Weekly Report January 2nd-14th, 2011

2011 has started off with a flurry of activity:

• On January 3^rd a group of alumni and AIES staff members met in Amman, Jordan to plan the 2011 AAPEN Conference that will take place in Jordan on February 3-5^th. Suleiman, a former student and Program Associate, and the Chair of the 2011 Conference Organizing Committee, hosted the group at restaurant in Amman for a planning session to discuss the conference schedule, speakers, workshops, and logistics. In attendance was Organizing Committee made up of Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian alumni,  as well as AIES staff; Sharón,  the Director of the Alumni Department, Lindsey, the AAPEN intern, Khaled, who does Jordanian recruitment, and Elad, the current Chair of AAPEN, and myself. The team eventually moved the meeting to Suleiman's apartment in order to continue working late into the night, taking advantage of a time in which those from different regions could share a space. The night ended successfully with a feeling of progress and with a visit to a local sweet shop that provided us with their last piece of kanafeh.
• On Tuesday, January 4th, Taal Goldman, Sababa Coordinator and I met with the Management Committee of Park Timna. The purpose of the meeting was to receive an overview by Yuval Peled, from the Israeli Parks and Nature Authority, of the process for listing Park Timna as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The leadership of Sababa and Park Timna have been discussing this issue and the management of the park in general for sometime.  It was decided to jointly review different international recognition programs and management techniques. After a complete review, a decision will be made as to which direction to go.
• The intergenerational meeting at ECO-ME Center at the Jericho Junction.  If you are on your way to the Dead Sea from Jerusalem, please take a few moments to stop at the newly established ECO-ME Center just after the turnoff to Jericho on the left side of the road.  From the road, it doesn't look like much and admitedly, once you are inside the compound it doesn't look like much more, just a collection of tents, shaded areas, compost toilets, solar panels and camp fires, but I believe that for those who look carefully, you will realize that you are seeing a revolution.  I had the opportunity to visit the ECO-ME Center, established about 4 weeks ago by 4 Arava Institute Alumni, Ilana Meallem, Rina Kedem, Jennifer Golding and Yair Wahle and one non-alum, Itamar Cohen, for the first time at the intergenerational meeting on Friday January 7th.  In addition, to the 5 founders, a number of Israeli, Palestinians and internationals have joined the center for a stay of from a few days to a few weeks. The goal of ECO-ME is to create a space in the Middle East which is easily accessible to Israelis and Palestinians for meetings, workshops and ongoing contact.  Eventually, the goal is to find a space which is also easily accessible to Jordanians.  The current location, makes it possible for both Israelis and Palestinians to reach with no need for permits.  The intergenerational meeting included about 40 people, obviously young and old representing different generations of peace and environmental activists. The purpose of the meeting was for the younger generation to learn from the experience of veteran activists in order to build a permanent center and eventually an eco-village.  Though ECO-ME is not a specific Arava Institute project, through the Alumni Programs Department, the institute is providing some support.  I personally was incredibly proud to see how our alumni have taken the lessons learned at the Arava Institute and are turning them from theory into reality.  
• This week the Arava Institute hosted a delegation from Dickinson College who came for a three day site visit from Sunday Jan 9th – Tuesday Jan 11th . The Arava Institute is partnering with Dickinson College on a 4 week program called "Across Borders", which will bring 17 environmental professionals from the United States to the Arava Institute in the summer of 2011.  The program is funded by a large grant from the US State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.   The purpose of the program will be to learn about our local environmental resources, to study the connections between environment and security, and to consider the contributions that environmental studies, economics, political science, policy studies, as well as social, cultural and religious history can offer to resolving these issues effectively and sustainably. The visitors, Steve DePaul, Dr. Andrea Lieber, Dr. Doug Edlin, Dr. Ed Webb, and Bryan Bartosik-Velez, spent their time meeting with Arava Institute staff, attending AIES night, and having lunch with the European Ambassador and his delegation.  
• In parallel to the visit of the delegation from Dickison College, Professor Yaakov Karni, the new Chair of the Arava Institute Board of Directors, and head of solar energy research at the Weizmann Institute, http://www.weizmann.ac.il/ESER/People/Karni/spent three days at the institute getting to the staff, students and our program. Yaakov has already served on the Arava Institute Board for one year and is the head of the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Steering Committee.  The timing of his visit was fortuitous because it coincided with a number of exciting events that took place this week.  
• On Sunday evening, January 9th, the Academic Department held the end of semester AIES Night, when students present their independent study projects and masters research.  This is an evening when the students get a chance to  showcase the fruits of their academic labour and demonstrate exactly what they have learned through their independent study and research projects.  Those students who are taking the independent study course choose a topic and a methodology at the beginning of each semester and then spend once a week doing research.  The students work together with advisors, who provide knowledge and guidance for the mini-research projects.  As Dr. Clive Lipchin, teacher of the course and host of the evening noted this year, 4 of the advisors were Arava Institute alumni.  The kibbutz community center played host to the event which included a combination of Powerpoint and poster presentations to a wide audience of fellow students, staff and faculty and kibbutz members. It was certainly inspiring listening to not only the phenomenal research projects the students are involved in, but also witnessing their dedication to promoting environmental and social change in places where it is sorely needed.

