Jerusalem
GREEN organisations will no longer have free run of Israel鈥檚 environment
ministry, says its new director-general, Nehama Ronen. While she wants good
relations with environmentalists, she says, it is 鈥渃ompletely unacceptable鈥� for
them to be directly involved in the ministry鈥檚 decision making, as they were
under the previous administration.
In recent weeks environmental groups have attacked the ministry for reversing
previous decisions on two of the most prominent ecological issues facing the
Israeli government. The ministry has announced that it will allow the
construction of 300 houses on the site of the Hula wetlands reclamation project
in Upper Galilee. It has also dropped its objections to the expansion of the
country鈥檚 international airport, which is located in a heavily populated area
west of Tel Aviv.
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When the right-wing government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to
power in June, Rafael Eitan replaced Yossi Sarid at the environment ministry.
Eitan is also agriculture minister. Sarid, who heads the green, left-wing Meretz
party, developed unusually close relations with the major green groups, which
were intimately involved in almost every aspect of the ministry鈥檚 work.
Ronen argues that such relations are neither proper nor healthy for the
greens. 鈥淚n most countries,鈥� she says, 鈥渢he greens are in constant contention
with their ministries of the environment.鈥� Environmental organisations, she
says, should represent environmental interests and nothing else. Being involved
in the formulation of policy compromises the greens, Ronen maintains.
Israel鈥檚 greens disagree. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got access to information and professional
abilities that the ministry doesn鈥檛 have, so a dialogue is a positive thing,鈥�
argues Samuel Chayen, spokesman for the Israel Union for Environmental
Defense.
Eitan Gdalizon, director-general of the Society for the Protection of Nature
in Israel, says that the new decisions on the Hula wetlands and the airport
contradict the recommendations of the ministry鈥檚 own staff. Gdalizon says the
ministry鈥檚 studies on the airport recommended further study 鈥渙n the grounds that
the development involved is far beyond the capacity of the local environment to
absorb it. Decisions like that are warning signals about the ministry鈥檚
补辫辫谤辞补肠丑.鈥�
The greens say that there is a conflict of interest in the combined
agriculture and environment portfolios. But Ronen argues that by sharing a
minister the staff of the two ministries will be able to solve many problems
together. When the two ministries are headed by separate ministers, she claims,
conflicts must be solved at a political level, where environmental interests
usually lose out.
The Greens reject her argument. 鈥淭he Ministry of the Environment鈥檚 job is not
to find compromises. It is to represent the interests of the environment in the
government,鈥� says Gdalizon.