After 18 hours of traveling, three fun nights in Tel Aviv, and a five-hour bus ride south, I have finally arrived at the Arava Institute at Kibbutz Ketura. These first few days have been jam-packed with orientation and meeting new people. I found a huge spider in my apartment, encountered 110-degree weather, and hiked into the surrounding desert at night to a sky full of stars.
The biggest highlight of my first week was attending the second annual Track II Environmental Conference. As a conference intern, I will help facilitate the working groups, which will meet every few months until the next conference, and assist with the proposal for a Regional Climate Change Adaptation Center. I actually needed to miss part of my orientation to attend the conference, but it was more important for me to hear the speakers and their goals for the upcoming year.
The Track II conference brought together leaders from different non-governmental organizations in Israel, Jordan, and Palestine to promote transboundary environmental work and cooperation. Track I, which are governmental negotiations, are stalled, so the Arava Institute wanted to help initiate non-governmental talks and environmental progress despite the lack of governmental movement.
However, the conference focused largely on the politics of the conflict and the frustration about the lack of governmental action. One panel discussed how cross-border environmental agreements can help prepare for a two-state solution. It was quite a depressing session, to say the least. Dr. Shadad Attilli, Former Minister of the Palestinian Water Authority, expressed that he is starting to lose hope with the two-state solution, and he said already the Palestinians are comprising by giving away 78% of their historic land… Yet he also claimed that the “water problem is solvable.” So maybe there is a bit of hope.
Other highlights of the conference included a keynote by former Ambassador Dennis Ross, an important American negotiator in the Oslo Accords who advised the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administration about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He emphasized the importance of maintaining faith in the future of a two-state solution, and he thinks Track II environmental negotiations and environmental cooperation offer a sense of possibility and credibility for future talks.
I also spent a bit of time in the Climate Change Adaptation working group. It is a small group so far, and they are looking for more participation from Jordanians and Palestinians. The goal of the group is to help form a regional center for climate change adaptation. This center would help provide data on climate change, fill in research gaps, train personnel involved in climate adaptation, and help inform the public about the threat of climate change. This is a exciting idea but it will require cross-border support, funding, and administration to reach fruition. I’m sure that I will learn even about this initiative when my internship officially begins on Sunday.
I spent Thursday to Sunday in Tel Aviv. Above is a picture of the sunset in Tel Aviv. Below is a picture of me reading on a hammock at Kibbutz Ketura (where the Arava Institute is located). The kibbutz feels like camp: there is a swimming pool, horseback riding stables, a tennis and basketball court, hammocks/shaded spots, and plenty of trails to go hiking on.
