Weekly Report December 12th - 31st, 2010

December has been an incredibly packed month:

• On December 12th through the 15th, the Research Department held a conference on Kibbutz Ketura for 15 Palestinian, Israeli, and Italian water professionals: "The Development and Management of Marginal Water Resources in Water Scarce Regions: The Case of Israel and the Palestinian Authority". The conference was funded by the Italian Trade Commission and the Israeli Office of Regional Cooperation. Due to the increasing scarcity of clean water in the West Bank, Israelis, Palestinians and Italians spent three days discussing a cooperative framework for regional water resources management and ways to utilize grey water (water from kitchens, showers and sinks) for agricultural purposes. The final result of the workshop is a commitment from the Arava Institute, Italian representatives, and West Bank local council to assess and implement marginal water reuse schemes in Palestinians villages. More information is available at: http://english.themarker.com/joint-italian-israeli-palestinian-project-to-solve-sewage-problem-1.331049
• On December 13th, Professor Miri Amit, the new Dean of the Eilat Campus of Ben Gurion University visited the institute. Professor Amit is a mathemation and for more than ten years  served as the National Superintendent of Mathematics at the Israel Ministry of Education, overseeing school curricula, national testing and mathematics education policy for the entire State of Israel.  Professor Amit was appointed to her new position as Dean of the Eilat Campus and is very interested in deepining the relationship between the Arava Institute and BGU.  Professor Amit had the opportunity to meet staff and students on her first visit to the institute.
• A few days after the conference at Ketura, Israeli and Jordanian researchers met in Aqaba under the umbrella of the Dead Sea Arava Science Center, headed by Dr. Hanan Ginat.  On December 16th and 17th, 30 Israeli researchers and 30 Jordanian researchers who are working together on cross border research in hydrology, biology , ecology, renewable energy, sustainble agriculture and medicinal plants met for two days in Aqaba to report on progress and to develop ideas for future research programs.  The logisitics of the confrerence was organized by a group of Arava Institute Alumni who have created a new environmental organization.  Many of the projects are joint Science Center Arava Institute research and a number of Arava Institute staff attended the conference including Dr. Clive Lipchin, Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Dr. Elli Groner, Dr. Michael Beyth, Gigi Strom, Abby Lutman and myself.  The conference was a major success hosting an unprecidented number of Israeli and Jordanian researchers who are working together. The proof of the success of the meeting was not during the presentations of research but during the meals when instead of Jordanians sitting at one table and the Israelis at another, the biologists sat together with the biologists, the ecologists sat together the ecologists and the hydrologists sat with the hydrologists; science knows no borders. The conference and the research is funded by  the Israeli Ministry of Regional Cooperation.
• The following week, on December 23rd, the Arava Institute held its final Board of Director's meeting for 2010.  The Board recieved an update, reviewed goals for 2011 and discussed the budget for 2011.  The 2010 budget year was difficult due to a lower than expected fundraising campaign.  Board members asked for clarification of the budget and want to see a plan to stabilize the finances in 2011.  The Directors of the institute will submit such a plan by January 15th, 2011.
• After the Board meeting the Association held its Annual General Meeting.  The meeting approved the Board of Directors for 2011 and appointed Professor Yaakov Karni to replace Dr. Michael Beyth as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Arava Institute.  Professor Karni is head of the Solar Tower and solar energy research at the Weizmann Institute in Rechovot. Dr. Beyth will continue to serve on the Board.  The institute wants to thank Dr. Beyth for his tremendous contribution to the Arava Institue by serving as Chairman for three years and wishes Professor Karni luck and success in the new position. 
• On Wednesday, December 22^nd and Thursday, December 23^rd, students participate in the PELS Jerusalem trip.  The students first had a tour with Eitan Katz from the Ir Amim (City of Nations) Organization.  He took them around Gilo, Harmon HaNatziv, Jabel Mukaber and Mount Scopus, where he spoke about the geographical and political landscape.  The students then spent the rest of the day at the Jerusalem Institute of Israel Studies (JIIS) where they heard from Israel Kimcki who is the director of the Jerusalem Studies Desk and former Director of the Policy Planning Department for the Jerusalem Municipality.  He spoke about the issues Jerusalem faces and possible solutions to those issues.  Following that the students heard from Walid Salem, director of the Center for Democracy & Community Development.  He spoke about the Arab Peace Initiative.  Also speaking to the students was Dr. Alon Liel, Former Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  He spoke about the Syria-Israel Track and where it stands today.  Both gentlemen then had an open discussion with the students where they asked many tough, but thoughtful questions.  The following day the students awoke early in the morning to have a compassionate listening training preparation for the day ahead.  This was led by Maha El Taji-Daghash and Annael Harpaz.   The students then went to the Silwan neighborhood of Jerusalem where they went on at Jerusalem Reality Tour led by Rotem Mor.  The tour took them through the City of David where they learned about the importance of it to the Jewish people.  They then went to the Alternative Welcome Center, run by the residents of Silwan, where they heard from a resident of Silwan about the struggle the people are facing when it comes to dealing with the Jerusalem Municipality and the Jewish residents of Silwan.  Following that the students went to Sheikh Jarah where they met with three Palestinian Legislators from Gaza where they asked amazing questions ranging from peace with Israel to Gilad Schalit to Palestinian politics.  The students then had a very somber meeting with Noam Schalit (the father of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit) and heard about the latest regarding Gilad’s status. Following that the students briefly recapped the two day trip and went on their way.
• The first Friends of the Arava Institute Eco-Tour  arrived on Kibbutz Ketura on December 26th.  There are 18 participants on this pilot Eco-Tour including 4 members of the Friends of the Arava Institute, Seth Morrison (FAI Chair), Barry Fierst, Karen Fierst and Hillel Solomon.  The tour was organized by Tali Adini, Director of the Eco-Paths Department of the Arava Institute and led by Dr. Clive Lipchin and Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed.  The tour spent a day and a half on Ketura learing about the institute, meeting Arava Institute students and hearing lectures about cross boundary water issues.  The next three days were spent travelling in and around Jordan, Israel and Palestine.     

