Appeals Committee Rejects Plans for Construction of Resort on Nahsholim Beach

On Monday, January 5, environmentalists achieved a victory when the appeals committee of the National Council for Planning and Building rejected requests to build a beach resort at Kibbutz Nahsholim. The kibbutz is located on Israel’s northern coast, about 30 kilometers south of Haifa and 20 kilometers north of Caesarea and Jisr-al-Zarka. Up until 1948, the subsequently depopulated Arab village of al-Tantura stood on the site.

According to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), the development plans had called for construction of about 500 hotel rooms just north of the kibbutz, in an area adjacent to the Tel Dor National Park, about 300 meters from the Dor Beach.

Demonstrators protest against plans to build at the Nahsholim beach.

Demonstrators protest against plans to build at the Nahsholim beach. (Photo: Megama Yeruka)

Yael Dori, head of planning and development at Adam Teva V’Din (the Israel Union for Environmental Defense), praised the decision as consistent with other recently-made environmentally-favorable decisions – like the Central District Committee for Planning and Building’s December 1st decision to declare Palmahim Beach a national park. Also expressing praise for the appeals committee’s decision was MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) who nonetheless stressed the importance of passing a comprehensive law which will protect beaches from threats of development. In 2004, the Knesset passed the Protection of the Environmental Coastal Law, which prohibits construction closer than 300 meters from the waterline. Despite this legislation, seaside projects approved prior to that year – but which have yet to be built – can continue to receive permits without reexamination.

“In a difficult struggle with local authorities and in the Knesset, beach by beach were succeeding in preserving Israel’s coast,” Khenin said. “But against the wave of seaside real estate developers, the time has come to create a systemic solution and amend the Coastal Law, so that beaches will be protected for the public.”