By MAURICE PICOW 10/15/2010 16:41 Can Israel, a substantial contributor to the Mediterranean’s present unwholesome state, do more than it has done to save it? “Sick and getting sicker” is how oceanographers and environmentalists often describe the Mediterranean. The sea’s already polluted waters are becoming increasingly choked with large quantities of plastic and other debris, […]

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Noble Energy threatens to sue, treasury rebuts: threat is unseemly. By Avi Bar-Eli and Zvi Zrahiya The battle over royalties on Israel’s natural resources reached the Knesset Economics Committee, which held a special session yesterday despite the parliament being in recess. Seventeen Knesset members showed up for the debate, including five not on the committee. […]

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DUBAI (AFP) – Environmental awareness needs to be increased in Gulf states, which the WWF says have among the highest per capita ecological footprints in the world, an Emirates Wildlife Society official said Thursday. “We believe that there’s a lot more awareness that needs to happen,” said the society’s policy director Tanzeed Alam, when asked […]

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By Rand Dalgamouni AMMAN – A campaign to implement environmental education in more than 18 Jordanian schools and others around the world will commence next week, it was announced in a workshop for teachers held at the UNESCO Amman office on Thursday. The five-year Earth Care Campaign, which started this year and ends in 2014, […]

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First store opens next to arch-rival. By Adi Dovrat-Meseritz The Super-Sol supermarket chain has ventured into natural food retailing, under the name Super-Sol Green. The first branch of the new retailing format, which opened a few days ago inside the Super-Sol Deal branch in Ra’anana, is a store within a store. It is only about […]

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By EHUD ZION WALDOKS 10/13/2010 03:19 New public relations campaign to be launched on Sunday; 2500 more receptacles will be placed around the country this year. Recycling has picked up over the last couple of years and will continue to increase, according to the ELA recycling corporation’s strategic plan unveiled Tuesday. The corporation will invest […]

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By EHUD ZION WALDOKS 10/13/2010 03:08 Any plastic bottle with a cap can be placed in the receptacle. So, any personal hygiene bottle, shampoo container, water, soda bottle – big, small – can be recycled. ELA officials clarified what can and cannot be thrown into the recycling receptacles. Any plastic bottle with a cap can […]

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By Taylor Luck AMMAN – Experts will work to save one of the Kingdom’s World Heritage Sites from degradation under an agreement signed on Thursday. The Department of Antiquities (DoA), the Italian government and the World Monuments Fund (WMF) will embark on a project to restore and protect the 1,300-year-old frescoes of Quseir Amra. Under […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – Schoolchildren and people from all walks of life will converge on the Dibbeen Forest Reserve on Saturday to clean up litter left by picnickers at the site, which is considered a sanctuary for globally endangered species. More than 200 volunteers from schools, and public, private and civic institutions will head […]

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By ILANA TEITELBAUM 10/06/2010 14:04 An unwelcome colony? Ring-necked parakeets are threatening biodiversity in the German Colony. On a recent walk through the German Colony, I was treated to a stunning sight. Filling a tree with their flapping green wings was a flock of eight parakeets, calling raucously to each other and pecking at fat […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – The Red-rumped Wheatear, an internationally important and rare bird, and the Egyptian Vulture, a globally endangered species, have been found for the first time in Jabal Masouda, one of four proposed protected areas in the Kingdom. Ecological studies carried out by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) […]

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Wildlife photographer Illia Shalemaev commended in Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for images of little owls in Israel’s coastal region Erez Erlichman Published: 10.05.10, 07:28 The British competition, Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year, considered one of the most important wildlife photography competitions, announced Saturday that Israeli Illia Shalemaev has been commended for […]

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By Ahmad Y. Majdoubeh When construction or infrastructure work (digging for water pipes, cables or sewers) would take place in the many ever-expanding neighbourhoods of Amman (and other Jordanian cities) in the 1960s, 1970s and up to the mid-to-late 1980s, it would be a messy business. Contractors would dump much of what they dug out […]

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Pilot program follows similar plan to free congested main roads in Jerusalem. By Avi Bar-Eli Pilot program follows similar plan to free congested main roads in Jerusalem. By Avi Bar-Eli Trucks will be banned from entering the greater Tel Aviv area on major traffic arteries during the morning rush hour, in a pilot program that […]

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Treasury report: By 2015, cars will crawl into Tel Aviv from the south during rush hour at a mere 7 kilometers per hour. By Avi Bar-Eli Israel is paying a stiff price for not addressing the economic threat posed by the country’s gridlocked roads 10 years ago: The Finance Ministry says the Israeli economy loses […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – Water authorities have cleaned and sterilised tanks in four households in a Jerash town that received polluted water last week when a cesspit overflowed and contaminated part of the area’s water network, an official said on Saturday. Residents of Al Ketteh in the northern Governorate of Jerash complained to the […]

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Water Wisdom: Preparing the Groundwork for Cooperative and Sustainable Water Management in the Middle East Edited by Alon Tal and Alfred Abed Rabbo Rutgers University Press Pages: 336 pages Publication Date: August 2010 Description: Israel and Palestine are, by international criteria, water scarce. As the peace process continues amidst ongoing violence, water remains a political […]

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For the 3rd consecutive year, the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) will hold its annual conference and present its annual report on water, highlighting the need for more sustainable management of a scarce resource. The conference, scheduled for 4-5 November 2010 at Habtoor Grand Hotel and Convention Center in Beirut, will discuss a […]

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By Saleem H. Ali Statement at the Peace-building and Environmental Stewardship award ceremony for the Friends of Arava Institute, Congregation Mishkan Tefila, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, September 26, 2010. Dear friends, I am deeply honored by this award and would like to thank the nominators and the organizers of this event, particularly Rabbi Michael Cohen, David […]

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Tel Aviv – People often associate the Middle East with oil. But in the region’s cities, villages and farms, access to a different resource is becoming rather problematic: water. Addressing this issue can not only ensure a sustainable future, but will also help create conditions for lasting peace. There is a shortage of water in […]

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