• The official opening of the new Daniel Fischel & Sylvia Neil Family Research and Visitors Park in Memory of Dr. Eugene Fischel & Dina (Diane) Markowicz was held on December 27th with the participation of the FAI Eco-Tour, Kibbutz Ketura members, AIES staff and students.  Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, Daniel, Sylvia and their families could not attend the ceremony.  A special dedication ceremony will be held sometime in the future when the family can participate.  The Research and Visitors Park is located just in front of the Institute's offices and will serve as an area for field testing renewable energy technology, sustainable water technology, sustainable agricultural techniques and for studying ecosystems.  The park will also serve as an educational demonstration site where students and visitors can learn about the research being done at the Arava Institue.  Finally the park will serve as an outdoor classroom for students from around the world.  Rutie Kaplan-Roth and Sarit Maagan-Rosenfeld did a superb job organizing the ceremony.

• Thursday night, December 30th, Sababa (The Center for a Healthy Environment in the Arava) held its final steering committee meeting for 2010.  With 16 participants, the committee was updated on the current campaigns, Timna Hotel, Samar Sand Dunes and Agricultureal Waste.  The committee received the news that the District Planning committee in Beer Sheva rejected the Israel Lands Authority's objection to the planned declaration of a nature reserve in the mid-section of the Samar Sand Dunes, paving the way for approval of the natur reserve.  Taal Goldman, Sababa Coordinator and other Sababa and Green Course activists participated in the hearing in Beer Sheva.  The committee also recieved a report from Revital Katz about the Environmental Impact statement which was commissoned by the Beer Sheva District Planning Committee on the Timna hotel.  The report clearly recommends not to build the hotel in the Sasgon Valley and recommends that it be built near the entrance to the Timna Park.  All in all, a good month for the environment!  
• Late breaking news:  The Arava Institute has been recognized as a winner of this year's MEPEACE "Education" Award.  : http://www.mepeace.org/events/mepeace-awards-event-dec-31

