- Early on Sunday morning the students took off for a three day trip in the Negev to look at issues of sustainability and environmental justice. The trip was organized by the Student Life Department and Dr. Clive Lipchin as part of the course he teaches "Society and the Environment". During the trip, students visited both recognized and unrecognized Bedouin villages, Jewish settlements, single family farms and the Ramat Hovev National Industrial Waste Site near Ber Sheva. At night, the students slept in a Bedouin tent at "The Desert Ship" camp ground and heard stories from Pharchan, the Bedouin camp ground owner. The students had bot a great time but were also challenged by the complicated issues they confronted. The trip ended on Tuesday night so that students would be back on the kibbutz in time for the signing ceremony with Ben-Gurion University the following day.
- On Wednesday, the institute hosted a delegation from Ben-Gurion University and the Toronto Jewish Federation Partnership 2000 Steering Committee for the long awaited signing ceremony of the agreement between the Arava Institute and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The agreement grants the Arava Institute's academic program official affiliate status with Ben-Gurion University. The ceremony took place outside the Keren Kolot lobby overlooking the Bryan Medwed Renewable Energy Park and the Institute's Academic and Research Center offices. The ceremony was emceed by Ronit Debowy of Kibbutz Ketura and opend with a song in Hebrew and Arabic prepared by Arava Institute students. Mr. Udi Gat, Chairman of the Hevel Eilot Regional Council was the first speaker and spoke about the importance of an academic center in the region and the growing relationship between BGU and Hevel Eilot. Professor Jimmy Weinblatt, the BGU Rector spoke for the univeristy as well as Professor Shaul Krakover, Dean of the Eilat Campus. I spoke in the name of the institue (see speech) and two students, Yonat Morduch and Huda Al Beirut did a superb job representing the students. Professor Weinblatt and I signed a declaration of affiliation which accompanies the legal documents. The ceremony ended with a beautiful rendition of Halevai (a song of peace and hope) by Yuval and Sivan Musnik (two children of Kibbutz Ketura). After the speaches, the delegation from Ben-Gurion and Toronto walked over to the institute's offices in order to unveil the sign indicating that the institute is now an official affiliate of Ben-Gurion University. See declaration and pictures.
Other events this week:
- We had a visit from the Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Dr. Yossi Inbar, on Tuesday. Dr. Inbar came with a delegation from his office who recieved a brief explanation of the activities of the institute. The meeting was very brief and half way through our explanation of what we do, the Director General received a phone call on his cell phone answered it and spent 15 minutes talking while we all sat in silence and waited for him to finish. By the time the call was over, so was the meeting. Welcome to Israel.
- On Friday, I was asked to give a presentation to the Hevel Eilot Regional Council about the Arava Institute. Over the past few years, the institute has begun to work much more closely with the Regional Council on issues such as Renewable Energy, the Science Center, the R & D Agricultural Station and so on. Udi Gat, Chair of the Council felt it was important that members of the Regional Council get a wider picture of what the institute does.
- This week was both Thanksgiving (the American holiday of thanks) and Eid Al Adha (the Moslem holiday commemorating the sacrifice of Ishmael by Abraham). On Thursday evening, students stuffed themselves with a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat including a whole turkey cooked by Barbara Pinsker and on Friday, afternoon, in the traditional Moslem manner, the students slaugtered and lamb and barbequed it! Not too many students were hungry for Friday night dinner.
David
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