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What a month it’s been. COP 26 in Glasgow followed by the Water-Energy sale announced between Jordan and Israel. On the announcement, beyond the press coverage, we wanted to thank our supporters on this significant development.

EcoPeace Middle East recognizes the significance of the recent announcement of a renewable energy – desalinated water exchange between Israel and Jordan as a first step towards Palestinian, Jordanian, Israeli climate mitigation and adaptation. EcoPeace Middle East expresses its gratitude to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation who, with German Government funding, supported the initial 2017 Palestinian, Jordanian, Israeli water-energy nexus pre-feasibility study. Since then Sweden has supported the efforts of EcoPeace to advance a Green Blue Deal for the Middle East.

EcoPeace Israel Director, Gidon Bromberg, said “It’s a model for out-of-the-box thinking on climate security. Climate change already at a crisis point in the Middle East must lead to policy changes at the regional level. Without these new arrangements Israel would struggle to meet its commitments for renewable energy under the Paris Climate Accords and Jordan would struggle to meet its basic water needs.”

EcoPeace Jordan Director, Yana Abu Taleb, explained “The exchange will create healthy interdependencies between countries in our region. Jordan for the first time will have something of real value to sell to Israel resulting in much-needed new political leverage.”

EcoPeace Palestine Director, Nada Majdalani continued, “As the Green Blue Deal advances EcoPeace is committed to seeing Palestinian climate security needs to be met in all four chapters of our proposal, prioritizing Palestinian water rights.”

EcoPeace is committed through its environmental peacebuilding work to a fair and just peace in our region that supports preserving the viability of the two-state solution.

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Firstly, congratulations to Dalit Wolf Golan and everyone at EcoPeace Middle East on winning this year’s Democracy Innovation Award.

Dalit, your initiative won over this audience not just because of the environmental aspect of your work, especially around the need for water, but also because of the collaboration it fosters between communities with the noble aspiration of building trust and contributing to the conditions for peace.

You should be particularly proud given the high standard of this year’s competition including, of course, the original and inspiring entries from all three finalists.

Clever and effective ideas like yours are more important than ever.

Because as the years go by and the evidence mounts, the reality of humankind’s damage to the environment is simply too great – too urgent – to ignore.

Understanding it, preventing it, and mitigating it:

Each of these is vital as the clock ticks ever closer to midnight.

Over the course of the last two days, this World Forum has heard from so many individuals, experts and organisations that have taken on the challenge.

We have heard wonderful, original examples of what citizens and civil society organisations can do within their democracies to bring about real change on the ground.

And I hope that in airing those ideas here in Strasbourg, you might be inspired to spread the word and good practice on your return home.

After all, each of us has the capacity and the responsibility to make our own contribution to saving the environment, and to share the knowledge we acquire.

We need not wait for a green light, but must instead move forward now and with determination.

That’s true for individuals and civil society and it’s true for business and industry and governments and international organisations too.

Everyone must play their part.

And this surely is what sets democracies apart –

That ideas, action and responsibility are not hoarded at the centre but are allowed to flourish at every level of our societies.

At our best, we don’t just allow them – we encourage and nurture them too.

So, I am glad that this Forum’s plenary sessions looked at what contribution we all can and should make:

Whether it is national governments, international organisations or citizens that are setting the pace for change;

What governing still is most effective;

And what roles the public and private sectors should play.

Many interesting things have been said.

You have heard repeatedly about the need for trust as a basis for action:

And that citizens, the public sector and public institutions must  work hand in hand.

One speaker suggested that only democracy can save the environment;

And that perhaps saving the environment will save democracy too –

By proving its effectiveness and bolstering trust at a time when many are out to undermine it.

There was also a very interesting plenary session this morning on the role of multilateral organisations.

This is particularly relevant to us here at the Council of Europe.

Our Organisation exists to protect and promote human rights, democracy and the rule of law among our 47 member states and the 840 million people who live in them.

Where damage to the environment threatens the standards we set, our job is to act.

And we do.

The European Convention on Human Rights is clear about the rights to life, to respect for private and family life and to the protection of property.

Where environmental harm has threatened these, the European Court of Human Rights has been clear that governments must act – and its judgments are legally binding.

And more such cases will likely be brought to Strasbourg.