Happy New Year!!
David Lehrer   

Weekly Report November 21st to December 10th, 2010

Things continue to be a bit hectic at the institute so I have not kept up with the blog.  I cannot record all that has happened in the past three weeks but I will try to give a few highlights:

• On November 25th, students left at the crack of dawn for what was to be an intense and emotionally stimulating Peacebuilding and Environmental Leadership Seminar (PELS) day-trip to Jerusalem, where they visited the abandoned Palestinian village of Lifta and the Jewish Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. The trip was sponsored by "The Parents Circle" http://www.theparentscircle.com/, an organization, that Michelle Shachar, PELS Coordinator has worked with in the past.  The trip was funded by a grant from USAID that the Parent's Circle received this year.
• November 29th to December 2nd, the Arava Institute Center for Transboundary Water Management (CTWM) and the Dead Sea Arava Science Center (DSASC), together with Oxford University sponsored a 4 day workshop for researchers from Israel, Jordan, Palestine, the US and England. The conference was organized by Dr. Clive Lipchin (CTWM), Danny Shachaf (DSASC) and Professor Deborah Sandler (Oxford University).  The subject of the meeting was the establishment of  the Dead Sea Jordan River Basin Forum.  Unfortunately, the Palestinian delegation, under pressure from the PA security department, cancelled their participation in the conference at the last minute. Despite the loss of the Palestinian delegation to the conference, more than 20 people participated including some 5 Arava Institute alumni (2 Palestinians, 1 Jordanian, 1 Israeli and 1 English).  4 of the alumni are doing graduate studies in England.  The conference was held in Wadham College of Oxford University and hosted by Professor Deborah Sandler of Wadham College.  Workshop participants such Professors Eilon Hadar and Alon Tal from Ben-Gurion University gave the Israeli perspective on water and natural resource management in the Dead Sea Jordan Rive Basin and Dr. Samar Talozi from the Jordan University of Science and Technology represented the Jordanian perspective.  We also heard from international conflict resolution expert Dr. Brian Polkinghorn from Salsbury University in Maryland. Professor Ian Goldin of the James Martin 21st Century School of Oxford University addressed the conference on the role of academics in meeting current global challenges.  Representatives of the DSASC, Dr. Hanan Ginat, Eilon Gadiel and Elli Raz presented the local perspectives on environmental degradation at the Dead Sea. We also heard from Professor Emeritus of MIT , Frank Fisher, Col. Sharon Davidowitch of the JNF Parson Fund and Robin Twite of IPCRI.  The last day and a half of the conference was spent discussing practical steps for moving forward with the forum. Paul Whitehead, Director of Professor of Water Science in the Oxford Centre for Water Research offered help in writing a major grant proposal to establish the Dead Sea Jordan River Basin Forum.  So despite the setback with the Palestinians, much progress was made and the next step is clearly reaching out to the Palestinians to make sure that they are willing to participate in the establishment of the forum.  The fact that the conference was held at Oxford University added greatly to the prestige of the workshop and also to the atmosphere.

AIES Staff and Alumni

• The week starting December 5th, was one of ‘experiential learning’, as opposed to regular academic classes, thus both a welcome break and change of routine for the students. Substituting class time, the Institute arranged a number of hands on practical workshops for students. These included practical learning in the form of mud-building, more spiritual learning in the form of a movement and dance class and a workshop on transforming an idea into an actual project. To cap things off, the students then spent Tuesday afternoon hiking in the nearby Saskon Valley followed by a chilly night out sleeping under the stars. For many it was an enlightening experience as they discovered that “yes, it does get very cold in the desert!”

