The Minister of Environmental Protection Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) and the Nature and Parks Authority published together a draft of new rules that would prohibit certain activities in national parks, including smoking tobacco products and the use of plastic disposables.
The new proposal was released on Tuesday, which is also World Tobacco Day when people are told to quit smoking.
The proposal also includes a new policy that would require that all signs in the parks be in at least three languages – Hebrew, Arabic and English.
The authority to implement new rules such as these is vested in the plenum of the Nature and Parks Authority, with the approval of the Minister of Environmental Protection.
Minister of Environmental Protection Tamar Zandberg deckared, “Smoking is harmful, detrimental to health and can lead to death. In addition, it is harmful to the environment. The new rules are designed to keep our national parks clean of disposable waste and cigarette butts, as well as the health of vacationers and those who spend time at the sites. We are continuing the positive trend and moving to reusable utensils – now also in the National Parks of the Nature and Parks Authority “