Sobhieh Suleiman has finally moved back to her newly rebuilt home five years after fleeing the fighting that destroyed Nahr El Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon. But something was missing for the 62-year-old, known by her friends as Om Maher. Thanks to ANERA’s rooftop garden project Om Maher has found it: a garden of […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By Charlie Hoyle MASAFER YATTA (Ma’an) — “Life is hard, but I won’t leave the village,” Zahira al-Jundi says. Despite winter rainfall which has painted green patches on the rolling south Hebron hills, the 145 residents of Tuba face a daily struggle to access the most basic levels of water needed to survive. Like 70 […]

Read the rest of this entry »

RAMALLAH, April 16, 2013 (WAFA) – Israel’s policies and practices in relation to water in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) amount to a system of “water-apartheid,” said a new study by the human rights group, al-Haq, published Tuesday. The report, “Water For One People Only: Discriminatory Access and ‘Water-Apartheid’ in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” said […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Maintenance of artesian wells ongoing as water per capita drops by half by Hana Namrouqa | Apr 18, 2013 | 22:37 Updated: Apr 18, 2013 | 22:37 AMMAN — Authorities have rented scores of private wells in Mafraq Governorate to meet the surging demand for water as summer approaches, according to a government official. The […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Plan could keep money issues from getting in the way of cleanup. By Zafrir Rinat | Apr.17, 2013 Many Israeli waterways are still polluted despite the billions of shekels that have been spent on sewage treatment plants in the past few years, according to a study commissioned by Zalul Environmental Association. The reason, says Zalul, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Base sitting on river bank spilled toxic substances for years; IDF officials suspected of failure to report lack of sewerage, obstructing justice Amir Ben-David Published: 04.17.13 An IDF navy base may have been complicit in dropping toxic waste into the Kishon River, which has allegedly made many divers and Navy soldiers seriously ill over the […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Sarah Marsh – Reuters/ BERLIN Qatar is racing to develop efficient solar-powered cooling technology to counter the searing heat of the Middle Eastern summer in its stadiums during the 2022 soccer World Cup, a senior organizing committee official told Reuters. Nasser al-Khater, the organizing committee’s communications and marketing director, also said the tiny gulf state […]

Read the rest of this entry »

AMMAN –– The Attarat Power Company (APCO) announced Wednesday that six internationally renowned engineering and construction companies have submitted proposals to construct Jordan’s first oil shale-fired power plant. APCO said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times that the company would evaluate the submitted bids to start more detailed negotiations with the preferred contractors. […]

Read the rest of this entry »

April 19, 2013 01:01 AM By Lysandra Ohrstrom BEIRUT: Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total are among the 46 international oil companies to prequalify to bid for offshore gas exploration contracts in Lebanon, caretaker Energy and Water Minister Gibran Bassil announced Thursday. Though two decrees demarcating the 10 maritime exploration blocks to be auctioned off […]

Read the rest of this entry »

On average, West Bank Palestinians have access to about 70 liters of water a day per person; inside the Green Line, communities use about 300 liters per person. By Lauren Gelfond Feldinger | Apr.12, 2013 Deep beneath the Israeli coastline and the West Bank mountains, groundwater flows back and forth in ancient, natural stone basins, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Low rainfall in February and March wiped out record amounts of precipitation in December and January, according to Israeli Meteorological Service. By Zafrir Rinat | Apr.10, 2013 February and March this year were the driest for the past 50 years and overturned the country’s precipitation balance, which had looked promising at the beginning of winter, […]

Read the rest of this entry »

YNET / JERUSALEM POST BELOW Noble Energy: Israel may deter investors Head of American energy company leading natural gas exploration off country’s coast criticizes decision to nearly double tax rates on gas profits after his company already invested $1 billion in offshore field Associated Press / YNET Published: 04.12.13 The head of the US company […]

Read the rest of this entry »

YNET / HAARETZ FOLLOWS Turkey open to energy ties with Israel Tentative rapprochement between countries could pave way for joint energy projects but it is still too early to talk of specifics, Turkish minister says Reuters / YNET A tentative rapprochement between Turkey and Israel could eventually pave the way for joint energy projects but […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Israel’s Tamar field, lying 100 kilometres off the coast of Haifa in the Mediterranean, is producing around 28.3 million cubic meters of natural gas a day in its initial phase, and this figure will rise to 34 million beginning in 2015. The field was discovered in 2009 and Israel hurried to exploit the area, to […]

Read the rest of this entry »

by Hana Namrouqa | Apr 11, 2013 | 23:17 AMMAN — The Ruseifa Landfill produces 850 cubic metres of gas per hour, turning the site from an environment hotspot into a source of income, an official said on Thursday. The Jordan Biogas Company, which was established at the site in 1998 and started operating in […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN 04/10/2013 Activists in the Carmel region continue to protest the construction of a second plant of its kind in their area. As gas from the Tamar reservoir flows into the Ashdod reception facility through a 160-kilometer pipe, activists in the Carmel region continue to protest the construction of a second such plant […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN 04/10/2013 Energy and water minister and Australian ambassador to bring delegation of Australian energy and water officials to Israel. Energy and Water Minister Silvan Shalom and Australian Ambassador Andrea Faulkner agreed to bring a delegation of Australian energy and water officials to Israel this spring, at a meeting in the minister’s Tel […]

Read the rest of this entry »

By SHARON UDASIN 04/10/2013 Environmental Protection Ministry: Organization’s claims are ill-researched. As beach season officially opens on Thursday, the environmental organization Zalul released a new report charging that Israeli seaside industries are “paid to pollute” rather than paying for their pollution. In Zalul’s 50-page, “State of the Sea 2013” report, the organization examines whether the […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers find that sustainable construction only costs 2 to 4 percent more, and can slash energy bills. By Zafrir Rinat | Apr.11, 2013 Green construction is known to save resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve urban quality of life. So why aren’t cities going green faster? One of the biggest reasons is uncertainty over […]

Read the rest of this entry »

Tue, 02/04/2013 Rana Khaled Rafah and other cities on Sinai’s north coast have been suffering from pollution of the Mediterranean Sea and its underground water reservoir, which has caused serious environmental and health issues for the local population, experts argue. Some blame Israel for the pollution, while others attribute it to domestic sources. The National […]

Read the rest of this entry »