Comments on: Why is the Society for the Protection of Nature (SPNI) in Israel Supporting Settlements in the West Bank?

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:49:07 +0000

Green groups are entitled to follow whichever political agenda they like. But there’s more than a shade of hypocrisy in claiming to be ‘apolitical’, on the one hand, and lending explicit support to highly controversial political projects such as settlements, on the other.

By the way, I read that the SPNI have since discontinued their tours of ‘wineries’ and the like at unauthorized West Bank settlement outposts.

By: Daniel Pedersen

Daniel Pedersen — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:33:23 +0000

Michael seems to be making the case that environmental organizations must follow a social-liberal-leftist agenda on non-environmental issues.
I argue that the environmental agenda should be kept separate from other issues in order to gain broad based support; protect the evironment and “agree to disagree” on other topics.
Michael’s logic is faulty: SPNI is supporting the destruction of the environment because they have field schools in Ofra and Har Gilo and tours wineries; a completely separate (and ugly!) settlement (Betar Ilit) is dumping rubble on Palestinian land; settlements sprawl while Israel Proper builds upward.
This chain of logic fails to make the case the the SPNI is a supporter of all of the environmental ills in the West Bank. The field schools in Ofra and Har Gilo date back to my childhood – which was a very different time. If the SPNI pulls out based on political considerations, then it will be involving itself in the dispute.
Taking this logic a step further, the SPNI (and all of us) could be accused of supporting the occupation by living in Israel, and therefore, in order to be environmentally responsible we should all leave the country.
Also see my post on ‘Reevaluating “Green” Parties in Israel’ for more on this issue of agendas for environmental organizations:
http://greenprophet.com/2008/11/12/4131/reevaluating-green-partyisrael/

By: Rachel Weiss

Rachel Weiss — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:53:23 +0000

The SPNI is a quasi governmental organization. They can stay apolitical in Israel, but why in the world would they get involved in West Bank issues? Supporting terror is not a sustainable endeavor and counter-intuitive to sound and forward-thinking environmental practises.

By: Ilana Teitelbaum

Ilana Teitelbaum — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:35:21 +0000

In my view, the SPNI can still be proud.