Haaretz: The belated battle to revive the dying Dead Sea

[marmar]

http://www.bibleplaces.com/images/Dead_Sea_northern_end_aerial_from_west,_tb_q010703.jpg


The belated battle to revive the dying Dead Sea
Forty years of wandering from bad decisions to neglect have done terrible damage to the lowest place on earth.

By Shuki Sadeh


Short-term thinking. Unthinking optimism - "everything will work out." Putting off hard decisions, selling national assets for peanuts, and first and foremost, of course, a lack of governance. These are the factors behind the ecological monster that is the Dead Sea, which is about to flood the hotels built in the Ein Bokek oasis.

After one High Court ruling, two biting reports by the state comptroller and any number of warnings about the gravity of the situation, the government is supposed to finally make decisions. It has to decide how to rescue one of Israel's most important tourism destinations, the lowest place on earth. After 20 years of foot-dragging, it has to decide how best to stop the rising level of the sea's southern half from swamping the hotels.

Last Thursday, hearing a petition by the Dead Sea Hotels Association, Supreme Court Justice Eliezer Rivlin voiced concern that the state had its own ideas about the pace of things. The state's representative asked not to be forced to make a decision before May. "Madam said May but didn't say which year," gibed Justice Asher Grunis. In any case, the court gave the state until August to make some decisions. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-belated-battle-to-revive-the-dying-dead-sea-1.358526