Last update - 00:00 04/01/2008
Court gives IDF green light to build bases in Negev
By Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz
A plan to relocate several major army bases to the Negev cleared a major hurdle Thursday, when the Be'er Sheva District Court rejected a petition against the plan by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense (Adam, Teva v'Din.)
The defense establishment had announced last month that if the petition were rejected, it would immediately begin constructing the new 1,600-dunam complex, to be located near the Ramat Hovav industrial park. Pini Lieberman, who is in charge of the relocation project, confirmed Thursday that construction would begin soon.
However, the IUED plans to appeal the decision, which could cause further delays.
Moreover, army units are not actually slated to move into the complex for another five years. And the move might be further delayed by a dispute between local industries and the Environmental Protection Ministry on how to reduce the companies' emission of pollutants - which all sides agree must happen before the complex can be populated.
In its petition to the court, the IUED argued that the new complex was approved without first ensuring that soldiers' health would not be endangered by pollution from Ramat Hovav. However, the court rejected this argument, noting that the Dutch company DHV had carried out a survey of environmental risks before the plan was approved. Moreover, it said, the state has already ordered local industries to meet certain emission standards by the time construction is completed, so there is no reason not to allow the work to start.
Defense officials welcomed the court's decision, saying the relocation of the bases would contribute greatly to the development of the Negev. However, they stressed that the new complex would not be populated until it was clear that industrial pollution from Ramat Hovav posed no threat to soldiers' health.
"The Defense Ministry will continue the work of the joint supervisory committee for Ramat Hovav that was set up by the defense establishment and the green organizations, and will insist on dotting every 'i' and crossing every 't' when it comes to the environment and the health of Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Negev residents," said one.
The IUED claims the DHV study actually found that there was too little data on emissions at Ramat Hovav to draw any definitive conclusions, and hence did not constitute a genuine environmental risk survey. This will be the basis of its appeal.