By: Ayman Rabi Natural springs in Palestine have been historically the main source that provides life to people, land, and habitat. Many villages and towns were built and flourished around springs, and some of these springs are even today the main source of life for major cities such as Jericho. There used to be two […]

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By: Camilla Corradin and Abeer Abu Shawish As the Israeli blockade enters its tenth year, Gaza’s taps run drier and drier. The illegal Israeli blockade that inflicts collective punishment on 1.8 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip also means that houses lack the most essential items needed to provide clean water: pumps to abstract water; […]

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By: Jamil Dababat I have visited the Dead Sea many times, and each time I have stood at the same place and observed that the water is receding. The Dead Sea is shrinking. This body of water has been “dead” for thousands of years. It acquired its name from its high salt concentration; with a […]

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By: Clemens Messerschmid The water malaise in Gaza long ago became chronic and legendary, but if we want to understand the deeper causes of this disaster that is unfolding before our eyes, we must go back deeper into the past and look at factors seemingly unrelated to water. It is hard to believe, but in […]

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The full issue on Water of This Week in Palestineis available for download in pdf at http://thisweekinpalestine.com/ Posts for individual stories follow. (Environment and Climate in the Middle East, editor) Editor Message – Special Issue on Water – This Week in Palestine By: Tina Basem In this issue you will be enlightened about the water […]

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By Hana Namrouqa – Jul 11,2016 AMMAN — The Ministry of Water and Irrigation started supplying treated wastewater for industrial uses and irrigation in south Amman on Sunday. A total of 7,700 cubic metres of treated wastewater will be channelled daily from South Amman Wastewater Treatment Plant under multiple agreements signed on Sunday between the […]

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Environmentalists say dam construction threatens to ruin ecosystem of valley that is major tourist destination. By Natasha Ghoneim There was a moment as our car crested the mountain, when everyone almost in unison said either “Wow” or “That’s gorgeous”. The clouds were draped like a baby’s blanket over the seemingly endless ridges of cedar trees. […]

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By Muath Freij – Jul 10,2016 There are currently 4,000 sanitation workers deployed in the capital (Photo by Osama Aqarbeh) AMMAN — The volume of garbage collected in Amman reached record levels during the recent religious holidays as the population of the capital rose, a municipal official said on Sunday. Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) teams […]

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Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq announced that the World Bank has approved a $55 million loan to fight pollution in the Qaraoun Lake in Western Bekaa Valley and the Litani River in south Lebanon, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday. Mashnouq added that the loan will also cover the completion of the sewage networks […]

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by Hana Namrouqa – Jul 13,2016 AMMAN — The Ministry of Environment will launch a national campaign in August to combat littering and raise environmental awareness, officials said on Wednesday. The ministry will cooperate with municipalities, civil societies, schools and broadcasters to clean up public areas and raise environmental awareness, Environment Minister Yaseen Khayyat said […]

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Morocco has suspended imports of European waste to be incinerated for energy after a spate of protests by environmental activists and outrage on social media, officials said on Thursday. The demonstrations have occurred at a sensitive time with the Moroccan city of Marrakesh preparing to host the next round of U.N. climate talks in November […]

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05 July 2016, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil held talks in Moscow prior to the Ain al-Tineh agreement between Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil regarding the issue of offshore oil and gas exploration, a media report said on Tuesday. “The Berri-Bassil agreement was preceded by an understanding between Finance Minister […]

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By Mohammad Ghazal AMMAN — A $159.7 million project to increase the capacity of the national grid will be completed by the end of 2018, a government official said on Tuesday. The Green Corridor project will boost the grid’s capacity by an additional 1,000 megawatts (MW) to absorb the loads generated by new renewable energy […]

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July 12, 2016 GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — A Turkish governmental delegation arrived in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday morning in order to discuss the electricity crisis in the blockaded Palestinian coastal enclave, official Palestinian sources said. The Turkish news agency Anadolu quoted Gaza Foreign Affairs Ministry Undersecretary Ghazi Hamad as saying that a Turkish delegation […]

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Petroleum & Energy Infrastructures Ltd. ship working to remove old pipes from the seabed breaks pipe, spilling oil into the waters of the Krayot area. Ilana Curiel, Rotem Elizera|Published: 05.07.16 Oil was released on Tuesday afternoon from a burst old pipe in the Haifa Bay during works to remove such pipes from the seabed. The […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 07/06/2016 In a day already plagued by an oil spill, the Environmental Protection Ministry released its sunny quarterly Haifa pollution report showing a number of positive advances for the city. Between April and June, the ministry gave itself a pat on the back for making efforts to cut emissions from factories […]

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Judge Rachel Lavi-Barkai also refuses to dismiss class-action suit by residents living near Evrona Nature Reserve, where 5 million liters of oil leaked from pipeline in December 2014. Zafrir Rinat Jul 07, 2016 A court has rejected the state’s request to remove the prime minister from the list of defendants in a lawsuit over a […]

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By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN 07/06/2016 Currently, the process of breaking down building materials takes a crew of about 30 people and lasts weeks to process the materials. Visitors to cities big and small around Israel likely notice that construction sites seem to be everywhere these days. But what happens to the old buildings that come […]

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Morocco has banned the production and use of plastic bags, with many shops and street sellers across the country having reportedly stocked-up last week ahead of the legislation which came into force on July 1, reports Al Jazeera. The bill, which has been several years in the works, was passed by Morocco’s parliament last October […]

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By JT – Jun 29,2016 AMMAN — Interior Minister Salameh Hammad on Tuesday chaired a meeting at the ministry to discuss the challenges facing the implementation of a renewable energy in Maan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. The project is being executed as a Royal initiative to develop the area and create jobs for […]

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