Behind the Headlines Bad News on the Ecological Front

A 200-page report on the ecological situation of Israel was submitted to the government recently without attracting much public attention. The report, drafted by the “Environment Protection Service,” a government agency established a year ago, included some grave findings about the ecological situation in Israel.

Yet the only recorded top-level reactions to it so far were those of two Cabinet ministers who, while leafing through it, commented that it was produced too lavishly for these times of economic restraint. Even the press has not shown much enthusiasm for dealing with the report, Most of the papers did not publish the report’s gloomy information about the quality of Israel’s environment. None of them commented on the report in their editorial columns. There are good prospects that within a short time the first comprehensive report about Israel’s environmental conditions will be forgotten.

MAIN CONCLUSIONS OF REPORT

The report, however, deserves a thoroughly different attitude. Its findings call for urgent action. The main conclusions of the report are: although in March 1973 the government decided to set about reorganizing the governmental bureaucratic framework dealing with ecological problems, most of the relevant ministries have not yet acted to implement the proposed reorganization; most of the municipalities lack the machinery for tackling local ecological problems; there are no sufficient regulations and legal sanctions to impose laws aimed at protecting the public from environmental nuisances.

Also, although the government is aware that the car is one of the main causes of air pollution, it does nothing to change driving habits or road usage; there are no emergency plans to cope with sudden dangerous air pollution; Israel lacks competent manpower to deal with most of the aspects of air contamination. Underground water reservoirs are in permanent danger of contamination by nitrates. Ninety-seven underground wells along the sea shore contain nitrates above the standard recommended by the Health Ministry; almost all the rivers are so badly contaminated that their sole function is that of sewage channels; there is no clear policy aiming to increase the public awareness of the importance of protecting the environment.

In addition, there is no sufficient process of monitoring the remains of pulverization in food; the removal of solid waste deserves much higher priority in the national scale; there is no special law designed to protect the Israeli resident from noise nuisances. Workers in many factories suffer from noise to the extent that their health is endangered; Israel lacks information about the dangers of un-ionized radiation.

The report also found that urban and rural planning are inadequate because of a shortage of master plans; the planning and building laws are not enforced; public and private developers succeed in circumventing the planning ordinances; pressures for new building projects often outweigh the ecological interest.

LOW ON SCALE OF PRIORITIES

It is safe enough to predict that no change will occur in the government’s readiness to allocate funds to tackle environmental problems more efficiently, The ecological subject will probably remain low on the scale of national priorities. The Rabin Cabinet cannot boast even one minister who actively identifies with the promotion of ecological interests. Although there are several young ministers, who, before coming to power, made names for themselves as advocates of ecological concern, they are not active in this field now.

During its short period in office, the Administration of Premier Yitzhak Rabin has been quick to decide to build a new town near Rishon Le Zion (a few miles south of Tel Aviv) and to adopt the Minister of Housing’s ambitious plan to erect 300,000 apartments within five years (half of them along the overpopulated areas of the sea coast), Both of these decisions completely ignored the ecological considerations involved.

Israelis, no doubt, have good reasons to neglect the treatment in their ecological problems. Israel is facing critical problems: economic, political and security. The government–and consequently the whole of Israeli society–is absorbed in facing these critical issues. Moreover, because of the oil crisis, ecological interests have lost much of their impact on decision-makers. This universal phenomenon, coupled with Israel’s specific problems which concern its very existence, ensure that the first report on the situation of the environment in Israel will not lead to major re-thinking in this important area.