Weekly Report May 23rd -27th, 2010

• It was another interesting and packed week at the Arava Institute:
• On Sunday afternoon and evening, Michelle Shachar took the students up into the mountains behind Kibbutz Ketura for a PELS overnight under the stars. The students started by riding bikes from the Neot Smadar restaurant at Shizafon Junction, located about 12 kilometers west of Ketura junction (and a well known watering whole to Israel Ride alum). The students ended their ride at the Nahal Kisui sand dunes, where they hiked, frolicked, cooked dinner, sang and slept. The next morning , they hiked back down the mountain to Ketura.



• Sharón Benheim reports: also on Sunday, the Institute hosted the Quebec Labrador Foundation's (QLF) 2010 Land Conservation Fellowship program this past week. The QLF Middle East Program (see: http://www.qlf.org/internat_program/mideast_program.htm ) includes a Fellowship, during which North Americans visit and share innovations with partner organizations from Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the West Bank and the Middle Eastern fellows visit the New England area. The goal is to foster citizen diplomacy and cross-border environmental collaboration as a bridge to greater understanding, dialogue, and cooperation. Staff member Gail Osman participated as a Middle Eastern Fellow in the first part of this 2010 program, visiting the American Fellow's and learning about their case studies and this week hosted the American group at the Institute to learn about the Samar Sand Dunes Campaign. Participants heard about the campaign from David Lehrer and visited the site with Yaniv Golan. Sharón Benheim, a former QLF fellow and staff member Abby Lutman also helped host the group and make their visit a memorable one.



• On Monday morning, Taal Goldman, Sababa Coordinator and I met with the Hevel Eilot Regional Council Chairman, Udi Gat, regarding ongoing local environmental issues such as the planned golf course at Ber Ora, the hotel that is planned to be built in Timna Park, the inscription of Timna Valley as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the Samar Sand Dune campaign. We intend to meet with the Regional Council Chair once every two months in order to update him and discuss on going issues.



• That evening, the Sababa subcommittee on Timna Valley inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site met to discuss ongoing negotiations with the Park Timna Management Committee. After that meeting the full Sababa Steering Committee met in order to discuss all of the current issues that Sababa is working as discussed with the Regional Council Chair in the morning. The committee finalized Sababa's stand on the Timna Hotel which will be presented to the residents in the region in the near future. The Steering Committee also viewed a presentation prepared by Taal Goldman about the upcoming plans of the Airport Authority to build an international airport in between Timna Park and Ber Ora on the border with Jordan.



• On Wednesday, the institute was flooded with activity. First of all, the New Arava Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands (ACSDAL) hosted a delegation of 7 staff members of MASHAV, Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The delegation was headed by the Director of Policy Planning and External Relations, Mr. Ilan Fluss. The visitors had the opportunity to hear about the Arava Institue, the work of the new center, see Elaine's experimental orchard, visit the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, see a demonstration of a water harvesting and purification system developed by the Arava Institute together with the Shamraz Company and participate in a meeting between students and an official government delegation from Ontario Canada (see next item). The MASHAV delegation was very impressed with their visit and at the final meeting at the end of the day agreed to work together with the institute to develop a long term partnership between MASHAV and the institute.



• On the same day, the Premier of Ontario, Canada, Dalton McGuinty, the Canadian Ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen and a group of Ontario business leaders and reporters visited the Arava Institute. The Premier met with students in the Kibbutz Community Center (which also serves as a classroom for the institute). Students, staff, regional council staff, members of the Jewish Agency staff and the Ontario delegation crowded into the classroom in order to hear four Arava Institute students, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, an Israeli and a Canadian, introduce themselves and tell a little bit about their background and about the institute. Aftwards, the Premier himself gave a very inspiring speach to the students recognizing the uniqueness of the institue and the importance of our message that only by working together can we achieve sustainabilty and peace for our planet. The Premer praised the work of the institue and the courage of the students. Udi Gat, the Hevel Eilot Regional Council Chair closed the session by thanking the Premier for visiting the institute and the region. After the meeting, the Premier was taken on a tour of the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation by Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed.



• Parallel to these visits, 9 students from the Arava Institute organized and participated in an activity with 37 African refugees from Eilat at the Samar Sand Dunes. The students have been voluntarily working with African refugees in Eilat all semester. The students facilitated activities of finding animal tracks is the sand, yoga, games and Pita bread making. The kids played in the sand, came to know the dunes and left back home happy with great big smiles on their faces. The students were as pleased.

• On Thursday morning, a group of about 20 Allegheny College students accompanied by Professor Eri Pallant, Allegheny College faculty and Friends of the Arava Institute Board member, crossed from Jordan into Israel and after a quick stop at the Samar Sand Dunes, arrived at the Institute. The group of Allegheny students are participating in an eco-tour of Jordan, Israel and Palestine organized by the Arava Institute's Eco-Paths Department. While in Jordan, the students were hosted by Arava Institute's Jordnian alumni who made all of the arrangements for their tour. The focus of the program is on environmental issues especially issues around water and nature conservation. The students will spend the weekend at the institute and then head north. In the evening, the students were invited to participate in the a celebration of the graduation of 5 Arava Institute Masters students from Sde Boker. See the next item.



• On Thursday afternoon, a group of about 15 Arava Institute Masters students came down from Sde Boker where they are studying at the Albert Katz International School of Desert Studies of Ben-Gurion University. Five of the students who came down have completed their Masters and are graduating this semester. The Arava Institute wanted to honor the students and inaugurate an annual event to celebrate the succes of the Joint Masters Program. The 5 students are Adi Maimon, Eitan Amiel, Sulieman Halasawah, Ziv Sherver and Jennifer Golding. Mazen Zoabi, a 6th graduate could not come down to the institute for the event due to family commitments. The 5 students presented their research to the other Masters students and to the current students at the institute in the afternoon. In the evening all of the students, Masters students. staff, Allegheny students and friends and familes gathered at the pool for a celebration including food prepared by the Arava Institute staff, ceremonial cetificates and gifts, a slide show, musical entertainment and dancing. The Joint Masters program in Desert Studies, Environmental Studies Specialization was initiated in 2002. So far over 35 Arava Institute students have been accepted to program and over 15 have completed their studies and graduated. A number of those graduates are now on their way to their PhD. This was a very proud evening for the Arava Institute.

David Lehrer