Roy Zaidenberg, student shows his poster with Yonatan Chesler, staff member



• On Monday, January 10th, the Arava Institute was privileged to host the Head of the Delegation to Israel from the European Union, Ambassador Andrew Standley.  Ambassador Standley was accompanied by Rober Krengel, the Head of the Scientific Section and Alexandra Meir, Policy Officer for the Scientific Section.  The visit was initiated by Uri Nusinow our Financial Director who invited the Ambassador to visit the institute last year when Uri attended the Europe Day celebrations held in Tel Aviv at the home of the Ambassador. The visit was flawlessly coordinated by Rutie Kaplan-Roth.  Ambassador Standley was very moved by the mission of the institute, the programs and the students.  The final meeting was our traditional student panel where the Ambassador had the opportunity to hear from 4 students about their experiences at the Arava Institute. The Ambassador asked questions and then summarized his visit by praising the students and the work of the institute.  I believe that we now have a new and influential friend of the institute.  As I accompanied the Ambassador and his colleagues back to their car for their 4 hour trip back to Tel Aviv, it occurred to me that the EU Ambassador to Israel had made this trip especially to see the institute.  He did not stop by on his way to Eilat.  He got in the car, drove 4 hours to Ketura and when the visit was over, got in his car and drove back to Tel Aviv!



Ambassador Standley addresses the students

• Solar for Gaza and Sderot Workshop - from January 11 to 13, 2011, over fifteen energy and environment experts from the academic, non-profit and private sectors in Israel, Palestine, the United States and Europe convened at the Arava Institute for the initial workshop of the Solar for Gaza and Sderot (S4GS) project. The workshop, "Exploring the Role of Renewable Energy in Addressing Humanitarian Concerns," was distinctive for enabling residents of the Gaza Strip and Israeli border region, among others, to meet. The workshop agenda was designed to facilitate discussion, networking and planning among potential partners for research, education programs, technical trainings and applied projects focused on addressing the humanitarian and energy crises in the Gaza Strip and contributing to a more sustainable and peaceful cross-border region.

Discussion of next steps

• The first five panel sessions and video-conference presentations explored the current conditions in the Gaza Strip and Israeli border region; potential roles for renewable energy in achieving better living conditions in Gaza; the threats of non-renewable energy and climate change to the region; the state of the Palestinian energy sector; and the value and feasibility of cross-border, civil society cooperation. The final session of the workshop, facilitated by two students of Tufts University, resulted in a list of next steps, long-term objectives and potential joint projects, including providing a clinic in Gaza with solar power, building household-scale solar desalination applications and bringing Gazan students to the Arava Institute.While the current political situation, regional instability and siege on Gaza produce formidable challenges to enacting any educational, research or applied projects, the workshop was a significant, first step toward understanding the need and feasibility of these efforts as well as the interest in pursuing them among potential partners. The S4GS workshop also included a regional tour of local renewable energy initiatives in the southern Arava and informative evening discussions on conditions in Gaza and the Israeli border region with Institute staff and students and members of Kibbutz Ketura. The workshop was organized by the Arava Institute, the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University and the Sustainable Spatial Development Group at the University of Liechtenstein, with the integral support of the Merrin Family Fund and the Israeli Ministry of Regional Cooperation.

