Four hundred workers at the Nesher cement plant near Haifa stopped loading cement today to support their management’s demand to be allowed to quarry another section of Mount Carmel, a proposal which has spurred heated protests from ecologists in Israel. Their action came a day after Development Minister Haim Gvati told the Knesset that there was complete agreement that Nesher plans to quarry in a section of the Chrmel National Park would seriously harm the park.
The workers asserted that “cement production is more important than ecology and beauty” and they demanded an end to the public campaign aimed at preserving the green natural reserve of the park. Ecology experts, students and the general public have joined in efforts to persuade a ministerial committee to reject the company’s proposal to quarry in the park for the limestone needed for cement production. The worker’s action has cut off about one-third of Israel’s supply of cement.
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