Director's Report May 1st to June 17th

To Director's Blog Readers'

I apologize that I took a two month break in writing the blog. The last two months have been very intense and I was not able to keep up with the blog.  Things have calmed down a bit and I have finished the two courses I was taking at BGU - Quantative Research Methods and Evolutionary Ecology, so I will try to go back to producing the blog about once every two weeks.  The following report is not everything that has happened in the past two months but some of the major highlights.

Arava Institute student receives prestigious award for hydrogen production research


The World Renewable Energy Congress 2011 (WREC 2011) is an international scientific event that occurs once every two years. Most of the topics in the WREC 2011 focused on renewable energy technology and renewable energy applications. Arava Institute Ben-Gurion University Joint Master’s student, Bara Wahbeh had the chance to present his Master’s research; “Hydrogen Production by Boron Hydrolysis” that he is performing at the Arava Institute under the guidance of Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, the Arava Institute’s Director of the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation. The research simulates Hydrogen production in a car, by reacting steam with boron particles, the products of this reaction are Hydrogen gas, steam and boric acid (no green house gases are produced). During Bara’s presentation at the conference, he also discussed the advantages of Boron over other elements and compounds, as well as the hydrolysis technology compared to other technologies that are used to produce Hydrogen. Hydrogen production on board a car can overcome some of the obstacles facing Hydrogen use in vehicles such as the need for infrastructure to supply and store Hydrogen fuel. Bara’s paper was selected by the scientific committee of the conference as the winner of the “Best Paper Award within the topic Fuel Cells”.



Peace Building and Environmental Leadership Seminar (PELS) Trip

From May 18th to the 20th, Arava Institute students went on a three day study trip. It started off with a hike on the ridge of Machtesh Ramon. Following that the students headed to the Sderot-Gaza area where they went to Moshav Netiv HaAsara, along the Gaza-Israel border. While there, they met with members of Other Voice, an organization that was created three years ago to continue dialogue and contact between Gazans and Israelis from the Sderot area. Besides hearing from Israeli members of Other Voice, the students were also able to speak with an individual from Gaza in order to get an idea of what the conflict is like there. Later in the day the students met with 9th graders from a regional school in Sderot. The students asked them questions ranging from what they think their government should be doing to help them to asking what it was like during Operation Cast Lead. The final part of the day in Sderot consisted of going to the JNF Sderot Indoor Recreational Center which is an indoor protected playground for the children of Sderot. The students organized and environmental art project with them the children. That evening the students spent the night at the Adamama Ecological Center in Netivot.

The next day the students travelled to the West Bank to the archeological site of the ancient village of Susya in the southern Hebron mountain region, where they were given a tour from a resident of the nearby Jewish settlement of Susya. The students saw the ancient synagogue and walked through some of the underground buildings. Students also asked questions about what it is like living in a settlement and how did the settlers from Susya get along with their Palestinian neighbors. After that, the students went to the Palestinian village of Susya which is next to the Jewish settlement. They received a tour from Arava alumni, Yair Teller and Abeer Abu-Sara of the bio-digester project that Arava Alumni projects has created and spoke to the villagers. The students learned about ongoing issues with the settlers. The students met members of the Villagers Group, an organization of Israelis and others who are working to help villages like Susya. The Palestinian villagers of Susya have set up a community center, which hosts groups and has programs throughout the year. The students split up into three different groups. One group went to plant trees that were donated by Dr. Elaine Solowey, another group worked on an environmental art project and the last group played with children from the village. At one point, students witnessed a confrontation between settlers and Palestinians over where the settlers' sheep could graze. That evening the students were divided and hosted by families where they had dinner and slept.

The final day of the trip was in Jerusalem where the students met outside the Knesset with Likud Knesset Member Benny Begin, who gave an impassioned speech about what he believes, are the history and truths of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Following MK Begins talk, the students heard from Christopher Gunness, a spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). The students received an in depth briefing of the situation for the refugees in Gaza and in the West Bank and were very interested in what he had to say. The PELS trip was a unique opportunity for Arava Institute students to hear a wide range of narratives from Israeli’s and Palestinians. Report submitted by Josh Neirman.



