Iran is gasping. Its veins—once flowing across aquifers, rivers, dams, and Lake Urmia—have run nearly dry. Across sprawling provinces, water has become an afterthought as billions flowed instead to foreign battlefields, in support of proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the public suffers—and those who speak out are silenced.

Once the Middle East’s largest saltwater lake, Lake Urmia has collapsed under a triple assault: climate change, mismanagement, and politically driven infrastructure. Since the 1970s, it has shrunk by roughly 90 percent due to damming, agricultural overuse, and drought. Though partial recovery efforts began in 2014, the lake remains perilously low—now with barely 5% of its original water volume. Dust storms carry salt and toxins across farmland, damaging crops and fueling respiratory and birth-defect clusters.

Despite this, in August 2025, civil activists detained in Tehran’s Greater Tehran Penitentiary launched a hunger strike, declaring the drying of Lake Urmia “deliberate” according to Iran Focus.

Protests stretch back over a decade: in 2011, protests in Tabriz and Urmia saw security forces attack peaceful environmental activists chanting, “Lake Urmia is thirsty”—dozens were arrested. In 2022, similar cries fueled demonstrations where protesters shouted “Lake Urmia is dying”—again met with force.

Silencing the Voices of Water

This is not idle climate conversation—it’s a pitched battle over survival. Water scientists and environmentalists who seek solutions are often branded agitators. Human rights organizations flagged arrests of scientists attempting to address water shortages, particularly in Khuzestan, during the widespread water protests of 2018. Since Amnesty International has stopped being a reputable source of information, we rely on locals reporting in Farsi to explain the situation. The NCR Iran provides an invaluable backgrounder on why Iran has become so dry.

Behind Iran’s water crisis lies a well‑entrenched “water mafia”—an entrenched nexus of officials, contractors, and entities like the IRGC’s Khatam al‑Anbiya. Critics accuse them of pushing oversized dams and water‑diversion schemes not for the public good, but for profiteering and patronage. The dams overpump and leave behind mud. Experts describe Iran as suffering “water bankruptcy”—demand far exceeding sustainable supply.

Tehran’s reservoirs have plunged: by early 2025, Tehran’s Lar Dam held just 1 percent of capacity; in Isfahan and Khorasan, dam levels are critically low; across the country, reservoir inflow in 2025 dropped 28 percent year‑on‑year

Groundwater has likewise collapsed—Tehran sinks by up to 25 cm annually, a stark sign that aquifers are being emptied.

Proxy Spending on Terror While the Home Front Perishes

As local water systems crumble, Iran continues to channel resources into foreign conflict. Since the early 1990s Iran has provided Hamas with military, financial, and training support; according to US data, its funding rose from around $100 million annually to an estimated $350 million by 2023.

Iran likewise backs Hezbollah in Lebanon, supporting its military and political functions. Without this funding men in countries like Syria and Lebanon would look for work elsewhere.

Every dollar diverted to these proxies is a dollar not invested in rebuilding aquifers, repairing aged irrigation, or empowering local water researchers. It is a stark choice: fund regional confrontation—or fix plumbing, banks of wells, and restore a dying lake.

The link between drought and unrest is not theoretical. The Syrian civil war was accelerated, in part, by agricultural collapse and water deprivation; in Iraq, tensions over the Euphrates—the container of life in Mesopotamia—fueled simmering social fractures. In Iran itself, unresolved water shortages inflamed protests in Khuzestan and Isfahan in 2021, sometimes with lethal force deployed.

Environmental mismanagement has unified disparate communities—scientists like Kaveh Madani argue that the water crisis symbolizes governmental failure, capable of mobilizing urban and rural dissent alike

Iran’s Researchers Raise the Alarm—But Are They Heard?

A handful of water experts continue to sound the alarm despite constraints. In mid‑2025, Dr Banafsheh Zehraei, a water‑resources professor at the University of Tehran, warned of an “apocalyptic” drinking‑water disaster, saying Iran had only “two to three weeks” to stave off collapse. Another piece, titled Iran’s water crisis and social consequences, argues that decades of regime inaction have created social unrest that will only intensify.

