Up

mi 5% OFF

Environmental United

REIAit

ThURSdAy • FRidAy

NOVEMbER

18 •

•

Israelis and Arabs are having no problem
uniting when it comes to dire concerns
about natural surroundings.

SATURdAy

19 • 20

NECHEMIAH MEYERS
Israel Correspondent

• GREETINGS FROM...

• TRESSA'S BOUTIQUE

ORCI-IARd LAkE ROAd • WEST 13100MfiEld

111•111 ■ ANL MINI ■ MI Alai. /111111 ■
ME, Im Of 111
— AM
JIM
Mr— 111"la A1611 MI AI IIN L.

Alw— m. IMP/ IN Nil/ NM/

EFFECTIVE AND DEPENDABLE PROTECTION
SINCE 1931

Featuring
"PERIMETER PLUS" Program

Exterior Non-Intrusive.
On-Call Pest
Prevention.

Enjoy your deck and the rest of the outdoors this
Summer with one or more of Eradico's programs

MOSQUITO CONTROL • EXTERIOR TREATMENTS
FOUR SEASONS PEST PREVENTION

We accept VISA & MasterCard.
Members of Michigan & National Pest Control Assoc.

TM of Dow AGRO Sciences

ERADICO PEST CONTROL

CALL TOLL FREE

888 -479 5900

For your best price,
selection 4znel
persolzeilimeel service

CINDY

SCHLUSSEL

11/19
1999

26

■

41 I

1PAI

CHRYSLER

Jeep

Plymouth

Rehovot, Israel
sraelis, Palestinians, Jordanians
and Egyptians don't always
share the same ideas, but they
do share the same physical envi-
ronment. That's what brings them
together at the Arava Institute for
Environmental Studies in Kibbutz
Ketura, north of Eilat. Here, they live
in a training ground for future
guardians of the Middle East's air,
water, soil and wildlife.
The institute, an academic institu-
tion linked to Tel Aviv University,
offers credits for Mideast residents and
others to study such subjects as desert
and marine ecology, sustainable agri-
culture, wildlife conservation and envi-
ronmental ethics, policy, economics
and law. But the subject matter, or
even the independent study projects
the students pursue, is less important
than the opportunities to become
acquainted with one another, enabling
some of the students to replace old
nationalist hatreds with new profes-
sional friendships.
It is a result that thrills Institute
Director Dr. Noam Gressel, while
admitting that Arab students are liable
to be shunned for cooperating with a
Zionist entity upon returning to
Egypt or, to a lesser extent, Jordan.
"Palestinian alumni have no such
problem," he says. "Their countrymen
know that ,Palestinians and Israelis are
fated to live side-by-side and it
behooves the former to take advantage
of _educational opportunities in Israel."
Students at the institute live in regu-
lar kibbutz housing, eat in the commu-
nal dining hall and are integrated into
the settlement's social and cultural life.
This proved an eye-opener for
Palestinian Hashem Shahin, who
arrived from Bethlehem University.
What he expected to be an armed
camp was an open, friendly communi-
ty. To show his appreciation, he offered
free Arabic classes to kibbutz members.
Likewise, Tamar Keinan of Tel Aviv
learned about the Arab culture. From
the first grade onwards the kids in my
class had get-togethers with their
Israeli-Arab counterparts," she says.

I

• NEW YORK BAGEL

Eagle

"But it was always very self-conscious,
very false. At Ketura, for the first time,
I was truly face-to-face with Arabs."
Keinan, a graduate of the 1996-97
Arava Institute class, is now on the staff
of Israel's Water Commissioner. She is
helping to reformulate vastly outdated
water laws. Her alumnus from that year,
Khaldoun Tubaishat, is at law school in
Amman, where he has established an
environmental group called "The Next
Generation Council for Sustainable
Development and Culture."
Last year's alumni include kib-
butznik Keren Sapir, who has designed
a curriculum for environmental educa-

The subject
matter is less
important than
the opportunities
to become
acquainted with
one another.

tion. Then there's Ala Jolani of
Ramallah, initiator of a joint project
of the Water, Environment and
Development Organization and the
Palestinian-Israeli Environmental
Secretariat. It targets Palestinian and
Israeli children to promote the survival
of wildlife.
The friendships these students
strike can lead to cooperative ventures
as well. Jordanian Jamal Tahat and
Israeli Tamar Keinan met at the kib-
butz. They have since jointly mapped
the aquifers of the Arava Valley. And
now Jawad Abu-Dayyeh, a resident of
Bethlehem, and Naama Nagar, who
lives in Ra'anana, are collaborating on
the promotion of eco-tourism during
the upcoming millennium.
So while final-status peace talks get
underway on the ground, some Israelis
and Arabs, in their own concern about
that ground, are living together and
promoting efforts to benefit all. I I