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EcoPeace Middle East has taken that message to heart and through its educational programming aims to start a change in the Middle East. Through targeting anyone from highschool students to governmental ministries, EcoPeace has created a mechanism for acquiring knowledge and increasing awareness, and through that has developed the willingness for constructive cooperation in the Middle East. EcoPeace is initiating a process of change in a region which is threatened both by rising temperatures and more frequent extreme weather phenomenon and also by conflict between countries and instability within them. EcoPeace has centered its programming around water, one of the most pressing issues in the Middle East. 

Ecopeace’s educational programs are primarily the Good Water Neighbors program, and the Water Diplomacy for Young Professionals program. The Good Water Neighbors program, established by EcoPeace in 2001, aims to raise awareness of  the shared water reality of Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians and thus create political will for transboundary cooperation over water and sanitation issues. The Good Water Neighbors program is split into two aspects: the Youth Water Trustees program and the High School Diplomacy Major program. Both programs aim to teach high schoolers through experiential learning that connect individuals to their environment and lead them to understanding environmental issues in a regional context. Thus, EcoPeace has developed lectures and workshops on water diplomacy, national and regional camps, tours (both face-to-face and virtual), debate competitions to engage with the topics and additionally invests in teacher training across Israel, Palestine, and Jordan and curriculum development. 

Likewise, the Water Diplomacy for Young Professionals program is a training program for 20-35 year olds aiming to create leaders dedicated to promoting cross-border environmental and water solutions. The program is split into two tracks: the Water Diplomacy track and the Green Social Entrepreneurship track. Within the water diplomacy track, young professionals from Israel, Palestine, and Jordan acquire negotiation and diplomacy skills and develop a network of change-makers. 

EcoPeace Middle East is taking it a step further and utilizing its experience to help civil society organizations in other water- insecure regions advance their environmental goals. Through the Global Program, EcoPeace has utilized its 25 years of experience to train, educate, and consult leading international and grassroots organizations globally. EcoPeace’s Good Water Neighbors project was adopted in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 2014-2015 and carried out by the Bosnian environmental NGO Center for Ecology and Energy. A 2nd phase of the Good Water Neighbors project has begun in Bosnia-Herzegovina in July 2017, and following a successful one year pilot project focused on youth and GIS mapping in the Spreca River Basin, they are now expanding to the adult sector. 

Climate change is an inherently global issue and world regions must come together to solve their shared issues and create a better future for the next generation. Particularly in conflict regions, this cooperation can be a mechanism for trust-building and conflict resolution, ensuring both climate security and human security. EcoPeace is a model for how this methodology can be put into action and work even in the Middle East.

Written by: EcoPeace’s Education Team in Tel Aviv

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In order for water negotiations and project implementation processes to be successful, however, a wide range of stakeholders must be involved. The failure to include a diverse group of stakeholders has plagued water negotiation in the MENA region in the past, when water discussions were reserved for high level meetings between ‘experts’. By reserving these conversations for the highest level of politics, the local reality is not taken into account, leading to ineffective and unsustainable solutions that hurt not only the residents, but a country’s agricultural and industrial ambitions overall. A diversity of stakeholders involved in effective water management and collaboration mechanisms is vital at all levels. Both top down and bottom up approaches are needed to keep future water crises at bay. These approaches need to be flexible and transparent, and include people who offer important perspectives, and have the ability and motivation to make change.

That positive change must be made soon. Water at the national level has become largely a political issue, and because water is partially tied to national security, it is difficult for leaders to compromise on topics like water allocation, management, and collaboration, across borders. For example, the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Water Committee (JWC) failed to meet for over half a decade due in part to the escalating political tension between the two sides. The failure of the JWC to convene left water proposals unapproved and water projects uncompleted, which impacted the livelihoods of Palestinians in the West Bank.

But despite the slow moving conversations at the national level, conversations at the local level are still happening and should be supported. Because of the necessity of water, individuals may be more likely to engage with individuals from other countries to discuss water management strategies that can better their own, and consequently their neighbors’, water situation. Water can serve as the catalyst for bringing Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian peoples together.

