When you shall besiege a city a long time, and wage war to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against fruit trees…
Treehugger, my favorite source in the blogosphere for environmental goodness, reports on eco-tourism in Israel:
“I was amazed when I saw the trees and forests damaged during the war in the north,” 23-year-old University of Madison anthropology and Chinese major Laura Bernstein told ISRAEL21c. “You see huge chunks of forests that are completely destroyed. I would have never imagined that in terms of the impact of a war.”
Read the full post here, with background and links to eco-tourism programs.
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies brings Israeli Jews and Arabs, Jordanians, and foreign study students to the Negev to study environmental issues as a point of regional cooperation that must of course transcend borders to be effective. This year’s Masters class is 12 Israeli Jews, 12 Arabic speakers from Israel and neighboring countries, and 12 Americans/Europeans.
Uniting to discuss issues as they really affect us — blind to nationality — could bring us a Middle East with more trees, less rockets.
I know, coombaya, peacenik ra ra ra, but it’s already effective. Wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t met the products themselves.