Weekly Report August 15th -27th, 2010

• On Sunday, August 15th, the Steering Committee for the Arava Center for Sustainable Development (ACSD) met with Professor Bernard Amadei, founder of Engineers Without Borders EWB USA and EWB International http://www.ewb-international.org/ and Dr Vered Doctori founder of EWB Israel.  Professor Amadei presented the history and activity EWB in the USA and around the world.  Dr Doctori presented the work of EWB Israel is in the process of becoming its own registered association in Israel and has established a number of chapters on campuses around the country. Dr. Doctori proposed establishing a chapter of EWB at the Arava Institute.  We discussed different ways for EWB and the Arava Institute (AIES) to cooperate through ACSD.  We also discussed involving our alumni in the chapter. Amit Eliyahu, the new coordinator of ACSD initiated the visit and he will continue to develop the cooperation between EWB and ACSD. 
• Kibbutz Ketura and Keren Kolot hosted the Red Sea College - Arava Valley of Peace Summer program http://redsea-college.org/ of about 30 Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and international high school students (16 to 17 year old). The summer program is part of the United World College organization http://www.uwc.org/ which has established international high schools around the world  whose goal is "to deliver a challenging and transformative educational experience to a diverse cross section of students, inspiring them to create a more peaceful and sustainable future". The longterm vision of the Red Sea College is to build an environmental high school program in the Arava that brings Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and students from all over the world to learn how to work together to protect their shared environment.  Sound familiar?  Though the program was hosted by Keren Kolot, the Arava Institute was involved in the program and the long term goal is to create a permanent framework for cooperation between the newly planned international high school and the institute.  The summer program is a pilot program and was considered very successful.  The expectation is that the summer program will continue every summer until the establishment of the high school is feasible.
• Though there are no students during the summer, the Academic Programs Department was not quiet.  In addition to the usual activity of preparing for the coming semester and the recruiting students there has been a great deal of activity in human resources:
• Moishe Siel, the Program Director for the last three years announced that he was leaving Kibbutz Samar, his home and moving away from the area.  He therefore, sadly announced his resignation as Program Director.  The Human Resources Committee has recommended that Cathie Granit, currently the Academic Coordinator replace Moishe as Program Director.  In addition, Brenda Hausler has been hired as Admissions Coordinator and Barbara Finkel as the new Campus Life Director.  Dr. Elli Groner, remains the Academic Director and will be overseeing a practically all new excellent all female Academic Programs Department Staff.  Good luck Elli!
• Shira Kronich sent me the following update on her trip to Brazil with Dr. Shmuel Brenner:
• Dr. Shmuel Brenner and Shira Kronich were invited to participate as a speakers in the Second International Conference on Climate, Sustainability and Development in Semi-arid Regions (ICID 2010), in Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. ICID18 conference aimed to create a space for the intensive and productive exchange of new ideas and experiences. As a platform for the production of knowledge, to enable discussions throughout the week to result in new ways of living on earth that promote cultural diversity and leverage the social and natural sciences toward integrative, innovate and sustainable new development pathways. On day 2 AIES presented 'The whole life cycle approach to capacity building in Semi arid lands; a case study of Sauri, Kenya'.
  
  
  
  
  