Alumni Gathering in Jerusalem

The Alumni Department spent many hours over the month working on the submission of permit requests for Palestinians to attend the International AAPEN Gathering hosted by the Israel AAPEN Committee in late May. Additionally, visa requests were made for several Jordanian alumni. The visas and permits were received in time for the alumni to attend the gathering in Jerusalem. The International AAPEN Gathering took place on May 27-28, in Jerusalem. The main goal of the event was a social gathering with the possibility of discussions for developing regional activities. Around 50 people attended the gathering which included a number of workshops, meetings and discussions. Alumna Inna Filkovski led a gender circle, Assaf Katz and Liel Maghen facilitated a communication circle about the current situation in the Middle East, and Yoel Vierba helped organize and facilitate a session to focus alumni towards creating a new project. The gathering ended with a high level of energy and a feeling of family, new connections made amongst alumni from different years of study, and a team of people formed to plan the next social gathering.



AIES Night

On Monday, June 6th the Arava Institute held this semester's AIES night when students present their research from Independent Study and Masters Research. This semester there were five poster presentations and over twenty power point presentations. The students received high praise from their instructor, Dr. Clive Lipchin and the Director of the Academic Program, Dr. Elli Groner. The event lasted close to 4 hours but the time seemed to fly by, as each presentation was well thought out and interesting. The topics ranged from the feasibility of implementing a carbon tax in Jordan to hydrogen production via metal hydrolysis. It was a pleasant evening and included great desserts provided by AIES staff. The audience consisted of students, staff, kibbutz members and residents from the region. Report submitted by Josh Neirman

David Lehrer

Weekly Report, November 7th - 19th, 2010

• Tareq Abu Hamed flew to Northern Cyprus (Turkish Cyprus) on November 7th to spend three days hosted by the Sustainable Environment and Energy Systems (SEES) Graduate Program at the Middle East Technical University, North Cyprus Campus (METU NCC).  The main purpose of the visit was to discuss the possibility of a joint Master's Degree in Renewable Energy with METU NCC. Tareq met with numerous faculty members fo METU NCC including Professor Turgut Tumer, the Campus President.  A number of areas of cooperation were explored including METU students participating in AIES programs, joint programs and joint research.
• On Tuesday, November 9th,I brought three students from the institute (Sara from NJ, Brian from Seattle, and Elham from Amman) to visit Edward Sperling, the injured rider, at Tel Hashomer.  It was my first opportunity to visit Eddie since the night of the accident.  We arrived about an hour before visiting hours so we were able to have lunch in an Aroma Coffee Shop inside the hospital with Micha Sperling, Eddie's son.  Micha told us that Eddie was awake and able to communicate.  The students were grateful for a chance to get to know Micha and also to tell Micha about themselves.  At around 12:00 we went to visit Eddie in the ICU unit.  Visiting hours are from 12:00 to 14:00 (2:00 pm) and only two people at a time can go in at once.  Of course being typical Israelis we initially ignored that rule but were then promptly kicked out.  In any case, we took turns visiting with Eddie. The students had prepared a beautiful folder with pictures of all of the students and each student wrote something personal next to their picture.  Sara, Brian and Elham took turns reading what they and other students wrote.  Eddie's face looks pretty good considering the beating it took.  His eyes are bright and he had an amazing look of satisfaction as the students chatted with him.  In addition to reading the card, the students told Eddie about themselves.   Eddie mouthed some words which the students were able to understand with some difficulty.  I hope that the visit gave Eddie and his family some cheer. It was incredibly important for the students themselves, who recognize the fact that Eddie had been on the ride in order to support the institute.



Brian, Micha (Eddie's son), Elham and Sara

• On Wednesday, November 17th, I spoke to Micha who told me that Edward and his family were flying home. For more updates on Edward and his family, please go to  http://edsperling.wordpress.com/ 
• Tuesday, November 9th, was the first day of the 4 day Negev Field Trip for the students.  Day one of the trip saw the students arrive at Sde Boker to sit in on the second day of the Bi-annual International Desertification Conference. For the Masters students it was also a chance to get a real feel for the place they will call home following the completion of their first year of studies here at AIES. Day two of the trip was that much more crammed, with a number of activities lined up beginning with a hike through Ein Avdat and ending with a homely culinary experience in Yeroham.  Highlighting the issues of waste disposal, environmental justice and social inequity , day three involved a visit to Ramat Hovav municipal waste disposal facility and a visit to the unrecognized Bedouin village of Wadi El Na’am. Appropriately, the night was spent in Bedouin tent accommodation at Khan HaShayarot.  The ride home included a stop in a Tel Sheva, where Mariam, the improbable founder of her very own range of organic herbal health products enlightened the group as to her fight against adversity as a Bedouin women in order to start her own business.
• This Arava Alumni Leadership Jam in collaboration with YES ( www.yesworld.org) brought together a group of 24 diverse AIES alumni from Jordan, Israel, USA, and Palestine for 5 intensive days in the Wadi Ram Desert - Jordan. Participants were diverse in both the year that they studied or interned at the AIES (as far back as 1999!) age, nationality and field of expertise! Being in the quiet of the desert and facilitated by a team of YES and AIES alumni the group was guided through a trans-formative process focusing on the interplay between introspection, lifestyle sustainability and the ability to bring about systemic change in the world. Some of the outcomes were; a deepening and building of authentic relationships between alumni, invigoration of the AAPEN and alumni projects, rejuvenation of body, mind and spirit and time to reflect on the post Arava Experience and its influence on the personal, social and professional realms.

