Weekly Report February 21st to 26th

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

David Lehrer

Weekly Report February 14th-20th, 2010

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

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

Weekly Report January 31st - February 12th

I went to the United States to attend the FAI Executive Committee meeting in Atlanta and then participated in a number of events and meeting in Atlanta, New York and Boston. See the Trip Report. The following report was written for me by Tamar Norkin, my administrative assistant.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report January 31st – February 5th

• It was the first week of the academic break for the students, and most of them left for home or travels elsewhere therefore it was a quiet week at the Arava Institute.
• We had a visit from Robert Barker, who is a dean at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. The School has hosted several Arava Institute alumni as teaching fellows for its summer portals program in environmental studies, and is very interested in continuing its relationship with AIES. Two Arava alumni from the Middle East will travel to Hotchkiss to teach this summer and more will be invited in the future.

Weekly Report February 7th – February 12th

This week has been a very eventful one.

• We are continuing construction of the Research and Visitors Park, and proceeding at a fast pace to have the site ready for next week’s validation center opening ceremony.
• The Academic Program Department held a meeting to review the end of the semester and look ahead to the next one.
• The Arava Institute hosted Alan Weisman, journalist and author of the best-selling book ‘The World Without Us’. He is currently traveling the world conducting research and interviews for his new book, which will be about the carrying capacity of the world. He interviewed researchers at AIES and learned about the ecology of the area.
• The big story of the week is the 4th AAPEN alumni conference, which took place this week in Aqaba. Many people have been working hard to bring together this exciting event. Close to 80 people attended the conference, a number that reflects the significant growth and development of the alumni network.
• Key speakers at the conference included Professor Alon Tal, one of the founders of the Arava Institute, David Weisberg, Executive Director of Friends of the Arava Institute, and journalist Alan Weisman. Guest attendees included members of the local government in Aqaba.
• Arava Institute alumni Shira Kronich, Ilana Meallem, Yair Teller, Suleiman Halasah and Corey Mikami gave presentations about their environmental and transboundary projects, and Jamil Sarraj led a creative thinking workshop.
• Sharon Benheim, director of Alumni Projects Department presented plans for future developments in the alumni program, including an exclusive online networking site and the initiation of alumni network branches around the world.
• In all, it was a productive and positive program that allowed us to see how far we’ve come in the last 13 years and image how far we can go in the future.

Tamar Norkin

Weekly Report Jan 21st - 28th

Week ly Report January 21st – 29th

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

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

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

David Lehrer

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 Reports - December 20th -31st, 2009

The week of December 20th to the 25th:

• Seth Morrison, Chair of the Friends of the Arava Institute (FAI) visited the Arava Institute during the first few days of the week. Seth met with staff and also participated in the Biodiversity short course run for students and alumni. Seth also participated in the Arava Institute Board of Directors meeting and the Annual General Assembly of the Association.


• The students had a busy week. From Sunday through Tuesday, students had the choice of participating in one of 3 short intensive courses: Biodiversity of sand dunes, Geological Information Systems (GIS) or Community decision making. On Wednesday, all the students participated in a "Sand Day" activism workshop as part of the Environmental Leadership Seminar (the EL in PELS). Students slept out at Timna park on Tuesday night and then spent the next day exploring local environmental issues including the Samar Sand Dunes mining controversy and the proposed hotel resort to be built near Timna Park. The following day, the students went to Jerusalem for a Peace-building study tour (the P in PELS) meeting with Jewish Settlers, visiting Gilo, looking at the issues around the separation wall and visiting a Palestinian refugee camp. It was a very intensive trip which is still having a rippling effect on the students.


• The Arava Institute Board of Directors met for the final meeting of 2009, approving the 2010 budget, hearing from Tamar Keinan, a Board member and Arava alum about her experience at he Copenhagen Climate Change conference and receiving the half year financial statements from instituter's CPA. Seth Morrison reported on FAI activities in 2009 and prospects for 2010. The board said goodbye to Hillel Gordon, a member of the Board of Directors since its founding in 1998. The board also welcomed two new members, Philip Medlinker, an investment lawyer and member of the Board of Directors of the Israeli Electric Company and Yaakov Karni, Professor at the Weizmann Institute specializing in solar energy. Following the Board meeting, the institute held its annual General Assembly of the Association in order to approve the Directors for the coming year.


• On Wednesday, I travelled to the District office of the Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael (KKL - the Israeli JNF) and presented the dorm project for approval. The committee greeted the plans to build a new set of dorms at the Arava Institute very warmly and gave their approval. This will enable the Friends of the Arava Institute to work together with the JNF to raise money for the project and send it through KKL.


• Thursday night, the Arava Institue was hosted by Becky and Tal Rowe Litman in their home in Gan Yishua for a "chug bayit" (parlor meeting). Thirty friends and neighbors came to hear Roee Elisha, Sulieman Halasah and me present the work of the Arava Institute. This chug bayit is part of an ongoing effort to raise awareness in Israel about the Arava Institute and to lay the foundation for an Israeli Friends of the Arav Institute.

The week of December 27th to December 31st was a considerably quieter week for both staff and students:

• On Sunday, the Admissions and Scholarship committee met to discuss the dilemma of having more applicants for next semester than beds. It was decided to aim for 45 students and to request to rent 2 more apartments from the kibbutz.
• The next day, the staff held the long awaited followup on the February staff communications seminar. The general consensus seemed to be that the communications seminar was successful, that the atmosphere at the institute is positive but that there is always room for improvement. The staff also looked at issues that they would like raises at the next seminar.
• Noah David from MASA visited the institute and met with students and staff. Noah discussed with staff members ways the institute could leverage the resources of MASA in order to increase the visibility of the institute and recruit more students from abroad.

I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year

David