Following a recent decision by the Environmental Protection Minister to halt all planning for the building of incinerators in Israel, MK Matan Kahane of the Yamina party queried why one of the incinerators originally included in the government’s plan has not been included in the construction freeze – the only one that was planned for Judea/Samaria.
“As you surely know, there exist plans to build Israel’s largest waste incinerator near the communities of Kfar Adumim, Mitzpe Yericho, Alon, and Nofei Prat” in Judea, Kahane wrote to the Minister, Gila Gamliel of the Likud party. “In addition, planning for this particular incinerator has not been authorized according to the proper procedure.”
Kahane then noted that, “An official letter from your Ministry informs that the construction of incinerators has been put on hold across the country, pending an investigation into potentially better ways of disposing of waste. The letter refers to ‘all’ incinerators, and yet, the facility planned for a site in Judea has been excluded from this construction freeze."
“Therefore,” Kahane concluded, “what I would now like to know is if this is a tacit admission that Judea and Samaria are not included when referring to ‘all parts of the State of Israel.’ Does this decision reflect a change in the government’s policy of aiming toward applying sovereignty over all parts of the country? How can it be that an official letter from a government ministry essentially treats Judea and Samaria as beyond the State’s boundaries?”