A group of 133 biologists, hydrologists and environment researchers are calling on the government not to allow the Nakash brothers to build a holiday village at the Kursi beach on the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). In June, the Orchidea Hotel company won an Israel Land Administration (ILA) tender to build the 400-room holiday village on a 100-dunam (25-acre) site, 50 meters from the shoreline. The Nakash brothers plan to invest $50 million in the project.
The Nakash brothers control Arkia Airlines Ltd., the Orchidea Hotel in Eilat and Ampa Investments Ltd. (TASE:AMINV-M). A few weeks ago, the won another ILA tender to build a boutique hotel on the site of the old Kishle police station in Jaffa’s Clock Tower Square.
The scientists protesting the plan for the holiday village work at universities, the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and the Yigal Allon Kinneret Limnological Laboratory. They warn that the Kinneret is already threatened. They claim that 80% of the shore is already affected by human activity, 10% is defined as nature reserves, and 10% are still in their natural state. The scientists say that construction will upset the ecological stability of the lake, which is already hard pressed.
The scientists note that since the mid-1990s, the Kinneret has reacted negatively to human activity. These include the new presence of toxic seaweed and leeches, and a decline in the quality of the lake’s water, which is the main source of Israel’s drinking water. The scientists called on the government to learn from the example of European cities, which, beginning in the mid-1990s, began to remove seawalls and levees around lakes to restore the natural infrastructure.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on July 12, 2006
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