Alumni in Wadi Rum

• On Sunday, November 14th, along with the entire world, the students of the Arava Institute watched "With Earth and With Each Other" the first annual virtual web rally for Peace and the Environment sponsored by the Friends of the Arava Institute (FAI).  The broadcast was a bit choppy at first but by the end the broadcast was smooth and the students, staff and kibbutz members who attended the program were inspired and proud.  Of course much thanks goes the FAI staff members, David Weisberg and Jessica Reed for the incredible effort put into the broadcast.  I also want to thank Yonatan Chesler who oversaw the project at the Arava Institute and Josh Neirman for his technical support.  And of course a special thanks to Mandy Patinkin, Pete Seeger and all of the other artists who made this a unique and special event.
• Monday, November 15th, Deputy Minister Ayoub Kara, from the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and the Ministry of Negev and Galil Development visited the institute. I first met the Deputy Minister at this year's Renewable Energy Conference in Eilat in February. I invited Minister Kara to visit the institute.  The Deputy Minister was accompanied by the Eilot Regional Council Head, Udi Gat.  Three students from the institute met with the Deputy Minister and talked about themselves and their experience at the institute. The Deputy Minister asked a few questions to the students and then staff members raised issues concerning funding from his two ministries as well as issues concerning permits for Palestinians.  The Ministry for Negev and Galil Development has promised funding for the new dorms and the Ministry for Regional Cooperation has promised funding for cross border conferences.  The Deputy Minister expressed a strong interest in helping the institute to promote cross border cooperation.  After the meetings, the Deputy Minister was taken on a tour of the institute's renewable energy research facilities.  
• On Wednesday, November 17th, the students met with the son of a kibbutz member who had been the one to spray paint the anti-Arab slogan on the door of one of the units on the campus of the institute.  Similar to the meeting with Louie, the volunteer who also participated in the incident, the meeting was very moving and refreshing.  Marvin apologized for his actions and talked a bit about his background coming from France where he had experienced anti-Semitism and he also spoke about his experiences in the army.  Marvin said how ashamed he was of his actions and that since the incident he has been torturing himself over it and when he comes home from the army does not leave his house.  The students told Marvin that Ketura is his home and that he should not fear leaving his house.  Many of the students spoke about the impact of the incident on them but most of all they expressed forgiveness and a sincere desire to put the incident behind them.   Raja, a Palestinian from East Jerusalem read the following statement to Marvin:
• "My name is Raja' I am an Arab girl form Jerusalem.  This letter is for you since you live in this kibbutz.  I was not shocked, not even a little bit when I heard about what you did, but I was hurt that this norm in Israel happened here in the Arava Institute, where all these nice Israelis welcomed me as student. Obviously you have no idea why I’m here, but let me tell you that you attacked an Arab group who are here to look at this conflict between us from another perspective, a peaceful one. I hope that you can take this experience back to the Army with you, to turn it into a positive one and not to brag to others that you attacked a peaceful Arab group in your kibbutz."
• Cathie Granit, the Institute's Program Director reminded Marvin, that as a soldier, he is looked up to by the younger kids of the kibbutz and that he needs to be an example.  In an emotional statement, Cathie asked Marvin "To please do the right thing."

