editor’s note: Two remarkably different reports on the demolition of coal workshops in the West Bank are presented below. Read both for the contrasts! 10 wood-coal workshops demolished near Jenin – Ma’an ENIN (Ma’an) — Israeli bulldozers began to remove Wednesday several wood-coal workshops in the Jenin-area town of Barta’a Ash-Sharqiya, located inside the Green […]

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Huffington Post Rabbi Michael M. Cohen osted: 06/ 8/11 12:55 PM ET Like a sand dune slithering across the desert landscape covering and swallowing anything in its way, the Arab Revolutions have tenaciously spread across the Middle East. In the midst of that dramatic change I found myself earlier this spring in Dubai. I had […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/22/2011 07:22 Friends of the Earth Middle East delegation, green group leaders, lawmakers discuss country’s most pressing environmental challenges. Talkbacks (1) A delegation including 11 Palestinians and 11 Jordanians from Friends of the Earth Middle East took part on Tuesday in the Knesset’s environment day. They attended the afternoon environmental caucus and […]

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By Taylor Luck AMMAN – The Kingdom is set to invite international firms to take part in its peaceful nuclear programme as protests heat up over the proposed site of the country’s first reactor. According to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Khaled Toukan, the government will float a tender in July for a strategic […]

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Radiation rates measured for the group, called We Want to Live Without Mines, found radioactivity at an abandoned mine in the area and in the phosphate-rich Sde Barir site to be between two and eight times higher than the permissible rate of exposure to the population. By Zafrir Rinat and Jonathan Lis A phosphate mine […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/20/2011 02:43 Knesset panel rejects two other green bills; National Registry Act will require establishment of databases to detail which substances being discharged. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday approved an environmental law that will require factories to publicize their hazardous chemical emissions. But it also rejected two other green bills, […]

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RAFAH, June 20, 2011 (WAFA) – The French Consul-General in Jerusalem, Frederic Desagneaux, Monday inaugurated a project for the extension of the sewage network in Rafah, a city south of the Gaza Strip, according to a press release from the Consulate. The release said that the project, launched by the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) and […]

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By Hana Namrouqa AMMAN – Jordan’s first solid waste recycling centre was launched on Tuesday with the aim of encouraging the public to segregate and reuse trash. Recycling addresses environment pollution and global warming, prevents the destruction of forests and saves water and energy, Minister of Environment Taher Shakhshir said at the launch yesterday. “The […]

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1) Researchers say these findings explain why many environmental problems remain unresolved despite growing environmental awareness. source: Haaretz by Zafrir Rinat 21.06.11 Israeli environmental organizations have expanded their activity and influence significantly in the past few years, but still face budgetary shortfalls, a lack of skilled manpower and insufficient financial support from the public, a new study by […]

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The IUCN says the antelope’s reintroduction to the wild is the most successful effort for any species once classified as extinct Source: Guardian / Press Association  Thursday 16 June 2011 [excerpts] An antelope species, widely believed to be the source of the unicorn legend and hunted to extinction in the wild, has been brought back from the brink, […]

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by DANIEL ESTRIN Chicago Tribune / Associated Press 9:04 AM CDT, June 13, 2011 EIN BOKEK, Israel (AP) — The Dead Sea is dying, goes the conventional wisdom: The water level of the fabled salty lake is dropping nearly 4 feet a year. Less well known: Part of the lake is actually overflowing, threatening one of […]

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Campaign aims “to fight police’s refusal to enforce” rules in these lanes so taking public buses becomes less of a burden, helps improve environment. by Sharon Udasin 06/20/2011 Source: Jerusalem Post The Green Movement has launched a campaign to bring greater enforcement to public transportation lanes in order to give the public more of an incentive to […]

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Here is a link to the presentations at the Van Leer conference “Harvesting the Sun Twice – Cross-Border Initiatives for Environmental Peacebuilding” held on March 29th, 2011, in which you had shown an interest (a TED-inspired event): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ2EzUXV3sE&feature=BFa&list=PL1F4C1E07889261B6&index=1

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“The Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle East Water” is a recent report launched in February of this year by Strategic Foresight Group, a think tank group based in India with support from Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Switzerland. The scope of the […]

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By GERSHON BASKIN 20/06/2011 The Palestinian path to independence should include as much energy independence as possible. Palestine may soon become the newest nation on the planet. Within half a decade, it could easily become a leader in renewable energy. Imagine using “Google Earth” to view Palestine and zooming in on the Tubas region in […]

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June 15, 2011 02:01 AM By Tamara Qiblawi The Daily Star BEIRUT: Lebanon will soon arrive at an “awakening” when it comes to greening business, said Nemat Frem, president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists at the launch of Lebanon Opportunities’ Green Business Initiative Tuesday. “As long as we are conscious of the importance of […]

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In desperate efforts to battle chronic water shortages, experts say one of world’s 10 driest countries mulling ‘unconventional’, ‘environmentally unfriendly’ plans AFP Published: 06.19.11, 07:39 / Israel Activism Share on TwitterShare on Facebook share In its desperate efforts to battle chronic water shortages, Jordan, one of the world’s 10 driest countries, is mulling “unconventional” and […]

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By Mohammad Ghazal AMMAN – An initiative that seeks to increase the Kingdom’s green cover by utilising an “intelligent water incubator” that produces and captures water from the air through condensation and rain, will be launched soon in Jordan. The initiative will be implemented by several local NGOs in partnership with Desert Tulip, a Dutch-Jordanian […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 06/18/2011 21:06 Fire commission praises different groups’ cooperation in dousing the flames; cause of the fire still remains unknown. A fire that blighted approximately 2,000 dunams (200 hectares) of open space and nature reserves – but caused no injuries – on the Golan Heights on Saturday morning was under control by about […]

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NABLUS (Ma’an) — With both the Palestinian Authority and Israel’s Civil Administration abdicating responsibility, local officials say parts of a Nablus-area village have been without water for months. While drought is common in the mid-summer, many of the residents of Salem village have been purchasing high-priced water from local companies, or carrying buckets from municipal […]

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