  This presentation aimed to discuss and share AIES ideas and the experience of the Arava Centre for Sustainable Development (ACSD) in transferring its expertise – in agricultural techniques, integrated water management, renewable energy systems, sustainable development, ecosystem protection and climate change effects in semi-arid lands – to developing countries facing conditions of poverty, food insecurity, desertification and water problems. The presentation described ACSD’s interdisciplinary, trans-boundary, whole life cycle approach to addressing environmental and social problems and then explores specifically the ACSD capacity building workshops in Sauri. The workshops focused on increasing agricultural yield and accessing the market as well as optimizing water use for domestic and agricultural purposes. The ultimate objective of the presentation was to discuss the potential and limitations of the whole life cycle approach to development in semi-arid lands and share ACSD's lessons learnt and future goals.  
• On Monday, August 23rd, Hamutal Lerner from Midot, the Israeli non-profit organization that rates non-profit organizations in Israel, spent time at the institute reviewing our performance, interviewing staff members and getting updated on changes that have taken place at the institute since the last time Midot performed a rating review two years ago. At that time, the institute received a very high rating of -A.  We certainly expect our rating to remain the same or to improve in this next review.
• Tuesday, August 24th, Dr. Shmuel Brenner, straight back from Brazil, Dr. Clive Lipchin and I met in Jerusalem at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Ambassador Haim Divon, Direcor of MASHAV Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, with Ilan Flus, Bat Eden Kite and other MASHAV staff as well as private consultant Dr. Tamar Ron, expert on international development and conservation programs.  The purpose of the meeting was to review Dr. Ron's proposal to set up the Israel Center for Sustainable Development through Environmental Cooperation (ICSD).  The purpose of the new center which would be part of MASHAV is:  To strengthen Israel’s role in achieving global environmental and sustainable development goals. To support sustainability in achieving the environmental conventions’ goals in developing countries, through establishment of bi-lateral partnerships, with focus on developing and delivering tailor-made comprehensive capacity building programs in cooperation and consultation with governments, organizations, communities and other stakeholders in specific countries.  The Arava Institute has been proposed as the primary partner for this new Israeli Foreign Ministry initiative as the operational center of the program.  This is a very exciting development and the ACSD team will discuss the proposal and how best to design the framework for cooperation with the Ministry.
• The Sababa Steering Committee met on Wednesday night at the Eilat/Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative Offices. The agenda included a review of the Hevel Eilot Regional Master Plan for development in the Arava and a presentation of the Open Spaces Rating System being used to determine the value of areas arond the Arava for development and conservation.  The Hevel Eilot region covers 13% of the land of the State of Israel including much of the countries last remaining wilderness, therefore, it is the responsibility of the region to be very thoughtfull regarding development and conservation decisions which are critical to the future natural resources of the country.  The Sababa Steering Committee takes this responsibility very seriously and will issue a statement regarding the proposed master plan and how the Open Spaces Rating system should be used.
• On Thursday, Shlomit Yarkoni, from Ben Or Consulting, spent the day at the institute meeting with staff in preparation for the Israeli Financial Resource Development Work Plan, Ben Or will present in September to the institute.  

