Most of the discussion about the damage caused by recent flooding in Israel's coastal cities deals with the responsibility of the government authorities, which did not invest enough in infrastructure development. That's only part of the story. The main problem, which we are virtually suppressing, stems from a failure in macro-planning. We aren't facing mere problems of faulty sewage planning, but an entire outlook that failed by ignoring Israel's basic geographic conditions.
Not since biblical times have so many people lived on the coast, which because of its location at the foot of the mountains is vulnerable to floods and swamp conditions. The High Priest's Yom Kippur prayer mentions the residents of the Sharon region ("may their homes not become their graves"). But going back to the early days of Zionism, most of the Jews in Israel have crowded into the coastal strip. Today, 60% of the Jews in Israel live between Netanyahu and Rishon Lezion.
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In this narrow enclave, which is filling up with city infrastructure and becoming choked by concrete and asphalt, open spaces are disappearing. There is not enough open land to soak up rain and hold it. The eco-system nearer to the coastline, which even without urban construction is vulnerable to flooding from the hills, is out of balance and out of control. The widespread construction in the east of the greater Tel Aviv area – Modi'in, Elad, and Rosh Ha'ayin – has a direct influence on the precipitation that unnaturally increases the flow of the creeks and streams into the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
In these regions, which were historically open spaces, much of the rainfall would trickle into the groundwater. With the spread of construction, most of that water is diverted by the sewage and drain systems to creeks in amounts that far exceed their capacity. A similar process is taking place in Beit Shemesh, which is being built up into a city of 350,000 residents.
The Israel Planning Administration has ordered the country's various local planning entities to prepare for the construction of 2.6 million new apartments by 2040, all within the Green Line. This will throw the nation's ecological balance unfeasibly off-kilter.
Restoring ecological balance demands a fundamental shift in outlook. The Jerusalem District, which according to the plan will receive an additional 300,000 new apartments, needs to move most of the new construction eastward. Rosh Ha'ayin, which is set to grow by 40,000 new apartments, should also be built to the east, in the direction of Ariel. The national plan for housing must be updated with the goal of building an easterly "backbone" for Israel that would run above the Jordan Valley, along the Arad-Gilboa line. This change to the nation's housing planning would save greater Tel Aviv from collapse.
