Green Groups Say Road Will Kill Jerusalem Forest
Irrevocable damage would be caused to the Jerusalem Forest by a new road in the capital, say environmentalists.
The National Roads Company planning Route 16, which would connect the city’s Route 1 entrance with Jerusalem’s southwest neighborhoods, insists it would relieve the heavy traffic to and from the city with minimal damage to the forest.
The Jerusalem Forest still constitutes a green lung, but it has dwindled in recent years due to the encroachment of neighborhoods, roads and industrial buildings.
The Forum of Organizations for Jerusalem Forest and Adam Teva V’Din – the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, have submitted an objection to the Route 16 plan, saying its construction would disrupt the environmental balance, damage the landscape and turn the forest into a “local grove.”
The Interior Ministry’s national infrastructures committee, which began discussing the objections to Route 16 on Tuesday, is expected to approve the plan to build the road.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
