Sappir Journal; Duel in the Negev: Antennas, Jets and Bird Lovers
By SABRA CHARTRAND, Special to The New York Times
Published: November 23, 1989
SAPPIR, Israel, Nov. 16— Though the Negev is a vast, empty place of bleached rocks, scorching sand and sparse, dry trees, it has spawned a friendly but cautious battle over territory, which for a change is not between Arabs and Jews.
The Negev is a patchwork of zones controlled by the Israeli military and environmentalists, who have lived in harmony with one another since the military relocated its firing ranges here from Sinai in 1982.
But when a new radio transmitter being built for the United States Government compelled the military to announce that it plans to turn one of the last nature reserves into another firing range, the two neighbors suddenly became careful adversaries.
More than three-fourths of the Negev, from the city of Beersheba on the northern edge to the port of Eilat on the Red Sea, belongs to the Israeli Army. The remaining canyons, plateaus and sand dunes are open to the public and overseen by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. A Giant Intruder
But the skies over even these and other parts of the desert are dominated by Israeli Air Force fighters -except in the spring and fall when millions of birds migrating between Europe and Africa glide through on the warm desert winds.
Now a newcomer is lined up to move into a corner of the wedge-shaped desert, in the form of a giant 16-antenna shortwave transmitter being built for the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty. Representatives of the United States and Israeli Governments have already held groundbreaking ceremonies for the transmitter, which is scheduled to begin operation in 1993.
But already, the impending arrival of the relay station is heating up a delicate battle over a corridor of pristine desert between the Jordanian and Egyptian boundaries, where the Arava valley melts into the Negev. The strip is popular with hikers, educators and scientists and is one of only two remaining nature reserves where the public can see spectacular examples of natural desert.
But the military has revealed that the proposed site for the radio transmitter borders an air force training zone. The military says the high-powered electromagnetic signals from the station's 250- to 500-kilowatt antennas will interfere with jet avionics. So the military wants to move the air force firing range southward, into a large chunk of the corridor favored by hikers. The F-16's Are the Foe
In the midst of the territory in dispute, atop a sun-drenched plateau between two breathtaking canyons carved out of the desert by the waters of the Dead Sea ages ago, a dusty jeep slowly bounced and skidded along a faint track in the sand one recent afternoon.
Overhead, three Israeli F-16's thundered across the sky, reached the Jordanian border within minutes and then turned back to roar toward the Egyptian boundary to the south. On the ground, shattered fragments of air force test missiles that had missed a neighboring firing range lay near the jeep track.
As the jets crisscrossed the sky, field workers from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel riding in the jeep smiled wryly and squinted at the powerful planes.
''The black birds - our adversary in the sky,'' Mimi Ron, a 42-year-old field worker, said with a laugh. Then she added, ''We are not against the army because we understand that their concerns are paramount, but there's barely 15 miles by 15 miles of wilderness left here, and wouldn't you know it, they want to take it.'' A Radio Nerve Center
In 1986, Israeli and American Government officials began negotiating contracts for the construction of the radio transmitter, which will relay broadcasts from the United States Government-run stations to the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. With a transmitter in the Middle East, listeners in those countries will enjoy better reception.
Officials at the Israeli Ministry of Communications, which has been responsible for the project since negotiations began, said the military vetoed several suggested sites for the transmitter before finally agreeing to the present location.
''The Israel Defense Forces were the dominant consideration in the decision about where to build the station,'' said Reuven Yeredor, the managing director of the Communication Ministry office in charge of the transmitter project.
''After more than two years of working with the army, the present site was accepted, and then the military suddenly announced they were going to close off the area open to the public,'' he added. And What About the Birds? While environmentalists and officials of the Communications Ministry agree that the military should seek an alternative solution to its problem, they differ over another question raised by the contruction of the powerful transmitter.
''The flight patterns of millions of migratory birds pass over the Arava valley,'' where the transmitter will stand, said Menachem Zalutzki, the general secretary of the Society for the Protection of Nature. He and his collegues worry that migration will be disrupted by the radio signals.
Mr. Yeredor said the Communications Ministry has given the go-ahead for construction to begin because studies conducted by the Society have not unearthed conclusive evidence that the birds will be endangered. But it is the lack of evidence that worries Mr. Zalutzki.
''It's important that we learn what sort of effect the station's electromagnetic signals will have on migration,'' he said. ''These are not Israel's birds, they belong to Europe and are only passing through.''
Environmentalists and the Israeli military are waging a cautious battle for the Negev. Workers of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel stood before a canyon, popular with hikers, that the military wants to turn into an air force firing range. From the left were Mimi Ran, Keren Ketko and Arel Blitz. (The New York Times/Brenna Diamond); Map of Israel showing location of the Negev.