AMMAN — The government plans to launch a campaign to raise awareness on energy difficulties and the need to rationalise consumption, Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh told officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday. Describing energy as the top challenge facing the Kingdom, Khasawneh mentioned the measures taken by the government to sharply reduce […]

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The state buys solar power at a premium, but also has a limited quota for solar power production – and that quota has been filled through 2020. By Itai Trilnick The Energy Ministry could lower its subsidy for solar power if it only were to let companies sell more of it to the national network, […]

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Tzemach Committee hopes plan would force partners to compete against each other, each selling its share of gas. By Itai Trilnick Government finds solution for gas monopoly: Split Leviathan, Tamar among partners Tzemach Committee hopes plan would force partners to compete against each other, each selling its share of gas. By Itai Trilnick In the […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Apr 11,2012 | 23:17 AMMAN — Three labs in the country will be internationally accredited for testing the quality of industrial wastewater by mid-2014, officials said on Wednesday. The labs will be located in the northern, central and eastern regions of the country under three memoranda of understanding (MoU) signed on […]

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The provision and denial of water in Palestine-Israel masks ulterior political motives that seek to replace one population with another. Writer: Mark Zeitoun It will be another meager crop this year for the Palestinian subsistence farmer in the Jordan River Valley. Casting an eye over dusty fields in Fesa’el, he contemplates whether he should continue […]

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A small startup on a moshav has come up with a way to immunize plants to make them genetically resistant to disease. The U.S. government found the technology so promising that it’s helping to fund pre-field trial tests. By Hagai Amit It took a full hour and a half for Morflora’s Dotan Peleg and Miri […]

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JENIN (Ma’an) — Twenty-five members of a single family were taken to hospital in the northern West Bank on Friday after a banned pesticide poisoned their food. The family prepared the food using herbs from their garden which they sprayed with the chemicals a week earlier, one of the relatives Basim Abbadi told Ma’an. They […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Apr 14,2012 AMMAN — Hiking trails and biking trips will be among eco-tourism activities offered to visitors at the Yarmouk Nature Reserve starting this year. A visitors centre with a café and a nature shop will also be established to promote products made by area residents from locally grown ingredients, Yarmouk […]

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Article by Thomas Friedman followed by extended blog commentary by Joe Romm By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Published: April 7, 2012 New York Times ISN’T it interesting that the Arab awakening began in Tunisia with a fruit vendor who was harassed by police for not having a permit to sell food — just at the moment […]

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The proposed changes include new conditions for water drilling, a severe increase in fines for lawbreakers and, for the first time, the requirement to prepare a long-term plan for water usage in Israel. By Zafrir Rinat The Energy and Water Resources Ministry has recently begun to promote changes in the Water Law based on two-year-old […]

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By Reuters CAIRO An explosion hit the Egyptian pipeline carrying gas to Israel and Jordan on Monday for 14th time since the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak began last year, security sources said. The blast took place in the northern Sinai at the entrance of the Mediterranean coastal town of al-Arish. Residents in the city […]

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By AFP GAZA CITY Palestinian Territories The United Nations Development Program on Monday transferred four electrical transformers to Gaza in a bid to upgrade the territory’s struggling sole power plant. The UNDP, in a statement from its Gaza office, said it brought four transformers and other electrical equipment into the territory as part of a […]

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RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The rehabilitation of the sole power plant in the Gaza Strip will be complete next month, the head of the PA power authority said on Friday. The $3 million project funded by the Islamic Development Bank will help alleviate the power crisis in the Gaza Strip, Omar Kittaneh said in a statement. […]

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In February, the Tanin gas reserve had been estimated at 1.2 TCF by Noble, which is doing the drilling. By Lior Zeno Israel’s newest offshore natural gas find contains 1.1 trillion cubic feet of gas, announced Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration on Friday – offering a slightly lower estimate than their partner Noble Energy. […]

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video report: http://www.aljazeera.com/video/middleeast/2012/04/201247142331543939.html Some argue protected lands should be used for parks, while others say they should be located outside city. Politicians and environmentalists in Jerusalem are debating the future of the city’s green spaces. Some people say they believe protected lands should be built on, while others argue construction should take place outside the […]

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GAZA, April 5, 2012 (WAFA) – More than 14,000 new born babies were registered in the Gaza Strip in the first three months of this year, or an average of 150 babies a day, a little bit more than half of them were males, according to figures provided Thursday by a Hamas-run department. Gaza City […]

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Thought to have disappeared from Israel, the Galilee fumitory was last seen in the 1940s. By Zafrir Rinat An extremely rare flower was found for the first time in over 60 years in the Hanita Forest, near the Lebanese border. The Galilee fumitory (Fumaria thuretii Boiss ) was seen only once before in Israel, in […]

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Jewish National Fund reported over 220,000 visits on Sunday to its forests, and thousands of Christians gathered in Jerusalem for Easter celebrations. By Zohar Blumenkrantz, Zafrir Rinat and Revital Hovel An estimated 450,000 visitors filled Israel’s forests, nature reserves and national parks on Sunday, even as the country was struck by exceptionally warm weather. Temperatures […]

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A committee chaired by the director general of the Energy and Water Resources Ministry Shaul Tzemach, decided that Israel needs to have some 400 billion cubic meters of gas as a strategic reserve at any one time; the rest may be exported to foreign countries. By Itai Trilnick The Tzemach Committee on Energy Policy has […]

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Panel: Save 400bcm of natural gas for domestic use – Jerusalem Post By NADAV SHEMER, SHARON UDASIN 04/05/2012 18:43 Environment Ministry says domestic needs are much higher than the gov’t appointed committee suggests. Israel must retain at least 400 billion cubic meters (bcm) of its offshore natural gas reserves for domestic use between now and […]

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