In its sixth annual report, titled `Israel's Planning and Building Threats to Open Spaces: Annual Report for 2013,' the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) has accused the planning administration of the Interior Ministry of promoting development at the cost of open spaces.

The report, which was released on Tuesday at a press conference in Tel Aviv, chiefly pinpointed a total of 119 threats - including 17 new threats - which open spaces in Israel will face during the year 2013.

Going by the accusations leveled by the SPNI, the planning administration is not only heading in the direction of compromising the protection of open spaces, but is also promoting the narrow interests in development of some selected groups instead of the good of the public.

Noting that there has been a 75 percent increase in threats to Israel's open spaces in the last four-year period, the SPNI report has categorized the 2013 threats as follows: 29 threats of transportation development; 20 of water infrastructure; 11 of energy infrastructure; 10 of new settlement establishment; and 17 each of rural and agricultural plans, and tourism industry.

Calling for a reform in national planning, Nir Papay - VP and environmental director of SPNI - said that development-related national planning should include "several key components, such as the treatment of obstacles preventing the realization of tens of thousands of approved housing unit plans, the allocation of appropriate resources to planning institutions and the anchoring of legislation in public participation."