Over the past few months, we’ve seen a lot of Prophecies about eco-tourism all over the Middle East. There are dozens of eco-travel options in Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Yemen.
There is also, however, a very special opportunity for eco-tourism right here within our own borders – and those of our neighbors. Since 2007, the tri-national NGO Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) has organized a series of “Neighbor’s Paths,” community-based eco-tours that deal with both water and peace-building between Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian communities.
The Neighbors’ Paths project is part of FoEME’s Good Water Neighbors project, which works with communities that share a common water source. The paths highlight sights that illustrate each community’s water history and current water reality. 
In the Palestinian village of Auja, for instance, visitors stop at Ein Auja (Auja Spring), the community’s historical water source, where they can also learn about water struggles between Palestinian farmers and Israeli settlers.
Within the genre of eco-tourism, the Neighbors’ Paths are unique because they emphasize mutual dependence on shared water resources and the need for cross-border cooperation to protect those resources.
The first stop on the Emek Hefer tour in Israel, for instance, is the Yad Hannah Wastewater Treatment Plant, a water treatment facility that is the result of cooperation between Emek Hefer’s City Council and the Mayor of Tulkarem, Emek Hefer’s Palestinian partner. The facility treats wastewater from both Palestinian and Israeli sources, and protects the Alexander River, which Israelis and Palestinians share.
There are 17 Neighbors Paths throughout Israel, the Palestinian Territories, and Jordan. For more information, visit FoEME’s website on the Neighbors Path project.
Also, check out Lifesource: Working for Water Justice in Israel and Palestine or Jordan River Peace Park – coming soon? to read more on shared water resources!
Author: Rachel Bergstein
When her vegan summer camp counselor explained to a fifteen-year-old Rachel how the dairy industry pollutes the groundwater in poor rural communities and causes global warming, there was no turning back. Her green fire lit, Rachel became increasingly passionate about the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, particularly about the systemic injustices associated with environmental degradation. After snagging a B.A. in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of Maryland, where she wrote an undergraduate thesis on water injustice in Israel/Palestine and South Africa, Rachel was awarded the New Israel Fund/Shatil’s Rabbi Richard J. Israel Social Justice Fellowship to come and spread the green gospel in Israel for the 2009-2010 academic year. She currently interns for Friends of the Earth Middle East in their Tel Aviv office. When Rachel is not having anxiety about her ecological footprint, carbon and otherwise, she can be found in hot pursuit of the best vegetarian food Tel Aviv has to offer. She also blogs about her experience as an NIF fellow and environmentalist in Israel at organichummus.wordpress.com. Rachel can be reached at rachelbergstein (at) gmail (dot) com.
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