Sour green plums the size of large marbles are in the local Middle East markets now, a seasonal favorite of the Iraqis. Eat them out of hand as a snack, sprinkling each bite with a little salt. The classic Iraqi way to cook them is to pair them with meat in a flavorful stew. And if you want to ask for them in Persian just say "Gojeh sabz!"

The post What’s in season May appeared first on Green Prophet.

This 1.5 MW solar PV project in Jericho was the largest solar energy installation in the West Bank, until now We want to high five you whenever we hear news like this, news that trumps violence and despair: Two new large solar energy photovoltaic (PV)projects are being built in the West Bank with energy output […]

The post 17MW solar power project, the biggest PV project yet for Palestinians! appeared first on Green Prophet.

As an innovator of solar energy, Israel has been involved in a number of pilot projects in its Negev desert regions; in particular, one with Arava Power which resulted in a  solar energy plant being put in place in the Arava region near Kibbutz Ketura. Areas in the West Bank under control of the Palestinian Authority […]

The post Jews and Arabs turn on Mideast solar project for West Bank farmers appeared first on Green Prophet.

Many environmentally aware people from the global middle and upper class choose off-grid living, though that lifestyle is usually supplemented with solar panels and other accoutrements. But for the 1,300 Palestinians who call Masafer Yatta home, living with almost nothing is no longer a choice. Argentinian photographer Eduardo Soteras compiled Interstice, a beautiful series of […]

The post Masafer Yatta: the Palestinian cave dwellers of Firing Zone 918 (photos) appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel’s do-it-yourself (and environmentally friendly) soft drink maker SodaStream may go down in the record books as having created the most provocative Super Bowl commercial that never aired on TV, but it’s having a hell of an afterlife on YouTube, racking up over 11 million views since its Monday release. For the second year straight […]

The post SodaStream stock rises as Scarlett Johansson’s banned ad sizzles (video) appeared first on Green Prophet.

Finding a solution to the problem of raw sewage reclamation in rural Palestinian communities continues to be an ongoing issue. A new peace project between an Israeli treatment company Mapal Green Energy and the Palestinian Authority could sweeten tensions behind a stinky problem.  When we covered a joint Israel-Palestinian project to tackle sewage problems in December, 2012 […]

The post Israel’s Mapal Promotes Peace by Treating Palestinian Sewage appeared first on Green Prophet.

Our favorite peace-water NGO Friends of the Earth Middle East have just held a conference in Jordan last week and there had faith leaders sign the “Covenant for the Jordan River” to save the Jordan River. “As written in the Holy Koran, water is the source of all creation. It is taught in Islam that […]

The post Religions Sign On to Save the River Jordan appeared first on Green Prophet.

Dublin’s Heneghan Peng has designed a new museum for Palestine that is topped with a series of unfolding green terraces planted with vegetation that also grows in the surrounding hills. Designed for a hill above the West Bank village of Bir Zeit, the terraced Palestine Museum would unfold down the slope in a series of […]

The post Lush Green Terraces Top the Palestine Museum by Heneghan Peng appeared first on Green Prophet.

Today is World Refugee Day. Some good news for a change: Refutrees is a new non-profit that’s turning the traditional aid-centric model of development on its head. These self-described “creativity agents” place particular focus on people displaced over the long-term. They’re currently working on projects for Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon. […]

The post Refutrees Scratches Eco and Social Itches with Refugee Projects appeared first on Green Prophet.

Now “Abraham” in Jerusalem will take those interested to meet Palestinians in the West Bank. It’s breakfast time at the Abraham Hostel on Prophets Street in Jerusalem. A mural on one wall of the kitchen tells guests, “Abraham always shared his food,” referring to the Biblical Abraham who was known for his hospitality. The buffet […]

The post Eco Tour the West Bank With The Abraham Hostel in Jerusalem appeared first on Green Prophet.

While tunnel smugglers in Gaza get blown out by sewage flushed into the tunnels from Egypt, Palestinian prisoners have found a new commodity to smuggle: their sperm! Six-month-old Muhannad Al-Zaben is already a celebrity among Palestinians, the so-called “Freedom Ambassador”. He is the result of smuggled sperm his father Ammar transferred to his mother Dalal […]

The post The Sperm Smugglers From Palestine appeared first on Green Prophet.

Nine people in the West Bank have died from swine flu, the office of Palestinian Authority Prime Minster Salam Fayyad announced on Saturday, and the situation is being monitored carefully. Now considered a seasonal flu for which vaccinations are administered, H1N1 swept through the globe in 2009, killing up to 18,000 people. On 10 August 2010, the […]

The post Swine Flu Claims Nine West Bank Lives appeared first on Green Prophet.