EcoPeace Middle East, a regional environmental organization, has created a setting where this is possible. They bring together Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians to discuss their shared environmental heritage and fuel cooperative efforts. All parties benefit from the discussions and projects undertaken, in part because the water challenges at the local level are humanized, rather than merely existing as abstract ideas or numbers without context. The dialogue EcoPeace started has bridged the gap between Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians, setting the stage for larger peace and understanding. EcoPeace takes an advisory role and acts as a focal point in bringing together these diverse stakeholders. For example, EcoPeace’s “Good Water Neighbors” was founded on the idea that building trust enables joint solutions and problem solving in the water sector that can then lead to peace building, even in intense political climates. Their “Bottom Up” approach sets the stage for meaningful conversations that lead to “cross-border solutions to regional water issues” (EcoPeace). By empowering and educating local constituents to engage with and lead water initiatives, real and immediate change can be made even if the larger political situation remains unchanged.

In 2017 EcoPeace launched the Program on Water Security to create an international platform from which to share its 26 years of experience and successful environmental peacebuilding methodology on a global scale. The Program on Water Security (PWS) connects EcoPeace’s experience in the Middle East with the needs of civil society organizations around the globe. Complementing government-to-government water diplomacy efforts, PWS seeks to advance local environmental peacebuilding initiatives by helping civil society organizations located in water-insecure regions develop their organizational capacity and advance water security for their communities. PWS is building a global network that brings practitioners together to share and learn from one another, while developing collective capacity to build resilient communities in the face of conflict and climate insecurity.

Water challenges are dynamic and multidimensional, and can best be solved by a wide variety of stakeholders. Water discussions on the transnational level often exclude local stakeholders, thus failing to take into account valuable perspectives and “street science”, or the knowledge of what really happens on the ground. When residents have the opportunity to compare and share their knowledge with each other, they can create a compelling narrative told with a powerful voice that can impact water negotiations at the highest level. Local stakeholder groups should continue to share their unique perspectives, building on their vision towards using water as a stepping stone to peace. The grassroots efforts and conversations, fostered by organizations like EcoPeace, continue to demonstrate the power that water has to bring people from historically opposing sides together.

by Kathleen Schwind

Kathleen Schwind holds postgraduate degrees in international relations and environmental policy/city planning from the University of Cambridge and MIT. Her research focuses on the role of water in peace building, with a focus on the role of water in the Arab-Israeli peace process.

Sources

Wolf, Aaron et al. “Navigating Peace: Water can be a pathway to peace, not war.” Navigating Peace, No. 1, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, July 2006, p. 1.

World Bank. “Beyond Scarcity: Water Security in the Middle East and North Africa.” MENA Development Series, World Bank, 2017.

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During the two-hour event, which was hosted at the Jordan EcoPark, participants from EcoPeace’s Youth Water Trustees and the local community were informed about with the national, regional and international efforts to save the River and EcoPeace’s partnership with Waterkeeper Alliance. Following these introductions, the participants traveled to the nearby Ziglab stream to clean up trash around it.

To demonstrate the scale of the decline of the once “Mighty Jordan River”, the participants were taken on a tour downstream of the Ziglab stream. They saw with their own eyes how a stream, seventy-five meters wide and full of water in the past, had completely dried up. This image served to show the ecological damage that has happened on the entire length of the Jordan River and the need to restore and rehabilitate it.

After the cleanup and tour, the students were also shown a practical example of how groundwater contamination can be solved through a visit to the constructed wetland EcoPeace is building in the EcoPark. Groundwater contamination is caused by domestic cesspits and it represents a major issue in the Jordan Valley. Constructed wetlands are a form of low-cost decentralized wastewater treatment that can be applied throughout rural communities. EcoPeace’s goal will be to raise awareness about the effectiveness of constructed wetland and to work with local and central governments to build ones in Jordan Valley communities.

Youth programs have always been a core part of EcoPeace’s programs. The challenges the region faces due to water scarcity, increasing populations and climate change can only be solved if our youth are educated and empowered to work together, regionally, nationally and internationally.

Waterkeeper Alliance is a global movement uniting more than 300 Waterkeeper groups around the world, focusing citizen action on issues that affect our waterways, from pollution to climate change. For more information please visit: www.waterkeeper.org

Written by: Fadi Kardan

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In a seemingly intractable conflict like the one between Israel and Palestine, could EcoPeace really use environmental peacebuilding to not only protect the environment but also create a foundation for future peace? I quickly contacted the staff at EcoPeace to find out if they would allow me to research the organization and if there was any particular topic that would be helpful and relevant to the organization’s goals. After a few conversations, it was determined that a comparative case study would help inform if and how the Program on Water Security could move forward in a place like Nepal and the Hindu Kush Himalayas. One organization, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), had already connected with EcoPeace to learn more about their methods and how the model could be transferred to the Hindu Kush region, so we brought the research to ICIMOD’s attention as well. 

