Putting political differences aside, Israelis and Palestinians unite to restore a section of the Kishon River – one of the region’s most polluted.
Yet another joint Israeli and the Palestinian Authority eco-project challenges the mainstream notion that it’s all war and friction between Jews and Arabs. Despite a recent accusation by the French Parliament that Israel is perpetrating water apartheid against the Palestinians, this new initiative demonstrates the willingness of the two people to cooperate. Ynet News reports that the Gilboa Council and Jenin are creating two restorative eco-parks on either side of the historically polluted Kishon River “in hopes that one day they will become one,” says Gilboa Council Head Daniel Atar.
Polluted waters
A 70 km perennial stream that is sourced in the Gilboa Mountains and dumps into the Mediterranean Sea, the Kishon River is considered one of region’s most polluted rivers – mostly because of contaminants stemming from industrial plants in Haifa.
So full of mercury and other chemicals, the river once caught fire, and rainbow trout exposed to the polluted water for just 3 hours suffered from liver damage. Recent efforts to clean up this important water way have been somewhat successful, but this joint eco-park is expected to create an ongoing solution.
The rehabilitation project will span 3 km on either side of a security fence that separates the Israeli and PA territories. According to Ynet News, “the Gilboa Council and Jenin enjoy good neighborly relations, enabling both to promote various projects to boost the local economy.”
There’s no sense of when the ecological restorative work will be completed, but it is underway.
The river does not recognize borders and fences
“The environment and water do not recognize borders, militaries and fences. They should be a bridge for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians,” Nader al-Khateeb, general director of the Palestinian Water and Environmental Development Organization (WEDO) told the paper.
This is not the only time that Arabs and Jews have set aside divisive rhetoric in order to create green peace. Last year Green Prophet writer Arwa Aburawa interviewed Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli Director of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) who noted that joint green projects can help create lasting peace in the region.
If these two communities can do it, why shouldn’t others follow?
:: Ynet News
More on Palestine, Israel, Water, and Cooperation:
Palestine/Israel: A Stunning Tale of Peace, Water, and Walls
FoEME Calms Water War Rhetoric Between Israel and Palestine
‘Joint Green Prophet Can Help Create Lasting Peace’ – Israeli Director of FoEME
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
“…this new initiative demonstrates the willingness of the two people to cooperate.”
It is statements like the above which make me cringe when reading Green Prophet. Not only is it politically naive and sterotypical, it completely ‘overlooks’ the fact that ‘Arabs’ (i.e. Muslim and Christian Palestinians) are a people under occupation by the ‘Jews’ (i.e. Israeli Jews). The relationship between Israelis and Palestinians is not one between equals, it is one between oppressor and oppressed.
Acknowledging this fact is the first step towards a long-term resolution to the conflict (including environmental issues), otherwise we are are kidding ourselves and GP becomes just another superficial ‘normalisation’ intiative.
I appreciate that GP is trying to report on ‘green’ in the whole Middle East, including both Israel and the Arab world, and I have come to see this as a step in the right direction.
However, given the strong political drivers in the region, I think GP should aim to be much more politically informed and balanced if it wishes to gain the respect of its readers, at least in the Arab world.
Rainbow trout? Really now. The only stream in this area with trout in it is the Dan stream; and that only because a fish farm for trout is manged by Kibbutz Tel Dan. As for the Kishon, the only fish there are native species – definitely not trout!
Maurice, introducing trout to the Kishon was an experiment conducted by scientists to gauge their response to the pollution.