Cyclists fall foul of Mandate-era law barring them from national parks

More than 100 cyclists are expected to take part on Friday in a ride protesting the Israel Nature and Parks Authority's ban on riding along pedestrian trails in nature reserves. The bike ride will take place on the Red Camel route connecting Arad to Masada via the Judean Desert nature reserve.

"Legally we're banned from entering any part of any nature reserve, except for trails marked for jeeps and SUVs," says protest organizer Tal Rivlin, of Herzliya. "So we're all potential offenders."

The cyclists, however, do not want to ride close to SUVs and want to reach observation points inaccessible to motor vehicles.

INPA, it turns out, has been fining cyclists using pedestrian trails on the basis of a pre-state British Mandate law, which categorizes bicycles as "vehicles." INPA officials, for their part, say they have recently been treating cyclists more leniently and opened additional bike routes. However, about a month ago an INPA inspector held up a group of 11 riders on the Red Camel trail.

"The status quo had been that they didn't fine cyclists in the Judean Desert," says a cyclist who had participated in that ride. "We stayed on the trail the entire time. When we reached the end, two inspectors ambushed us."

Another cyclist said they had ridden on marked pedestrian trails some of the way and on Bedouin desert paths the rest of the way. "It was raining and no pedestrians were out that day," he says. "The weather in winter is ideal for cycling. It has huge potential to attract tourism for cyclists worldwide."

The cyclists add that they are keen environmentalists and abstain from littering.

An INPA official said the 11 bikers had veered off the marked trail, thus breaking the law regardless of whether they were cyclists or not. The official denied the inspectors had ambushed the cyclists, saying the inspectors were in the area due to the rains and fear of floods.

The official said some 20 sections were open to bikers in southern nature reserves and parks. A section in the south of the Israel Trail will open to bikers during the year, while the entire trail will open to bikers at a later stage, he added.

"Sadly a few of them cannot wait patiently," the official said. "Most cyclists are aware of our policy change. In a year or two the situation will improve greatly."

Rivlin says 20 bike trails "are a drop in the ocean in proportion to the thousands of pedestrian trails." With the exception of two, the trails in question are all for jeeps, he says.

Rivlin says he was fined NIS 660 about a year ago while riding with a group along an unmarked jeep trail in the Ramon crater.

"It's complicated," said Hillel Sussman, who is planning the Israel Bike Trail for INPA. "Perhaps we should have opened up more of the trails not intended for jeeps to bikers, but then there are safety considerations because bicycles are classified as vehicles."

"Bikes have become so popular so fast that INPA hasn't managed to deal with it," he says. "This is a protest on the part of a very small group of cyclists. INPA is doing serious, thorough work and cares very much about the cyclists."