Last week was the annual ‘Made in Palestine 2012’ fair showcasing local Palestinian innovations. Now in its seventh year, the fair was co-sponsored by the Swedish NGO Diakonia and by Al Nayzak, a Palestinian organization. There were two exhibitions, one in the West Bank, at the Ramallah Cultural Palace exhibition hall, and one in the […]

The post Palestinians Celebrate Green Innovation appeared first on Green Prophet.

A back-to-the-land movement is blossoming in the Palestinian Authority.

The post Organic Farming in Palestine appeared first on Green Prophet.

Picking olives the traditional way is less damaging to the fruit The annual olive harvest is here in the Middle East again. For people living in Mediterranean and Middle East olive producing countries, they can enjoy pickling their own olives due to the proliferation of olive trees in these locations. Here in Israel where I […]

The post Olive Season is Here: Buy Local or DIY appeared first on Green Prophet.

Israel's IB program goes green.

The post Eastern Mediterranean College is Calling All Green Peace-Maker Teens appeared first on Green Prophet.

A West Bank hospital gets wind powered with 700 kw. Few things are as deadly as a hospital without power, but a new wind turbine is about to blow away one hospital’s fear of losing theirs. The largest of its kind in the Palestinian territories, Al Ahli Hospital provides care to 600,000 Palestinians living in […]

The post Largest Palestinian Hospital to Get Wind Power from Europe appeared first on Green Prophet.

PLUG-In Hebron is a dynamic new urban renewal project for the conflict-shorn West Bank city. Following years of what the designers call “reciprocal violence,” the Israeli military split Hebron into two separate zones. The latter, H2, which is under Israeli jurisdiction, contains the old city. Which means that the Palestinians have been isolated from an […]

The post PLUG-In Hebron: A Solar-Powered Civic Hub for Urban Renewal appeared first on Green Prophet.

In August, Jordan’s Ministry of the Environment started a waste sorting and recycling project at public agencies. According to statements by the ministry, in the first phase of the project, they will implement waste sorting and recycling across a number of ministries, institutions and schools. Environment Minister Yaseen Khayyat said the project is being carried […]

The post Jordan Implements New Recycling Program appeared first on Green Prophet.

World food prices soared over 6 percent in July according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. Prices are continuing to rise, and food security is already a constant threat in the West Bank and Gaza. The Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem estimates that over half the households in Gaza are food insecure, and […]

The post Could Phones Revolutionize Palestinian Agriculture? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Supported by the women’s group Karama, families in Bethlehem’s Dheisheh refugee camp have begun growing fresh food on their rooftops Cramped conditions in the Dheisheh refugee camp of Bethlehem mean that any space – nevermind green space – is difficult to come by. The streets are narrow, families live in small homes and parks and […]

The post Refugee Camp in Bethlehem Sprouts Green Rooftops appeared first on Green Prophet.

Palestinians want to be more energy independent but will Israeli authorities, which are currently threatening the demolition of solar plants in the West Bank, allow them to be? In light of the Israeli environment minister’s proposal to cut Gaza’s electricity if supplies are running low, it makes perfect sense for Palestinian explore their own energy […]

The post Palestinians Embrace Solar To Reduce Dependency on Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

Ramallah is leading the way as the heart of Palestine’s environmental awakening. City-dwellers are planting trees, creating and restoring open, natural community spaces and reviving bygone environmental protections. But there is still much work to be done. There will need to be a complete shift in culture. A recent history of crumbling infrastructure and inadequate public […]

The post Investing in Ramallah’s Children Key to Sustainability appeared first on Green Prophet.

Green Prophet goes on another water trip with Friends of the Earth and guests from Sri Lanka. “Even sewage has a national flag,” said Gidon Bromberg, co-director and co-founder of Eco-Peace/Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). Israel Director of the organization for 18 years, Bromberg says he’s seen how natural resources, like water, and even […]

The post Can Shared Water Be The Key To Peace? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The environment is politics and in the Middle East this is ever so stark, ravaged by internal socio-religio-political conflicts and international wars. Wars internally and externally are based on oppression, division, exclusion, land theft, and expropriation of the Middle East’s oil reserves. The Middle East is the globe’s oil capital. Those who want to own it […]

The post Middle East Water Woes Beg for Environmental Sewage Solutions appeared first on Green Prophet.