 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 25th to 30th , 2010

• Raed Samar, the Director General of the Bethlehem Rural Waste Joint Service Council for Planning and Development and Munther Hind from the Palestinian Wasterwater Engineers Group were hosted by the Dr. Clive Lipchin from the Arava Institute Resaearch Department and Shira Kronich from Arava EC&T. Raed and Munther are very interested in the Arava Institute's help the introduction of small scale wastewater treatment and reuse projects in the southern West Bank villages. In the West Bank village of Batir for example which has a lot of fresh water resources, there is no central wastewater treatment. Wastewater is mostly treated on an individual family level with septic tanks. The wastewater is seeping from the septic tanks into the ground water, contaminting the ground water, making it unusable for drinking, recreation or agriculture. Building a large scale wastewater treatment plant is unrealistic because of the required investment but also because of the need for Israeli permits and the need for a large tract of land that the village does not have. The Arava Institute has proposed implementing small scale family or building wastewater treatment and gray water reuse projects which would require less investment and not permits from the Israeli military authorities. The Bethlehem Council and the Arava Institute will seek funding for this projet (about $5,000 per family unit).
• By chance, we ran into Udi Gat, the head of the local Hevel Eilot Regional Council here in the Arava in the dining room of Ketura. I introduced Munther to Udi. who was very pleased to make Munthers' aquaitance. They compared the work of the two councils and Udi tactfully mentioned that he had visited the southern area of the West Bank but only as a soldier. Munther responed that he invites Udi to come back to the area but as a civilian and "without his tank".
• The Human Resources Committee of the institute is intensively looking for a replacement to Elad Topel as Director of Eco-Paths. Elad has been the Director since 2006. He is now going to work full time as CEO of Arava EC&T. After putting out a tender for the position the committee spent this week interviewing candidates and will hopefully be able to make a decision by next week.
• Shir Harel, our webmaster also spent a day at the institute meeting with staff regarding the website and other new media projects. We look forward to an even more interesting and dynamic website which will interface with facebook, youtube and other forms of social media.
• On Tuesday afternoon, the Arava Institute Board of Directors met at the institute. Udi Gat was invited to present the establishment of the Arava Renewable Energy Technology Center Consortium in which the Arava Institute is a shareholder (see last blog posting). The Board members also received a presentation by the institute's CPA of the draft 2009 Financial Statements. The final version of the 2009 Financial Statements will be approved in the June Board meeting.
• Daniel Bar Elli, Secretary General of UNESCO Israel, visited Timna Park in order to discuss with local residents, the process for inscription of Timna Park as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Center for a Healthy Environment in the Arava (Sababa) is spearheading the effort in the region to inscribe Timna as a World Heritage Site in order to increase the level of conservation and protection of the region's national environmental and historical treasure.
• Sadly, last night, Ben Morgan, one of our students, broke his leg playing basketball. He is in the hospital for the weekend and hopefully will be released on Sunday. Unfortunately, it looks like Ben will not be rafting down the Jordan River next week with the rest of the students on the Water Trip. We wish Ben a speedy recovery.