Independent researchers like Madani have documented how misallocation, poor infrastructure, and disregard for groundwater recharge are at the heart of Iran’s water collapse.

As regional conflict enters a new phase, there’s a brief window for Iran to reframe internal priorities. If Tehran were to pivot: arrest the water mafia’s corruption; restructure water policy around recharge, cloud seeding, and equitable distribution; invest in efficient irrigation and desalination; and protect researchers and right‑to‑water activists—it could reemerge with renewed domestic legitimacy.

Lake Urmia, for all its desiccation, is not beyond redemption. Past projects in the 2010s—planting salt-tolerant scrub to curb dust, allocating over $500 million to watershed restoration—show what might be done if political will follows.

Imagine a program of aquifer replenishment in drought-prone zones, a transparent water-rights system, and public involvement. The results: restored agriculture, fewer climate migrants, reduced risk of water-fuelled uprisings, and a calm society.

Iran’s current posture is unsustainable. Starving citizens of water while funding foreign conflict weakens Iran, not strengthens it. But the priorities can flip.

Water is not merely a domestic issue—it is the soil in which national strength grows. Let this moment—the collapse of Lake Urmia, the protests, the crack of civil anger—be Iran’s turning point. Refocus on water, or watch the state itself leak away.

Foreign journalists are jailed in Iran so it is difficult to get a clear picture on how the day to day water shortages affect everyday people.

Further Reading — Green Prophet

• • Iran’s Devastated Lake Urmia Wins Recognition
  • Iran Is Sinking in Sinkholes from Overwatering
  • Flamingos Left When This Lake Dried Up
  • How Israel’s Strikes Avert Iran’s Environmental Threat

• Green Prophet: Search “Iran water”
• Green Prophet: Search “Syria water”
• Green Prophet: Search “Iraq water”
• Green Prophet: Search “Middle East water crisis”
• Green Prophet: Search “Lake Urmia”
• Green Prophet: Search “Land subsidence Iran”

Other References

• Iran’s Water Crisis Will Make It Harder for the Regime to Regain Control
• Iran’s president mocks Netanyahu over pledge of help in water crisis

The post Iran’s water mafia and thirst for war leaves the country on brink of being dry appeared first on Green Prophet.

Eggplant seems an unlikely soup ingredient. But blended with vegetable stock, herbs, and cream, the shiny purple vegetable makes a creamy soup full of Middle-Eastern flavors.

Now is when eggplant is coming into season in the Middle East. In any market there’s a table piled high with long purple-black eggplants, round eggplants, ridged eggplants, purple and white-striped eggplants, even all-white ones. And they’re cheap.

Good cooks in the Middle East and Mediterranean have always known how to make the most of this meaty vegetable, but you don’t often see eggplant soup. Once you’ve tasted this soup, with its robust flavor and creamy texture, you’ll make it again and again.

It’s worth simmering up a quick vegetable stock to use as the base liquid, but in a pinch you can use mushrooms for that added dimension.

Eggplant Soup
serves 6

Ingredients

2 medium eggplants

Olive oil

2 medium onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

8 cups – 2 liters vegetable stock or 8 cups water plus 1 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, or 1/2 tablespoon dried. Oregano may be substituted.

salt and pepper to taste

6 tablespoons light cream, sour cream, or yogurt

3 tablespoons prepared pesto

Method:
1. Stand each eggplant on its side and cut it in half.
2. Cut a cross-hatch pattern into the flesh, deeply.
3. Drizzle a little olive oil over the cut eggplant halves.
4. Grill in the oven for 20 minutes or until the eggplant is brown, soft, and separating into cubes.

