Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz today notified the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee that he intended to revise the Airports Authority Ordinance in order to allow continued civil aviation activity at Sde Dov Airport until 2019. Civil aviation at the airport is scheduled to shut down from tomorrow, but the public campaign against its closure led to Knesset legislation allowing further operation of the airport as long the military base there is in operation.
At the beginning of the meeting, Economic Affairs Committee chairman MK Eitan Cabel (Zionist Union) severely criticized the Ministry of Transport and all the parties involved for notifying the Committee at the last minute. "I hope that other matters are taken more seriously. The way the systems work and are conducted alarms me," he said.
Ministry of Transport legal adviser Adv. Ron Halfon said, "We are at the last minute, because the law allowing continued activity was approved on March 28, after the Supreme Court dismissed the state's petition for another extension to continue civil activity."
He added that the Ministry of Transport had conducted marathon consultations with the Israel Airports Authority Council, and had then transferred the order to the Ministries of Defense and Justice for approval at a peak time. Cabel demanded that the Ministry of Transport notify the public as soon as the Minister of Defense makes a final decision about the shutting down of military activity at Sde Dov in order to prepare in advance for it. The Economic Affairs Committee approved Katz's order at the end of the discussion.
Sponsored by MKs Itzik Shmuli (Zionist Union) and Bezalel Smotrich (Habayit Hayehudi), the Sde Dov bill was signed by over 70 MKs and passed within only two weeks. According to the law, the civilian airport will be moved to the military area by December 1 this year. The law states that the state will grant compensation to the land owners for use of the land for civil aviation. The compensation will be calculated according to the provisions of Land (Acquisition for Public Purposes) Ordinance and the law for amending purchases for public purposes legislation.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on April 30, 2017
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