Rhodes Scholar, Katy Hansen playing Staff Soccer Goalie

• On Wednesday night, December 8th, staff and students celebrated the last night of Hanukah with a communal candle lighting ceremony, followed by the traditional student staff football (soccer) match.  This year after a grueling game that went into overtime, staff and students tied 1 to 1.  The candle lighting ceremony was also an opportunity to publicly congratulate research intern Katy Hansen who just won a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University.  We are incredibly proud of her and now know which pubs to recommend in Oxford.
• http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/article_b90606c6-f60f-11df-b151-001cc4c002e0.html

David Lehrer

Weekly Report May 2nd - 7th, 2010

• The Academic Study Program left this week for a 4 day trip around the Dead Sea Basin as part of the Water Course taught by Dr. Clive Lipchin. The trip started on Monday morning when the students crossed into Jordan at the Arava Border and headed north towards Wadi Mujib on the Dead Sea. The Palestinian students and Yousre, our Palestinian program associate are not allowed to cross into Jordan from at the Arava Crossing. They are required to go in and out of Jordan through the Allenby Bridge crossing, therefore they left on Sunday for Jordan spending the night in Amman. The Palestinians met the rest of the staff and students at Wadi Mujb for a wonderful hike in water that at some points reached people's waist. Students finished the day in Amman. The next day, the trip travelled up the Jordan Valley meeting with water professionals and visiting the King Abdallah Canal. The day ended in Irbid close to the Syrian border. The next day, the Palestinians students once again had to take a seperate route leaving early to cross back over the Allenby Bridge in order to eventually reach the Sea of Galillee. The rest of the students and staff visited the Yarmouch River where water is divided between Israel and Jordan. Then students and staff crossed at the Beit Shean border crossing back into Israel. That day included rafting on the Jordan River and a night on the Sea of Galilee. The final day of the trip included a visit to the Sapir pumping station where water is pumped out of the Sea of Galilee and sent by way of the National Water Carrier down to the Negev. The trip concluded with a visit to the West Bank and meetings with Palestinian water professioinals.
• I did not join the students on their trip but I also travelled to Jordan on Sunday and Monday in order to acompany Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed in meetingw with the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in Irbid and the National Energy Research Center (NERC) in Amman. At JUST we met with the Vice-President of the University and with the head of the Renewable Energy Department to discuss a joint research project on Biogas and the possibility of collaboration on a Masters Degree Program in Energy and the Environment. Our meetings in Amman with our NERC partners also concerned the Biogas project.
• The student trip left the institute empty and quite but the staff left behind still had their hands full between visits, student registration at BGU and helping Ben Morgan in his recovery from his broken leg. Ben is doing fine but is on a crutch and needs a bit of help getting around. He got a note from the Doctor saying he was excused from classes for the next month!
• On Tuesday, we were honored with a quick visit from the Treasurer of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Hagai Merom. Hagai has visited the institute in the past but was pleased to see the progress being made and to hear about the good relationship with the Toronto Jewish Federation through the Partnership 2000 program. The Chairman of the Regional Council, Udi Gat accompanied Hagai on the quick visit.
• On Thursday, I met with a group from the JNF doing an environmetal tour of Israel. Among the participants in the tour was Bobbie Landau, a supporter of the Arava Institute who was thrilled to see the institute for the first time. Dr. Elaine Solowey took the group to meet the 2,000 year old date palm, Methusala and then took the group down to her Experimental Orchards.
• That night, I was asked to come to Eilat to meet a group on a different JNF mission from Atlanta. This mission was organized and led by the Atlanta JNF Rep and past FAI Board member, Beth Gluck. I came a bit early to meet with Willian Rosenberg, a participant in the trip and a past head of the Air Quality Division of the US EPA. William and I discussed possible collaboration on a policy paper on renewable energy and his further involvement with the institute.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report March 28th to April 9th, 2010

Dear Director's Blog Fans,

After months of intensive non-stop action at the Arava Institute, the past two weeks have been incredibly calm, quiet and relaxing. I for one, have really enjoyed the spring break. There are still a few important things to report about the past two weeks:

• Elad Topel, the Director of Eco-Paths for the past 4 years has announced his intention to leave the position by June in order to work full-time as the CEO of Arava Institute subsidiary, Arava Environmental Consulting and Technology (Arava EC&T). Eco-Paths is the department at the Arava Institute which runs the Israel Ride. The Human Resources Committee has begun to look for Elad's replacement. The institute wants to thank Elad for his incredible committment and energy to Eco-Paths and to the Israel Ride and wishes him luck as full-time CEO of Arava EC&T.
• Gail Osman, Director of the Development Department is leaving this week for a Fellowship Program sponsored by the Quebec-Labrador Foundation. The program is called, Developing Strategies for Community-based Natural Resource Managment and is funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Participants in the 2 week program come from Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the West Bank and North America. The program takes place in Massachussets, Maine and New Hampshire.
• The students left for their spring vacation two weeks ago and regular classes only resume on Sunday. Some students, however, returned early to participate in the short-course, Biodiversity of the Sand Dunes, run by Professor Uri Shanas of Haifa University. The course is a jointly run for Haifa University students and students of the Arava Institute. About 10 students participated in this year's course, half from Haifa and half from the Arava Institute. The students get up early in the morning in order to trap gerbils, lizards, beetles and spiders. Professor Shanas has been working together with the Arava Institute on biodiversity research of the Arava on both sides of the border for many years.
• On Thursday, a number staff members from the Arava Institue attended the monthly regional research seminar jointly sponsored by the Dead Sea Arava Science Center, the Southern Arava Agricultural R & D Center and the Arava Institute. The forum brings together researchers engaged in research in the southern Arava and Eilat. Thursday's seminar was attended by about 30 researchers and included lectures by both Professor Uri Shanas on the biodiversity of the southern Arava and by Dr. Reuven Yosef, Director of the International Birding and Research Center Eilat and one of Israel's leading ornothologists. Both Uri and Reuven are part-time lecturers at the Arava Institute.
• Uri revealed some amazing results of the studies he has been conducting for the past 6 years with Arava Institute students and with Haifa University students, on the biodiversity of the Arava on both sides of the border. One conclusion of the research is that nature apparently does know borders. Uri's research found that, probably due to the cultural differences between the human populations on the Jordanian side of the border from the Israeli side of the border, there is a greater abundance of species on the Israel side, while there is a greater diversity on the Jordanian side. There are certain species which only appear on one side of the border or the other. In addition, Uri and his research assistants have found that some species inhabiting the Samar Sand Dunes have a closer genetic relationship to animals in North Africa then they do to animals living in other adjacent sandy habitats in the Arava. Uri could not give a definite explanation to this phenomenon but emphasized the global scientific importance of this discovery.
• Dr. Reuven Yosef then spoke to the seminar about the importance of the establishment of the International Birding and Resarch Center Eilat on the old Eilat garbage dump. Reuven showed aerial photographs of the Eilat region prior to the establishment of the State which revealed a florishing salt marsh eco-system that was destroyed by the development in the region and agriculture. The salt-marshes at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba were a critical refueling station for birds flying from Africa back to Europe during the spring. The first researcher to make this connection was Professor Uriel Safriel in an article he wrote in 1968. In 1993, Dr. Yosef was able to get permission from the Eilat municipality to reestablish a small nature reserve on a city garbage dump at the entrance to Eilat. Over a half a million birds fly through Israel to and from Africa every fall and spring. Much of Reuven's original research in Eilat was done with the aid of students from the Arava Institute. Using solar radiation data to create a multi-year GIS map of Africa, Reuven showed the seminar how the migrating birds from Europe move in a circular pattern from Europe, to Western Africa, then as the winter progresses, on to Southern Africa and finally when spring arrives heading back towards Europe via Eastern Africa. The first refueling station available to the birds after flying across barren North African deserts is Eilat, thus making the Eilat Israel Birding Center a critical part of the global highway for migrating birds.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report - January 10th - 22nd

The week of the 10th throught the 15th saw a variety of visitors to the institute:

• Maya Shafir and Horacio the Co-General Secretaries of Kibbutz Yotvata came to meet with Sharon and myself about the development of academic study track a the Arava Institute in cooperatives and sustainable communities.
• Dr. Eli Kalmazon - an environmental educational consultant who is going to help the institute with the Research and Visitors Park.
• Professor David Firestone from Vermont Law School who wanted to discuss cooperation between the Arava Institute and his school.
• Yoel Levin - an experienced environmental builder who introduced me to the concept of earth ships - http://www.earthship.net/
• Rafi Goldman - Director of International Projects for Negev Institute for Strategic Planning and Development to talk about cooperation with the institute on a variety of projects including the Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands and the development of an academic track in cooperatives and sustainable communities.
• Dr. Uri Shanes - A faculty member at Oranim College, an Arava Institute research partner and also a Board member of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) who wanted to talk to us about cooperation between SPNI and the Arava Institute on programs for students from abroad.