5. With a spoon, scrape the flesh off the skin. Chop the flesh coarsely and put it aside.
6. Heat 3 Tblsp. olive oil in a large pot, over medium heat. Saute the onions and garlic in it for 8 minutes. (If using fresh mushrooms, add them now too. If you wish, keep 1/4 cup of mushroom slivers to add to the soup about 5 minutes before serving.)
7. When the onions are golden (and the mushrooms, if using) are starting to release juice, add the stock (or water) and eggplant. Bring everything up to a boil.
8. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer the soup for 10 minutes.
9. Add basil, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook another 2 minutes.
10. With a slotted spoon or mesh spatula, lift the solids out of the pot. Keep the hot soup aside.
11. Blend the solids in a food processor or blender till smooth.
12. Return the puree to the hot liquid and reheat to a simmer. Now the soup is ready.
13. Put 1 Tblsp. sour cream or yogurt into each bowl, or drizzle a little whipping cream in.

Top with 1/2 Tblsp. pesto each.

Serve the soup with cornbread or bruschetta and follow it with a salad.

More delicious Middle-Eastern recipes:
Za’atar Pesto
Preserved Lemons
Majadra: Lentils and Rice
Ma’amoul, Arabian Filled Cookies

The post Creamy Eggplant Soup Recipe appeared first on Green Prophet.

One hump or two? Feisty camels might have a bad rap, but their milk is low in fat, and full of vitamin C and iron. The next thing to hit Whole Foods?

At the tail end of breastfeeding week, we thought we’d draw attention to another kind of milk widely touted in the Middle East to be the magical elixir of health.

A staple of their diet, along with dates, camel milk has long provided Bedouins with the proteins, carbohydrates, and vitamins necessary to survive a desert-dwelling existence.

And unlike cow’s milk, which creates allergies in many consumers, camel milk is blessedly allergen free. Camelicious bottles this humped concoction in different flavors and sizes that are available at supermarkets throughout Dubai.

1. The healthier choice:

Considered to be the closest substitute for mother’s milk, camel milk is not only low in fat and full of vitamin C, but it doesn’t curdle in the stomach. Therefore, it’s easy for the body to process it.

2. The Bedouins swear by it:

Travel to any Bedouin home, and you’re likely to find a camel nearby. After giving birth, mama camel can easily produce 5 liters of milk a day, though friendly coercion and good diet can stimulate more production. The Bedouins insist on the milk’s holistic properties, as indeed, it was used as a moisturizer and sunscreen as well as food. The Bedouin have plenty of health hacks. Find lots more here.

3. Free range:

The Emirates Industry for Camel Milk And Products (EICMP) Have Diversified Camel Stock, which is relatively free range.

No business in their right profit mind would admit to dodgy conditions for their animals, but the company Camelicious claims that their animals are happy and healthy. In addition, the camels bred for milk are  interbred with camels from Pakistan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia, producing a superior genetic strain.

4. Camel milking is potentially more humane:

Camels are typically milked for 12-16 months after giving birth, before they are encouraged to breed again; the equipment used to milk them is designed to be safe for their udders and to avoid mastitis – a common condition among dairy cows.

5. Camel milk tastes good too!

Free of cow’s allergens, and milder than goat’s milk, camel milk just might be the perfect compromise. It’s not too sweet, and drinking it won’t cause an upset stomach either.

6. No chemicals added:

With 5 times the amount of Vitamin C in camel’s milk, and full of iron, camel’s milk needs no nutritional help. It has a shelf life of 5 days before pasteurization, after which it will survive for up to 3 weeks. Camel’s milk is just as versatile as other milk, used as it is to produce low-fat varieties of cheese, chocolate, and a fermented delicacy that is used in areas that lack refrigeration.

So, put away your carton of steroid-infused cow’s milk and genetically modified soy, and find yourself a liter of choco-camel milk instead. That is, for those who observe Ramadan, after the sun has set.

Fermented camel milk products include chal or shubat in Central Asia and Iran, khoormog in Mongolia, garris in Sudan, suusac in Kenya, leben (lben) in Arab countries, and ititu and dhanaan in Ethiopia

Updated, Feb 2025

More Food and Health News From the Middle East:

Chemicals Colouring Our Food – A Rainbow to Avoid

Organic Farms Growing in Dubai

Interview With Locavore Expert Leda Meredith

The post Six “Green” Reasons To Drink Camel’s Milk appeared first on Green Prophet.