David Lehrer

Weekly Report June 13th - 18th

• The Dead Sea Arava Science Center (DSASC), which is a local R&D center funded by the Hevel Eilot Regional Council and the Israeli Ministry of Science and hosted by the Arava Institue, welcomed Dr. Ilan Stavi who began work on Sunday. Ilan was recruited to work on bio-fuels together with Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed in the framework of the Center for Reneawable Energy and Energy Conservation.  Ilan and his family will be living in the new faculty house on the Arava Institute campus.
• The Arava Institute Board of Directors met on Monday in order to approve the Institute's financial statements for 2009.  The meeting was timed to coincide with AIES Night (see next item) in order to enable Board members the opportunity to see student presenations.
• Monday afternoon and evening, the Institute held the end of semester AIES Night, when Masters students and Independent Study students make presentations about their research projects.  AIES Night Schedule Some students, made Power Point Presentations while others produced posters for the evening.  This semester's AIES Night included guest speakers from Jewish Hearts for Africa, Engineers Without Borders and Abraham's Path as well as an exceptional array of high quality presentations and posters on subjects as varied as Hydrogen Production via Boron Hydrolysis to Non Violent Struggle: A Means for Saving Our Environment.
• That same evening two students from the Institute spoke to the Secretariat of the Kibbutz in order to update the Kibbutz members on the current semester and to express their positive feelings about their experience living on Ketura.
• On Tuesday, Representatives of the Israeli Ministry of Regional Cooperation visited the Institute and brought with them Jochen Reiger, Director of the Middle East Office of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) http://www.gtz.de/en/ in order to discuss possible cooperation with the Institute and with the DSASC.  GTZ is especially interested in cross border cooperation with Jordan and renewable energy projects.
• On Thursday, Michael Ben Eli was invited to the Institute by the Arava Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands (ACSDAL).  Michael is an architect by profession but a few years ago, founded the Sustainability Laboratories http://www.sustainabilitylabs.org/ whose mission is to act as a catalyst to transition the world's societies towards sustainability through the establishment of sustainable pilot communities. One of Sustainable Laboratories first projects is in Wadi Yatir among the Bedouin Community. The project is creating a sustainable desert farm owned and managed by a Bedouin agricultural cooperative. The project is supported by the JNF USA.  Michael came to the Institute in order to present the project and to discuss how the Institute could colaborate with the Sustainability Laboratories.  At the end of the visit, Michael, Kristina Donnely from ACSDAL, Abby Lutman from the Research Programs Department and I agreed on a list of potential areas of cooperation including help with the Wadi Yatir project as well as the Institute joing the Sustainabiltiy Laboratories international network of research stations.
• On the same day, the Institute was honored with a visit from the new Rector of Ben-Gurion University, Professor Zvi HaCohen and the outgoing Dean of the Eilat Campus Professor Shaul Krakover. This was an opportunty for the Professor HaCohen to get to know the Institute and for me to thank Shaul and Professor HaCohen's predecessor, Professor Jimmy Weinblatt for all they had done to enable the signing of the agreement with the University.  Dr. Elli Groner, Moishe Siel, Cathie Granit and I also discussed some of the technical problems we have run into in registering our students in their courses.  Professor HaCohen left me his card and said that I should call him any time if I need his help.

David Lehrer

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

Weekly Report May 9th-14th, 2010

This was an extremely busy week at the Arava Institute. I am not sure I can fit everything that happened on to one blog posting, but I'll try:

• On Tuesday, the Arava Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands (ACSDAL) hosted Rabbi Micha Odenheimer, the founder and director of Tevel B'Zedek http://www.tevelbzedek.org/. Tevel B'Zedek is an organization that brings Israelis and Jews from around the world to do volunteer work in Nepal and is starting to work in Haiti. The goal of ACSDAL is to provide sustainable solutions, training and extensions services to developing countries around the world. After we introduced Micha to the work of the Arava Institute and he introduced our staff to the work of Tevel B'Zedek, we discussed how our two organizations could cooperate. We decided on 4 areas of cooperation:
• 1) Creating the opportunity for our alumni to go from the Arava Institute to volunteering with Tevel B'Zedek
• 2) Helping Tevel B'Zedek develop practical sustainable technological solutions to water problems and other issues that they are confronting in Nepal and now Haiti
• 3) Cooperation on a new develoment project in an arid section of Nepal
• 4) Developing a certification program in Israel for development workers
• These were the initial ideas and we expect there to be follow up in the next few months.
• PELS was also very busy this week with two important guests. On Tuesday, Professor Mohammed Dajani of Al Quds University spoke to the students about "Wasatia" - which promotes centrism and moderation in Islam. The students heard from Professor Dajani about an approach to Islam which allows for the coexistence of Jews and Moslems. Wasatia teaches a moderate form of Islam which accepts fundamentalism in all religions as a belief in the teachings and writings of the religion but does not mean denying other religions or the promotion of violence or terrorism. "Radicalism and the claim of exclusive monopoly for the truth is the disease". www.bigdreamsmallhope.com/wasatia.pdf .
• The Toronto Partnership 2000 Steering Committee spent time in the region this week. On Wednesday, Dr Tareq Abu Hamed and I met witht he committee and presented the progress of the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC). This progress report included reports on 8 different research grants which have been approved for funding, including solar hydrogen production, biodigester development for the Bedouin Community in Israel, Palestine and Jordan, PV panels for hothouses, dust effect research, PV panel cooling and the latest research funding for PV panel cleaning granted by the US Binational Science Foundation. In addition to research progress, we also discussed the slower progress of the development of a Master's Degree in "Energy and the Environment". Though progress has been slower than hoped for, there have been recent discussions with the Vice-Rector of Ben Gurion University, Professor Yael Eidan which have been very promissing.
• Later that day, the Toronto Steering Committee took a tour of the new CREEC lab and Technology Validation Center at the institute. The Toronto Partnership 2000 program is a major funding sponsor of CREEC.
• Wednesday and Thursday, the institute hosted Professor Pua Bar (Kutiel) the Academic Coordinator for Ben Gurion University who lectured in the Ecology of the Arava class. Professor Bar (Kutiel) also met with Arava Institute Associate Director Miriam Sharton and Academic Director Dr. Elli Groner to discuss the establishment of a new Masters Degree track in Environmental Policy.
• In addition to Professor Bar (Kutiel), the institute also hosted Dr. Hussein Tarabieh. Dr. Tarabieh is a native of Sakhnin co-founder and director of the Regional Center for Environmental Education and R&D (TAEQ) in the Beit Natufa Basin near Sakhnin. He is also head of the environmental unit of the local villages council. Dr. Tarabieh recently came back from a post-doc at George Mason University where he researched and wrote about environmental mediation. Dr. Tarabieh gave a lecture to the Environmental Politics class.
• On Thursday morning Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed and I met with the CREEC Steering Committee at the Weizmann Institute to discuss progress on developing the Master's Degree in "Energy and the Environment". BGU has proposed that the institute enlist an researcher or an academic institution from abroad who would partner with the institute and BGU in this program. The committee members brainstormed on potential partners and how to approach them.
• Tareq and I had to rush back from Rehovot to the institute that afternoon in order to participate in the second major PELS activity of the week, the guest lecture of former Israeli Chief of Staff and current Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe "Bogie" Ya'alon. Vice-Prime Minister Ya'alon is a member of Kibbutz Grofit and though he is now a full-time politician and senior member of the Israeli Governement, maintains his connection with Kibbutz Grofit (Kibbutz Ketura's neighbor to the south) and with the Arava area in general. It was a great honor for the students to have the opportunity to hear directly from such a high level Israeli politician. Though what Vice-Prime Minister Ya'alon had to say was not always what many of the students wanted to hear, Ya'alon was honest, candid and direct (he did not attempt to sugar coat anything). He presented a very authentic Israeli view of the history of the conflict and the current peace prospects. Unfortunately, his narrative seemed to place 100% of the blame for the failure of the peace process so far on the Palestinans and on the Arab world and did not seem to allow for the possibility that current or past Israeli governments may also have been responsible for failures. This did not seem to me to be a very productive starting point for discussions. The students showed great restraint and respect though I am sure many of them had very strong reactions to the Vice-Prime Minister's speach. Once Vice-Prime Minister Ya'alon had concluded his remarks, students had the opportunity to ask questions. Again the students showed great restraint and maturity in their questions. They challenged the Vice-Prime Minister on current Israeli Army policy in the territories and on the treatment of the Palestinian people in general. The Vice-Prime Minister listened with patience to our students questions, responded and even engaged the students in discussions after the formal session ended. The overall tone of the Vice-Prime Minister's speach was not optimistic. He did not give much chance to the current negotiation process and stated that he did not believe we would see a peace agreement in this generation. Vice Prime-Minister Ya'alon did say that though he did not believe any more in top-down negotiated solutions by the regions political leaders, he did believe in bottom-up solutions. He said that the only way to change the reality in the Middle East is through education and people to people projects that allow Palestinians and Israelis to get to know each other and transform attitudes. This will be a long slow process but the result will be a new generation of moderate and leaders who will be able to reach an agreement on peace. The Vice-Prime Minister praised the Arava Institue as a great example of how to bring about peace in the Middle East. At least there was one thing that the students and the Vice-Prime Minister could agree on.

