In light of recent developments described in detail in the post on our Hebrew website, the demonstration which we planned to pressure minister Erdan this Friday is cancelled.
We will update this post by tomorrow to provide a summary in English of these latest developments, so please check back again.
As you recall, On November 2nd The Supreme court instructed Minister Gilad Erdan, who is in charge of Defense of the Environment, to respond by the end of November and to provide reasoning why he does not exercise his authority and issue a warrant forbidding the night flights over Modiin.
Two weeks ago we wrote Minister Gilad Erdan, and we asked him to wield his authority and issue such a warrant. We also invited Minister Erdan to make a brief visit to Modiin at night and experience the noise levels that the residents of Modiin are experiencing every night.
We’ve been also in contact with Yossi Hazai, advisor to Gilad Erdan, who stated that the minister is planning to visit Modiin at night to gain personal insight to the noise levels that the flights are generating. Hazai also stated that per recent noise level measurements, some 25-30% of the flights over Modiin exceed the 75 Decibel threshold, yet the head of the Noise and Radiation Branch at the ministry of the Defense of the Environment does not deem this to be unacceptable noise levels.
Given that Minister Erdan has not yet taken the action we are striving for, and given that our window of opportunity to exert public pressure on Minister Erdan will close at the end of the month, we are organizing public pressure on Minister Erdan next week that will peek with a mass protest on Friday, November 26th.
Like in the successful protest of July 2009, we plan to convene starting at 8:00AM the parking lot in front of the Modiin Municipality and head out by 8:30AM to a destination that will be decided during the next few days. We are planning the rally so as to enable the participants to get to the children schools and pick them up by 11:45AM.
We are requesting that you confirm your plan to participate in this rally via email to planes@modiin.us, so that we can monitor the number of people who plan to participate. Please state your mobile phone and the number of participants who will attend.
The rally will be held only if we reach significant participation numbers – so please confirm your participation today!
We also seek volunteers who can help with hanging flyers in entrances to homes, putting up posters, making phone calls (in Hebrew), assist in directing people during the day of the rally, contribute financially, etc. If you are willing to assist, please email us at planes@modiin.us.
We will also hold a campaign early next week to flood the office of Gilad Erdan with your phone calls, emails and faxes. We will address this in detail in a separate email in the beginning of next week.
Please pass on this message on to your neighbors in Modiin and share the link to our Website post on your Facebook profile.
For more details please see the post on our Hebrew Website.
If you opt to stay at home during the rally – please don’t complain later about the noisy night flights!
Bagatz published on Tuesday its decision on the Modiin Municipality petition against the flights over the city, which was discussed in the Supreme Court on Monday. Bagatz did not accept the Municipality request to issue an injunction to halt the flights over the city at night.
Bagatz addressed four clause (clauses #5-8) of the Municipality 165 clause petition, directing the state to provide answers within 30 days to the Municipality’s questions in these four clauses. Three clauses address the long term use of the landing path over Modiin beyond the period of the Ben Gurion Runway works (the major use of the landing path over Modiin is due until the end of 2011).
One clause (clause #8) is directed at Gilad Erdan, the minister in charge of Defense of the Environment. Within this clause Minister Erdan is asked to explain why he does not use his power to issue a warrant forbidding flights over Modiin at night.
It should be noted that the State’s response to the petition included a letter from the Ministry of Defense of the Environment, referring to the noise measured during the night flights over Modiin in July, and stating that this noise is not unreasonable noise. Thus, the minister of Defense of Environment is likely to stick to this position.
However we now have a window of opportunity that is four weeks long to apply public pressure on the Minister of Environment Gilad Erdan to change the position of its ministry and to issue a warrant forbidding flights over Modiin at night.
Clear Skies has already sent a letter last week to Gilad Erdan, urging him to heed the calls of Modiin residents and to issue a warrant forbidding flights over Modiin at night. We enclosed letters we received from residents detailing the adverse effects the night flights have on their ability to sleep, including their children. We asked to schedule an urgent meeting with the Minister and invited him for a brief nightly visit to Modiin to experience for himself the noise levels involved.
We will also ask the media to help by putting Minister Gilad Erdan on the Spotlight. If we do not receive the desired answer from the Minister we will call on you, Modiin-Maccabim-Reut residents, to take an active part in an email/phone/fax campaign targeting Minister Erdan, and if that will not do the trick we will organize a rally.
We feel compelled to protest once again the deception of the Modiin Municipality’s publications, who stated after the court published its decision that “The Supreme Court has accepted all of the Municipality’s claims”. If that were the case, the flights would have of course ceased. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.
For more details on the Supreme Court decision and its consequences please see the post on our Hebrew website.
The hearing on the Modiin Municipality petition re the flights over the city was held yesterday, Monday November 1st, in the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. Presiding judges were Edmond Levy, Yoram Danzinger & Miriam Naor.
The main advocate for Modiin Municipality was Adv. Neri Yarkoni who specializes in aviation law. Adv. Yarkoni was assisted by Adv. Eyal Mamo. The Modiin Municipality legal team included also the Municipality legal advisor Adv. Dana Chefetz Tuchler and Adv. Einav Livne of the legal bureau.
Also present in the hearing were Mayor Haim Bibas, his two deputies Hanan Bernstein and Moish Levy and the general manager of the municipality, Yoram Carmon. Council member Alex Weinreb also attended the hearing, as well as ~15 Modiin residents.
The advocate for the State was Adv. Shosh Shmueli. Also present in the hearing were senior officials from the Civil Aviation Authority.
The hearing lasted about 50 minutes and at the end of the hearing the judges did not render a decision. Instead they announced that their decision will be published on the Supreme Court Website by the end of the next day, Tuesday November 2nd. An update on the decision will be posted on the Clear Skies Website.
For a detailed description of the court proceedings and their analysis please see the post on our Hebrew Website.
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