For the specific research plan, I worked with my advisor at the University of Michigan to identify a research question that I could explore qualitatively. We were particularly interested in how each organization functions and how certain factors impact how each organization is able to progress toward its goals. An interview guide was developed that would allow me to explore the organizational, structural, and contextual factors that might influence the success of a potential transfer of EcoPeace’s model to the Hindu Kush Himalayas. The interview guide focused on the perspectives of the staff members at ICIMOD, not necessarily the public statements of the organization as a whole. 

To my surprise, ICIMOD offered to host me at their headquarters in Nepal so I would have an opportunity to perform my field work and conduct interviews in person. For five weeks in the Summer of 2019, I stayed near Kathmandu, Nepal as I interviewed staff members at ICIMOD who worked on issues related to transboundary landscape management in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. I had opportunities to learn more about the organization, the environmental issues, and the region as a whole while I was there.

Overall, the research compared 11 factors that could enable or constrain each organizations activities and progress. EcoPeace and ICIMOD are working within very different environmental conflicts and regions, but both organizations still could learn quite a bit from each other. The lessons that EcoPeace has learned in the Middle East could certainly help the Hindu Kush Himalayan region with a number of the existing environmental conflicts. More research is necessary to identify and refine particular points of entry for EcoPeace, but there appears to be a lot of potential for future collaboration. 

While in Nepal, I explored the temples and palaces in Kathmandu and Lalitpur. The beautiful landscape of Nepal is only a fraction of the Hindu Kush Himalayas, though ICIMOD works within all eight member countries in the region to create transboundary agreements that will help protect the region’s ecosystems and natural resources. I learned so much from the staff at ICIMOD and was amazed by the incredible work being done. My field work in Nepal was an experience that I will never forget. 
Thank you to the staff at EcoPeace Middle East and ICIMOD for allowing me to explore their organizations, as well as my advisor at the University of Michigan, Dr. Julia Wondolleck for guiding me through the process. 

Written by: Andrew Light –2020 graduate of University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability –MS in Environmental Policy

EcoPeace’s Program on Water Security offers a model for regional peacebuilding to organizations located in shared water basins. The program builds the capacity of actors to help establish much-needed relationships of cooperation and trust at the community level on issues pertaining to water and the environment.

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Written by: Sarah Gibbs & Bryan Bintliff, 2020 graduates of NYU’s Center for Global Affairs, MS in Global Affairs program.

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Saturday 1 February
The week-long program officially commenced in the evening as delegates shared a welcome dinner at their hotel in Jordan.

Sunday 2 February
Delegates visited Mount Nebo in the morning and after lunch participated in lively half day conference (‘Dead Sea Convergence’) on the importance of the Jordan River to Abrahamic religions and the environmental challenges it currently faces. The day culminated in a water ceremony on the Dead Sea where leaders were invited to share how their tradition understands the relationship humans have to water.

Monday 3 February
The morning program brought all members together through an interfaith ceremony at the Al Maghtas Baptism Site on the Jordanian bank of the Jordan River. The prayers called for everyone present to remember the value of the holy waters at the Al Maghtas site—waters holy to generations past, generations present, and generations to come. Silence from the tour members conveyed the personal, emotional, and spiritual depth and breadth of the prayers’ effects on the group. Mira Michelle, founder of the Sacred Female Rising Institute, was one member of the tour held in rapture during the interfaith ceremony by the river. She reflected on visiting the site as part of the EcoPeace, Unity Earth, and United Religions Initiative tour, “It was rather special to go with a group who have their own ways to feel, to see, and to perceive the energy we call God. This was magical.”

Following the interfaith prayer, Kristin Hoffman, conscious musician and activist delegate on the tour, led the group to the river itself with a song. Her song remembered the role of water in prayer for all three Abrahamic religions by calling everyone to pray at the river together. Singing together, the tour members moved to the steps of the holy waters of the Jordan River for baptisms and prayers from faith leaders from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and indigenous traditions. The song on the Jordan bank paired in spirit with the cheering of groups seeking baptisms directly across the river on the Palestinian bank. Following this visit, EcoPeace staff led discussion on the demise of the Jordan River and the need to identify markers towards its rehabilitation, such as the reintroduction of the willow tree along its banks.