David Lehrer

Weekly Report June 13th - 18th

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

David Lehrer

Weekly Report May 23rd -27th, 2010

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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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



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

David Lehrer

Weekly Report May 9th-14th, 2010

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

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

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

David Lehrer

Weekly Report April 11th - 23rd

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

Dear Students,

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

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

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


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


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


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

Lucien and Yehudit Bronicki with Tareq Abu Hamed

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


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


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

David Lehrer

Weekly Report March 7th to 12th, 2010

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

David Lehrer

Weekly Report February 28th to March 5th, 2010

• This was the first full week of studies. This semester students have the opportunity to take such courses as Alternative Energy with Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed, Environmental Mediation with Dr. Yaron Ben David and Doctoral Student Timea Spitka or Environmental Economics with Dr. Nir Becker and yours truly. For a full list of courses go to Spring 2010 Course List.
• The Green Course, the local branch of the national environmetal student organization, held its first meeting of the new semester and heard about some of the environmental issues facing the area. The next evening Sarah Cohen, the General Secretary of Kibbutz Ketura welcomed the students at the Student Life meeting.
• Monday evening, the newly formed Local Committee to Save the Samar Sand Dunes created under the auspices of Sababa (The Center for the Environment in the Arava) met to plan a strategy to create public awareness about the threat to the future of the Arava's last large block of sand dunes on the Israeli side of the border. The Israeli Lands Authority has given permission to a contractor to mine part of the dunes. For more information go to Samar Dunes.
• Amy Rosnblatt-Lui, Director of the Beverely Foundation which participated in the Jewish Funders Network matching grant program visited the institute, meeting with staff and students. Amy seemed very excited about what she saw and will try to strengthen our relationship with the Beverly Foundation as well as help us reach out to other foundations.
• On Wednesday, I joined other environmental activists at the Knesset for a meeting of the Green Lobby headed by Member of Knesset Dov Hanin. I had the opportinity to speak about the hotel that is planned to be built in Timna Park. The Lobby discussed many threats to open spaces all over the country and the proposed planning reform law which will make it easierier for developers to build and more difficult for those who are concerned about open spaces and the environment to protect them.
• Thursday morning, Miriam Sharton, Associate Director of the Institute flew off to Barcelona to participate in the Anna Lindh Forum 2010 in Barcelona. The 4 day conference will include over 500 representatives from member organizations of the Anna Lindh Foundation. The purpose of the conference is promote cooperation among civil society organizations committed to intercultural dialogue in the region and to increase its impact on the establishment of the Union for the Mediterranean while enriching the activities of the national networks and the work of the foundation.
• This week, the region is holding the Hevel Eilot Football Tounament (Soccer for you Americans) at Kibbutz Ketura in memory of Pini Lutman, a member of Ketura. While the Institute students and staff suffered defeat last night at the hands of the Uvda Airforce Base soccer team, the score was only 1 - 0 and we put up a good fight. Meanwhile in less than an hour the female staff and students have the opportunity to return honor to the institue bydestroying the Kibbutz Ketura female squad. I'll let you know what happens.
• Well sports fans, I am back from a thrilling game in which the Arava Institute Women's Team whipped the Kibbutz Ketura Women's Team 2-0 enabling the Arava Institute to bring home a regional championship for the first time.

Victory Dance

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 November 15th-20th, 2009

This was a very busy week for the Arava Institute in and around the Middle East.

• Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed spent the week in Amman Jordan attending the 4th Bienniel meeting of Middle Eastern scientists aimed at promoting peace through collaboration. The Malta Conference (first convenied in Malta 8 years ago) is sponsored by Collumbia College Chicago, the American Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry in Great Britain and other agencies. Tareq has attended 2 other conferences and was once again invited to particpate in this year's conference held in Amman. It was Tareq's first trip to Amman. The other conference attendees were Nobel Chemistry Laureates and scientists from all over the Middle East including Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Syria and Lebanon.
• Sharon Benheim and Cecil Rimer spent two days in Amman this week recruiting students. They interviewed about 10 potential candidates for the spring semester. This was also an opportunity to touch base with a number of alumni including Osama Suleiman and Sawsan Essa who have recently begun working on their own NGO which will run cross border environmental projects.
• I also spent two days in Jordan this week. On Monday, Tareq and I went to Irbid in the north of Jordan. We met with the Vice-President of the Jordan University of Science and Technology, Professor Malkawi and the head of the university's new center for Renewable Energy. Tareq and I discussed with them the idea of cooperation on a joint Masters Program in Energy and the Environment. Professor Malkawis seemed very interested in developing a joint program. Tareq and I will follow up on this project in the next few months. We also toured the new green house built with funds from the MERC research grant that Dr. Elaine Solowey and Dr. Samer Talouzi are working on together. Dr. Talouzi said tha the project was producing excellent results and the university is very pleased with the cooperation with the Arava Institute.
• In the evening, Tareq and I headed back to Amman where we met with Dr. Hassan Dweik, Vice-President of Al Quds University in East Jerusalem. Dr. Dweik was also attending the conference. Hassan was very pleased to hear that the institute has been able to aquire permits for West Bank Palestinan's to study at the institute. While this should make things easier in the development of greater cooperation between Al Quds and the institute, the current university policy has placed a moratorium on further cooperation between Al Quds and Israeli institutions of higher learning. Hassan is working on a statement of common principles on which cooperation between Al Quds and Israeli Universities can be based and allow an end to the moratorium. He asked if Tareq and I would be willing to help develop this document with him. We of course readily agreed.
• The next day, I met with the new Israeli Consul, Danny Silvan and his staff at the Amman Embassy. We discussed the difficulties in receiving visas for Jordanian students and how together we can make things go smoother. Danny is extremely enthusiastic about our program admitting that we are able to do things that the Embassy cannot, in order to improve relations between Jordan and Israel. He told his staff that the Arava Institute requests are to receive top priority. We also discussed the technical difficulties that Jordanin students run into when they try to come to the embassy for their appointments. Danny promised to try to deal with those issues as well.
• On Thursday, the Arava Institute and the Heschel Center, sponsored the first annual Food and Sustainability Conference called "Food for Thought". The confernece was held in Tel Aviv. It was the Arava Institute's first attempt at this type of activity. We did not know how many people to expect though our partner's, the Heschel Center, had a goal of 300 participants. On Thursday morning, the crowds started pouring in to the NOVA events center at the Tel Aviv Port. By the time the conference was in full swing we had over 500 attendees and we had to shut down registration because there was no more room! The conference opened with a welcoming speech by the Israeli Minister of Agriculture, Shalom Simchon. After both Eilon Schwartz, Director of the Heschel Center and I made our remarks, we invited our keynote speaker, best-selling author, Ruth Ozeki ("My Year of Meats" and "All Over Creation") to address the packed auditorium. Ruth was eloquent and inspiring. In a 45 minute speech she managed to capture all of the major issues and controversies around the food industry from genetically modified foods, to the environmental impact of the monoculture corn industry in the US, to the inhuman treatment of animals and the denial of basic human rights of small farmers around the world. At the end of her her speach, Ruth talked about a number of people who are leading the way towards more sustainability in food. Ruth mentoined the ground breaking work of Dr. Elaine Solowey who she met while at Ketura. Ruth captivated the audience and for the rest of the day, could not move two feet without being surrounded by fans. The conference continued with a series of short "lightning panels" moderated by our own Dr. Alon Tal. The panels included journalists, academics, professionals and activists and dealt with three subjects - Food and the Environment, Food and Health and Food and Culture. One of my favorite speakers raised the intriguing question "What happened to the famous Israeli Breakfast, the cheeses, yogurts, vegitables, juices etc?" Today almost 80% of Israelis eat cornflakes for breakfast! The short panels were followed by mini seminars which included a wider variety of food subjects and panelists including members of the Knesset, other government officials, researchers and heads of non-profits in Israel. The seminars covered issues such as the political arena, hunger, the meat industry in Israel, activism and more. Dr. Elaine Solowey ran a seminar in Engish for a group of visiting American food activists. After a delicious organic lunch of humus and salads, the conference reconvened with round table discussions, including one held by Rabbi Michael Cohen on Judaism and food. A closing panel looked at positive developments in Israel's food culture, organic markets, community sponsored agriculture, community gardens etc. The conference closed with the showing of a short video produced for the conference, featuring four young Israeli chefs who tried to produce a meal with the lowest carbon footprint possible. This short film was followed by the screening of the movie "Fresh" an excellent documentary about food initiatives in the US. We finally had to kick the last participants out of the builidng by 7:00 pm so we could go home.
• The Arava Institute steering committee for the Food Conference was Elad Topel, Abby Lutman, Gail Osman, Miriam Sharton and Ayala Weiss. The committee along with staff from the Heschel Center was responsible for planning, organizing and running the conference. In addition to the committee members a number of insitute staff were recruited to help run the conference including, Rabbi Michael Cohen, Ilana Meallem, Yair Teller, Judy Bar Lev, Rutie Kaplan, Dane Cooper and Shira Kronich. In addition, over 30 Arava Institute alumni participated in the conference.