No shortage of interesting people who came to visit that week. In addition to visitors, other events:

• Hevel Eilot Regional Council Chair, spoke to the students about regional development and envrionmental challenges. Udi discussed controversial issues such as the planned building of a Hotel in Timna Park and the planned mining of the Samar Sand Dunes.
• The Steering Committe for the Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands had its first meeting with representatives from the Dead Sea Arava Science Center and the Southern Arava Agricultural Research and Development Center. Dr. Shmuel Brenner led the discussion which was very productive. The next step is finalizing at vision paper.
• Eitan Amiel and Amer Sweity, to Arava Institute alumni now studying at Sde Boker hosted a group from the Hornstein School for Jewish Professional Leadership at Brandeis University for a hike where they learned about the Arava Institute and about how to eat and drink from wild desert plants.
• The Center for a Healthy Environment in the Arava (Sababa) Steering Committee met and discussed alternatives to the proposed site for the Hotel in Timna. Sababa is formulating its own stand on this issue. In addition, Sababa will propose creating a public park in Ber Ora.

The week of the 17th through the 22nd:

• The week started with an impressive evening of presentations of the students independent study projects and Masters research. The following is a quote from my e-mail to the staff and students congratulating them on the event:
• In my opinion, last night's AIES night was the best so far. Every semester, the program improves but last night really was an incredibly professional and aesthetic evening. The students did an exceptional job presenting subjects in an interesting way, speaking confidently, not reading the slides showing real scientific thought and methodology. The poster session was very impressive, informative and showed us how scientific knowledge can be presented succinctly and in a way that non-scientists like me can get it. The food and the set up of the evening was also exceptional. It is not surprising that this evening took place in our thirteenth year, the year, at least according to Jewish tradition, when a child becomes an adult. I had a real sense of the maturity of the institute. I want to thank all of those who were involved in making the evening a special one (I am sure I will have forgotten someone so please forgive me if I have mistakenly left your name off):
  
  Clive, Suleiman, Amit, Lauren, Dane, Alison, Michelle, Moishe, Judy and Ronit.
  I also want to thank the bakers: Sharon, Roee, Shira, Yonatan, Uri N., Abby, Alison and Yair. I want to thank all of the mentors/advisors who helped the students to produce great work.Finally, I want to thank the students for giving us an educational and enjoyable evening, one that we can all be proud of. AIES Night Program
• In the middle of the week, we had an unexpected event - an extreme weather event. A storm hit the entire region and brought down about 20 milimeters of rain in our area. This may not seem like a lot of rain but we are generally average 2.5 milimeters of rain annually in our area. Take a look at this video clip by a local photographer - Mori Chen. Arava Flood
• Finally, today at Keren Kolot we are we are sadly saying goodbye to Alison, Michael, Roee and Shira. It has been fun having them here and we will miss them very much. We wish them a soft landing back in the US and look forward to their next visit.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report November 29th - December 11th, 2009

OK - it has been two weeks since I have had a chance to write something for the blog.

• In fact the week of November 29th to the 4th was a fairly quite week at the institute. The students were all studying, the staff members were all working and meeting. The only exciting thing that happened that week was on Shabbat, I rode my bike to Eilat and then went diving.

Last week however was a bit more exciting.

