ABSTRACT

Israel has by far the highest population growth rate among the countries in this book, with most of the population concentrated along the Mediterranean coast. For Israelis, beaches provide the most popular form of recreation. Beach-related issues probably draw more public and media attention than any other environmental topic in Israel. The first national plan for the coastal zone was approved in the 1980s. The plan restricted development in a 100 m setback zone, but this was not enough to prevent overdevelopment of the coast: In the 1990s, several contentious hotel or apartment/hotel buildings were approved. As a result, environmental organizations, propelled by the general public's special concern about the coasts, fought for unprecedented parliamentary legislation – and were successful. The 2004 Coastal Law introduced a new and progressive policy and created a dedicated Coastal Committee. The law imposed binding rules to tighten up the 100 m rule and created an additional coastal planning zone with a width of 300 m. Civic-society bodies have successfully fought several landmark cases in the courts, and these decisions have generated further preservation momentum. However, although the Israeli legislation is comparatively progressive and enforcement has significantly improved, there are still threats and battles to fight in order to preserve the limited open coastal land.