So another busy week for the Arava Institute. This coming week we are signing the agreement of affiliation with Ben-Gurion University.

David

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 September 21st - 25th, 2009

Sunday was the second day of Rosh Hashonah so it was a shorter week than usual.

• On Wednesday, the Academic Department held a faculty meeting for those faculty teaching in the coming semester. In addition to the veteran teachers such as Uzi Avner, Avigail Morris, Elaine Solowey, Clive Lipchin, Elli Groner (Academic Director), Tareq Abu Hamed and Shmuel Brenner, the institute welcomed new teacher's Omer Pollack, Nadav Davidovitch, Nadav Shashar and Shlomo Chertok. The institute also welcomed back long time faculty member Rabbi Michael Cohen who is here in Israel on Sabatical. Course listing.
• Among other information, the faculty heard that 11 Palestinians had received permits and 7 Jordanians had received visas. Altogether 47 students have been accepted to the fall semester and two are on waitlist.
• Wednesday evening, Rabbi Michael and I went to Tel Aviv to attend the going away party of the European Union Ambassador at his residence. The food was great and we exchanged lots of business cards.
• Thursday, Sharon travelled to Jordan to meet with alumni and with the new students. She had a meeting in Amman with 9 Jordanian alumni and 6 new students. Khaled Shorman our representative in Jordan helped arrange the meeting and also attended. The alumni talked about organizing an event in October around the issue of climate change. They also spoke to the new students about life at the institute.
• Thursday evening, 9 of the 10 North American students arrived at the Institute as part of the MASA program. The institute holds a three week pre-program of Hebrew and Israeli studies for all Jewish students who have received scholarships from the MASA program. This is part of the agreement with MASA which certifies MASA programs in Israel.
• On Friday, Tareq Abu Hamed spoke to a group of local Arava residents about energy conservation in building. This was part of a regional workshop on energy conservation in building that was organized by the Eilat Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative. It was Tareq's first lecture in Hebrew! He did great.

Gmar Hatima Tova

David

Weekly Report September 6th -11th, 2009

Though I am travelling in the United States this week, I am happy to report on a succesful staff trip held this week. Once a year the institute organizes a field trip for staff members to deepen their knowledge of current environmental and coexistence projects in the region. The following is a report that Miriam Sharton sent me:

1. We met Roee Elisha on the Dead Sea where he gave us a talk about his work with the Dead Sea Preservation Company (DSPC) and the major problems and possible solution specifically regarding the flooding of the hotels. It was great to what Roee has achieved and hear about the important work he is involved in. We were all impressed and proud of him- he gave an informative and interesting talk.
2. We met with Noam Ilan (NOT our Noam Ilan from Lotan) and his partner in the project Elad, who took us to the village of Susia in Southern Hevron. The residence of susia literally live in caves and shacks. Noam and Elad together with the residents of Susia installed a solar panel and a wind tower to provide enough energy for the basic needs of 8 families . We visited the site and had an interesting discussion with Noam and Elad about this project and other potential projects.
3. Next we picked up Munther Hind who took us to another village in Southern Hevron where he built and is running a small wastewater system that provides clean water to two families – 18 individuals. We heard about the project and then were invited into the house of one of the families and heard about the history and challenges of the village which is situated in a politically unstable area of the west bank.
4. We were then joined by Elan Pitchi from "Break the Silence" which is an organization started by ex- combat solders who's mission is to share with the media testimonies of soldiers who have served in the West Bank . Elan gave us a short tour of the area of southern Hevron and talked to us about the work of his organization.
5. After that we drove to Clive's house where Clive and Hani hosted us for a great BBQ dinner. Thank you Clive and Hani!!

In addition to the the staff trip, the institute enjoyed a special "simcha" (happy event) when Uri Nusinow's daughter, Avital, was married on Thursday. Congratulations to Uri and his family.

Finally, I am, in the United States this week and am heading to the Board of Trustees meeting in Baltimore with Tareq Abu Hamed, David Weisberg and Jessica Reed. Tareq and I were in Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota hosted by the JNF and Debbie Jewett, Abby Lutman's sister. We had a number of successful fundraising events and I had a good Mexican meal.

David