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Two main demands have been raised by environment groups in connection with the environmental damage caused by the separation fence: "environmental compensation" within the Green Line and "setting up crossing points for small animals." One stands incredulous before such a blatant expression of disregard for the human and physical landscape. Terrible environmental damage is being inflicted on large areas in the heart of the country. Seventeen million cubic meters of soil, with tens of thousands of olive trees, thousands of dunams of orchards and groves, tens of thousands of dunams of natural growth, hothouses, archaeological sites and wells - as well as the fabric of life of hundreds of thousands of people - are being crushed by giant bulldozers. Yet the environmental organizations have nothing to say about the damage caused by the fence.
On the contrary, they exploit the tragedies of others to promote their own interests: The destruction of the Palestinian environment presents the opportunity to demand "environmental compensation" within Israel. Moreover, the environmentalists are fighting for safe passage for small wildlife, while ignoring the fact that freedom of movement is being denied to hundreds of thousands of people - including small children - in an arbitrary manner. What selective sensitivity!
Of course, the environmentalists wish to avoid issues that are considered political - especially when the separation fence enjoys widespread domestic support and its few opponents are castigated as traitors. The "mandate" the environmentalists took upon themselves ends at the Green Line and whatever happens on the other side is of no interest to them. Just don't accuse them of annexing land.
But attention should be directed to the destructive consequences of an ethnic or geopolitical approach to the environment, rather than addressing the environment from an ecological perspective. A mountain range that happens to fall within Israel's borders deserves careful preservation as "an ecological pocket" of great value. But the part of this same range that lies on the other side of the fence is of no interest. The environmental damage incurred is justified by security considerations and can be ignored because it "is not under our responsibility." In this way, those who destroy the environment and rape the landscape enjoy full freedom to continue their destructive work, which - how ironic - is driven by a love of the Land of Israel and the sanctity of its soil.
The array of outposts and the plan for settlement contiguity, as exposed in Haaretz, constitute a program of environmental destruction of monstrous proportions. A chain of outposts, whose location is only determined by political considerations, aims to insert a wedge between Palestinian population blocs. The result is a series of octopus-like arms that stretch for many kilometers and include homes and other installations, as well as roads and infrastructure, defacing the environment and engendering chaotic development.
These octopus arms, which hold a grip on Palestinian population centers, connect to Israeli settlement blocs via broad highways allocated "for Jews only," while parallel roads are paved "for Palestinians only." Together, these road systems damage the landscape and destroy ecological habitats. Who would dare to engage in something trivial like environmental protection when we are dealing with a fateful struggle for the Land of Israel?
And if those responsible for protecting the environment remain silent, then those who raise a hue and cry about this must just be exploiting ecology to promote their political agenda. And woe to those who claim, for example, that the outpost fever is in some way related to real-estate profiteering, with an eye toward the privatization budget for kibbutz and moshav lands.
In any case, while the opponents of Jerusalem's westward expansion sit on Mount Sansan and preach about preserving "the ecological pocket," they remain indifferent to the construction in Beitar Ilit (on the other side of the Green Line), which destroys part of the very same ecological pocket.
And if this is the settlers' attitude toward the environment in the redeemed Land of Israel, what chances do values of landscape and history have in the face of Israel Defense Forces tanks and bulldozers, which plow through flora and destroy buildings out of security considerations. Less than a year ago, IDF tanks destroyed many historic buildings in the Old City of Nablus, including Byzantine, Mameluke and Crusader structures, as well as monumental Palestinian structures.
In early August, the Palestinian Authority complained about the destruction of Mameluke structures near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. This destruction is continuing to this very day as retribution for the firing of Qassam rockets into the western Negev. And the Palestinians, who are hungry for land and suspicious of appropriation schemes, are building without any environmental planning or rational urban considerations, thus contributing to the damage of environment and landscape. This is the same thing that happened in the giant metropolitan area of greater Jerusalem, stretching from Ramallah to Bethlehem.
A desperate thought comes to mind - that before the fate of the disputed land is resolved there will be nothing left to fight about. And then a great cry will be heard over the ruins.
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