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

Weekly Report February 21st to 26th

• 42 students arrived this week for the start of the spring semester 2010.Students came down to the institute by bus on Sunday afternoon. They arrived a few kilometers away from the institute at Nahal Kisui, a beautiful spot in the hills behind Kibbutz Ketura where silky sand blown from the coast of Egypt covers bare sand stone rock. The bus dropped off the students and they hiked the rest of the way to the institute getting their first view of Kibbutz Ketura from high atop the mountain that overlooks the Arava. That evening, after settling in and eating dinner in the kibbutz dinning room, the student gathered in the kibbutz community center in order to meet each other and to meet the staff.
• The next day, the students were taken on a tour of the area which included visiting the International Birding Center in Eilat, hearing from Dr. Reuven Yosef, one of Israel’s leading ornithological experts and visiting the Hai Bar Nature Reserve just south of Yotvata.
  On Tuesday, Dr. Elli Groner, introduced the students to the Academic Program and then the students spent the rest of the day registering for courses, dealing with financial issues and receiving general orientation to the kibbutz and life at the institute. Wednesday morning classes began.
• Andrea Lieber from Dickenson College, Pennsylvania, visited the institute this week. The initial contact with Dickenson College was made through David Weisberg. Andrea and David are old friends. I visited Dickenson last September and encouraged Andrea to plan to visit the institute. What is intriguing about the college is the strong emphasis on sustainability and on students spending part of their studies abroad. While the college is small with only 2,200 students, 60% spend a semester or year abroad. Andrea met with students and staff. Miriam and I discussed the possibility of a summer program with Dickenson and signing an agreement regarding transfer credit for the regular program.
• Wednesday night, Sababa, the Center for the Environment in the Arava, organized an urgent meeting about the threatened Samar Sand Dunes. The Samar Sand Dunes are the last large block of sand dunes on the Israeli side of the border housing a unique ecosystem with endemic species to the Arava. The dunes are threatened by a decision to mine 1/3 of the sand to use as building material for housing in Eilat. Sababa opposes this decision and organized a special action committee to try to stop the proposed mining.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report February 14th-20th, 2010

Generally the semester break is a quiet period but this week was very busy.

• On Sunday, David Weisberg, Executive Director of the Friends of the Arava Institute visited the institute and met with staff and faculty. David had attended the Alumni Conference in Aqaba and came away with many new ideas and information.
  The same day, the Academic Programs Department held the mid-year faculty meeting, going over the expectations for the coming semester, the schedule, courses and special events.


• Following the faculty meeting, the PELS Committee met to discuss the plans for the seminar for spring semester.


• On Monday morning the staff was drafted to help move furniture from northern most prefab student dorm. The reason was in order to prepare the dorm to be moved to closer to the other dorms to make room for a new faculty house. The Hevel Eilot Regional Council has arranged to distribute a number of prefab family houses among the different settlements in the region. Kibbutz Ketura was offered the option of receiving (renting) one of these family houses. The kibbutz did not have an area ready with the appropriate infrastructure. It has been in the long term plan of the institute to build houses for faculty in order to be able to host scholars in residence and to house faculty when they come for overnight stays. Due to the lucky circumstances, the institute is able to fulfill this long term dream within the next few months when the house will arrive.


• Tuesday morning the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation dedicated the new Arava Technology Validation Center, a testing site for photovoltaic (PV) panels. Companies interested in putting up PV installations in the Arava will be able to contract with the Arava Institute in order to have their technology's efficiency tested under the Arava's climactic conditions. The Technology Validation Center was built in partnership with the Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative and the Hevel Eilot Regional Council. Uzi Landau, Minister of Infrastructure cut the ribbon to dedicate the Center. The ceremony was attended by over 100 participants in the Eilat Eilot 3rd Annual Renewable Energy Conference. Other attendees to the dedication ceremony included former US Ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, Korean Ambassador to Israel, Young San Ma, US Congressman Steve Israel from New York, Korean Ambassador Young San Ma and Slovenian Ambassador, Boris Sovic.


• After the ceremony the participants joined the other 1,500 participants in the three day Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Conference in Eilat. In three years, the annual conference has grown from 300 participants to over 1,600 and become the largest conference dedicated to Renewable Energy in the Middle East. The conference is sponsored by the Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative (REI) headed by Dorit Banet and Noam Ilan. Dorit is employed by the Arava Institute as Co-Director of the REI which is funded by the Greater Toronto Jewish Federation Partnership 2000 Program. Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Director of the Arava Institute Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation participated in a conference panel on the impact of academic research on renewable energy progress in Israel. Other panel members included representatives from all of the major universities and research institutes in Israel.