Want to learn about organic agriculture and how it’s done in the Middle East? Maybe you’re interested in making cheese from goat’s milk? Or perhaps letting come what may — being the assistant to an eccentric Kibbutznik’s experiment or mindless work on the production line.

A number of Israeli kibbutzes are now privatized, leaving no opportunities for foreign volunteers to come and work. Despite the fact that fewer jobs are on offer, managers at the Kibbutz Program Center in Israel, the national center that coordinates volunteer experiences in Israel, are seeing a surge of volunteers from all over the world this year. There is even a waiting list.

And today it’s not just for the globetrotting hippy: “It’s a great experience for young people, who come to Israel for over half a year,” says Rina Keren, manager of volunteers at the center.

“Of course there are students in the field of agriculture who come; there are also the ones who are specifically looking for the real organic farms too,” she says. Like at Kibbutz Lotan, the only true organic kibbutz in Israel: “But most of the people are not coming for something special – just a unique way to visit and get to know Israel,” says Keren.

With an abundance of kibbutz volunteers from all over the world — the United States, Europe (England and Germany especially), South Africa and Korea, the kibbutz volunteer experience is also an enjoyable international one, Keren points out. Today about 30 kibbutzes in Israel are accepting volunteers and this past year some 500 people submitted applications.

Kibbutz tracks of Bob Dylan and Seinfeld

Bob Dylan did it. So did Jerry Seinfeld who was only 17 when he came to the kibbutz. He told the Associated Press: “I would be in the fields, and nobody wanted my autograph and nobody wanted to take their picture with me,” he said, joking. “They just let me hack away at those banana leaves, and no, I didn’t meet the prime minister even once.”

Like Seinfeld once did, in exchange for several hours work a day, volunteers get free lodging, meals and some pocket money amounting to about $100 a month. But anyone who has ever lived or volunteered on a kibbutz will know, there is really no need for money. The kibbutz is truly a communal space, where services such as laundry and entertainment come as part of the package.

In recent years the kibbutz volunteer experience is seeing a revival, because it’s an authentic way for Jews and non-Jews to experience the Holy Land. It’s also a good way to get to know Israelis firsthand and to learn Hebrew.

The first kibbutzim in Israel were founded decades before Israel became a state. Groups of new immigrants came to settle Israel with an ideal that they would develop and work the land in a communal style.

Kibbutz Lotan is a good starting home

“It’s a great idea that helped make the kibbutz and Israel itself a home away from home,” says Rebecca Fiala who volunteered at Kibbutz Lotan in the south. In a local newspaper she said, “I felt as if I could finally break through the tourist route and meet the people, as well as know that I always have a place to stay.”

Finding a great kibbutz is often a matter of luck. And while the volunteers have come and gone over the years (there are those who do stay and marry Israelis), to further enhance the experience, some kibbutzim organize special trips to further enrich their volunteers’ time in Israel.

Most volunteers, at the end of their trip will usually agree, that the six short months at a kibbutz leaves them wanting more.

For more green volunteering opportunities in Israel see:
WWOOF: Organic Farm opportunities in Israel
Study Abroad at Kibbutz Lotan
Adam and Eve: An Eco-Farm Paradise in Modiin

The post The Kibbutz Movement from Israel Revival appeared first on Green Prophet.

In my foraging walks during late winter and spring, I’m always glad to find Navelwort (Umbelicus rupestris). It’s a fleshy, light-green plant often rooted in damp old walls and piles of rocks. Navelwort, also known as pennywort, is becoming rare.

I collect a few of the juicy leaves for use in my moisturizing formula, where they’ll add soothing, anti-inflammatory properties. Is navelwort edible? Yes, and if by chance I come across a place where navelwort grows abundantly, I’ll bring a few more leaves home to eat raw in salad – to be honest, more because I enjoy the experience than because of their flavor, which is mild and neutral.

For the hungry forager, we have a post about a tastier, more easily found wild edible: beet greens.

The seventeenth-century herbalist Nicholas Culpepper knew and appreciated navelwort, saying this of it:

“The juice or the distilled water being drank, is very effectual for all inflammations and unnatural heats, to cool a fainting hot stomach, a hot liver, or the bowels: the herb, juice, or distilled water thereof, outwardly applied, heals pimples, St. Anthony’s fire, and other outward heats.