• Cecil and Sharon spent Sunday and Monday interviewing 20 Jordanian students in Amman.
• On Monday night, a tremendous amount of rain poured from the skies all over Israel including in the Negev and the Arava. On Tuesday morning on my way to an 8:30 meeting with Avigad Vornshak, the Director of the Blaustein Institutes at the Sde Boker Campus of BGU, I came to Nahal Faran, which looked like the Colorado river. I could not cross the Nahal and it did not look like the water would subside any time soon. I turned my car around and drove back to the Arava road (route 90) and headed north. I turned off at the Maaleh Acrabim (Scorpion's Ascent) road. It is an amazing back road climb out of the Arava Valley onto the Negev Heights plain. The road is a narrow twisting steep climb of a few hundred feet almost straight up. At the top, I continued on through the Big Machtesh (Crater) finally arriving at Yeroham. This is the route we once sent the Chalutzim Riders on the 2007 Israel Ride (there is a reason we call them the Meshugaim). I was finally able to get to Sde Boker only a half hour late.
• Elli Groner and I met Avigad Vornshak. We had an excellent meeting in which we worked out the kinks of the financial arrangements for the Masters Program for North American students, discussed how to move forward on the Energy and the Environment Masters Program and discussed the possibility of collaborating on an Israel Studies program.
• Wednesday morning, Elli and I met with Shaul Krakover, the Dean of the BGU Eilat campus in order to finalize the details of the legal agreement that we are signing with BGU.
• That same morning, Professor Pua Bar (Kutiel) the new Academic Coordinator from BGU gave a lecture to our Masters students at their weekly Masters Seminar. Professor Bar (Kutiel) is an Ecologist in the BGU Geography department in Ber Sheva.
• In the afternoon, over 20 people attended the brainstorming session on the establishment of the Arava Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands. Dr. Shmuel Brenner will head the new center which is a partnership with the Southern Arava Research and Development Center at Yotvata and the Dead Sea Arava Science Center. The new center will provide research, training programs and extensions services to developing countries around the world suffering from a lack of water and desertification. The center will partner with the Israeli Foreign Ministry on the Millennium Villages project as well as other partner organizations.
• Thursday afternoon, the Academic Department held an open day and hosted 10 potential Israeli students at the institute. The potential students met current students, staff, were interviewed and tested for English proficiency.
• Friday afternoon, the Arava Alumni Peace and Environmental Network (AAPEN) Alumni Conference subcommittee met on Skype in order to plan for the Alumni Conference in February.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report - October 18th to 30th, 2009

It has been two weeks since I have been able to write in the blog. It has been a very busy two weeks:

