya, Ra'anana, Netanya and Route 4 to the
East. He works with the excellent association "Adam, Teva v'Din" or The Israel
Association for Environmental Defense, a legal organization that receives
funds from the USA, and with experts at several universities in the region.
What a pity that so few people came to hear this important presentation.
Avi grew up in a ma'abara, an immigrant camp, in this area and described
himself as a Palestinian worker. As a child he lived and worked in the
fields. This area gradually became developed because of the proximity of Tel
Aviv with its huge population and needs. There is a National Plan and local
plans for the zoning of areas in Israel. According to this plan the area
described above is zoned purely for agricultural use, there should be no
commercial or industrial development whatsoever. However, over the recent
years major such developments have been made, in the kibbutzim and settlements
of Ga'ash, Shefayim, Yaqum, Batzra, Bnai Zion, and other small communities.
How has this occurred when it is specifically forbidden by the National
Planning Authority? Frankly these developments have been made illegally and
by subterfuge. At first, the kibbutzim complain that they cannot make money
any more from agriculture, the competition is too great, and anyway, the
Government wants the Galil and Negev to develop, so the agricultural
production is moved there.
In place of this, to make a living, these settlements asked for planning
permission for an auto repair factory or a convention center. Before even
having planning permission, they are already building a vehicle repair
facility, that turns into a truck and car dealership, and then for all these
developments they need parking, so they tear down the trees and put in asphalt
car-parks, even without planning permission. Then they decide to build a
mall, as at Shefayim or Ga'ash or a hi-technology park as at Yaqum, or a
commercial center as at Batzra.
Once these are built with funds supplied by contractors and future users, it
is not difficult to attract shoppers and commercial enterprises and companies
that want to have reduced overhead, less arnona than they would pay in Tel
Aviv or Netanya. So then the strip malls develop, such as at Shefayim and
Yaqum, where there was not supposed to be any such development, and
basically it is all illegal, but once built the kibbutz and other groups have
influential political connections that protect the growing malls and
companies.
Then the kibbutz members are rewarded with large houses of their own, and then
further development of hotels, convention centers, housing projects are going
ahead all over this area, that was supposed to be limited to agricultural use.
However, even if there is a court case, the judges assess miniscule fines (for
one development that makes ca. NIS one million per month the amount was
NIS 5,000!) and once the building is built and once the land is asphalted for
car parks, they never take it down, as at Cosmos. The damage is irreversible!
And what is worse is that cities like Netanya, that have poor immigrant
populations, lack the development that they badly need. Where are the hi-tech
industries that could provide income from arnona for the city of Netanya and
provide jobs for the unemployed? They are out in the countryside, where they
should never have been. And this causes a rise in arnona and costs for all
other citizens of towns that have areas that are legitimately zoned for
industrial and commercial development. The reduced arnona that the companies
are paying are going into the pockets of the villages and kibbutzim instead of
into the coffers of the municipalities, and the average citizen is forced in
effect to subsidize them.
This reversal of planned zoning must stop, but how to stop it. The courts are
complaisant, the developers ignore all legality, and get away with it, and the
political appointees either don't know or don't care to know about this
rampant despoilation of our remaining green spaces. There is the problem of
NIMBY, not in my backyard. If the development was going on in your backyard
you would be upset, but in effect it is, we are too small for anyone's
backyard to be ignored!