“The said juice or water helps to heal sore kidneys, torn or fretted by the stone, or exulcerated within; it also provokes urine, is available for the dropsy, and helps to break the stone. Being used as a bath, or made into an ointment, it cools the painful piles or hæmorrhoidal veins. It is no less effectual to give ease to the pains of the gout, the sciatica, and helps the kernels or knots in the neck or throat, called the king’s evil: healing kibes (ulcerated chilblains) and chilblains if they be bathed with the juice, or anointed with ointment made thereof, and some of the skin of the leaf upon them: it is also used in green wounds to stay the blood, and to heal them quickly.”

According to the Plants For A Future Plant Database (PFAF), navelwort can be found in leaf all year, in flower from June to August. The seeds ripen from July to September. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is self-fertile. The flowers turn red if the plant grows in a sunny spot.

Keep in mind that PFAF’s articles concern plants growing in the UK and Europe, not often mentioning growing conditions in the Levant. In Israel, where I live, navelwort has dried up and disappeared by July.

If you’re intrigued enough to try cultivating Navelwort, it’s (again, via the PFAF database) suitable for light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.

I myself don’t think of cultivating navelwort; it’s too dry and hot where I live. But when I lived in the cool north of the country, where there are still many uncultivated green spots and ancient, fallen-down stone houses, I’d love to find the round leaves, that look like a collection of belly-buttons, poking up from some old wall. Those ancient Romans had a knack for naming things: umbilicus meaning navel, and rupestris, of the wall.

Or you can imagine  that a long-ago someone poked a finger into the leaves to leave a dimple in the middle.

I cherish navelwort not only for the uses I put it to, but because of its growing rarity. The places that favor its growth are fast disappearing under urban construction.

It recalls a much earlier time, when a kindlier climate allowed these innocent herbs to thrive undisturbed, and humans in their foraging took only what they needed and left the rest alone.

The post Forage Wild Herbs of the Mediterranean Winter: Navelwort, AKA Pennywort appeared first on Green Prophet.

We learn from models such as Gidon Bromberg – the founder of EcoPeace – how a career in international environmental law can change the world and help young people impact the consequences of climate change. As countries across the globe struggle with climate change Middle East states such as Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and Jordan show the world how struggles with climate negotiation cooperation can lead to hope for sustainable peace.

Bromberg and his Jordan and Palestinian partners at EcoPeace have created a project to dismantle areas of complications and form stronger bonds. When there are sensitive subjects in relationships between countries, climate agreements becomes millions of times more complicated and much more challenging to discuss solutions among enemies. For this reason, EcoPeace has created the Green Blue Deal, which may be an answer to climate troubles in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Green Blue Deal

The Middle East is a ticking time bomb. To defuse catastrophic consequences which may be larger than the climate question, the Green Blue Deal has worked up four key areas in order to create climate resilience in the Middle East.

For starters, the Green Blue Deal attempts to improve relations between Jordan, Palestine, and Israel by creating a water and energy exchange system that allows the countries to share water and energy to benefit all of the Middle East. In this deal Israel will build a desalination plant in the region of Emek Hefer and Jordan will be able to purchase the water at reasonable rates.

The business arrangements, to be financed by third parties, will be part of a larger business plan that includes Jordan developing and supplying solar energy which it can then feed back to the Israeli grid. The cost of labor and more open space makes Jordan a more ideal place for solar energy production over Israel.

Part of the deal, EcoPeace will rehabilitate the shared Jordan River and will create education programs that target youth groups for early education on climate resiliency and diplomacy.

Through this deal, EcoPeace charters the way toward a region that is not only creating a greener environment but also building a stronger community. Settling disputes via climate discussion, is a passive method of compliance between nations that were previously in a high-tension state.

By working together “we can build the framework for peace and climate security for all,” hopes EcoPeace directors collectively. This deal sets up the framework for a mutual economic support system for the environment, and promotes solutions between Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This is not only an Israeli, Palestinian or Jordanian discussion. EcoPeace also calls on leaders from other countries to help support the Middle Eastern deal.

