Nature has returned to the public:
following an "Israel Hayom" investigation, the Land Enforcement Authority closed today (Monday) the glamping complex that was illegally erected on the banks of the Jordan River by the Upper Galilee Regional Council.
The law allowed the general public to set up tents, but in practice the compound was fenced and permanent tents were built there that were rented at a price of NIS 900 a night.
Also, following the publication, the CEO of the Economic Society of the Upper Galilee Regional Council, Meir (Negro) Levy, also resigned.
In 2015, the North District Committee approved a plan according to which the designation of the land is a public park/garden.
According to the plan, the regional council was allowed to establish an overnight parking lot that would include areas that would be used by the general public to set up tents.
In practice, a fenced compound was built on the land with permanent tents that were connected to the infrastructure.
The cost to order a tent is about NIS 700-900 per night.
The glamping complex that was closed,
Tents for NIS 900 per night.
Glamping complex, photo: Land Enforcement Authority
"Inspections conducted by the Enforcement Authority revealed that the complex operated without the required approvals and without a certificate of completion," the Land Enforcement Authority said.
"After the inspection and following an appeal by the Land Enforcement Authority to the local committee and the regional council, as of today the park in its current form is closed until further notice."
As mentioned, the establishment of the compound in violation of the law was first revealed in "Israel Hayom".
In the same investigation, it was published that the Upper Galilee Regional Council qualified a luxury resort and diverted water from the Jordan to it, while blocking the passage to the stream.
The site was built on an agricultural area of 36 dunams, which blocks vehicular access to the Jordan and prevents the public from enjoying the flowing water of the river.
And what's more: in the center of the site flows a stream whose waters are pumped from the Jordan - and all this without any approval from the authorities.
Paradoxically, the body behind the site is also the one that oversees the approvals for it: the Upper Galilee Regional Council.
In Kiryat Shmona, they were amazed to see how the purpose of agricultural land is changing again in the neighborhood kibbutzim, who are expropriating a public resource for their own benefit and extracting a financial profit from it.
However, Israel Hayom's investigation revealed that the council did not receive appropriate permits at all, and while the Israel Land Authority approved in the lease contract for the council's economic company, which established and operates the site, to use the land for a public park - it uses it for private purposes.
The Upper Galilee Regional Council stated in response to the investigation: "The economic company that established the parking lot was given permission from the drainage authority to flow a stream within the parking lot. As far as the commercial use of the land is concerned, in the approvals given by Rami for the construction of the parking lot, certain percentages were allocated for commercial use, and to the best of our understanding the council stands in them".
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