THE NEXT GENERATION

In 1978 Yoffe turned sixty-five. He was a member of the Knesset and was ready to step down after fourteen years directing the NRA. There were two clear candidates to replace him: Adir Shapira and Uzi Paz. Paz was much older, with more experience, and better versed in the science of nature protection. He also challenged Yoffe more on professional issues. On the other hand, although Shapira had never been a high-ranking mil-itary officer, he had a much more forceful and authoritarian personality. Yoffe chose him over Paz.

Shapira maintained the general momentum that Yoffe had started. Expansion continued. For instance, in April 1979, the nascent Environmental Protection Service empowered the Authority's rangers to regulate oil pollution in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Mediterranean coast.^[117] During the late 1970s the Authority reached its peak number of workers—four hundred, most of them in the field.^[118]

Under Shapira, the NRA modified its strategy toward the Negev. Shapira commissioned a plan for a Ramon Crater reserve in August 1979; it was approved by the government only in 1982.^[119] This was among the first of the large desert reserves. At the same time, the NRA set its sights on the forty-one thousand hectares of the dark granite Eilat mountains that make up the southern tip of the country.^[120] Toward the end of the 1980s, when Ariyeh Deri took over as Minister of the Interior, the process moved into higher gear. Deri was the wunderkind of the new Orthodox-Sephardi party, Shas. He was a young Yeshiva genius who had hardly served in the army. Unintimidated by the military, he did not hesitate to declare nature reserves in the south. From the perspective of sheer magnitude, Deri should go down as the Greenest interior minister in Israeli history.^[121]

Because 38 percent of the lands in reserves overlap with military train-ing grounds, the actual breadth of preservation in the Negev may be overstated. Section 23 of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Law frees security forces from complying with its provisions. Technically the

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army has free rein to go about its business in the reserves. This may explain why it has never been particularly obstinate in opposing the declaration of reserves, even when the land is already utilized for training. The NRA offers the IDF a letter openly agreeing to continued military activities, and the status quo continues.^[122] Preservationists take the long view, assuming that once a reserve is declared, they can expect greater sensitivity from the military. And perhaps one day peace will obviate the need for army maneuvers.

In practice, the Authority tries to reach a consensus with the army on three classifications of land usage in their reserves: nonshooting areas, air force grounds, and tank training grounds. The latter suffer considerable damage, but the massive areas set aside as safety zones around the periph-ery of firing ranges remain unharmed.