Vertical Cemeteries are a Modern Catacomb in Jerusalem

Jerusalem's new subterranean cemetery is providing a solution to the problem of where to bury people nowadays.

What does Walt Disney World have in common with the ancient Middle Eastern cities of Jerash and Jerusalem? In each of these places we’ve found glaring examples of wasted energy in the form of high wattage outdoor lights switched on during the brightest hours of sunny days. The radio program “This American Life” once aired […]

Jerusalem’s been boiling over with violent and deadly conflicts over the last half a year. But faith leaders intent on ecological ideals as a peace bridge have met again at the the Faith and Ecology conference in Jerusalem last week. Green Prophet has attended meetings in the past (see our coverage from 2011) and a […]

The blue and white painted ceramic jars stretch up to the ceiling. Marked with the traditional symbol of five crosses, each jar held a medicine ranging from honey to myrrh to the famous Jerusalem balsan. The jars came from the first pharmacy in Jerusalem founded by a Franciscan month in the 17th century. “When the […]

Residents of Jerusalem were told yesterday to boil their water for two minutes until further notice. High levels of treated sewage water had leaked into the main drinking water system. The neighborhoods affected include Arab and Jewish regions alike: Baka, Abu Tor, Talpiot, Tsur Baher, Silwan, Ras el-Amud, the Old City, Mamilla and Musrara.

This is just one reason why I don’t allow pesticides to come near my home and children: two children have died, and two more are in critical condition after a Jerusalem exterminator applied the pesticide aluminum phosphide in a Jerusalem apartment.

I founded Green Prophet because I truly believe that the people of the prophets – the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam can see eye to eye in the Middle East when we talk about shared environmental problems and solutions.

Jerusalem’s Festigalgal bicycle riding festival winds up next week with emphasis on using bicycles more for in-city transportation.

Biking enthusiasts in Palestine have welcomed the construction of the first cycle lane in the Palestinian territories on the main road leading from Jericho to Jerusalem. The 1,200-metre two-way cycle lane on the west side of Jerusalem Street in Jericho was completed in July at a cost of 179,000 euros and will be formally opened […]

Imagine trash and sewage filling six Olympic-size pools. Can you smell it? Now drain them into Kidron Valley which separates East and West Jerusalem, abutting their holiest sites. It’s a revolting image and annual reality: those pools are fantasy, but the waste is not.

Now “Abraham” in Jerusalem will take those interested to meet Palestinians in the West Bank.

Wearing full body clothing might not be the thing for everyone in the Middle East: but cover up the very young – especially those with light skin. Middle East sun exposure in the young leads to higher rates of skin cancer later in life.

When Noah was told by God to load two of all animals onto a special hand-built ark, there was no mention of the blind shrimp species found only in Israel. There probably was no need to protect the small crustacean living happily underwater – until now.

Miriam sees Israel’s most famous open-air market through new eyes. When I lived in Jerusalem, the Machane Yehuda shuk (market) was my grocery store. Vegetables, grains, fruit, chicken for Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. There were nuts and sweets…everything we ate came from the shuk. (Read about 5 Israeli shuks here.) My kids grew […]

About a decade ago Israelis were much better at green washing and consumerism than caring for our planet through social green action. That’s all changed. The country has leaped into putting environmental awareness at the top of people’s concerns. This year there are dozens of events going on around the country to celebrate April 22, […]

Green Pilgrim Jerusalem hosts a week-long international symposium on greening pilgrimage, with major religious leaders from around the world. Faith and community leaders from around the world will be speaking on ecological, urban and social development as influenced by mass pilgrimage. Our report on the massive urban sprawl that Mecca is becoming illustrates the ecological […]

Clad in building-integrated photovoltaic panels and an aluminum skin that mimics the brain’s neural mapping Foster + Partners, the same UK architectural firm that created the zero-carbon city Masdar, is about to break ground on their first project in Israel – a solar-powered center for brain studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Working with […]

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This is how the camel looked back in February, 2012. Cold, wet and miserable Our stories on animal abuse have included severe abuse of circus animals in Lebanon, neglect and abuse of zoo animals in Egypt, and even rampant abuse of pigs in (supposedly) kosher Israel. Always considered as “silent victims” these animals have suffered severe […]

A few thousand New Yorkers stripping down to their Calvin Kleins in January ..but how’s that behavior fly in a Middle Eastern city with a penchant for modesty? Jerusalem hopped aboard the annual No Pants Subway Ride this month, making January 13th, more precisely, Israel’s first No Pants Light Rail Ride. In case you don’t […]

For the two years I lived in Jerusalem, I tried to bike with my crappy communist throwback – a mini gearless green metallic wonder that I bought for the flat streets of Tel Aviv. The bike looked too pitiful to steal and that’s why it suited my tastes. Transplanted to Jerusalem, the labyrinth of hilly neighborhoods, […]

Israeli and Palestinian stage performers are getting together to talk trash. Not nearly as vitriolic on the ground as an outsider might think, the discourse between Arabs and Jews has expanded to include environmental matters that affect both sides such as the cleanliness of shared waterways and skies and the growing problem of trash, among others. […]

Author of the hugely popular cookbook Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi teamed up with co-chef Sami Tamimi to produce a cookbook that will dazzle, inspire, and satisfy your senses. Both men were born the same year in Jerusalem; Ottolenghi in the western Jewish side and Tamimi in Arab east Jerusalem. They never met until they were in […]

Seaweed is prolific in Israel’s Mediterranean Sea. It makes sense, then, that Middle Eastern ancients used it to help alleviate a host of ailments from peptic ulcers to fungal infections and wounds. Based on past and present literature, archeology, history, biology, linguistics and botany, the Natural Medicine Research Unit for the Study of Complementary, Alternative […]

Shuk Bites – for $26 you can eat your way through Jerusalem’s famous food market There are plenty of self-guided tours in Jerusalem, and even a few culinary tours. But combining the two approaches, “Shuk Bites” is the first self-guided culinary tour. [“Shuk” is the Middle Eastern word for market place, seen commonly throughout the […]

Family circumstance and curiosity led boutique perfumer Ayala Moriel from the city of Tel Aviv to the other end of the world on the west coast of Canada. After landing in Vancouver in her early 20s, her sense for Middle Eastern scents helped her create a unique line of natural perfumes for women and men. […]