- International Conference “Undisciplined Environments” of the European Network of Political Ecology to be held in Stockholm
- EcoPeace response to the newest updates of the “Red Sea Dead Sea Water Project Phase I”
- Haaretz Conference – On Our Doorstep – the Gaza Water and Energy Crisis, Scenarios
- New UN Report Predicts Gaza to be Uninhabitable in Less than 5 Years
- First Ever Regional Integrated Master Plan for the Jordan Valley
- Israel to Double Supply of Water to Gaza Starting This Week But Additional Urgent Efforts Still Needed
- EcoPeace Receives the Minister of Water and US Delegates at the SHE Ecopark
- EcoPeace responds to Jordanian Teachers Associations Accusations (Arabic)
- Israeli High Court Denies Request of Israeli Military to Approve Separation Barrier in Battir
- EcoPeace / FoEME celebrates 20 years, and reverts to original name ECOPEACE MIDDLE EAST
- Middle East and USA Sister City Partnerships launched
- In advance of the Donors’ Conference in Cairo next week: EcoPeace / FoEME is releasing a Report on the Gaza Water, Sanitation and Energy Crisis
- The Israeli Government Decided Not to Decide
- Israeli Attorney General recommends that Government build Separation Barrier through Battir
- A new Israeli and Jordanian cooperation project
- Battir registered as World Heritage Site in Danger
- Pope Francis’ visit to Jordan, the Holy Land and the JORDAN RIVER
- Israeli Military Removes Sulfuric Acid as Banned Substance
- Earth Day 2014 – Focus on Advancing Middle East Water Solutions
- Water and Middle East Peace on World Water Day 2014
- Following Comments on Water by President of EU: Clarifications by FoEME
-
Israeli High Court of Justice on Battir: Issue is complex, need additional respondents
- WATER CANNOT WAIT campaign launch
- A conventional desalination project with a regional “water exchange” aspect is being signed today; NOT the Red Dead Canal
- Swedish Minister Concludes a Visit to the Mouth of the Jordan River and South Shuna
- International and Regional Water and Policy Experts Agreed: Trans-boundary Water Issues Can No Longer Wait
- Representatives of 3 Religions Sign on a Jordan River Covenant: ‘Rehabilitate the Jordan River’
- Battir’s Ancient Irrigated Landscape Declared an Endangered Cultural Site on the World Monument Fund’s 2014 ‘Watch List’
- Rehabilitation of the Jordan River crucial for Water Security in the Middle East
- Israeli High Court of Justice Orders Israeli Military to Halt Building of Separation Wall in Battir
- Project ENTITLE up and running
- FoEME at World Water Day in the Hague
- Better Dead Than Red
- Friends of the Earth Middle East ranked in TOP 100 NGO’s
- Epiphany Celebrations – Economic Benefits Lost from Rivers Dire State
- World Bank Study Irresponsible – Conclusions Do Not Match the Findings
- High Court Accepts the Petition of FoEME Against the Separation Barrier in Battir
- Israel Nature & Parks Authority in Response to FoEME Petition Against the Separation Barrier in Battir
- Route of Separation Barrier Threatens to Destroy Shared Palestinian / Israeli Cultural Landscape Site
- FoEME’s response to Minister Shalom on the Red Dead Canal project
- FoEME’s Response to the French Parliament’s Report
- Israeli & Palestinian Ministers Agree on the Need to Reexamine the Operation and Structure of the Joint Water Committee
- Funeral for the Dead Sea
- FoEME awarded Mt. Zion Foundation Award
- Peacemakers Honored with Outstanding Leadership Award
- Water Justice Cannot Wait
- A $45 Million Investment in Hebron Waste Water Treatment Plant
- FoEME and Save our Sea Joint Event – A Mass Float in the Dead Sea
- In Response to the Israeli Government promotion of Dead Sea 7 World Wonders (Hebrew)
- We demand a Nuclear Free Zone in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East
- FoEME youth release joint river song for International Day of Action for Rivers
- Israeli Knesset Committee calls for the Jordan River’s Rehabilitation to be a project of national priority
- A Model Water Agreement between Israel and the PA
- FoEME wins ARISTOTLE ONASSIS PRIZE FOR THE PROTECTION OF THE ENVIRONMENT
- FoEME statement in response to ‘Anti-Normalization Committee’ Press Release
- European Parliament passes historic resolution in support of regional rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River
- FoEME wins EURO-MED DIALOGUE AWARD
- Big Jump 2010
-
Friends of the Earth Middle East Response to Statement of Israeli Civil Administration
as Regards Baptism at the Qasr el Yehud Site on the Lower Jordan River - EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) calls on regional authorities to halt baptism in the Lower Jordan River until water quality standards for tourism activities are met
- FoEME to present the Jordan River Rehabilitation Project at the EU Parliament
- Credibility of World Bank at Stake on Red-Dead Conduit Study
- Two new reports on the Lower Jordan River released today
- Cut the Rhetoric: Don’t hold water hostage to the Middle East conflict
- Vrede in Midden-Oosten afhankelijk van water
- Israeli Dead Sea Works calls for an additional evaporation pond – corporate cynicism at its worst?
