Friends of the Earth Middle East is deeply shocked and saddened by the latest violence on the Gaza flotilla, tragically ending with 9 deaths and many more wounded.
FoEME, as a member of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace NGO Forum, seeks to reiterate its position that we are working against violence from any side, towards solving every dispute in diplomatic and non violent ways, towards the end of occupation, the end of the siege on Gaza and any other method of collective punishment.
This month FoEME held its Bringing the Jordan River Back to Life: Strategies for Rehabilitation Conference in Amman, Jordan. This unique event brought together 180 regional and international experts, local and national government representatives and other stakeholders from Jordan, Israel and Palestine and the international community to highlight the results of two new scientific research undertaken by FoEME over the past year to identify a regional rehabilitation strategy and opportunities to return fresh water to the Jordan River.
The event included declarations of support from local Mayors and regional and international leaders who were awarded the “Certificate of Championship of the Lower Jordan River” and highlighted the rich benefits that could be had for the local communities if the river was rehabilitated – particularly the Jordan River Peace Park initiative.
To download copies of our new reports visit the Jordan River publication page. For additional information about this event including the conference agenda, conference proceedings, photo album and presentations, visit our Events page.
The conference and the newly released studies on the Lower Jordan River received extensive media coverage in Jordan, Palestine, Israel and the international community with articles appearing in over 80 newspapers, magazines, and television stations including a special editorial from the Jordan Times and articles in ABC news, The Guardian, Ha’aretz, Al Jazeera, Ynet, Jerusalem Post, the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Der Spiegel, AFP, United Press International and many more! Visit our Jordan River Press Page for details.
The Jordan River Rehabilitation Project is supported by USAID, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund, the Green Environment Fund and the Global Nature Fund / Ursula Merz Foundation. The Jordan River Peace Park Project is supported by the Blaustein Foundation and the Jewish Funders Network / Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund.
The World Bank will be holding several public hearings during the month of June in regards to the Red Dead Conduit project. Draft reports prepared by World Bank consultants will be presented at the meetings. They can be found here. FoEME is preparing comments to these reports.
Dates and locations of the hearings:
– 13 June; Amman, Le Meridien Hotel
– 14 June; Aqaba, Movenpick Hotel
– 15 June; Eilat, Crowne Plaza Hotel
– 16 June;Jerusalem, Ramat Rachel Hotel / Convention Center
– 20 June; Ramallah
All hearings begin at 09:00.
We urge all those interested in the future of the Dead Sea to attend these hearings and use this important platform to speak out and be heard.
FoEME’s efforts on the Dead Sea are supported by the Green Environment Fund.
On May 1, FoEME Amman office celebrated Earth Day in the Sharhabil bin Hassneh EcoPark located in the Northern Jordan Valley. Each of FoEME’s 8 Jordanian Good Water Neighbors communities sent their field staff and 20 youth representatives. In addition, 15 students and their teachers from the Jordan Valley Regional Council and Beit Shean City in Israel crossed the border to share in the day’s activities.
In total there were over 200 people in the EcoPark undertaking varied activities in relation to our joint environment. Afterwards, the Israeli group went on a fascinating trip of the area to learn about their neighbors’ water sources. Read more on our blog page.
FoEME is especially proud to announce that both the Environmental Education Center in Auja, Palestine and the Sharhabil bin Hassneh EcoPark in Sheikh Hussein, Jordan have opened their doors for overnight accommodations. Lodging is simple, clean and spacious, and includes breakfast and / or lunch options, prepared by the local women’s groups. Please write to info@foeme.org for more information.
Both these initiatives are important community based projects and seek to develop the potential for local eco-tourism.
The Good Water Neighbors project is supported by USAID, SIDA and the Belgium Foreign Ministry’s Peace Building Desk.
The school year is approaching its end, and in appreciation of the educational work done throughout the year, FoEME’s field staff, teachers and principals got together for a fun and interesting afternoon touring the Baqa el Garbia “Neighbor’s Path” and enjoying dinner in the scenic Abu Jamil Eco Park. During the tour we discussed different issues of environmental hazard management which were exposed during the CGIS project.
Muhamed Biadsi, field staff coordinator and guide at Baqa Garbia, emphasized the huge contribution educational projects such as CGIS and GWN have, not only to the youth, but the positive impact it has in the municipality’s approach and actions for a better environment.
The CGIS project is supported by the EU Partnerships for Peace program.
Proceedings and presentations from FoEME’s April Climate Change conference are now posted on our website under the event page: “Israeli Preparedness for the Climate Crisis – Impacts on the Water System”.
Following the conference, editors of the Odyssey magazine are offering a reduced subscription rate to those that attended the conference. For more information, call 03-9411621 or 052-9993111.
FoEME’s Climate Change project is supported by the Heinrich Boell Stiftug.
FoEME is pleased to present our new page on the EcoWiki website. Built similar to Wikipedia in English, this Hebrew site gives information on people and organizations in relation to ecology, economy and social issues.
Our page gives a good overview of the organization and our projects for Hebrew language readers.