By SHARON UDASIN 09/11/2012 02:34 “This is a historic day – the Kishon begins its rehabilitation process,” Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan says Environmental Protection Minister Erdan at Kishon Photo: Courtesy Kishon River Authority The first bulldozers touched down on the shores of the Kishon River yesterday, where an extensive, three-year project to clean the […]

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RAMALLAH, September 11, 2012 (WAFA) – Representative of Japan to the Palestinian Authority Junya Matsuura, and Mayor of Birzeit Yousef Nasser signed a $114,958 grant contract of the project for ‘Rehabilitation and Extension of the Water Network in Birzeit City’, Tuesday said a press release by Representative Office of Japan in Ramallah. The project aims […]

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Rana Khaled Wed, 12/09/2012 Aiming at establishing clean and sustainable vegetable gardens, “A Thousand Gardens in Africa” initiative held its first training workshop in Egypt on Saturday, two years after the project’s launch. Organized by Nawaya, a social enterprise that is concerned with the future of farming communities in Egypt, the workshop attracted representatives of […]

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Israel to takes part in World Cleanup 2012 as some 250,000 JNF volunteers, across 120 cities, will participate in largest nationwide environmental project Ynetnews Published: 09.13.12 Israel will take part in the regional leg of the World Cleanup 2012 initiative, which scores of volunteers cleaning up en masse cities’ streets on Thursday. Israel has been […]

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Several PM coalition partners have conditioned their support for the reform on Netanyahu supporting their pet projects. By Zafrir Rinat | Sep.09, 2012 The government’s wide-ranging planning reform, well into the legislative process, could be shelved due to a new Interior Ministry plan that would cut red tape without overhauling the entire system. The new […]

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BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel is using water agreements signed in the Oslo Accords to blackmail the Palestinian Water Authority and destroy the two-state solution, the head of the PWA said Monday. Israel has reduced the Joint Water Committee, set up to implement the Oslo Agreement on water, to “a forum for blackmail,” Shaddad Attili said […]

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In the first installment in a three-part series on Palestinian organic farming, Mazen Jerbawi dreams of a West Bank food culture where his organic, farm-sourced cheese and ice cream are the norm, not the exception. By Yuval Ben-Ami | Sep.06, 2012 We are standing amidst a series of villages outside the West Bank city of […]

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Vandals cut down eight trees, some hundreds of years old, in what is believed an act of vengeance against National Part Service. Police investigating Billie Frenkel Published: 09.08.12 Several ancient oak trees, as well as pine trees that were decades old, were cut down by vandals over the weekend at the Carmel National Park. Nathan […]

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JENIN (Ma’an) — Over 90 schoolboys were hospitalized on Sunday after drinking contaminated water in a Jenin village, a PA official said. Director of the Jenin district’s ministry of health, Salih Zakarna, told Ma’an that samples from the school’s water tanks tested positive for contamination. Around 91 schoolboys from the village of Sanur were taken […]

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Rana Khaled Mon, 03/09/2012 The spread of counterfeit pesticides and fertilizers that contain dangerous toxic substances is one of the biggest dangers threatening agriculture in the country, and its delicate ecosystem. While the Agriculture Committee in the Shura Council, the lower house of Parliament, has warned of weak government supervision of the pesticides market and […]

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September 09, 2012 11:53 AM BEIRUT: Military helicopters along with Civil Defense teams rushed to put out a huge fire that broke out Sunday in a 200,000 square meter forest in the northern region of Akkar. The head of the Dora municipality where the fire broke out, Khaled Sahmarani, said the fire was spreading and […]

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September 08, 2012 10:52 AM BEIRUT: Authorities in Sidon managed over the weekend to put out most of the fire at the southern city’s landfill but obstacles are hampering efforts to complete their task. Efforts by Civil Defense, its maritime response unit and the Lebanese Airforce succeeded Saturday in putting out some 80 percent of […]

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The change, meant to reduce the government’s deficit by NIS 400 million, is expected to add NIS 5,000 in taxes on the Ford Focus, NIS 4,250 on the Toyota Corolla, and NIS 1,250 for the Kia Picanto. By Daniel Schmil | Sep.10, 2012 Prices on many of Israel’s most popular cars will rise sharply in […]

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Steven Viney Sun, 09/09/2012 A group of activists from the Middle East and Denmark attempted to bridge gaps between environmental organizations and the public with a recycling festival held at Darb 1718 cultural center over a week ago. The group, the DEMENA Climate Ambassadors, is a collective that was formed in 2010 by various organizations […]

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editor’s note: The special issue of this journal reviews civil society initiatives in both societies, and between the two societies. Most articles are available on-line at: http://www.pij.org/current.php?id=78 Palestine-Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture Vol. 18 No. 2 & 3, 2012 – Civil Society Challenges 2012 Table of Contents Editorial # Civil Society Challenges 2012 […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Sep 06, 2012 AMMAN — Marine biologists and divers in the Gulf of Aqaba are on alert after widespread bleaching of coral reefs was detected off the Egyptian coast near Hurghada, the Aqaba Marine Park (AMP) said on Thursday. AMP teams are monitoring the Gulf of Aqaba to ensure that the […]

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September 07, 2012 01:17 AM By Mohammad Zaatari SIDON, Lebanon: A huge fire erupted in Sidon’s landfill early Thursday morning, forcing a shutdown of the industrial sector of the southern city and blanketing the area with thick plumes of smoke and toxic fumes. The blaze is so extensive that it may require at least 48 […]

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September 07, 2012 01:36 AM By Osama Habib BEIRUT: Lebanon may have more offshore natural gas deposits than Cyprus and Syria, based on a recent 3-D seismic survey, the CEO of Norway-based Spectrum Company said Thursday. “My humble opinion based on the data that I have is that there is greater potential [for natural gas] […]

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Environmental Protection Ministry blasts natural gas committee recommendation to export 50% of Israeli gas; claims committee in favor of drilling companies against consumers Avital Lahav Published: 09.06.12 A recent report by the committee to investigate the Israeli gas market has environmental activists running amok. They demand to force drilling companies to sell larger gas quantities […]

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Commonly known as the Plain Tiger butterfly, the stunning African Monarch has been frequenting the lake in recent years, thanks to the restoral of certain plants to the region. By Eli Ashkenazi | Sep.07, 2012 The Hula Lake has long been a favorite spot for migrating birds, attracting as many flocks of nature lovers as […]

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