Petra | Jul 18, 2013 | 23:32 AMMAN — Water Authority of Jordan security personnel have detained several people who attempted to steal the main water pumps, electric lines and control panels at a water well complex in Karak, Water Ministry Spokesperson Omar Salameh said in a statement on Thursday. Salameh said stealing electricity control […]

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July 18, 2013 TRIPOLI, Lebanon: High temperatures and strong winds Wednesday resulted in several fires, threatening motorists along the Tripoli highway and residential neighborhoods in Qalmoun. A huge fire erupted in the reed groves in the Bahsas area near the Olympic Stadium, and spread to the international highway between Koura and Tripoli. Security forces warned […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Jul 18, 2013 | 22:54 AMMAN — Pumping from the main pipeline supplying Zarqa with water resumed on Thursday, after authorities fixed the damage inflicted by unknown persons, a government official said. The perpetrators severely damaged the pipeline while trying to divert water to irrigate their farms, according to Ministry of […]

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uly 18, 2013 01:00 AM By Mohamad El Amin BEIRUT: The U.S. offered Wednesday to help mediate a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over the demarcation of maritime borders, Lebanese officials said after meeting with the top American energy diplomat. Both Lebanon and Israel have claimed a disputed maritime area of 874 square kilometers, which […]

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Location: Chania, Crete Dates: 23-25 July 2013 source: http://www.cyi.ac.cy/dareclimed-2013-conference.html The Conference aims to: I) bring together data owners, data users and stakeholders from the MENA region II) increase awareness on existing databases on climate, water and energy III) enhance collaboration and data exchange among Eastern Mediterranean countries IV) define a common basis for data formats […]

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source: EU Neighborhood Info Centre, 11-07-2013 More than 40 representatives of Ministries of Education, Ministries of Environment, regional and international organisations and NGOs from 14 Mediterranean countries met in the Croatian capital Zagreb on 17-18 June to work on the final draft of the Mediterranean Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The meeting, entitled […]

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by Avi Zimmerman, July 15, 2013 Germany’s well-intentioned waste disposal plan for the City of Ramallah has Palestinians, Bedouins and Settlers up in arms. The growing regional campaign to thwart the short-sighted and environmentally unsound project is driven by those who prefer the long-term sustainability of their shared living space over petty politics and quick […]

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Scientists from France, West Bank, Gaza, Jordan and Israel to travel to southern town of Sde Boker to discuss common water production issues. ‘Water can be an issue for peace or for conflicts,’ says French ambassador to Israel jn1.tv Published: 07.06.13 See website for video report. VIDEO – Under the patronage of the French Embassy […]

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The Refaim Valley Park will cover more than 1,425 acres, ‏at the southern exit of Jerusalem where the Green Line passes through. By Nir Hasson 08.07.13 The Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee has approved the establishment of a new national park in southern Jerusalem, part of which will include the lands of the village of […]

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According to a report by the Israel Parks and Nature Authority, a lack of Israeli-Palestinian cooperation has impeded solutions to this problem. By Zafrir Rinat | Jul.03, 2013 Almost 90 percent of sewage from Palestinian towns in the West Bank flows into the environment untreated, contaminating the groundwater and 162 kilometers of streams, according to […]

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BETHLEHEM, July 7, 2013 (WAFA) – Jewish settlers from illegal ‘Beitar Illit’ settlement Sunday drowned Palestinian-owned agricultural land with wastewater in the village of Wadi Fukin, west of Bethlehem, according to a local source. Head of Wadi Fukin village council Ahmad Sokar told WAFA that settlers pumped wastewater to around 100 dumums of agricultural land […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 07/03/2013 The Public Utility Authority has granted a provisional license for a Druse entrepreneur to build a 6-megawatt farm in the Upper Galilee. In the government’s first motion to approve a wind power generation facility in the minority sector, the Public Utility Authority has granted a provisional license for a Druse entrepreneur […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 07/07/2013 Finance minister promises Peretz he will find funds for program, despite ongoing rumor about Treasury’s objections to plan. Finance Minister Yair Lapid promised Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz on Sunday morning that he would find funds for an environmental protection civil service program, despite ongoing rumors about the Treasury’s objections to […]

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Lebanese energy minister calls for urgent parliamentary session to discuss ‘technological threat’ on his country’s natural gas reserves Doron Peskin Published: 07.08.13, 07:36 / Israel Business Lebanese Energy Minister Gebran Bassil called for an urgent parliamentary session over the weekend to discuss the Israeli “threat” on his country’s natural gas reserves. Bassil was referring to […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Jul 08, 2013 | 23:19 More than 60 million cubic metres (mcm) of water are currently being pumped from the Azraq Basin on an annual basis for drinking and irrigation, while it produces only 20mcm annually (Petra file photo) AMMAN — The Ministry of Water and Irrigation on Monday finalised an […]

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Jul 08, 2013 | 23:08 Laboratory tests conducted by the government have confirmed that the water pumped from the ancient Disi aquifer, in the south of the country, to Amman is safe after being mixed with freshwater from other sources. In 2009, the Disi water was found to have a high level of natural radioactive […]

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JT | Jul 08, 2013 | 22:55 AMMAN — The Aqaba Water Company (AWC) on Monday inaugurated the Rehabilitation of Al Alameya Sewer Project with support from the USAID, according to a US embassy statement. Construction of the $1.73 million project was co-financed by USAID (85 per cent) and the AWC (15 per cent). “The […]

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Proposed amendment to Planning and Building Law, would make Israel’s overarching environmental plans nonbinding. By Zafrir Rinat | Jun.27, 2013 Environmental organizations are up in arms over a government proposal to do away with what they view as a key tool for protecting the environment: binding national master plans. The proposed amendment to the Planning […]

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The glaring discrepancy in water allocation from West Bank supplies forces Palestinians to rely on water from tankers. Last Modified: 01 Jul 2013 Belen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin Magazine. Last week, on June 23, Israeli President Shimon […]

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By SOLON SOLOMON 06/29/2013 The Samaria and Judea environmental protection associations’ petition to the Environmental Protection Ministry and the Ministry of Justice has an urgent character, and is important and interesting in that it comes in a highly political context. Right-wing parties and their supporters have long argued for the annexation of Israeli settlements. Only […]

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