Song continued to guide this day of the tour as the group departed from the baptismal site for lunch in a Jordanian town near the Abu Obeida Mosque. Through a lively lunch, reggae artist Patu Banton volunteered an impromptu performance of his work. As the visit to the baptism site was guided with joyous prayers blessing the river and asking for its blessings in return, lunch was a time for songs calling for peace, blessings, and a radical love for all living beings on Earth. We carried these songs for peace to a visit to the Abu Obeida Mosque in Jordan. We arrived in time for an afternoon call to prayer, when the men and women of the group separated for different experiences within the mosque area. Men from the tour entered the central hall, while women explored a smaller shrine and tomb to Abu Obeida. This visit ended our time in Jordan, and prepared the group to cross the river into Palestine and Israel.

Tuesday 4 February 2020
At the beginning of the day we progressed from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, we started with reflections from spiritual leaders representing traditions from across the world. Phramaha Boonchuay Doojai, Thai Buddhist monk and chairman of the Thai Interfaith Foundation for Social Development, set the premise of using this day focused on Bethlehem and Jerusalem as an opportunity to develop his work in finding and communicating similarities between Christian and Buddhist traditions. Pixie Byrnes, a representative of the Eastern ranges of Australia, additionally contributed to the circular reflections to remind everyone of the importance of keeping in mind the sacred waters carried within us as we travel on this tour to holy sites in the Jordan Valley.

EcoPeace Palestinian Director, Nada Majdalani, and External Affairs Officer, Bashar Al Shawwa, focused the day on highlighting the ancient historical and cultural importance of the Jordan Valley region. They educated the group on the emergence and development of organized agriculture in the Jordan Valley and its importance as the food basket of the region and a place of high biodiversity. The beginning of the death of the Jordan River in the 20^th century caused by the conflict and the restrictions imposed by the occupation, as was explained, impacted the region’s agricultural tradition and ability to support residents of the Valley. The cost of water for Palestinian residents and refugees in the area is the main challenge resulting from the weakening of the Jordan River, combined with restricted access to its waters and underground water resources, and further exacerbated by the impacts of climate change on the region.

We visited the Mount of Temptation first. The energy of excitement and thankfulness for the opportunity to visit a place central to the Christian faith was palpable, with tour members exchanging short embraces and blessings for each other on the line to the cable cars up to the Mount itself. Within the mountain, everyone had the opportunity to take a few moments of reflection in the cave representing the place where Christ refused the temptations of the Devil, as described by Luke and Matthew.

Phramaha Boonchuay Doojai found the time at the Mount of Temptation rewarding for his interfaith work between Christianity and Buddhism, and led a blessing chant in the cave. He reflected on similarities between the lives and teachings of Christ and Buddha, particularly regarding “the real nature of life, the real nature of the world…and being the teacher and great father of [Christian and Buddhist] religions.”

The tour progressed to the Church of the Nativity following the Mount of Temptation. We had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Governor’s Office of Bethlehem outside the Church, who welcomed the interfaith tour and remained with us through the end of the afternoon. Following lunch, the tour presented the Governor’ representatives with a Peace Poll to stand in Bethlehem.

Wednesday 5 February 2020
The fifth day of the tour focused on visiting central holy places of the three Abrahamic religions. We viewed the Al Aqsa Mosque, Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall; before we passed on to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we spent most of our time in the Davidson Archaeological Park near the Western Wall. Rev. Deborah Moldow led the group through an interfaith ceremony for the divine feminine in the park. One of the women who led an aspect of the interfaith prayers, Pooki Lee, director of the Gateway to Agape organization, reflected, “in that moment [during the divine feminine ceremony] I was feeling the pain of the Earth through the land where I was standing.” An Ho’ooponopono prayer was how Pooki Lee responded to the combination of pain felt from the land in the conflict-prone city of Jerusalem, and of recognizing the healing power of the divine feminine called on in the ceremony.

