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"This book is likely to become the future point of reference for scholarship on environmental issues in Israel. Tal combines his extensive inside knowledge with broad and thorough research to take the reader clearly through a complex fabric of personalities, organizations, and issues."—Stuart Schoenfeld, York University
"This is truly an excellent book. It is the first treatment of the whole array of environmental issues in Israel, and in its historical context – an absolute necessity. Extremely well-written and in fact hard to put down, this book is useful on many levels, for United Nations Agencies and development officials, Israeli and Palestinian government officials, and environmentalists and teachers around the world."—Brock Evans, Executive Director, The Endangered Species Coalition and author of many articles and books on the politics of the environment
"Pollution in a Promised Land is an innovative book, and an important one, by perhaps the most prominent environmental activist in Israel. Tal's approach is to take an "eagle's eye view" of his vast subject, now gliding far above, providing overview, now swooping down very close and, through interviews or anecdotes, describing his subject with great immediacy and in memorable detail."—Noah J. Efron, Bar Ilan University
"Anyone who cares about the land of Israel should read Pollution in a Promised Land. It is critical to understanding the social, political, and scientific dimensions of the country's environmental challenges as well as the country's remarkable ecological achievements. Alon Tal is uniquely qualified to present this fascinating and dramatic environmental history."—Tzachi Hanegbi, Minister of the Environment, Israel
List of contents
Preface
List of Illustrations
1. The Pathology of a Polluted River: An Introduction to Israel's
Environmental Crisis
2. Reclaiming a Homeland: Zionism's Mixed Ecological Message
3. Palestine's Environment, 1900-1949: Prelude to Disaster or Benign
Half-Century?
4. The Forest's Many Shades of Green
5. The Emergence of an Israeli Environmental Movement
6. A General Launches a War for Wildlife
7. The Quantity and Quality of Israel's Water Resources
8. Israel's Urban Environment, 1948-1988: The Politics of Neglect
9. A Ministry of Environment Comes of Age
10. Israel, Arabs, and the Environment
11. Environmental Activism Hits Its Stride
12. Toward a Sustainable Future
Index
About the author
Alon Tal is founder of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and chairman of Life and Environment, an umbrella group for Israel's eighty environmental organizations. He has a law degree from Hebrew University and a doctorate from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Summary
Provides a history of environmentalism in Israel, interviewing hundreds of experts and activists who have made it their mission to keep the country's remarkable development sustainable amid a century of political and cultural turmoil.
