Greens object to Israel Lands Authority’s plan including new town near Tzur Hadassah, effectively reviving rejected Safdie plan By Zafrir Rinat | Feb. 25, 2015 Eight years after a plan to build 20,000 homes on the hills west of Jerusalem was dropped – to the relief of environmentalists and the capital’s western suburbs – the […]

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By SHARON UDASIN \ 02/24/2015 Environmentally, the plans would interrupt the ecological continuum in the Jerusalem Hills west of the city, which is a unique habitat for animals, trees and other plants unique to Israel, the groups added. Gesturing at the tree-dotted mountain slopes visible from the Sataf outlook point on Tuesday morning, nature conservationist […]

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Rawabi is meant to offer Palestinians a model of modern urban living but currently has no water. ‘Creating facts on the ground” was an expression associated with the building of new Jerusalem neighborhoods following the reunification of the capital in the Six Day War. The years since 1967 have seen the welcome addition of thousands […]

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infrastructure ministry – shows the Palestinian Authority who’s the boss. By Zvi Bar’el | Feb. 25, 2015 There is no closure on the West Bank: Citizens can go out in the streets, travel, spend time in Ramallah’s discotheques and renovate their homes. Paradise. But just so they won’t forget where they came from, and where […]

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RAMALLAH, February 15, 2015 (WAFA) – The Ministry of National Economy Sunday said the Israeli government’s full control of the Dead Sea deprives the Palestinian economy from taking advantage of its natural resources and valuable metals by profiting from around $962 billion. The ministry said if Palestinians were allowed to make use of the natural […]

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Beirut, 02/17/2015 The Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) is conducting a public opinion survey on consumption patterns in Arab countries, focusing on three main resources: energy, water and food, which are in nexus with climate change. A team of experts will prepare a special study based on the results from each country, in […]

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Mohammed Zaatari| The Daily Star ZAHRANI, Lebanon: A deluge of rainwater flooded the streets of Zahrani Wednesday, forcing Syrian refugees to abandon their swamped tents in the southern village. Sleiman Ammar, a refugee child, told The Daily Star that he “I heard her [his cat] meowing so rushed to save her,” while clutching his cat […]

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Mohammed Zaatari| The Daily Star SIDON: A dead sea turtle believed to be more than 50 years old washed up on a south Lebanon beach Thursday, after apparently choking on plastic grocery bags it mistook for jellyfish. The turtle was discovered by a group of young men while exercising on the beach, sources in Tyre […]

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Fuel contamination was reported on Tuesday afternoon to the Environmental Protection Ministry, but the source of the leak has yet to be found. By Zafrir Rinat | Feb. 19, 2015 A large amount of fuel from the Israel Air Force base at Ramat David in northern Israel leaked into Nahal Kishon in the area of […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/25/2015 One of the biggest achievements of the €900,000-twinning program was the Israeli Environmental Protection Ministry’s publication of a draft Integrated Environmental Licensing Law. Representatives of the Israeli and German Environmental Protection ministries, and of the European Union, celebrated on Tuesday the conclusion of an 18-month twinning project whose focus has been […]

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18/2/2015 Keynote address at the conference on the review of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) Florina, Malta, 17-18 February 2015 Four years ago, I addressed the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD) in Montenegro, to present an Arab perspective on regional priorities. This was at the onset of the uprisings that started in […]

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16/2/2015 We don’t often hear good news coming from Palestine, but solar energy advances for Palestinian households are something to celebrate. The Dead Sea Photovoltaic Generating Plant offers drastically reduced prices for Palestinians struggling to pay their energy bills and its first phase is now open and underway. The opening of the 710 kW first […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/17/2015 Israel to help Islands with about $150,000 worth of support in water-related technology. Aiming to help the Republic of the Marshall Islands overcome its water shortage, the Foreign Ministry is facilitating the transfer of a mobile desalination vehicle to the tiny Pacific Ocean nation. Representatives from Hadera- based G.A.L. Water Technologies […]

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Rawabi’s dried-up pipe could land Israel in deep water – YNET Op-ed: There are quite a few ways to explain to the world why uninvolved people were killed in Gaza or why Jews are allowed to settle in an occupied territory; but there is no way to explain why Israel is preventing a Palestinian city […]

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Palestinian land in East Jerusalem to be used for Israeli landfill sitE- HAARETZ Site will lead to removal of 120 Bedouin from area; this is first time since 1991 that private Palestinian land in East Jerusalem has been expropriated. By Nir Hasson | Feb. 18, 2015 A plan to set up a landfill site in […]

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RAMALLAH, February 16, 2015 (WAFA) – Jordan will sign Monday a letter of intent to import natural gas from Palestine, stated a Jordanian minister. Jordan’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Muhammad Hamed said his country would sign a letter of intent to import natural gas from the offshore Gaza Marine field. Hamed made his […]

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Lior Gutman Published: 02.19.15 Noble Energy announced on Thursday it would not further invest in its offshore natural gas operations in Israel until Jerusalem settles a regulatory dispute regarding the Leviathan and Tamar fields in the eastern Mediterranean. During its quarterly earnings call, Noble said “Further investments in the expansion of Tamar, as well as […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 02/18/2015 Installation of overhead power lines in the area pose a serious threat to the Hula Valley, which has become an international beacon for ecotourism A high voltage, above-ground electricity line planned to cross the Hula Valley could threaten the lives of hundreds of birds every year, according to environmental groups. The […]

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Desertification in the region has provided fertile ground for the rise of extremists such as ISIS, postulates leading Israeli geostrategist Arnon Soffer. By Ruth Schuster | Feb. 11, 2015 Climate change deniers received a stunning blow this year from none other than Pope Francis, who announced a papal encyclical calling for action on global warming […]

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By YOSEF I. ABRAMOWITZ 02/12/2015 Astoundingly, “drill-baby-drill” companies are found in nearly every investment portfolio of the Jewish community without any moral qualms. The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Funds – the largest in the world – took part in two momentous events last week that I hope will ripple worldwide, including among the Jewish community’s estimated […]

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