Weekly Report March 14th to 18th, 2010

• Tal Goldman began work this week as the new Coordinator of the Center for a Healthy Environment in the Arava (Sababa). Tal is a member of Kibbutz Yotvata and is a professional landscape architect.
• Rodney Vargas from the UNC Chapel Hill Study Abroad Department came to the institute for a site visit. This is the final step in the long awaited agreement between UNC Chapel Hill and the Arava Institute which will allow students attending UNC to come to the institute for a semester or a year without petitioning for special permission.
• Many of you may have read Yonatan Chessler's beautiful letter describing the reception of the Palestinian students back on the campus after four days of closure on the West Bank. The background to the story is that after the closure was lifted, the Palestinian students went to Jerusalem to catch the bus to Ketura. Only one of the students got on the 10:00 am bus from Jerusalem for the 4 hour ride, via the Dead Sea to the institute. The other two students missed the bus and waited in the Jerusalem bus station for the next bus at 2:00 pm. The Egged 10:00 bus reached the IDF checkpoint on the Dead Sea at the border between the West Bank and Israel around 11:00 am. An Israeli soldier stopped and borded the bus to check passengers' papers. Though our Palestinian student had the permit which allows her to come into Israel, the soldier decided to remove her from the bus and she was told to go back to Jerusalem. The bus then left, leaving our student sitting on the side of the road in the in the Dead Sea with the next bus for Jerusalem, many hours away. The institute organized a taxi to come from Jerusalem to the checkpoint and pick her up (this took about an hour) and then take her back to Jerusalem. She met the other two students at the bus station. The three of them then took a bus to Ber Sheva and were picked up in Ber Sheva by the Program Director Moishe Siel. Moishe had decided not to take any chances so he made the two hour drive to Ber Sheva specially to pick them up and bring them back to the institute. This is what lies behind Yonatan's comment on the 12 hour trip from Jerusalem to Ketura which normally takes 4 hours. The institute is lodging a complaint with the Israeli Army regarding the actions of the soldiers at the check point. Matan Vilnai, Deputy Minister of Defense intervened on our behalf but it was too late to resovle the issue. We are deeply disturbed by these events and we appreciate the willingness of our Palestinian students to come back to the institute even under these trying circumstances. I also want to express my gratitude to Moishe Siel and to Judy Bar Lev for their efforts in getting our students back to the institute.
• On Tuesday, I went to Tel Aviv for a series of meetings that included a meeting of the Arava Institute/Heschel Center Food Initiative Team. We had a good meeting and we were able to come up with a plan for the next steps in the Food Initiative this year. After that meeting, I participated in the Arava Environmental Consulting & Technology Board meeting. Elad Topel, CEO of Arava EC&T presented the business plan for 2010 which look very optimistic with projection of almost a million NIS of revenue by the end of the year. Finally, the Arava Institute's Board of Directors met for its first Board meeting of 2010. The Board heard from Elad about Arava EC&T plans, recieved an overall report from me about events at the Arava Institute and discussed the structure of the audited financial reports.
• On Wednesday, Sarit Maagen-Rosenfeld, the new Chair of the Research and Visitors Park Steering Committee convened the first meeting of the commitee. The committee is made up of representatives of the different departments as well as representatives of the kibbutz guest house Keren Kolot. Sarit presented the architect's design for the park and committee members made comments and suggests.
• That same day, the Sababa Subcommittee for the inscription of Timna Valley as a UNESCO World Heritage Site also convened for the first time and discussed strategy for cooperation with the regional authorities.
• Finally on Wednesday, the institue recieved a site visit from a representative of the MASA program, the Jewish Agency program that encourages students to come on long term programs in Israel. The program provides scholarships to Jewish students from around the world to spend time in Israel. The institute is a recognzied program of MASA and about 9 of our North American students are MASA scholarship recipients. The visit seemed to go very smoothly.
• On Thursday, Cynthia Hirsch, an environmental lawyer from Wisconson visited the institue, gave a guest lecture to our students and met with staff. Cynthia has hosted Arava Institue students at her home in Madison and is very interested in helping the institute in any way she can.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report - January 3rd-8th, 2010

As the fall semester comes to a close, the pressure on students rises due to final papers and final exams on the horizon. The level of intensity increased this week because of a number of interesting visits and activities:

• On Monday, the Director of the Jordan Department, of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, David Guvrin and his Deputy, Frieda Yovel, visited the Arava Institute and met with students and staff. We discussed the improvements in the visa process and the challenges we still face. Promises were made to continue to improve the system. David and Frieda were very pleased to hear about the growing relationship with Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) and the potential joint academic program.


• This same day, the students held a Peace Building and Environmental Leadership Seminar(PELS) session on the experience of the Israeli students who had served as soldiers in the Israeli army. The Israeli students first wrote about their experiences in documents that were passed out prior to the session. During the session, the Israelis talked about their experience. The other students asked questions and expressed their own feelings. Some staff members of the institute also contributed. One staff member talked to the students about what it is like to be a mother of an Israeli soldier.


• In the evening, I met with the students for a general update on what is happening at the institute. I discussed the latest developments with Ben Gurion University and the possibility of a minor in environmental studies next fall, student enrolment forecast for next semester, developments in research, events of the past few months and the Arava Alumni Peace and Environmental Network (AAPEN) conference coming up next month. Though the students are under a lot of pressure, the atmosphere was very positive. Students made suggestions about student recruitment and raised issues of balancing the academic program with the coexistence program.


• On Wednesday, the institute hosted Professor Saleem Ali from the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont. Professor Ali was invited by the Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University to participate in a conference on the potential for establishing a Peace Park in the Golan Heights as part of a reconciliation of the conflict between Israel and Syria. Professor Ali has worked on this issue for years creating parks along the border of his home country, Pakistan and India. Professor Ali is also collaborating on research into the feasibility of a Peace Park in the Golan Heights. He visited the institute, spoke to students and met with faculty.

• Deputy Minister of Israeli Defense Matan Vilnai, made a short stop at the Arava Instiute as part of his tour of the region with Udi Gat, Chair of the Hevel Eilot Regional Council. Though the meeting was brief, less than an hour, it was a very meaningful and moving visit for all. Students generally leave the institute by Thursday afternoon but apparently many decided to stay in order to have the opportunity to meet the Deputy Minister of Defence. General Vilnai has always been a strong supporter of the the institute helping us out with permits for Palestinians and visas for Jordanians. Though he had visited the institute in the past, he had not yet met with students. About 30 students and staff filled up the small meeting room. Four representative students spoke first telling their personal story of how they came to the institute, and what their experience has been so far: Adi Segal from the US, Nancy Theodore from Jordan, Adli Kaaleyleh from Palestine and Amirit Rosen from Israel. During the student presentations General Vilnai asked questions about family background, history and he also related his only personal experiences as both a soldier and as a peace maker during the Olso Agreements. After the initial presentations, other students made comments and asked questions. Students did not hold back, bringing up tough issues such as Palestinian permits, the life of Palestinians under occupation and the Gaza War. General Vilnai was not thrown by these questions and gave very honest answers admitting that when war is fought in densely populated places like Gaza, civilian lives will be lost. Vilnai expressed the dilemma that he faces as an Israeli General, knowing that he is both responsible for the lives of Israeli civilians and Palestinian civilians. This was a very human meeting between two sides of an inhuman conflict. After the meeting with the students, General Vilnai turned to me and said "David, you are doing holy work - I will help you in any way I can."

David Lehrer