The 'Human figure map of the Holy Land' was created, in part, from a desire to give the environmentally wounded Land of Israel an idyllic look.
The desolate land with a natural look which was attended by early Zionists is nowdays largely covered with a layer of concrete and asphalt, in part because of the desire for territorial achivements.
The Arabs who live in Israel and the Palestinian Authority copied the pattern and also conquered the country in the same format, of towns invading endlessly to natural areas.
The result is a clash between two teritorial masses, which already reached a critical level.
Peace to Israel will not come by politicians, nor by capital investments in combined projects of any kind.
Peace will come by geographers and city and regional planners, who will sit and draw maps of areas and settlements under the most desirable and appropriate pattern, to enable the different communities in this land to grow in harmony.
It will be done not in accordance with 'facts on the grounds' by which, for example, most Arab towns in Israel were declaired as cities without a proper planning, or asphalt barons constructed more and more highways with intensive consuming of land and the like.
Planning should be done according to what is right and correct from the planning point of view, under the fact that the whole land from the Jordan river to the Mediteranean sea is just one small geographical unit, a small piece of land which should be designed and built under this definition.
This insight of more then just close proximity, the insight of one planning area, was ignored by the international and local politicians.
What will be the benefit of a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians if they will develop in their land concrete communities, which will spread within a few years and will cover all the hills, valleys and plains in an uncontrolled way.
Formulating a peace agreement without a united landscape image, designed and detailed in all aspects, will paradoxically hasten our common downfall.
There are two theories of general regional collapse due to a severe environmental crisis:
The first describes the gradual and slow collapse.
The second describes an immediate collapse, after many years of apparent stability.
The best known result of terrorist extremism is terrorist acts against human beings. The results which are less published, but are very noticeable for those who know the land, are of construction terrorism, which violate the ecological balance and lndscape views under the arguments of religious, political and sectorial values.
The valleys around the Temple Mount, which were once green areas, had become over the last few decades crowded urban housing and unplanned neighborhoods.
On the other hand, the Israeli government covered the green hills around Jerusalem with suburban neighborhoods.
A building which is built in an inappropriarte place will remain for centuries. Even if it would be demolished, there will be a very long time until nature will cover the ruins.
This is in contrast to air pollution, which can be fixed within a relativly short time.
These serious facts on the ground are a form of terrorism that makes the conflict insoluble.
Alleged minor defaults of local authorities, which are not careful enough about construction laws, including careful planning and tight control, are the real source of the conflict today.
The Christian powers watch after the handling of the State of Israel in the field of regional planning.
For them the State of Israel is part of the Holy Land, the idyllic land of the Bible and the New Testament, which is the object of all time longing.
Perhaps they prefer an ecological disaster, the result of construction violations which will make the country a no man's land, where might makes right.
Such a disaster is in accordance with the Messianic Christian concept of heavenly Jerusalem and the land of Israel as a place of longing only.
Environmental issues are very important to Germany in particular. Germany's re-unification was performed largely thanks to the strong German Green Party.
If we will learn to understand the critical importance of regional planning and establish appropriate authorities to enforce it properly, we can leverage it to a level where a peace agreement with the Palestinians would not be necessary.
Peace will be realized for granted in a country which is working on maintaining and developing the natural landscape, just as a person is recognized and respected by those around him if he behave properly.
Man is shaped in the pattern of the landscape of his birthplace.
The chaos of unplanned environment is spreading also to the planned urban environment.
Here are some examples of planning chaos in the cities in which we live:
Haifa metropolitan area is where the situation of the environment is getting worse all the time, in terms of regional planning in particular. For example, small adjacent cities with similar communities in Haifa bay create a dense cluster and long had to be united into one big city. This was not done and the result is a multi-year environmental cheos. The lack of strong leadership contributed to continous dangerous air pollution from the petro-chemical factories nearby.
The situation of public transportion in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area is very poor, according to a series of articles.
The damage that poor public transportion cause to the economy is enormous. Time lost for every citizen is accumulated into millions of hours each year. But it seems that none of the politicians is raising his glove, and we hear about a record year of cars sales, traffic congestion and endless new highways.
Israel need a 'Singapore Program'. Singapore has limited land resources and its civil leaders understood that they can not allow uncontrolled construction, that will prevent them from developing human resources properly. Therefore they have enforced strict rules in the field of environmental protection. Singapore is now a symbol and an international role model, but there is no political party in Israel which adopts this symbol.
There are many Insufficient government authorities in Israel, such as National Land Administration, currently undergoing a paradoxical reform for privatizing state lands on one side and creating a unit for maintaining land resources on the other.
Preserving and maintaining the very limited land resources of Israel requires people of military stature, generals who will conduct the campaign against the territorial terrorism.
They'll have to deal with the issues of enforcement of planning and building laws in a military disciplined manner. There should be headquarters, intelligence, forces, spokesmen and so on, as in any orgenized army.
Earth is an irreplaceable resource.