As I said - a packed week, I am tired just reading about it. Next week we celebrate the Jewish agricultural holiday of Shavout (Weeks). At least we will have some down time to rest. Happy holiday.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report April 11th - 23rd

A letter I send last Thursday to all of our students:

Dear Students,

The period during the semester after the Jewish Holiday of Pesach is filled with national holidays and remembrance days. It is always a very difficult time at the Arava Institute where students from different backgrounds try to balance their national loyalties with a sensitivity to the feelings and narratives of their fellow students and friends. This is not an easy task and I truly admire the ability of the students and the academic staff "to hold it together" during this sometimes tense and uncomfortable period.

Israel's Independence celebrations start with a full day of remembering the fallen soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their country. Memorial Day is a very emotional day and one of the more difficult days for students at the institute. It is a day which we Israelis spend looking inward at our own pain and suffering. During this year's kibbutz ceremonies, I was strongly struck by the fact that little was mentioned of the other side, neither as the enemy or as the victim. It was as if the other side did not exist and all of those soldiers died in a vacuum disconnected from our struggle with the Arab people. Finally at the end of the Memorial Day ceremonies on Ketura, a quote was read from the speech of then IDF Chief of Staff, Yitzchak Rabin, on the occasion of receiving an honorary doctorate from Hebrew University in 1967 after the Six Day War:
"Moreover, the elation of victory has seized the whole nation. Yet among the soldiers themselves a curious phenomenon is to be observed increasingly. They cannot rejoice wholeheartedly. Their triumph is marred by grief and shock, and there are some who cannot rejoice at all. Those battling in the front lines saw with their own eyes not only the glory of victory, but also its cost -- their comrades fallen beside them soaked in blood. I know that the terrible price the enemy paid has also profoundly affected many of our men. Perhaps the education and the experience of the Jewish people has never brought it to feel the joy of the conqueror and the victor, and therefore the matter is accepted with mixed feelings."
Yitzchak Rabin, Hebrew University, 1967
So it took the Israeli Army's Chief of Staff to remind us of the terrible price that not only Israelis paid but the price the Arab people paid in this struggle. Recognizing the other sides pain and suffering is not a simple matter. We somehow feel that if we recognize the other sides' s pain and grief, we are justifying their actions. At the Arava Institute we continue to struggle to look for an appropriate way to recognize the pain of both sides. As such, we will soon commemorate Naqba Day and we will once again be reminded of the terrible toll this struggle has taken on the Palestinian people.
If it is difficult to share in each other's grief and suffering, how much more difficult is it to share in each other's joy? Yesterday was a day of celebration for the Israeli/Jewish people. The day we celebrate our freedom and independence. In Hebrew there is something we say to people who congratulate us on a joyous occasion. We say to them – "Bakarov etzlecha" – literally meaning "soon by you" but really meaning "may you too have a similar reason to celebrate".
So to our Israeli and Jewish students I say "Hag Sameach" – Happy Holiday and to our Palestinian students I say "Bakarov etzlecha!". To all our students I wish a blessing of peace.
David

• During this intense and tense period of time, students and staff grappled with the issues around the Holocaust Remembarance Day, the Israeli Memorial Day and Israeli Independence Day. The height of intensity was on the evening of Israeli Memorial Day when a group of Palestinian, Israeli and American students organized a memorial service which honored and remembered Israeli soldiers and Israeli and Palestinian victims of violence. Not a simple feat and not without disagreements and tender emotions. Yet as I said in my letter, the students and staff manage to hold it together which is a feat in itself.


• On Wednesday, April 13th, the new Arava Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands invited Sivan Borowich-Ya'ari, founder and President of Jewish Hearts for Africa, a non-profit organization that is trying to bring appropriate and sustainable Israeli technology to help rural villages in Africa www.jhasol.org. After presenting the work of the Arava Institue and Jewish Hearts for Africa we discussed how the two organizations could work togehter. It seems like there are many possibilities including working together on supplying sustainable technology, organizing teaching and volunteering as well as the possibility of working toegether on an ecovillage in Africa. We will continue to be in touch with Sivan in order to see how partnering can create synergy.