As West Bank settlers develop water sources, Palestinians say they are excluded. Which narrative is right? Ein Ariq, WEST BANK — A convoy of white United Nations jeeps pulls into the olive-tree laden valley below the Jewish community of Eli. They are greeted by Jamal Deragmeh, the mayor of the nearby Palestinian town of Lubban […]

The post In the West Bank, Springs of Contention appeared first on Green Prophet.

Eighteen months ago, Itzhak Ben-David, the Israeli Environment Ministry’s deputy director for enforcement, visited several Israeli army bases in the West Bank.  What he saw was shocking.  Fuel and oil were leaking unabated into the ground on several sites.  In response, Ben-David asked the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to conduct water quality sampling and monitoring.  […]

The post Israeli Defense Forces Polluting Groundwater with Impunity appeared first on Green Prophet.

Back in November we reported on a solar plant in Hebron that was threatened with demolition orders issued by the Israeli administration. However, diplomatic pressure from the Spanish government which paid for the project helped save the solar panels from destruction. It now appears that a further 6 solar and wind turbine projects in the […]

The post German-Funded Solar Projects in West Bank Face Demolition appeared first on Green Prophet.

News that the French Parliament accused Israel of using water “apartheid” unleashed a fury of water war rhetoric that Friends of the Earth Middle East’s Director Gidon Bromberg is trying to calm. Yesterday the Israeli paper Haaretz reported that the French Parliament accused Israel of using water as “a weapon serving the new apartheid.” Socialist […]

The post FoEME Calms Water War Rhetoric Between Palestine and Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

German-Palestinian society NIJMAH is working on renovating a kid’s playground using natural materials and setting up a permaculture garden Permaculture may be new to the Middle East but with Jordan hosting the recent permaculture world conference and various organic farms sprouting up, the region is slowly catching up. In Palestine, there is already a permaculture […]

The post Jenin Playground to Get Green Makeover appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Israeli cabinet has just announced a decision to invest millions in renewable energy projects in the controversial Israeli settlements of the West Bank Around a week ago, the Israeli government announced that 10% of its renewable energy quota would be going to the West Bank. This means that literally millions (some have put the […]

The post Solar Power In The West Bank – Green Progress or Bad Politics? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The University of Madaba’s geothermal system, the largest in the Middle East Khaled Al-Sabawi, founder and president of Palestinian green energy pioneers MENA Geothermal, was one of the speakers at this spring’s much-publicised TEDx Ramallah conference. In an engaging and humorous speech, Al-Sabawi detailed the many benefits that geothermal energy has to offer his native […]

The post Palestine’s Geothermal Pioneer Shares Expertise Online appeared first on Green Prophet.

We pay for barbecued meat with our health Every year the air pollution rises steeply during Israel’s Independence Day, where even people with vegetarian (or vegaware) leanings have a sudden urge to fry ground beef “kebabs” on the mini BBQ grill sold at minimarkets and basically tossed out after use. But the effects of man’s […]

The post Palestinian Coal Kilns Blow Dust on Israeli Meat Eaters appeared first on Green Prophet.

USAID billboard in Ramallah graffiti-ed with words “We Don’t Need Your Aid” but according to latest World Bank report, growth in the West Bank and Gaza is dependent on aid donors. A stroll around the West Bank is likely to bring you face to face with a project supported by America’s aid agency USAID pretty […]

The post West Bank and Gaza’s Economic Growth Isn’t Sustainable appeared first on Green Prophet.

Ramallah celebrated Palestine’s first environment festival March 19-21 2011 This past weekend, Ramallah celebrated what is believed to be Palestine’s first dedicated environment festival. Large-scale ‘green’ development has been making big news in Palestine recently. But this event was on a much more personal scale. According to organisers from community support organisation Juhoud, the Basateen […]

The post Ramallah Celebrates First Palestinian Environment Festival appeared first on Green Prophet.

Cycling holidays are tempting travellers to eco-friendly ways of seeing the Middle East In recent months Green Prophet has reported on all aspects of cycling in the Middle East, from new resources for visitors wanting to visit the Middle East by bicycle, to calls for a Critical Mass-style ‘cycling revolution’ in Cairo. In line with […]

The post Bike tourism grows in Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Palestinian youth learn about water issues at Al-Auja Eco-Centre Green Prophet has featured news about the Friends of the Earth Middle East (FOEME) Eco-Centre at Al-Auja, a Palestinian village in the Jordan Valley, on a number of occasions. Green Prophet writer Rachel Bergstein has reported on the challenges the inhabitants of Al-Auja face because the […]

The post Jordan Valley Eco-Centre Opens Community Guesthouse appeared first on Green Prophet.

