Directors Report July 10th-29th, 2011

My last blog before going on vacation for the month of August:

Last Week of Dickinson Summer Sustainability Program - The Dickinson College Summer Sustainability Program at the Arava Institute is in its last week. For the last 3 weeks   8 students and  Dickinson faculty member Dr Marcus Key have explored issues of sustainability in Israel , focusing mainly on the Southern Arava. The program has included  a range of lectures, workshops and local trips including  biodiversity of local sand dunes, earth science in the Arava,  tours and sessions on renewable energy initiatives in the region, an introduction to human ecology and archeology , sustainable agriculture., mud building , discussions and lectures on water management in the Middle East and discussion groups and role plays based on environmental justice and activism. 

Submitted by Cathie Granit 

Israeli Minister for Environmental Protection, Gilad Erdan, visited the Arava Institute

Minister for Environmental Protection, Gilad Erdan, visited the Arava Institute on July 26th.  The mnister came with his entire senior staff to visit the area, see the Samar Sand dunes under threat of mining for building purposes, the Sasgon Valley near Park Timna under threat of development, renewable energy projects in the area and to visit the Arava Institute.  The Minister was also accompanied by Hevel Eilot Regional Council Chair, Udi Gat.  After introductions, David Lehrer gave a brief overview of the Arava Institute highlighting the academic program, research programs and alumni activiies. The minister was especially interested in the cross border cooperative educational and research programs.  Minister Erdan said that he did not want this visit to be check off on a list of things to do but the visit should be followed up by cooperation between the Arava Institute and the Ministry for Environmental Protection. Both the staff of the the Ministry and the Arava Institute is charged with following up programs and ideas for further cooperation.  At the end of David's presentation, David gave his usual closing line:  "It is our vision a the Arava Institute, that some day, the Minister of the Environment from Israel, the Minister of the Environment from Palestine and the Minister of the Enviroment from Jordan will all be graduates of the Arava Institute and will be able to work together for a more sustainable and peaceful Middle East."  Minister Erdan just smiled.

Arava Alumane Manar Saria participates in Washington DC Program

A new program in Washington DC, founded by Paul Costello is the New Story Leadership Program. We had two Arava alumni participating in the first pilot group and now the Arava Institute partners with NSL by identifying excellent alumni to participate each year. Arava alumnae Manar Saria is participating in the second New Story Leadership Program. NSL sees that Stories matter. NSL says "Old stories of grievance, suspicion, and fear, recycled endlessly, have kept generations of Israelis and Palestinians from moving toward a future free of conflict. It’s now clear: without a new story, there will be no peace. Fortunately, young people throughout the region are increasingly grasping this truth. More and more of them are no longer willing to play a part in the dead-end story their elders have scripted for them. They want a voice in their own future." See what's been happening this summer – what Manar and the others on video on the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKYdRr7PRRY&feature=share

Submitted by Sharon Benheim

Across Borders:  Managing Transboundary Environmental Resources

From June 26th through July 24th, the Arava Institute, in partnership with Dickinson College, hosted a U.S. State Department funded program, “Across Borders: Managing Transboundary Environmental Resources in the Middle East.” The program, attended by 17 Americans from all sectors of environmental management, has participants attending lectures and site visits in Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt. The program focused on transboundary water issues in and between these four countries. At the end of the program, participants completed group projects on environmental economic development, water conservation in Amman, the Red Sea-Dead Sea canal project and the prospect for transnational water management in Israel and Palestine.

