The Land Is Full ─ Addressing Overpopulation in Israel

During the past sixty-eight years, Israel’s population has increased from one to eight million people. Such exponential growth produced acute environmental and social crises in this tiny country, increasingly unable to support the growing number of people who call it home. Alon Tal, one of Israel’s foremost environmentalists, considers the ramifications of this extraordinary demographic growth, from burgeoning pollution and dwindling natural resources to overcrowded classrooms, courtrooms, and roads. Tal argues that Israel’s population policies are the single greatest factor behind poverty, environmental destruction, and degraded quality of life. Historically, demography was a major source of tension between Arabs and Jews, but the recent drop in Arab fertility creates an opportunity for dispassionate discourse. Based on extensive fieldwork, including interviews with dozens of experts and individuals from all sectors of Israeli society, the book examines the origins of Israel’s population policies and how they must change to support a sustainable future.

Alon Tal founded the Israel Union for Environmental Defense in 1990. He is presently a visiting professor at the Stanford Center for Conservation Biology on sabbatical from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He lives in Maccabim, Israel.