• Pua Bar-Kutiel, the new Academic Coodinator appointed by Ben-Gurion University spent a few days at the institue, teaching Ecology class, meeting with students about continued studies at BGU and meeting with staff in order discuss how to move forward on the Minor in Environmental Studies and a new Masters in Environmental Policy. Pua had an excellent visit and seems very enthusiastic about working with the institute.


• On Thursday, Lucien and Yehudit Bronicki, the founders and heads of Ormat Technologies, an Israeli company that is a world leader in geothermal energy brought 200 employees from their Israeli headquarters in Yavne down to visit the Arava Institue and other renewable energy projects in the region. After a lunch served by Keren Kolot, the kibbutz guest house, Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed from the Arava Institute's Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation and Noam Ilan and William Weistinger from the Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative gave the Ormat Technology employees a tour of the new Technology Validation Center.

Lucien and Yehudit Bronicki with Tareq Abu Hamed

• On the following Sunday, the members of the Arava Renewable Energy Technology Center Consortium that is competing for the Israeli Ministry of Infrastructure's tender on the establishment of a renewable energy technology center (incubator) in Israel visited the institue and held its first Board Meeting at the offices of the Hevel Eilot Regional Council. Members of the consortium include Ormat Technologies, Elbit, Rafael, the Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative, a number of investment and finace companies, Ben-Gurion University and the Arava Institue for Enviornmental Studies (0.78% equity). If the consortium wins the Ministry of infrastructure's tender, a renewable energy technology center will be set up in the Arava. The purpose of the center is to enable start-up's in renewable energy by providing funding, space and know-how. Most of these start-ups will end up nowhere but a small percentage will succeed and the consortium will then own part of these successful new business.


• Elli Groner, the Director of the Academic Programs, celebrated with his wife Zoe and their two children, Andy and Alona, the birth of a new baby girl, Yasmin. On wednesday, we raised a toast to Zoe, the new baby and the population explosion at the Groner house.


• Last week we recieved sad news when we heard that one past members of Garin Hashachar and a good friend of the Arava Institute, Howie Katz, passed away suddenly. We would like to express our condolences to Howie's wife, Jackie, to his family and his friends.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report March 7th to 12th, 2010

• A television film crew from Finnish TV came this week to interview Dr. Elaines Solowey, students and me. The crew was fascinated by our work and hopes to come back to do other stories. I don't know when the piece will be aired but as soo as I do, I will let all of our fans in Finland know when they can see the Arava Institute on TV.
• The Finish TV crew had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of this week's PELS session PELS hosted Dr. Walim Saleem and Dr. Eyal Naveh who gave the students different perspectives on the current Israeli Palestinian conflict.
• On Tuesday afternoon, we held the second meeting of the Arava Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands (ACSDAL). The Center headed by Dr. Shmuel Brenner is a partnership between the Arava Institute, the Southern Area Agricultural Research and Development Center at Yotvata and the Dead Sea Arava Science Center. ACSDAL's pupose is to help transmit the knowledge developed by these three institutions to developing countries around the world suffering from desertification and poverty. Working with Israel's Foreign Ministry, the ACSDALwill use applied research, training and extension services to reach out beyond Israel's borders to people provide appropriate technology for sustainable agriculture, water management and renewable energy solutions.
• At the same time as the ACSDAL meeting, Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, head of the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation met with representatives of the British Embassy who came down to look at the Arava Technology Validation Center and the other work the Arava Institute is doing in Renewable Energy. The British Government is interested in promoting bilateral research between Israeli and British scientists similar to programs Israel has with the US. They are especially interested in clean-technologies.
• As busy as everyone is at the institute, the whole day Wednesday was set aside for a staff workshop. The day was arranged by Miriam Sharton and Sharon Benheim as part of their responsibilities on the Human Resources committee. With the help of an outside faciliator, the staff spent the day dealing with issues such as team work, decision making, communication and institutionall growth. This is the second year in a row that the institute has held this type of seminar and it seems that there is a concensus that this is an important element that needs to be on our calendar every year.

David Lehrer