• I came back from my trip to Portugal on Sunday evening October 18th. If you have not yet seen my report click here: David's Trip to Portugal Report .
• Dr. Clive Lipchin and Dr. Shmuel Brenner also returned from their trip to Kenya. Clive and Shmuel's Trip to Kenya Report. The highlight of their trip was meeting President Obama's Grandmother!
• Together with the Dead Sea Arava Science Center, we hosted a visit from the Jewish Colonization Association, the Foundation that distributes the Baron D'Hirsch fortune. The foundation is considering funding lab equipment for the Arava Institute and the Science Center.
• On Friday, October 23rd, Eco-Paths, the Arava Institute's events department held the first annual "Arava Challenge" Ride. It was a 35 kilometer off road ride from Arad to the Dead Sea. We had 25 participants. People had a great time. Arava Challenge
• On that same Friday, October 23rd, our Jordanian Alumni held their first Alumni event in Jordan on 350 CO2 day. A group of alumi decided to do their own event as an initial step. So they partnered with other organizations in the 350 event that was held as a march on the Rainbow Street in Amman Jordan. 350 Event
• On Monday, October 26th, Israel and Jordan celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Jordanian Israeli Peace Treaty. Judy Bar Lev organized a delegation from the Arava Institue to attend the celebration and gives the following report:The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel and the Truman Institute Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace of Hebrew University sponsored a symposium on Monday October 26th 2009 to celebrate 15 years to the signing of the Peace Treaty between Israel and Jordan.
  Here at the Machon Arava we have a number of colleagues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jordan Section who have assisted us over the years in arranging for our students from Jordan to obtain visas to study and live at Kibbutz Ketura.
  They invited us to send a delegation to the symposium of staff and Jordanian students.
  With the effort of leaving Ketura at 05:30 am and some of our alumni who are now at the Albert Katz school for Desert Studies at Sde Boker we arrived at 9:00am to the Truman Institute on Mount Scopus.
  We were given the red carpet treatment upon arrival and our students had the opportunity to greet Jordan's Ambassador to Israel Ali al-Ayed who spoke later on about his participation in creating the Peace Agreement. Additional speakers were James Cunningham, U.S. ambassador to Israel and Yaakov Rosen, Israel's Ambassador to Jordan.
  We made numerous additional personal connections during the coffee breaks, making the long day very much worth the travelling. The presence in the audience of our delegation from The Arava Institute was mentioned from the podium twice during the morning sessions.
• On Tuesday, October 27th, the Institute held the bimonthly Board of Directors meeting chaired by Dr. Michael Beyth. Board members heard positive reports on student recruitment, the academic program, new research projects and fundraising successes in the US. The Board also approved of the planning process for next year's goals and budgets.
• Wednesday morning, the Research Department held a research department meeting. In addition to hearing about Shmuel and Clive's trip to Kenya, researchers and grant writers updated each other on grant requests, grant approvals and research progress. The institute is currently involved in research on crops for arid lands, biofuel production from agricultural waste, biogas production from animal waste, dust settling research, hydrogen fuel production from solar energy, long term ecological and social research and the Dead Sea Red Sea Feasibility Study. Clive Lipchin, head of the Research Department emphasized the importance of publishing peer reviewed articles for journals. As usual, there was not enough time to talk about everything that is happening in the research department.
• Parrallel to the Research Department meeting, Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, head of the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation hosted Dr. Claude Trink from the French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning and Ms. Sophie Miller from the French Embassy. France is very interested in bilateral cooperation with Israel on renewable energy. Dr. Trink and Ms. Miller spent a few hours at the Institute and were very impressed with what they saw. We can expect further contact with the Embassy.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report October 4th-9th, 2009

Another quiet week at the Arava Institute as we celebrate the week of Shavuot (the fall Jewish holiday celebrating the harvest and remembering our years of wandering in the desert) and gear up for the fall semester which starts next week.

• On Monday and Tuesday this week, the Science Center hosted a "Science Festival" sponsored by the Ministry of Science. The Ministry supports local Research and Development Centers around the country including the Dead Sea Arava Science Center which has a branch located at the Arava Institute. None of us expected to see any visitors stop by the Institute as part of the festival but to our surprise, on the first day a family of five dropped by and on the second day, we had 20 visitors who came to the see the Science Center. Next year, we will try to leverage this into a larger event with more activities and hopefully more visitors.
• Dr. Clive Lipchin, Director of the Arava Institute Research Programs and Dr. Shmuel Brenner, Director of the Arava Air Quality Research Program were invited by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to travel to Kenya and help develop joint academic, scientific and development programs connected to the UN Millennium Villages project. We will get a full report of their trip from Shmuel and Clive when they get back but for now, I want to share the following from Clive:
• Greetings from Kisumu, western Kenya. Today Shmuel and I had a very special treat. We were taken to meet President Obama's grandmother in her village. It was a very emotional meeting. Barak Obama's grandmother lives in a very modest family compound. The only sign of Obama are some election stickers on her front door. She came out to meet us on her lawn and we sat around chatting with her. She does not speak English so one of our Kenyan colleagues translated for us. She is a very modest woman and we felt humbled to be in her presence. In her compound is the grave of Obama's father and his grandfather. Obama last visited his grandmother in 2006 and she last visited the US for his inauguration. According to the visitor's book it seemed we were the first Israelis to visit her. - Clive
• So while our FAI Staff were off in LA cavorting with the stars and while our Research Programs staff were off in Kenya meeting Barak Obama's grandmother, I had a very quite week at the institute - I got a hair cut, went to the dentist, cooked a birthday dinner for my 16 year old daughter and attended a local farmers market at Kibbutz Yahel. Next week, the excitement begins when the students arrive on Wednesday, I take a trip to Portugal to visit the Tamera Eco Village and Uri Nusinow travels to Brussels at the invitation of the EU. More next week

David