Today is Annual Beach Day, and the latest report on Israel's Mediterranean beaches shows that the situation is bad - and getting worse. Israel's Society for the Preservation of Nature (SPNI) and the Beachfront Organizations Forum presented their annual report yesterday, and it indicates that improvement plans are not being implemented, municipalities continue to stream sewage into the sea, and laws are not being enforced. Of the 197 kilometers of coast, 49 are totally closed to the public, another 45 are currently slated for possible future construction, and only 91 are currently available for public use. The rest is being used by the Atlit army base, other installations, hotels, marinas, and even private residences.
SPNI head Mickey Lifshitz says that in 20 years from now, only some 45 kilometers of beach will remain - roughly a half-centimeter per resident, compared to 31 centimeters per person in 1948. "The public's rights on the beaches continue to be trampled to record extents," Lifshitz says. "Laws are barely, if ever, enforced - such as that banning travel on the beach, finable at 500-1000 shekels, and the law banning construction within 100 meters of the beach." He noted a specific example of a planning commission in Haifa that has approved a "giant luxury neighborhood in the guise of a marina, on an area three times larger than the Herzliya marina."
Environment Minister Yehudit Naot says she hopes that the Beaches Law, which passed its first reading in the previous Knesset, will be passed in the current Knesset, "and will supercede the Planning and Construction Law." The SPNI is planning, this Friday, to conduct three family tours along Israel's beaches for the purpose of "raising awareness in the public and among the decision-makers regarding the dangers and threats to the beaches, and regarding the need to maintain the public's right to the beaches." The tours will take place on the Bonim Beach, some 20 kilometers south of Haifa, and in the Ashkelon-Ashdod areas.
SPNI head Mickey Lifshitz says that in 20 years from now, only some 45 kilometers of beach will remain - roughly a half-centimeter per resident, compared to 31 centimeters per person in 1948. "The public's rights on the beaches continue to be trampled to record extents," Lifshitz says. "Laws are barely, if ever, enforced - such as that banning travel on the beach, finable at 500-1000 shekels, and the law banning construction within 100 meters of the beach." He noted a specific example of a planning commission in Haifa that has approved a "giant luxury neighborhood in the guise of a marina, on an area three times larger than the Herzliya marina."
Environment Minister Yehudit Naot says she hopes that the Beaches Law, which passed its first reading in the previous Knesset, will be passed in the current Knesset, "and will supercede the Planning and Construction Law." The SPNI is planning, this Friday, to conduct three family tours along Israel's beaches for the purpose of "raising awareness in the public and among the decision-makers regarding the dangers and threats to the beaches, and regarding the need to maintain the public's right to the beaches." The tours will take place on the Bonim Beach, some 20 kilometers south of Haifa, and in the Ashkelon-Ashdod areas.