How local conflict impacts us globally

Countries such as Australia, Germany, the United States, and Russia are all being urged to join a ‘coalition of the willing’ to help EcoPeace support the implementation of the Green Deal. In addition, countries in Europe can even benefit from EcoPeace’s plans, as Bromberg explains to Green Prophet from his office in Tel Aviv:

“All public areas were without heating in the winter,” and this was due to being dependent on Russian gas that was inaccessible at the time. However, with renewable energy technologies, countries all over the world can benefit from connections with other countries by getting resources for renewable energy from others.

This is why relationships between nations are so important, not only in the Middle East but everywhere. This plan can lay the foundation for inspiration for countries all over the world to come to a middle ground, settle disputes, and better our environment.

The post The Blue Green Deal and climate pacts between enemies appeared first on Green Prophet.

Sonol, a company that operates regular petroleum-based fuel stations in Israel, has opened the country’s first hydrogen fuel station in the Haifa Bay. The world is seeing more and more hydrogen energy breakthroughs and countries nearby like Saudi Arabia are investing in hydrogen fuel.

Sonol is Israel’s third largest gas station chain. Israel’s Ministry of Energy identified a fuel port near Haifa as one of its economic development projects in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Sonol won this tender and worked with Germany’s H2 Mobility on this project. Sonol has also collaborated with Bazam petrochemical refining and the vehicle dealer Colmobile to bring hydrogen powered trucks to this port city.

The Hydrogen station is built close to northern Israel’s Kibbutz Yagur, six miles from the Bazan oil refineries at Haifa Bay. The same Sonol station offers regular fuel pumps and recharging stations for electric cars. It will soon start producing solar energy on the roof to be self-sufficient for its maintenance needs. 

The estimated $3.3 million hydrogen project is a partnership between Sonol, Bazan, a hydrogen manufacturer and and car importer Colmobil, which has supplied the first three hydrogen trucks.

The transportation sector is responsible for about 20% of Israel’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Advantages of hydrogen fuel

As transport fuel, hydrogen has several advantages compared to traditional fossil fuels and electric batteries. Its mass energy density is extremely high which is why it is used to power fuel cells in spacecraft. When it is burned, it produces only water vapor with virtually no harmful air pollution and no carbon dioxide. It can be produced from water using green energy sources or found in natural geological deposits. This makes it an excellent fuel to combat climate change.

Filling is faster than charging: The time required to fill fuel tanks for Hydrogen fuel cells is much shorter than the time required to charge batteries 

Hydrogen’s volume density is relatively low which means it needs a large fuel tank compared to gasoline or diesel fuel. This is why some of the earliest adoption of hydrogen as a transport fuel will be in large commercial vehicles such as the Hyundai Xcient trucks which will be fuelled at the Haifa port. This Hydrogen station will help Israel keep up with other nations in the adoption of this promising new fuel.

Hyundai enters the hydrogen market in the Middle East

Hyundai is bringing its hydrogen fuel cell truck Xcient to Israel, its first market in the Middle East. The aim is to form a hydrogen value chain in Israel. Hyundai’s plan align with Israel’s target to slash national greenhouse gas emissions by 27 per cent by 2030 and by 85 per cent by 2050, relative to 2015 emission levels.

“We are thrilled to support the Israel government’s strong commitment to building a sustainable future,” said Mark Freymueller, a VP at Hyundai. “Establishing the first hydrogen infrastructure in Israel in close collaboration with the country’s key players marks a significant milestone in our efforts to build a sustainable hydrogen value chain around the world.”

Haifa Bay is notoriously polluted. Israel energy and chemical infrastructure for industry operates in this area side-by-side with a growing residential city. We met recently with Ecoocean’s Andreas Weil, who founded Israel’s most influential marine protection NGO. He wonders why in most developed nations such ports are kept far from cities but in Israel they sit side-by-side. Development in more ecological areas is good but maybe it’s time to start moving fuel operations further away from city centers. 

