The Knesset passed on first reading Wednesday morning a bill that would establish a “wine trail” in the Negev, where small grape farmers have been battling the bureaucracy for permits to operate. Several small farms have sprung up in the Negev in the past few years, and many of them grow grapes and produce wine.
The bill is sponsored by Kadima Knesset Member Yisrael Hasson (Kadima) and is intended to encourage development of southern Israel. Ramat HaNegev Regional Council chairman Shmuel Reifman said, “Negev vineyards have been the biggest and most successful development in the Negev in the past several years. The grape farmers are private individuals who have invested everything they have to change the desert into a garden for agriculture and tourism.”