Following a site visit conducted as part of a meeting of geographers at Ben-Gurion University last week, Dr. Gotlieb reflects on how appropriate technology, bottom-up planning and goodwill are prerequisites to resolving conflict. For an international group of geographers, a visit to what is known variously as Judea and Samaria, the West Bank – of […]
A kibbutz company in Israel leases 100 acres of land off of Bedouins in the Negev Desert to plant new solar panel project. Image via dlisbona Israel’s Bedouin population may not be the most impoverished among the Bedouin clans in the Middle East, but they are very much marginalized people in need of some good […]
The Bedouin village of Um Bateen, just outside Beersheba in southern Israel, has no paved roads – which makes it the perfect place for a new mountain bike club. Now the Bikes4All project sponsored by the Israel Cycling Federation and funded by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, has distributed free bikes to more […]
In Israel Bedouin still joke about the value of a woman “in the price of camels.” Now two Jewish Israelis have joined the tribe, and are looking to save the last of these Mohicans. Camel racing is still a very popular sport in many parts of the Middle East, despite its reputation involved in child […]
“The New York Times reports the unveiling of the French architect’s latest Middle Eastern project To some, the desert comprises an intimidating plain of dirty barren nothingness; to others, like Lucy, a source of happiness and inspiration. And to others still, like Ilana Meallem, it is a way of life. Ilana graduated from the Arava […]
The eastern squat toilet is the world’s perfect eco-toilet. Come and look inside. Some people think they’re primitive, but I love them. The hole-in-the-floor Middle East squat toilets can be found in Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt –– and likely in other Middle East countries I’ve yet to visit. They’re used in China too. Not […]
Israeli Bedouin go back to the green roots they’ve always had. Sometimes, when an irresistible force meets an immovable object – like when the government decides to go through with a development plan in a certain area, despite the objections of local residents – you get a “big bang.” But in Israel’s Negev desert, an […]
The first thing visitors to the Bedouin town of Rahat notice is the litter. Household garbage lies strewn at the sides of treeless streets. When the wind picks up, plastic bags, newspapers and sacks billow across the surrounding desert wasteland. Discarded construction materials mar the landscape. “First you have to understand why they throw litter […]
As a geography Master’s student at Beer Sheva’s Ben-Gurion University, this semester I took a class in environmental law and policy with Alon Tal (we profiled him here). Our final project was to work on a green plan for Rahat, an Israeli Bedouin city that suffers from serious issues of garbage control, shade, green spaces […]
(A bird’s eye view of Chan HaShayarot) We’ve already learned about immersion Arabic in a solar Bedouin village in Israel. Here’s another eco-tourism stop: located in the Negev, just south of Sde Boker, the Chan HaShayarot provides guests with a true Bedouin experience including camel rides, Bedouin food, and the option of sleeping in a […]
For many tourists to the Israeli Negev desert, a visit to the Bedouins includes a commercialized camel ride and perhaps an afternoon spent in a tent near Mitzpeh Ramon. But as the Jerusalem Post writes, the Desert Sites tourist company is offering a revolutionary immersion Arabic course in the last week of July in the […]
Tucked deep into the Arava desert at the southeastern border of Israel, Kibbutz Lotan‘s Center for Creative Ecology has announced two programs for the late summer and fall, including detailed information for funding on its Web site. The first is the Peace, Justice and Environment course, which is run in conjunction with the Living Routes […]
Our resourceful friends at the Bedouin NGO Bustan are refusing to allow the current tension in the South of Israel affect them. Despite having to cancel some tree planting dates due to the war and the related school closures, they have upped sticks to Tel Aviv and are organising a benefit evening this coming wednesday […]
Israel’s pioneering Desert University, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), is currently hosting the 2nd biannual ‘Drylands, Deserts and Desertification‘ conference at their deep desert outpost at the Sde Boker Campus. Day 1 has focussed upon Life and Soil Degredation in the Drylands, and has seen a wide range of experts presenting fieldwork and research […]
Ilana Meallem of Arava Institute has helped initiate a project to install a bio-gas facility in the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev, to provide the villages with electricity and to help them dispose of waste in an environmentally friendly manner. A donation party will be taking place on Friday December 19th at 10:00pm in […]
Searching for empowerment: Bedouin women from the Association for the Improvement of Women’s Status meet with visitors from the US. Fair Trade and preserving local craftsmanship and culture, is an important aspect of the green movement –– at least for those environmentalists who value humankind and the health of its societies. Following that notion, we think […]
In The Beginning There came a moment when I realised that I had to make a business with the jewellery that I kept buying for myself in Sinai. Everytime I returned to Tel Aviv with a new bracelet, a fancy anklet or a ‘jada’ for the hand, a stranger on the beach, in the market, […]
