“Fun is important for humanity and without it, we are greatly diminished'”- Grant Shilling on why surfing is important and holds the key for the Israeli and Palestinian conflict During the 60 year conflict between Israel and Palestine, there have been some fairly ‘outside-the-box’ suggestions for resolving the hostilities. One of my all time favourites […]
Palestinian youth practice “parkour” skills in Khan Younis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip A budding physical discipline called parkour is attracting several youth in Gaza, aged between 12 and 23 years old to pass their time training in cemeteries, former Israeli settlements and in abandoned or run-down buildings. Parkour originated in the suburbs […]
It’s all bad news for Gazans – a UN report reveals that that region is under immense environmental stress which looks set to worsen unless dramatic action is taken A comprehensive report released by the UN this week has warned that Gaza will no longer be ‘liveable’ by 2020 unless dramatic action is taken to […]
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 […]
Gaza’s population is increasing, and the water supply is not keeping pace according to Oxfam, the British human rights organization. In a new report, the group asserts that Gazans are spending as much as one-third of their household income on drinking water, and are facing growing health risks. “The infrastructure has been deteriorating rapidly because […]
Once Muzer Al-Kasas was able to collect all of the necessary materials, it only took him three days to build a small electric vehicle. Unlike Better Place EVs (which are now for sale in Israel) or any other fancy equivalents, the taxi driver’s inexpensive innovation is a slightly more viable means of transportation for a […]
According to a recent report by charities, Gaza’s only source of fresh water is contaminated with fertiliser and human waste The water and waste infrastructure in Gaza has been slowly deteriorating for years now. War damage, political conflict and dwindling resources are all part of the problem – however, the most troubling aspect is that […]
We should all keep an eye on the Levant this summer as it manages a severe energy crisis, because what is currently unfolding on a regional scale is likely to eventually take place internationally as well. Israel, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian Territories are all taxed by dwindling energy supplies and rising demand, and each country’s […]
Tomatoes are staple to the Israeli diet; Israel looks to Jordan to augment its tomato supply. Last year a spike in cottage cheese prices helped spark the tent protests in Tel Aviv and inspired the worldwide Occupy movement. Cottage is a staple of the Israeli diet, so much so that it became a national symbol […]
A lion even more sickly than this one was stuffed and put on display in a Gaza zoo.
We speak to Mario Cucinella the architect behind Gaza’s eco schools about building under conflict, water, education and bringing hope to a desperate region Early 2013 will see the launch of a green school which will collect rainwater and regulate internal temperature using thermal technologies. Whilst such a project would not be noteworthy in Europe, […]
Funding and technical support has been offered by Europe to help build a desalination plant in Gaza – but is desalination a wise choice? In the Gaza Strip it is estimated that just 5% of the available water is suitable for consumption. As such any efforts to help improve water security are not only welcome […]
Like Tel Aviv and Beirut, Gaza’s getting a boardwalk, but development threatens ancient Roman ruins. For years, it was a dusty, often garbage-strewn asphalt ribbon winding along Gaza City’s otherwise beautiful Mediterranean coast. Today, it’s a construction site, with heavy equipment plowing sand into position, digging tunnels and laying pipes. But if the plans proceed […]
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 […]
Palestinian artist Mohamed Abusal envisions converting Gaza’s smuggling tunnels into an underground metro system. A small handful of Bedouin families living in the Gaza Strip ran thousands of smuggling tunnels beneath the Egypt-Gaza Strip separation barrier. In part to transport weapons between Rafah in Egypt and the Rafah Palestinian refugee camp and in part to import […]