Holyland's Unnatural “Monster on the Mountain” Built with Bribes

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Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert denies the charges, but he is suspected of accepting $1million to push through the highly contested Holyland Project which uprooted pine forests. Israel’s former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jerusalem’s former mayor Uri Lupoliansky, and senior officials in the Jerusalem municipality are accused of accepting tens of millions of shekels in […]

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The Eco-House in Aqaba, Jordan

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Tareq Emtairah built this eco-house to prove that energy efficient buildings aren’t always prohibitively expensive. Jordan’s Prince Hassan does not shoulder his environmental concerns alone, nor is the Red-Dead canal project the singular answer to Jordan’s worries.  In 2005, Tareq Emtairah, a consultant with the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics at Lund University in […]

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Middle-Eastern Spice Remedies: Roses to Sumak

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Miriam’s series on medicinal Middle Eastern spices is reaching the end of the alphabet! Middle Eastern cuisine sometimes regards roses as a spice or flavoring. (above) R is for…Rose Buds. The Tunisian version of Baharat spice blend has crushed, dried roses in it. The  complex Iranian Advieh spice mixture also contains rose buds. You find dried […]

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PopLove Designs Brings Upcycled Eco Chic Fashion to Tel Aviv (and the Whole Wide World)

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We’ve heard about H&M’s imported influx of sustainable fashion, and now onto to local eco-friendly clothing design: PopLove Designs. A design label that produces men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, accessories and housewares, PopLove describes its mission as “creating fabulous products with minimal harm to the surrounding world.” Its founders, Andrea Hughes and Shai Wallach, both […]

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Natural, Organic Cough Medicine

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Caught yourself a summer cold? Make this organic tea to control the cough. The Middle East is experiencing a strange transition from winter to summer. One day it’s hot, with a dry chamsin wind that sweeps in with a cloud of fine red dust. Bad news for asthmatics. The next day is cool, with a […]

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