Pollution in a promised land : an environmental history of Israel /

Tal offers a detailed and well-written account of Israel's environmental history, prepared in the context of the complex and often conflicting cultural and emotional, political, religious, agrarian versus technological, and national security issues with which Israelis contend. The author describes the tragic crossing of a hastily constructed bridge over the Yarkon River by an Australian team en route to the 1997 Maccabiah Games. Of four fatalities that resulted when the bridge collapsed, only one was due to trauma from a fall. Three athletes died from the effects of water pollution, from which several other victims continue to suffer. Nationwide water quality is merely one of many issues the author discusses. Arabs and Israelis cannot yet agree on essential demographic planning that will influence the distribution of available water resources. Some 77 percent of Israelis live in urban areas, placing much pressure on limited resources. Human actions have endangered or led to the extirpation of many indigenous vertebrates and plant species; inconsistency marks the policies of Israel's ministers of the environment. Today's Israelis, says Tal, stand at an environmental crossroads and face their "'last chance' to preserve a healthy Promised Land for posterity." For all levels of readers. K. B. Sterling formerly, Pace University