Orange triumphs over green

New settlement for Gush Katif evacuees approved despite vociferous environmental objections.

By EHUD ZION WALDOKS
disengagement 298.88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [archive])
disengagement 298.88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [archive])
Environmentalists may legally appeal Tuesday's decision by the National Planning Council, which approved by a large majority the new settlement of Mirsham. Situated in the eastern Lachish region near Beit Guvrin and Kiryat Gat, Mirsham will provide a home to 45 families removed from Gaza during the 2005 disengagement. There is also an Anglo world Bnei Akiva group which plans to move to the new settlement as soon as it is built. Vowing that the fight to protect nature in the Mirsham area was not over and threatening further legal appeals, activists called the decision a "black day for the environment." Gaza evacuees who have been living in temporary quarters for over three years rejoiced that their housing situation would be resolved. The decisive planning council meeting on Tuesday morning had turned into a rallying point for a dispute between environmentalists and religious Zionists. Environmentalists, led by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), had argued over the course of the last two years that the Lachish region represented one of the few remaining open spaces north of the Negev. Moreover, they argued, increased human settlement would seriously harm the area's flora and fauna, as well as unique natural habitats. The Lachish region has been the focus of conservation, sustainability and biosphere efforts on the part of environmentalists. Gush Katif evacuees argued that this was the ideal Zionist endeavor and that they were no less interested in the environmental aspects, since they were the ones who were going to live there. In recent days, Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra apparently reversed himself and threw his support behind the creation of the new community. His ministry had written the dissenting governmental environmental opinion. In light of Ezra's defection, SPNI wore protest buttons and stickers at the ministry's 60th anniversary gala event on Tuesday night, where SPNI-affiliated officials were scheduled to receive five of 12 lifetime achievement awards. Mirsham is the third of three settlements approved in the Lachish region recently. Earlier this year, Haruv and Givot Hazan were approved in the same area. Givot Hazan would be the largest of the three, with housing for 500 families. Mirsham will have 350 units in three sections. The Construction and Housing Ministry had amended the plans several times, both to reduce the size of the new community, from 400 to 350, and to move it away from sensitive environmental sites. Overall, some 300 Gaza evacuee families are likely to move to the Lachish region. The Construction and Housing Ministry had argued in a letter to the planning council ahead of the meeting that the plan should be approved because of construction that had already been undertaken in the region. They argued that in light of the security fence, the creation of Road 358 (which is under construction), and Palestinian settlements in the West Bank just opposite, the environmental situation had already been altered. Moreover, according to their assessments, the specific spot for Mirsham had been declared a "marginal" site environmentally, and was therefore less of a problem to build on. The National Planning Council echoed the ministry's reasoning almost point for point in a statement announcing the decision. "The plan balances environmental concerns against the need to develop the eastern Lachish region and to provide a home for displaced Gush Katif evacuees by creating a vibrant settlement bloc. The plan reduces the environmental hazards to a great degree as well," they added. After the decision, the Union of Gush Katif evacuees offered to work together with the environmentalists in the future to reduce potential environmental damage. In the run-up to the meeting, 100 professors and professionals had signed a letter in favor of Mirsham, while right up the last minute, the environmentalists protested. Knesset Internal Affairs and Environment Committee Chair Ophir Paz-Pines had sent a letter to the council's head, Arye Bar, vigorously objecting to the proposed settlement. Bar is head of the council by virtue of his position as interior ministry director-general. According to Paz-Pines, this was the time to decide where the line was drawn in Zionist endeavors. He and other green activists argued that a new settlement should not be created for just 45 Gaza evacuee families. They should be quickly absorbed into existing settlements or even into the ones approved earlier this year, he wrote. Tovah Lazaroff contributed to this report.