Friends of the Earth Middle East was instrumental in forming an emergency coalition of environmental organizations to challenge Israeli President Shimon Peres’ and businessman Yitzchak Tshuva’s “Peace Valley” initiative. The "Peace Valley" mega-initiative calls for the construction of a 200 km open canal along the Israel-Jordan border to transfer waters from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea and transform the Arava's unique natural landscape into the "Las Vegas of the Middle East" by "making the Arava bloom." Their proposal envisions the construction of skyscrapers, hotels, artificial lakes and golf courses throughout the environmentally sensitive Arava region! . Furthermore, this top-down proposal seeks to adopt fast track legislation to bypass transparency and pubic participation measures embedded in the Israeli Planning and Building Law (1965) and speed the project's implementation.
The coalition calls for the study of the proposed plans to rehabilitate the Dead Sea region with transparency and public participation prior to the regional governments' adoption of any particular strategy. To learn more about FoEME's work in these areas please visit the Red Dead Conduit project page on our website and sign the coalition's petition to add your voice to those calling for the regional governments to think first and act later. Unprecedented media coverage of this controversial issue including articles from Ha'aretz, The Marker, Hactivist, Focus, Ynet, NRG, Jerusalem Post, Le Temps International, London Telegraph, Globes, Walla, Galei Tzahal and more can be found here.
Emergency funding for this effort is being provided from the Green Environment Fund.
During a visit to the region this month, French President Nicolas Sarkozy asserted his commitment to the "Peace Valley" initiative. In response to his statements Friends of the Earth Middle East partnered with Friends of the Earth France in a joint press release calling on the French President to declare his support for a full and independent study of the various alternatives to saving the Dead Sea as a prerequisite to French support of any particularly strategy.
FoEME's Good Water Neighbors project held a planning meeting this month aimed at advancing the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Mayors of the neighboring communities of Baka el Gharbia (Israeli) and Baka el Sharkia (Palestinian). The meeting, attended by Mayors, city engineers and planners from both sides, focused on developing a joint action plan to support the Mayors efforts to promote joint treatment of the two communities' sewage at the national level. To learn more about these and other developments in FoEME's 17 grassroots communities, please visit ! our Good Waters Neighbors page on our website. For recent media coverage from the English Language Community Magazine in Israel please click here.
The Good Water Neighbors project is jointly funded by the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and the USAID Conflict Management and Mitigation Program.
This month the Jordan River Peace Park was the focus of a public presentation at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. The presentation was led by Professors and students from Bezalel Academy, who participated in the unique FoEME organized international design workshop alongside architects and planners from Yale University, Jordan and Palestine.
Additionally, Gidon Bromberg, Israeli Director for FoEME and Professor Alan Plattus, Director of the Yale Urban Design Workshop jointly presented the results of the Design Workshop at the International Festival of Arts and Idea's in New Haven, Connecticut USA. At the same venue, Dr. Shimon Anisfeld, Senior Lecturer and Research Scientist in Water Resources and Environmental Chemistry at Yale University presented initial findings from last month's joint FoEME-Yale University research activities that launched a project to determine the water flow needs to rehabilitate the Jordan River. Click on the respective links to learn more about the Jordan River Peace Park and last month's Design Workshop. For recent media coverage of our work in this area from the Jerusalem Post, the Jordan Times and Media Line News Service click here.
The Jordan River Peace Park’s feasibility study has been funded by Green Cross France, the British Embassy in Tel Aviv, and the Blaustein Foundation.
This new website was made possible by a grant generously donated to FoEME from the Apte Family Fund. Website | Donation | Comments
coalition of environmental organizations to challenge Israeli President Shimon Peres’ and businessman Yitzchak Tshuva’s “Peace Valley” initiative. The "Peace Valley" mega-initiative calls for the construction of a 200 km open canal along the Israel-Jordan border to transfer waters from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea and transform the Arava's unique natural landscape into the "Las Vegas of the Middle East" by "making the Arava bloom." Their proposal envisions the construction of skyscrapers, hotels, artificial lakes and golf courses throughout the environmentally sensitive Arava region! . Furthermore, this top-down proposal seeks to adopt fast track legislation to bypass transparency and pubic participation measures embedded in the Israeli Planning and Building Law (1965) and speed the project's implementation.
Dead Sea region with transparency and public participation prior to the regional governments' adoption of any particular strategy. To learn more about FoEME's work in these areas please visit the 
asserted his commitment to the "Peace Valley" initiative. In response to his statements Friends of the Earth Middle East partnered with Friends of the Earth France in a joint .jpg)
aimed at advancing the implementation of the 
presentation at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. The presentation was led by Professors and students from Bezalel Academy, who participated in the unique FoEME organized international design workshop alongside architects and planners from Yale University, Jordan and Palestine. 
