JORDAN VALLEY, October 18, 2012 (WAFA)- The Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) Thursday handed a Palestinian resident from Ein Al-Hilwa area, in the southern Jordan Valley a three-day demolishing and eviction notice of his house and property, according to a local activist. Head of Al-Maleh village council Aref Daraghmeh said that INPA gave him […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Oct 21, 2012 | 23:50 AMMAN — Construction of the first decentralised wastewater treatment plant in the country will start in the first quarter of next year to serve small and remote communities, officials said on Sunday. The pilot project, located 35km northwest of Amman in Salt, will be implemented as […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/21/2012 While boasting high wastewater treatment, a thriving desalination industry, Israel lacks in decentralized systems. While Israel’s authorities allow almost no decentralized water systems, experts stressed that there would be a place for such structures – particularly greywater recycling mechanisms – in the country’s future, at a conference in the Negev last […]

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Environmental Protection Ministry offers NIS 160 grant program to cities joining dry/wet waste recycling ventures; cities in periphery to be given priority Billie Frenkel Published: 10.21.12 The Environmental Protection Ministry if offering cities that join its dry/wet waste recycling separation program grants of up to NIS 40 million (roughly $10.5 million), Ynet has learned. The […]

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October 17, 2012 01:26 AM By Niamh Fleming-Farrell The Daily Star BEIRUT: Somehow, across Lebanon’s capital people are finally feeding coins into parking meters, and – some might say miraculously – the recently introduced smoking ban is holding. On the basis of this, Fadel Fakih of Green Line, a Beirut-based environmental NGO and member of […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/17/2012 Yosef Shapira slams country’s energy officials for poor planning, “short-term vision;” ministry responds in agreement. State Comptroller Yosef Shapira slammed the Energy and Water Ministry and the Israel Electric Corporation for both a faultily managed “shortterm vision” and financial mismanagement, in a report issued on Wednesday. Overall, Shapira determined that many […]

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JT | Oct 18, 2012 | 00:03 Updated: Oct 18, 2012 | 00:03 AMMAN — Achieving self-sufficiency in Jordan requires the removal of distortions in the energy market and investing nearly $20-$25 billion in the coming 10 years, Jordan Economic Social Council President Jawad Anani said on Wednesday. In remarks during the 2012 Euro-Mediterranean Summit […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/18/2012 Rates have risen 30% since January 2010 reform, says state comptroller, but lack research and reasoning. Domestic water tariffs are unjustifiably high and require much more comprehensive investigations before fixing them at the current rate, State Comptroller Yosef Shapira argued in his latest report. The state comptroller reviewed the Water Authority […]

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Shafdan attempts to defer payments of pollution fees it owes government over pumping sewage to Mediterranean’s waters Amir Ben-David Published: 10.18.12 The Dan Region Wastewater Treatment Plant (Shafdan), which treats the sewage produced by the greater Gush Dan Area, has been pumping the process’ residues into the ocean for years, despite the fact that it […]

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RAMALLAH, October 18, 2012 (WAFA) – With the fund of $220,000 from Japan, the Agricultural Engineers Home Society (AEHS) built a local compost production plant to produce about 1,050 tons of compost of a very good quality and affordable price on an annual basis, said a press release by Representative Office of Japan. Japan’s Ambassador […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/17/2012 Residents will now be able to disconnect from the grid, generate electricity, with solar panels in their yards. Israeli residents will now be able to disconnect from the grid and generate electricity independently, with solar panels in their yards channeling electricity directly into their homes. “Tired of paying for electricity?” read […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/18/2012 Project will cost NIS 13 million, and the ministry will be subsidizing about 35 percent of the price of the new systems. Old water boilers will now join aging refrigerators, air conditioners and light bulbs in the Energy and Water Ministry’s ongoing effort to subsidize the replacement of electricity-guzzling machinery. The […]

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October 18, 2012 BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged academics and universities across Lebanon Wednesday to focus more research on disaster management and the environmental challenges facing Lebanon. “Researchers have a primary role in intensifying their research on environmental dangers and our natural resources,” Mikati said in a speech at the opening of the “National […]

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October 18, 2012 01:12 AM By Stephen Dockery BEIRUT: Lessons on animal and plant life, ecosystems and the importance of environmental preservation will be making their way into the country’s school curriculum for the first time next year, education and environment officials announced Wednesday. Environment Minister Nazem al-Khoury and Education Minister Hassan Diab launched the […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 10/16/2012 Environmental Protection Ministry awards money to local authorities joining its waste separation “recycling revolution.” The Environmental Protection Ministry will award NIS 160 million to local authorities joining the office’s waste separation “recycling revolution,” it announced on Monday. In addition to funding infrastructure for waste separation at the source, the money will […]

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Posted by Saleem Ali of University of Queensland (Australia) on October 4, 2012 Six years ago, I received an invitation to participate in an event on peace-building in the Middle East at the University of California, Los Angeles. The seminar had been organized by a local lawyer, Josef Avesar, along with academics at UCLA to […]

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12/10/2012 TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma’an) — Israel’s Civil Administration is ignoring the theft of soil from Palestinian land enclosed in illegal West Bank settlements, Israeli media reported Friday. Israel’s Haaretz daily reported that Almon settlement, near Jerusalem, has many large plots of private land within its fences and some are missing tons of soil worth […]

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October 13, 2012 04:24 PM By Mohammed Zaatari SIDON, Lebanon: A fire erupted Saturday at the southeastern sector of the infamous landfill in the coastal city of Sidon. Civil Defense teams and the city’s firefighters were dispatched to the scene of fire, which caused plumes of white smoke to fill the Sidon sky. The fire […]

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By SHARON UDASIN, MELANIE LIDMAN 10/12/2012 Facility next to Har Adar will destroy KKL forest, residents charge. Itzhak Rabihiya hikes in the forest around his home in the Jerusalem suburb of Har Adar nearly every morning, weaving through 50-year-old pine trees that were planted by the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) to create the […]

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Steven Viney On a day designated for ideas and discussions about towns and cities, urban planners discussed ways of improving Cairo at a conference Monday. “We are at a critical time in Egypt’s development where the only way out is to compromise and find a way for all parties involved — academics, policymakers, institutions — […]

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