We moved from this prayerful space in the Archaeological Park to a meeting with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and representatives of the Ethiopian Orthodox community in the Old City. Two tour participants, United Religions Initiative to the United Nations, Ambassador Mussie Hailu, and Prince Ermise Hailessie of Ethiopia, joined the Jerusalem Ethiopian community in their comments to the group, emphasizing bring peace through interfaith harmony to the region. The Prince, Ambassador, and Fumi Stewart of Unity Earth presented a Peace Poll to this community. We passed from this meeting to collecting outside of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, before exiting the city for the day.

Song ended our time in the Old City. Grammy-nominated African roots artist and UN Goodwill Ambassador for Africa for UN Environment, Rocky Dawuni, led the tour members through a song reinforcing the importance of remembering the solemnity and importance of Jerusalem for the Christians, Jews and Muslims living in the Middle East; Rocky’s lyrics “I cannot forget you Jerusalem” called on the voices of both those in the tour and others passing on the street nearby the “I love Jerusalem” sign in front of Jaffa Gate.

We progressed from the Old City and Jerusalem to the Sea of Galilee that evening. Over dinner, EcoPeace Israel director, Gidon Bromberg, and Mayor of Jordan Valley Regional Council, Eidan Breenbaum, spoke on their respective works addressing pollution and water quality decline in the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee. In particular, the Mayor spoke at length about his desire on pairing his community with other cities globally through a sister-river program. Unity Earth closed the event with an award given to EcoPeace for their work achieved over these past 25 years.

Thursday 6 February 2020
The sixth day of the tour continued our song, now led by the women spiritual leaders on the tour. In pre-dawn light, volunteers from the tour gathered on the banks the Sea of Galilee wherein women led a globally-united water blessing ceremony, Healing Women~Healing Water. Women representing spiritual traditions from across the world—North and South America, Australia, East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East—brought holy waters from their homelands to be blessed together with waters from the Sea of Galilee. Song led by Native American spiritual traditions began the blessing of the waters, in the Sea and from abroad, and sought to heal the combined waters.

Following a song-led blessing of water at the Sea of Galilee, the tour traveled to Tel Megiddo to continue interfaith, spiritual blessings of the waters and the Earth. EcoPeace explained as we travelled about the toll of climate change in the Jordan Valley region: winter rains, normally beginning in November of each year, have been starting as late as January, and temperatures in the summer are rising beyond the already excessive heat common in the area. These factors combined threaten the agricultural productivity of the Valley.

The ceremony in Megiddo—the valley of Armageddon—expanded our blessings of global waters from the first ceremony, and expanded the blessing’s message from the Tel Megiddo Nature Park hills. Here, the healing and holy waters’ blessings combined with messages of hope, unity and a call for all nation-states to shift capital and resources away from the military-industrial complex and towards the protection and regeneration of the Earth and natural resources.

We moved on from the blessings at Tel Megiddo to meet with the Druze community in Isifiya where the Mayor, an Imam, Father and Rabbi spoke together. The mayor spoke to the group about the Druze community and their interest in promoting peaceful, interfaith interactions between communities in Israel and the Middle East in general. These messages for peace and harmony expanded on the final night of the group on the tour at the U-Nite concert in Haifa, held with the support of Haifa Municipality. In this concert, artists Kristin Hoffmann, Rocky Dawuni, Patu Banton, and others contributed songs and messages from across the world celebrating the peace and love the tour hoped to spread.

Friday 7 February
On the final day of the tour a closing ceremony was held at Beit Ha’Gefen Haifa. A tour of the Baha’i Gardens followed.

Written by: Erica-Lynn Porta 

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The Alliance for Middle East Peace, of which EcoPeace is a founding member, responded succinctly to the ‘US Peace proposal” as follows:

“Peace will not be achieved by grand statements or unilateral steps. It can be within reach only when majorities of Palestinians and Israelis are in agreement on how they will share this land. But it is not just about lines on a map. Any peace plan worth its name must address how Israelis and Palestinians will both be guaranteed the rights, security, and self-determination they are equally entitled to. These are the conditions necessary for societies to live at peace with their neighbors and themselves.”

As a regional environmental peacebuilding organization, EcoPeace will therefore once again double its efforts to promote a just peace for Palestine, Israel and the broader Middle East within the broad outlines of the Arab peace initiative / Clinton parameters. We will continue to focus on protecting our shared common ecological resources and the underlying principles that environment knows no borders and that attempts to draw unilateral lines that divide, build more walls and disengage, are destined to fail.

Please support us in this effort.

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