Last update - 00:00 19/04/2007
Government rejects plan for new immigrant community in Lower Galilee
By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent
The National Council for Planning and Building on Tuesday decided not to approve the establishment of a new community, Ramat Arbel, in the Lower Galilee.
According to the council, the initiative, which called for the establishment of a new immigrant community, was not approved because alternate solutions had been found for immigrant housing.
The council's decision supports recommendations made by a planning sub-committee in March 2006, which in turn were based on a report prepared by the Interior Ministry Planning and Building Administration. The report states that there are enough housing options in existing Lower Galilee communities that are in need of more residents.
The planning of the new community, which began in 2001 and called for the building of 1,800 housing units, was criticized by the state comptroller in the past, as the planning lacked proper preparation, basic economic analysis and ignored all alternative solutions.
The findings of the administration's report, which was presented to the council members, supports the claims made by the Society for the Protection of Nature (SPN) that an additional community is not needed.
In its final conclusion, the council stated that "in support of the sub-committee's recommendation, there seems to be no question that there are several alternative solutions which will make the heavy environmental and economical costs of establishing a new community unnecessary."
Yohanan Darom, an SPN coordinator for northern nature reserves, said in response that "the national council's decision gives further proof of Israel's wise building policy, which contends that existing communities in need of new residents should be enlarged instead of creating new communities which damage the few open landscapes left in our densely populated country."