|
In recent days [(end August 2008] work has begun to prepare a ‘religious' (sex separated) beach on the eastern portion of the Sun Bay Beach. A sealed wall 2.5 metres high will completely enclose a 70 metre stretch of beach and reach out about 15 metres into the sea. Beach showers, shade huts, and lavatories will be built on each of the two portions of the separated beach. The cost of the work is around 1.7 million NIS. The contracting company who won the tender to carry out this project, scheduled to be completed during November, is Yesodot Hadarom Ltd.
Each year Eilat is visited by many orthodox Jews from Israel or abroad. The mayor of Eilat, who wanted to meet the need of allocating a beach for the ‘religious' as part of the policy to use beaches for public benefit, started working on this matter with his deputy, city council member Yiftach Mizrachi, who represents the orthodox population.
The aforesaid beach will serve both the religiously observant population in Eilat, said to be around 20% of the residents, as well as that visiting here.
It may be remembered that over a year ago, work was begun to prepare a strip of beach for the ‘religious' east of the Sun Beach but this was halted due to a restraining order filed by owners of the adjoining beach.
(Photo courtesy of Ronit Zilberstein)
That was the official press release. Eilat Today wonders about a few questions this issue raises.
First of all, how many Eilatis are religiously observant enough to require a sex-separated beach? We do not know what the definition of religiosity used in the ‘20%' statistic was, as there are degrees and degrees of religious observance, and each person might see a different degree as the ‘cutoff' between defining himself as ‘religious' or not.
Secondly, how many ‘religious' visitors to Eilat come here for the beaches and, if they do, require total separation? There have been ultra-orthodox visitors who even did diving courses here, requiring nothing more than that the unisex changing area have a private section temporarily closed off for their use. The rest of the dive club, beach area, etc. was as usual.
|
|
Thirdly, of the people (visitors or local) orthodox enough to require total separation when in their swimming costumes, how many or how often do they actually use the beach? And what about weekends, when use of motor vehicles is forbidden and, from what I've been told, even going to the beach at all is not allowed?
Fourthly, why should the entire population of Eilati taxpayers fund a beach that serves, at absolute best (see no. 1 above), only 20% of the population? Nor does the expense end with the construction - there will be upkeep, lifeguards, and other maintenance of any official beach.
Fifthly, what about other sectors of the local and/or visiting population who might wish their own private beach at taxpayer expense? Maybe the GLBT population would like their own beaches too, where they can mingle with their own kind while also being free from hassle by intolerant others? Maybe there should be nudist beaches to draw tourism from Europe and other places who would love a winter spot where they can bare themselves to the sun completely? Maybe there should be dog beaches where pets can be allowed to run free and splash (and other activities) wherever they please without offending beachgoers? Maybe there should be a geriatric beach with easy, unimpeded access for the elderly and where they don't feel themselves at a disadvantage next to smooth young bodies? Maybe there should be ‘smoking' and ‘no smoking' beaches so that non-smoking beachgoers don't spend half an hour arranging themselves and their children and their gear and getting all settled in nicely, just to have a ‘portable air pollution unit' plop down right next to them and foul their air? The list could go on...
And while some of these ideas might be good ones, and equally if not more valid than the ‘religious' beach, there's something else to remember besides who's footing the bill: who's providing the space for all these ‘designated beaches'? Eilat's remaining amount of beach area after Israel gave first Sinai and then Taba to Egypt, with parts of what's left closed off by entities such as the Navy, the Port, the Katza oil pipeline, private businesses such as the Dolphin Reef or Underwater Observatory, and the Coral Beach Nature Reserve, is extremely limited. Why close off what little is left for this or that subgroup of the population? Especially since there already was a religious beach built a bit south of Eilat, which either went defunct (so why repeat the same mistake?) or is serviceable (so why even more so would the present one be needed?).
|