- 15 Years Since Historical Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty
- Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian activists issue a unified call for climate change solutions on largest international day of climate change action
- FoEME calls for Assurances for Palestinian Access to West Bank Baptism Site and Rehabilitation of the Lower Jordan River
- Dead Sea Subject to Cheap Politics
- Water Being Held Hostage to the Conflict
- EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East Receives Skoll Foundation Social Entrepreneurship Award
- EcoPeace / FoEME calls for an Immediate Cessation of Violence and for UNEP to Assess the Environmental Damages of the Conflict
- FoEME Calls Upon Our Governments to Meet Their Commitments to Rehabilitate the Lower Jordan River
- FoEME Side Event at Euro Med Water Conference
- Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian Mayors meet to discuss the Regional Water Crisis
- FoEME honored by TIME Magazine as Heroes of the Environment 2008
- World Bank Conducting Less Than Professional Feasibility Study
- Red Dead Canal Launch ‘Outrageously Irresponsible’
- Yale University to work with Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli Architects in Creating Ideas for First Peace Park
- Jordan and Palestine Threatened by Global Warming
- Middle East faces security threats from global warming
- Regional Mayors Gathering on Cross Border Eco-Tourism
- World Bank to hold public hearing on Red Dead Canal
- Israeli / Palestinian Mayors sign on MoU
- Big Jump! into the Jordan River
- Gaza Strip – impending sanitation crisis with stoppage of fuel supply
- Jordan River Declared a World Endangered Cultural Heritage Site
- Climate Change May Further Erode Political Stability in the Middle East
- Failure to Cooperate on the Environment Kills
- Israeli Cabinet Decision on Red Dead Canal Irresponsible
- Save the Judean Desert
- Joint Planting Ceremony for Tu Bishvat in Tsur Hadassah / Wadi Fukin
- Jordanian / Israeli Cooperation at Southern Dead Sea
- Jordanian, Israeli Mayors Sign on Cross Border Agreement
- Environmental Issue Overrides Outdated IDF Decision
- Kayaking down the last stretch of clean water in the River Jordan
- Jordan River Mayors Commit To Water Cooperation
- World Bank Acting Contrary to Bank Guidelines Concerning Red Dead Study
- Israelis need to know environmental costs of war with Hezbollah
- The Separation Barrier in Wadi Fukin
- World Water Monitoring Day
- Lebanon Asks UNEP to Assess Environmental Damage of War
- Environmental Damage of Hezbollah-Israel War
- FoEME is Calling on All Parties to Immediately Cease the Use of Force
- Lebanese Oil Spill
- FoEME Calls on Both Sides to End Gaza Crisis
- Jordanians & Israelis Meet IN the Waters of the Lower Jordan River
- Friends of the Earth Middle East awarded ENERGY GLOBE PRIZE
- FoEME Calls on Quartet not to Stop Funding of Pollution Prevention Projects
- DEAD SEA – Declared Threatened Lake of the Year, 2006
- 700 Million Cubic Meters of Drinking Water Threatened by Pollution
- Ancient Agricultural Terraces Threatened By Settlement
- Egged Invites FoEME-Jordan to Ceremony
2014-02-04
MEDIA RELEASE
ISRAELI HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE ON BATTIR:
ISSUE IS COMPLEX, NEED ADDITIONAL RESPONDENTS
February 4, 2014
On January 29th, the High Court of Justice in Israel held another hearing on the petitions submitted by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) and the Village of Battir, regarding our objection to the building of the Separation Barrier in this sensitive landscape.
Although we thought that this was to be the final hearing, the issue is complex, and the Court has now requested further clarifications from the respondents (mainly the Israeli Ministry of Defense) and ordered that both the Israel Railway and the Ministry of Transport to be joined as additional respondents to the petitions.
The Court appears extremely reluctant that the military remove a single stone terrace. They have therefore asked Israel Railway to consider the possibility that one of the two existing railway tracks be used as the path of a separation fence. The Court also asked the military to detail how gates proposed to be built for farmer access would guarantee access in a manner that is consistent with the traditional Battir farming methods.
FoEME believes, supported by expert opinion, that due to the topography of the area, it is not possible to build the type of physical structure that the military is proposing without destroying several hundred meters of ancient stone terrace walls, and from prior experience of military operated gates in other locations, traditional farming methods of the kind unique to Battir farmers, running with the flow of spring waters, could not be maintained if military operated gates are in place.
FoEME’s Israeli Director, Gidon Bromberg, says that "FoEME will continue to provide the needed expert opinion that shows that in this particular case, the option of no physical barrier, but alternative technological security measures, are the only means to strike the balance between the needs of security and the cultural heritage / livelihood values of the residents and the broader region."
For more information, contact Gidon Bromberg at [email protected]; 052-4532597
