April 14, 2008

The Knesset has enacted new legislation to protect Lake Kinneret in the Galilee. The new law comprises two parts: establishing the Kinneret Urban Union to unite the twenty bodies which manage the lake's coastline; and the extension of the 2004 Coastline Protection Law to the Kinneret, prohibiting construction within fifty meters of the waterfront.

“This is a very exciting day for the Kinneret and the entire Israeli public,” said Moshe Perlmutter, Coordinator of Beachfronts for The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), which is supported by NIF through the Green Environment Fund (GEF). SPNI and other GEF-supported organizations such as Israel Union for Environmental Defense and Green Course helped formulate the Coastline Protection Law and have been lobbying for the establishment of the Kinneret Urban Union.

“The passing of the law shows that the Kinneret is on the national agenda,” added Perlmutter. “We thank the Knesset Members, government officials and most of all the tens of thousands of SPNI activists who lobbied for this law.”

"There is only one Kinneret," says a banner unfurled
by protestors from Green Course.

Lake Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee, is one of Israel’s most precious national assets. Set in a breathtakingly beautiful landscape beneath the rolling Galilee hillsides, the lake is thirteen miles long and seven miles wide, and the sites along the coast are sacred to Jews and Christians. Moreover, fed by the Jordan River, the lake provides about one third of Israel’s potable water.

The essence of the law moves authority for the Kinneret away from the local councils to the newly-established authority. At present local authorities, in dealmaking with local entrepreneurs, have been granting private businesses with concessions to provide leisure facilities, without responsibility for the resulting garbage and water polllution. Another significant outcome of the legislation is that there will be free access to beaches for the public, while local authorities will no longer be able to profit from granting building licenses on the waterfront.

While Perlmutter is enthusiastic about the legislation, he stresses that the law will only work if the Kinneret Urban Union proves to be a strong and independent body. SPNI will continue to monitor the situation.