West Bank residents seek to block construction of waste incineration plant

Residents in communities near the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim near Jerusalem ask the High Court to issue a temporary stop order on moves to build a waste incineration plant on a site known as the Good Samaritan.

The residents want to force the Judea and Samaria Civil Administration, which governs Maale Adumim, as well as the Maale Adumim council and the Finance and Environmental Protection ministries, to explain how they can build such a plant before the land has been zoned for it.

More stringent requirements would come with zoning for a waste incinerator.

The project has already gone out to the preliminary stage of tender. The Civil Administration has not rezoned the site, earmarked years ago for landfill, which also means that public consultation has not been held.

The locations for another three waste incineration plants in the center of the country, not all of which will necessarily be built, were approved in principle in May by the National Planning Council.

One of the first acts of Israel’s recently appointed Environmental Protection Minister, Gila Gamliel, was to temporarily freeze ministry waste policy — including moves to build incineration plants — so that she can conduct a review.

— Sue Surkes