State: Nitzanim homes for evacuated settlers won't damage environment
The construction of temporary housing for evacuated Gaza settlers on the Nitzanim sands will not damage the environment or landscape, the state argued Tuesday, in response to petitions against the plan. [From Haaretz, May 31, 2005]
By Nir Hasson, Haaretz Correspondent, and Itim
Three petitions have been submitted to the High Court of Justice against the government's plan to build a temporary neighborhood in the area for the Gush Katif evacuees who will be removed from their homes under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, set to be implemented in August.
The state told the court that after the construction of a permanent community for the evacuees, the land containing the temporary housing will be returned to agricultural use. In addition, the state argued that the area is an agricultural region, and as such, building on it will not damage the environment or the landscape. As described to the court, the plan is to place 320 temporary residences in Nitzanim, costing upwards of NIS 250 million.
The High Court will make its ruling on the three petitions Wednesday.
Green activists held Also Tuesday, police detained for questioning three environmental activists from the Green Course movement who had attempted to block bulldozers at work on the temporary neighborhood in Nitzanim. The activists claim that the creation of the neighborhood for Gaza evacuees is being done without required permission and will cause great damage to the area.
This is the third time that the green activists have tried to block bulldozers at the site. On Tuesday, close to a dozen activists held a demonstration at the site while their fellow protestors attempted to stop the construction work.
Many environmental organizations have protested against the government's plan to move the Gush Katif settlers to Nitzan. Yonatan Saguy of the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) said, "There is no way to prevent damage to the dunes from the settlers in the areas that have not been declared a nature reserve yet."
The Nitzanim community would be some two kilometers from the sea. "The settlers from the Gaza Strip will want to build access roads to the sea, either for the holiday resort planned to be built here, to provide employment for them, or for their personal pleasure. No one will be able to stop them, because they will raise a hue and cry and no one will want to go against people who have been uprooted from their home," Saguy declared.
Meir Zafran, the chairman of the Nitzan residents' committee, said the community's 100 families also object to building the trailer site for the evacuees.
"The hundreds of trailers will damage the residents' community life and in time the site will become permanent because the settlers, instead of moving out, will pass on the luxurious trailers to the children," he said.
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