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What’s in season May

Sour green plums the size of large marbles are in the local Middle East markets now, a seasonal favorite of the Iraqis. Eat them out of hand as a snack, sprinkling each bite with a little salt. The classic Iraqi way to cook them is to pair them with meat in a flavorful stew. And if you want to ask for them in Persian just say "Gojeh sabz!"

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Refutrees Scratches Eco and Social Itches with Refugee Projects

Today is World Refugee Day. Some good news for a change: Refutrees is a new non-profit that’s turning the traditional aid-centric model of development on its head. These self-described “creativity agents” place particular focus on people displaced over the long-term. They’re currently working on projects for Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon.

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The Sperm Smugglers From Palestine

While tunnel smugglers in Gaza get blown out by sewage flushed into the tunnels from Egypt, Palestinian prisoners have found a new commodity to smuggle: their sperm! Six-month-old Muhannad Al-Zaben is already a celebrity among Palestinians, the so-called “Freedom Ambassador”. He is the result of smuggled sperm his father Ammar transferred to his mother Dalal […]

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Swine Flu Claims Nine West Bank Lives

Nine people in the West Bank have died from swine flu, the office of Palestinian Authority Prime Minster Salam Fayyad announced on Saturday, and the situation is being monitored carefully. Now considered a seasonal flu for which vaccinations are administered, H1N1 swept through the globe in 2009, killing up to 18,000 people. On 10 August 2010, the […]

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Organic Farming Boom in Palestine

A back-to-the-land movement is blossoming in the Palestinian Authority, the United Nation’s newest nonmember observer state. “The Palestinian future is in the land.” Farmer Khader Khader said, standing in his organic olive grove in the northern West Bank village of Nus Jubail. Many Palestinian farmers are switching to organic farming methods, and selling their oil to […]

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Olive Season is Here: Buy Local or DIY

Picking olives the traditional way is less damaging to the fruit The annual olive harvest is here in the Middle East again. For people living in Mediterranean and Middle East olive producing countries, they can enjoy pickling their own olives due to the proliferation of olive trees in these locations. Here in Israel where I […]