Karin Kloosterman contributed to this report

Have an energy innovation to share with us? Email dreamcatchers@greenprophet.com

The post Israel opens first hydrogen fuel station appeared first on Green Prophet.

When people think of electric vehicle (EV) companies, most don’t think of countries where electric vehicle research and development takes place, so most don’t think of Lebanon.

Jihad Mohammed, the CEO of EV Electra is working to change that. European Business Magazine named him Middle East CEO of the year in 2023 for his part in successfully launching Electra Lebanon’s first EV company despite the economic downturn that came after the Covid-19 pandemic. Lebanon is facing massive energy blackouts. And people are investing in solar panels because they can’t get access to electricity from the grid. 

In an interview with European Business Magazine, Mohammad said, “I am honoured and humbled to receive this prestigious award from European Business Magazine. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our talented team at EV Electra, who are the driving force behind our success. I share this award with each and every one of them.” 

The company’s stated mission is: “Produce electric vehicles, compete at a global scale, and take part in the World’s transition towards sustainable energy. Being the first EV automotive company in the Middle East and the Arab world, we decided to be the front runners and transit our area from a consumer market to an industrial one.”

The company has already begun production of the Quds RISE, named after the Arabic word for Jerusalem. Like its city namesake this car is beautiful!

To say it resembles a Maserati or Porsche 911 doesn’t say enough about this sports car’s unique lines. The technical specifications are also impressive. The 50 kWh Lithium ION battery gives it a range of up to 450km. It can go from 0 to 100km/h in less than 5 seconds with a top speed of 250km/h. It also boasts regenerative braking, butterfly doors, a 360 degree camera system and a UV disinfection system.

It comes in an assortment of colours. This one is called Plum crazy and Metallic White:

::EV Electra

The post Lebanon’s EV Electra an electric car for the Arab world appeared first on Green Prophet.

Rainy, muddy winter brings out the best of January produce in the Middle East.

Our hot summers seem far away right now, but Middle Eastern winters are all too short. With ever-present water problems, we treasure every drop of rain and rejoice in the sight of succulent greenery springing up everywhere.

Wild edibles are at their best now. Leafy greens like Jerusalem sage, found in Arab markets, give you green energy to get through the brief cold season. Explore the shuk with Green Prophet and see what winter brings to the Middle Eastern kitchen.

Root vegetables like white and sweet potatoes, carrots, parsley root, turnips, radishes, and celeriac are full and fat. Purple carrots may be found in Arab markets. Try our Moroccan carrot salad with these purple carrots. Fennel bulbs are full and sweet now as well.

When root vegetables are excellent, a simple cooking idea is to chop them into coarse chunks, turn them over in olive oil and your favorite spices with salt and pepper, and roast in a medium oven till done. Spices like paprika and cumin lightly accent the earthy flavor of the vegetables without detracting from their sweetness. Turnips should be peeled before cooking, as their peel is bitter.

Leafy greens are beautiful and inexpensive now too; Swiss chard and lettuce for example. Notable in Arab markets is Marmia, or Jerusalem Sage, pictured below. The Middle Eastern Jerusalem Sage is not a cooking herb nor the decorative garden plant also known by that name, but Salvia hierosolymitana, an edible broad leaf suitable for stuffing. We have a Jerusalem sage recipe here.

Artichokes continue to flourish and come down slightly in price. Look for the tiny wild artichokes,  Akub, in the coming few weeks – in hilly regions and Arab markets everywhere.

Vegetables. Although peppers and tomatoes are best and cheapest in hot weather, there are plenty of both in the markets now. For a foretaste of summer, make some Muhamarra pepper spread. Onions are looking a little sad, but there are plenty. Just choose each one carefully and don’t oversupply yourself, as they’re ready to sprout the minute you get them into your warm kitchen. Local garlic is sprouting freely; here in the Middle East we’re resigned to discarding some of the garlic we stored away to dry last spring.

Fleshy orange pumpkins, zucchini, and local squashes are good now, as are big purple eggplants. These big eggplants are excellent stuffed with bulgur, as in our recipe. The standard winter vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and cabbages are dependably in good shape and with average prices.