Wander off the beaten trail in the West Bank, and find a treasure of a guesthouse in Sebastia, near Nablus The little town of Sebastia, near Nablus in the northern West Bank, was one a major city. Home to successive civilisations from its Canaanite founders to its modern-day Palestinian inhabitants (via Israelites, Crusaders and Alexander […]

The post Why One Should Linger in Sebastia, Near Nablus appeared first on Green Prophet.

Marda Permaculture Farm shows that traditional and modern sustainable farming practices can go hand in hand. Amidst the conflict and destruction that plagues Palestine, the Marda Permaculture Farm stands out as a model of sustainability and greenery.  Founded in 2006 by permaculturist Murad Alkhufash (pictured above) who is a tenth generation farmer, the working farm […]

The post Marda Permaculture Farm Plants Sustainable Seeds in Palestine appeared first on Green Prophet.

Twenty families own most of the “free” economy in Israel: a recent report points to disturbing trends concerning class and society. Dr. Gotlieb sees fault in the free market policies that injure people and the environment. In his comments on Israel’s invitation join to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) last May, Prime Minister […]

The post A Story About the Elephants and Sparrows of Israeli Society appeared first on Green Prophet.

America gives more than half a million dollars to Israeli and Palestinian water researchers to clean water in the West Bank. Ben Gurion University researcher Dr. Moshe Herzberg (above) and Prof. Mohammed Saleem Ali-Shtayeh of the Biodiversity & Environmental Research Center in Nablus, have received an American USAID-MERC grant of $659,410 to increase the clean water […]

The post Palestinian and Israeli Researchers Get Reverse Osmosis Water Grant appeared first on Green Prophet.

The post Global Post Names Ramallah's Khaled Al Sabawi One Of World's Top Energy Entrepreneurs appeared first on Green Prophet.

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 […]

The post International Geographers Explore the West Bank in Search of Common Ground appeared first on Green Prophet.

They’re already going eco: Hanging the clothes to dry, naturally, in Hebron. Image via andydr Hebron (or Hevron) is a West Bank city run by the Palestinian Authority which is famous for being an ongoing powder barrel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an ongoing source of unrest between Israelis and Palestinians. But nowadays, when the […]

The post Palestinian Engineers Get Sustainable Energy Sources Course in Hebron appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Palestinian electric car isn’t much to look at, and it couldn’t carry a large Arab family, but it is solar powered! Just when we all thought Shai Agassi’s Better Place electric car company had the electric car technology field sewed up in this part of the world,  some university students in the Palestinian West […]

The post Palestine’s First Solar Power Electric Car Takes to the Streets of Hebron appeared first on Green Prophet.

Ira wrote about the Palestinian-Israeli wind power cooperation deal last week. Karin updates us with details on how Brothers Engineering Group plans on rolling out new business with Israel Wind Energy. A path toward peace may be blowing in the wind, if a new wind energy project between a Palestinian and an Israeli company succeeds. […]

The post Palestinian and Israeli Wind Companies Create Energy Venture for Peace appeared first on Green Prophet.

Barn owls as biological control. Arab farmers in the Levant use nesting boxes to encourage the owls to move in. This means much less pesticide to control rodents.

The post Owls Unite Arab Farmers in Palestine, Israel and Jordan appeared first on Green Prophet.

Representatives of Israeli and Palestinian partner companies pose after reaching agreement on joint venture for wind power.  (Courtesy photo) Cynics might say that diplomatic attempts to foster Palestinian-Israeli relations are too often “full of hot air.” But a new green Israeli-Palestinian initiative aims to put politics aside and harness the winds blowing across the Green […]

The post New Wind Venture Seen as Bridge of Peace Across the Green Line appeared first on Green Prophet.

With a burgeoning population and no natural resources to provide energy, Palestine has found a hero in MENA Geothermal. In a world where natural gas is diminishing and oil spills spoil our oceans, we would think there is no better means to generate energy.  Because if there were, surely we, intelligent beings that we are, […]

The post MENA Geothermal Powers West Bank Palestine Geothermally appeared first on Green Prophet.

Tractors carving up the face of a hill in preparation for the new town. (Photo credit: Green Prophet) About a half hour’s drive north of Ramallah, construction has begun on the first planned Palestinian city. Surrounded by sleepy hilltop villages and terraced olive orchards, Rawabi, which means “hills” Arabic, is being marketed as a green and […]

The post Rawabi, the First Planned Palestinian City appeared first on Green Prophet.