In 2012, the program will bring young leaders from Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt to the United States to learn about transboundary environmental issues in the Chesapeake Bay. Applications are currently being accepted: http://blogs.dickinson.edu/acrossborders/call-for-applications-across-borders-2012//
The program is funded by the US State Department's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.
Submitted by Kristina Donnely

In keeping with the high standards of this blog, here is a little taste of student life at the AIES:


As you know our campus life team works tirelessly to address the needs of our campus community.  However, many people always wonder what the Program Associates (PA) are up to since they seem to come and go, from the office, through out the day.  Here is a sneak peak into what our two PAs from this past semester were up to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D1tYvA9cRM
Submitted by Josh Neirman
The next blog will appear in September.  Have a good summer

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 April 25th to 30th , 2010

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

David Lehrer

Weekly Report 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 - 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 - 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

Weekly Report November 22nd-27th, 2009

Having had barely any time to recover from last week's hectic schedule, the institute dove into a another packed week.

• Early on Sunday morning the students took off for a three day trip in the Negev to look at issues of sustainability and environmental justice. The trip was organized by the Student Life Department and Dr. Clive Lipchin as part of the course he teaches "Society and the Environment". During the trip, students visited both recognized and unrecognized Bedouin villages, Jewish settlements, single family farms and the Ramat Hovev National Industrial Waste Site near Ber Sheva. At night, the students slept in a Bedouin tent at "The Desert Ship" camp ground and heard stories from Pharchan, the Bedouin camp ground owner. The students had bot a great time but were also challenged by the complicated issues they confronted. The trip ended on Tuesday night so that students would be back on the kibbutz in time for the signing ceremony with Ben-Gurion University the following day.


• On Wednesday, the institute hosted a delegation from Ben-Gurion University and the Toronto Jewish Federation Partnership 2000 Steering Committee for the long awaited signing ceremony of the agreement between the Arava Institute and the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The agreement grants the Arava Institute's academic program official affiliate status with Ben-Gurion University. The ceremony took place outside the Keren Kolot lobby overlooking the Bryan Medwed Renewable Energy Park and the Institute's Academic and Research Center offices. The ceremony was emceed by Ronit Debowy of Kibbutz Ketura and opend with a song in Hebrew and Arabic prepared by Arava Institute students. Mr. Udi Gat, Chairman of the Hevel Eilot Regional Council was the first speaker and spoke about the importance of an academic center in the region and the growing relationship between BGU and Hevel Eilot. Professor Jimmy Weinblatt, the BGU Rector spoke for the univeristy as well as Professor Shaul Krakover, Dean of the Eilat Campus. I spoke in the name of the institue (see speech) and two students, Yonat Morduch and Huda Al Beirut did a superb job representing the students. Professor Weinblatt and I signed a declaration of affiliation which accompanies the legal documents. The ceremony ended with a beautiful rendition of Halevai (a song of peace and hope) by Yuval and Sivan Musnik (two children of Kibbutz Ketura). After the speaches, the delegation from Ben-Gurion and Toronto walked over to the institute's offices in order to unveil the sign indicating that the institute is now an official affiliate of Ben-Gurion University. See declaration and pictures.

Other events this week:

• We had a visit from the Director General of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Dr. Yossi Inbar, on Tuesday. Dr. Inbar came with a delegation from his office who recieved a brief explanation of the activities of the institute. The meeting was very brief and half way through our explanation of what we do, the Director General received a phone call on his cell phone answered it and spent 15 minutes talking while we all sat in silence and waited for him to finish. By the time the call was over, so was the meeting. Welcome to Israel.
• On Friday, I was asked to give a presentation to the Hevel Eilot Regional Council about the Arava Institute. Over the past few years, the institute has begun to work much more closely with the Regional Council on issues such as Renewable Energy, the Science Center, the R & D Agricultural Station and so on. Udi Gat, Chair of the Council felt it was important that members of the Regional Council get a wider picture of what the institute does.
• This week was both Thanksgiving (the American holiday of thanks) and Eid Al Adha (the Moslem holiday commemorating the sacrifice of Ishmael by Abraham). On Thursday evening, students stuffed themselves with a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat including a whole turkey cooked by Barbara Pinsker and on Friday, afternoon, in the traditional Moslem manner, the students slaugtered and lamb and barbequed it! Not too many students were hungry for Friday night dinner.

David