• I also attended the first day of the conference but had to rush back in order to eat dinner with the Jewish Nation Fund' Makor Mission. The Makor Mission is the special lay leader leadership mission. The mission helps young JNF lay leaders learn about JNF projects in Israel in order to represent them in the US. Russell Robinson recommended that the mission stay at the Ketura guest house. During the day, the mission visited various JNF sites in the Arava including time at the Arava Institute meeting with staff and students. In the evening, I had dinner with the mission and met with Joel Leibowitz, JNF NJ Zone Director and Makor staff coordinator, about a possible large scale donation to the institute. Afterward, Clive Lipchin and I met with Sharon Davidowitch, the Israeli National Shaliach to the JNF to discuss cooperation between the Arava Institute's Center for Integrated Water Resource Management and the JNF Parson's Water Fund. We discussed possible cooperation on waste water projects in the West Bank and hosting the Parson's Water Fund Board of Directors on a trip around the Dead Sea Basin.


• The Renewable Energy Conference was held for three days, February 16th through the 18th. Many of the Arava Institute staff members attended the conference. I also ran into a large number of Arava Institute Alumni who are now working in the field of renewable energy. The conference was a great opportunity to network with companies, academics and politicians looking to promote the use of renewable energy technology. We had the opportunity to meet with the Deputy Minister of Negev and Galil Development who is very interested in promoting Israeli cooperation with Jordan.


• Thursday morning, Avner Simon, the architect who is designing the Research and Visitors Park outside the offices of the institute came down to see developments in the park and to consult with staff members and kibbutz members about finalizing plans for development.


• That afternoon, the RE Conference concluded by offering participants tours of the region to look at the current RE instillations. In addition to visiting the Kibbutz Samar solar tower and the Kibbutz Yotvata parking lot PV shade, bus loads of conference participants came to the institute in order to see the newly erected Arava Technology Validation Center.
  
  Next week does not look any quieter with 42 students arriving for the start of the spring semester on Sunday.
  
  David Lehrer

Weekly Report Jan 21st - 28th

Week ly Report January 21st – 29th

• This was the final week of the fall semester. The students spent the week, taking final exams, finishing papers, preparing for the final party and cleaning the campus.
• The students had their final party Tuesday night. Cecil Rimer handed out funny awards to each student – these were special achievement awards, with each student receiving recognition for some personal stand-out characteristic that has earned them fame (or notoriety) at AIES. Students also received a copy of the Yalla yearbook, full of memories and also a bit of gossip. There was dancing, karaoke, live music provided by the students and a full barbecue dinner. A good time was had by all.
• The students are now off for a three week break. Spring semester starts on February 24th. We expect once again to have over 40 students.
  

In addition to the Academic Program, a number of important meetings took place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ber Sheva.

• On Monday morning, Miriam, Elad and I met with our PR Consultants, Ben Or to discuss plans for the coming year. The calendar of events for 2010 looks packed and filled with opportunities for engaging the media.
• The next day, Elad and I met with the staff from the Heschel Center to discuss the new Sustainable Food Initiative that the Institute and Heschel are planning on launching this year in light of the very successful Food Conference held last November. The initiative will try to raise awareness about the need for a more sustainable, healthy, equitable and carbon reduced food supply in Israel. The team spent a lot of time discussing other partners for the inititative.
• On Wednesday, the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC) Steering Committee met at Hebrew University to review last year's achievements and the current research. The committee discussed some of the challenges facing the proposed Energy and the Environment Masters Degree program and went over the committee's job description. The CREEC Steering Committee is chaired by Professor Yaakov Karni from the Weizmann Institute. Many of Israelis leading experts in renewable energy are members of the committee.
• Following the CREEC Steering Committee meeting, the Academic Advisory Board met to review the work plans of the Academic Department and the Research Department. Dr. Elli Groner, the Academic Director, went over plans for developing new programs and Dr. Clive Lipchin presented current research programs at the institute.
• Finally on Thursday, Jonathan Schiff, the Institute's lawyer, and I met with, Professor Jimmy Weinblatt, the Rector of BGU, Professor Shaul Krakover, the Dean of the Eilat campus and the university's lawyer to finalize financial and legal issues in the new agreement. All outstanding issues have been resolved opening up the door for implementing the new agreement as of next semester.
• Finally, through a connection with Dr. Donny Ornstein, one of our faculty, the Arava Alumni Peace and Environmental Network has been given the opportunity to host Alan Weissman, the author of the best selling book, "The World Without Us" at the February Alumni Conference in Aqaba.

David Lehrer