Fruit. Strawberries have appeared, but their flavor is weak and they’re expensive. Not worth buying yet unless you can’t resist an early taste of springtime.  Citrus fruit continues strong: lemons (and now’s the time to make our salty preserved lemons), oranges, loquats, clementines. Persimmons are in the markets, as are some passiflora.

Avocados are wonderful right now, although they’re a fruit that’s most often treated as a vegetable. Apples, being an autumn fruit that stores well, continue abundant and sweet. Avoid the imported varieties currently in the markets: they are juicy but flavorless. Who needs imported when local is so much greener (and sweeter), anyway?

Herbs enjoy cool weather too. Fresh za’atar, oregano, and mint are good for using fresh and for drying. Watercress, sage, thyme, sorrel, parsley, coriander leaf, rocket, arugula, and basil are prime for flavoring foods and sauces. Mint is lovely now too, great fresh in tea and for drying.

Foragers’s Notes: Seek edible and medicinal herbs now; their best time of year has already started. Nettles are in full flush. Pick them carefully and hang upside down in small bunches to dry. Any soup or stew is improved with nettles, and a tea of 1 tsp. dried, crumbled herb per cup water, covered and left to cool for 4 hours, brings hemoglobin up (drink 1/2 cup 3x daily).

Young milk thistle leaves also need care in picking as their prickly edges cut. But they’re a nutritious, valuable and free vegetable. Scissor off their edges before cooking. Mallows and chickweed are soft-leaved, abundant, and easy to eat. Cape sorrel, with its sour flowers and leaves, is still a favorite with small children (and grandmothers). Wild mustard can be seen everywhere now.

The tender young leaves and flowers are very good, if you like a sharp mustard flavor, especially with fish. Herbs with no great culinary but good medicinal value are out now too: cleavers, fumaria, shepherd’s purse, marigolds.

Edible or Toxic? Look for edible mushrooms after a rainy day, but always – always – be guided by a trustworthy and experienced mushroom hunter.

People sicken and die of mushroom poisoning every year. Mandrakes are beginning to push their rosettes up, but I advise admiring, rather than eating, their purple fruit when it does ripen in spring. It is toxic to a degree.

Recipes using these delicious winter vegetables on Green Prophet:

• Two Winter Salads with Seasonal Veg and Edible Weeds
• Baba Ganoush
• Basil Pesto

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AlUla is the place and a special commission has been set up to make that happen. Some new research includes findings on desert kites and pendant shaped funerary highways. For archeologists, getting a gig in Saudi Arabia could be the hottest ticket in town. 

Archeologists are being flown in, hotels are being built, and historical tourism sites are being promoted and made accessible to westerners. Historically the only tourism that came to Saudi Arabia were business travellers or people coming in to offer English as a second language ESL classes. The times have changed. Although we like what’s happening at AlUla and would like to visit one day, we are less impressed by Neom projects that radically change the landscape (ski on fake snow?) and expel people already living there, like at The Line. 

Where is Alula?

Located 1,100km from Riyadh in north-west Saudi Arabia, AlUla is a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage. The vast area, covering 22,561km², includes a lush oasis valley, towering sandstone mountains and ancient cultural heritage sites dating back thousands of years.

The most well-known and recognised site in AlUla is Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 52-hectare ancient city, Hegra (Mada’in Salih) was the principal southern city of the Nabataean Kingdom and is comprised of nearly 100 well-preserved tombs with elaborate facades cut into sandstone outcrops. The people of Petra were also Nabateans, teaching the world many a useful thing like desert irrigation for crops.

Current research suggests Hegra was the most southern outpost of the Romans after conquering the Nabataeans in 106 CE.    

In addition to Hegra, AlUla is home to a series of fascinating historical and archaeological sites such as: an Old Town surrounded by an ancient oasis, Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms, which is considered one of the most developed 1st-millennium BCE cities of the Arabian Peninsula; thousands of ancient rock art sites and inscriptions in Jabal Ikmah; and Hijaz Railway stations.

The region is home to vernacular architecture as well, with mud buildings in disrepair. And Maraya, a mirrored music hall is a stand out feature to this ancient desert setting. 

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