Several hours after the Ministry for Environmental Protection threatened to shut down the Ben Gurion Airport due to noise pollution, Minister of the Environment Gideon Ezra said that the airport would not be closed.
Minister Ezra said that he was not informed of the plan to send the letter to the Israel Airports Authority, and that as far as he was concerned, the decision was invalid.
According to Ezra, a discussion on the issue would be held Tuesday.
Earlier, the Ministry of Environmental Protection informed the IAA in a letter that the airport would be shut down as of tomorrow if nighttime flight traffic is not discontinued immediately.
Ever since one of the runways at the airport was closed for renovations, the residents of the neighboring community of Bnei Atarot began suffering from unbearable aircraft engine noise at all hours of the day.
The Ministry offered the residents who are exposed to noise that exceeds 95 decibels to move to hotels at the State's expense until the works at the airport are completed, but the offer was turned down.
In a letter to IAA Director-General Gabi Ofir, the Ministry stated that the IAA must take all the necessary steps to make sure that as of Wednesday, no aircraft would take off from the runway close to Bnei Atarot.
"In case this blatant infringement of the law and failure to respect the demands of the Ministry of Environmental Protection continue after Wednesday night," the letter stated, "the Ministry plans to take every measure at its disposal, including a personal order to close down the runway, and filing an indictment against the IAA and its directors for breaking the law and failing to comply with the Ministry's demands."
'My life has become unbearable'
In response to the threat, IAA officials said, "We did our best to accommodate the residents and reach a settlement, and we still do. If the Ministry for Environmental Protection thinks that the best solution is to close down Israel's international airport in August, let them do so."
Amichai Kenyon, a resident of Bnei Atarot and a father of seven, told Ynet that the terrible noise from the airport had a hard impact on his life.
"I can't take it anymore, I haven't slept for three weeks. We spent the last week at a friends' house in Rosh Pina, and we plan to go to the United States for a month until the matter is resolved. The last three weeks have been unbearable. I've been hiding from my wife the fact that I started taking sleeping pills.
"There isn't a moment without landing or takeoff. At night a plane lands or takes off every 10 minutes. Every plane rattles the house, landings cause terrible noise. It feels as if a Tomahawk missile is landing in my house," he described
Eli Senior contributed to the report
First published: 14:29, 08.28.7