Canada's PM goes to Israel

As you may (if you live in Canada and possibly if you live in Israel, but unlikely if you live in the USA) have heard, our PM has gone to Israel. Why? Well, in part, since Canada is a middle power, we might never be entirely clear on what he's up to. Clearly, Canadian persuasion is not going to shift the peace talks in any particular direction. On the agenda (according to the CBC) are the free trade agreement, some transport agreement, and maybe a research institution partnership. Plus, the Canadian delegation will meet with Abu Mazen.

Bibi has welcomed Harper "as a great friend of Israel and the Jewish people" and thanked him for his support, that is his staunch and unquestioning support of Israel. And, perhaps the real reason for the trip: A park will be named after our PM. The Jewish Community of Toronto has fundraised for this honour and it's not just any park, it's a bird interpretive centre: the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor and Education Centre. For a Canadian with an environmental bone in her body there is some irony in our PM -- who has been actively dismantling all the domestic environmental law he can via obfuscating omnibus budget bills -- having his name tagged to a major ecosystem rehabilitation project.

The Hula Valley marshlands were drained in the 1950s by the Jewish National Fund as part of its Zionist mandate to green and make bloom Greater Israel/Palestine. In time it became obvious that the drainage of the swamps was not such a great idea, not least because it diminished the quality of the water flowing into Lake Kinneret (Israel's major freshwater lake and reservoir). Concern with the draining of the Hula precipitated the creation of the Society for the Preservation of Nature in Israel (SPNI) which remains a leading environmental NGO in Israel. Emek HaHula is a key stop on the route of migratory birds from and to Europe, Africa, and Asia. We might only hope Harper will be inspired enough to bring enthusiasm for ecosystem rehabilitation back to Canada with him. The Great Lakes Basin could use his support.

Biking in Jerusalem (no) and Tel Aviv (yes)

Some rental bikes in Jerusalem

If you've been reading this blog for a while you may remember I called it "Is there biking in Jerusalem?" because I had hoped to ride a bike to get around town. And, you may be wondering what the answer to that question is.

It turns out biking in Jerusalem is an extreme sport. (Unless you rent a bike and pedal along the linear park that goes south from the (new) Old Station. But that's not exactly cycling.) Those that commute by bike in Jerusalem are fearless warriors and will tell you to stop being such a wimp and get on your bike...and they might recommend you ride on the sidewalk. Those who don't ride in Jerusalem will give a long lecture on why not to bike in Jerusalem --- there's no space on the roads, riding on the sidewalks is illegal and rude, it's too hilly (why would you ride up hills?) --- and list off the top 3 worst (most recent) bike accidents in town (they are blood curdling).  I was easily convinced that travelling by foot and bus would be a better option for me.

I walked everywhere in Jerusalem and really got to know the city in a way that only a pedestrian can. Of course, on the days that we did rent a car and had to find the highway to get out of town it took superior navigating (or patience when the navigating was inferior and we had to take a few loops) to not get caught up in the one-way streets that are irrelevant to the foot traveller.

Fortunately, the cosmopolitan and (mostly) flat metropolis of Tel Aviv-Jaffa has a wonderful bike share system and loads of bike paths so I did get some riding in.

Bike share in Tel Aviv

Whenever I arrived by bus in Tel Aviv, I would hire a bike at the bus station and ride wherever I was going. Key destinations in Tel Aviv include (OBVIOUSLY) the beach, Jaffa (it's fabulous and not just for its oranges), the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the awesome neighbourhood of Neve Tzedek (although now Florentin is where it's at). Biking in Tel Aviv is probably not "safe" (it is as hazardous as in any city) but it is way more inviting than Jerusalem. This is in part because Tel Aviv is filled with wide boulevards (the legacy-benefit of being a new city), has many bike lanes, is flat (yes, that bears repeating), and drivers are expecting to see cyclists.

Despite its hills and lack of infrastructure, Jerusalem could be a great biking city. The traffic in the city is horrible and often vehicular traffic is reduced to a crawl along the two lane (one each way) arterial roads (Haneviim, Shivtei Israel, King George, King David, Keren Hayesod, Agrippas) at rush hour. I'm sure more than a few Jerusalemites would be happy to have a shorter commute (and a bit of exercise). The climate in Jerusalem has few days that really preclude cycling: possibly a few snow days, and a few really horribly rainy days that only ducks would enjoy, and a few stifling hot days. Owing to its placement on top of the Judean Hills and its lack of industry, the air quality in Jerusalem is among the best of Middle Eastern cities (granted riding alongside traffic at rush hour will likely render a poor air quality profile). Plus, the city is geographically not that big. Still, I think its unlikely that Jerusalem will be ground zero for biking in Israel anytime soon. (Although, west of the city, on fine weather days, on some of the most scenic roads of Israel you can stumble upon pelotons of MAMILS (middle aged men in lycra) on fancy roadbikes.)  For now the Tel Aviv is the seat of bike commuting and culture in Israel, despite its long and very sticky summer.

A few pics of biking in Jerusalem:

Cyclists on road!

Cyclists on sidewalk!

You can hire a bike, park a bike, and ride it on a path from the (new) Old Station

Bike parking

Exceptional in Jerusalem - a bike path

Happy New Year!!

Forgive my tardy greetings!

I've been very busy while in Vancouver and I've neglected this blog (since it isn't really about life in Vancouver!). My days have been filled with contract work, visiting family and friends, and networking around town. The busy holiday season is over and now it's on to the business of quotidian life. For me this means some serious changes.

I've decided to stay in Canada and transition out of my postdoc in Israel. I'll be wrapping up my project work there from here while I look for a job in Vancouver.  In my home province of British Columbia many natural gas projects are either under proposal or in development right now. I want to be involved in shaping those projects and environmental policy in ways that benefit our economy without harming long term human well-being and ecosystem health. There is much work to be done in Canada.

The upshot of this is that I'll be winding up this blog shortly. My fifteen months in Israel were unforgettable and amazing; I have a few more stories I'd like to share. So, I plan to post until the end of the month. After that my blogging future is uncertain.

More posts soon! Thanks for reading.

Sheleg! (Snow!)

As you've no doubt heard or seen by now, there was a big winter storm in the Middle East last week. I have mixed feelings about having missed the "hundred year storm" that brought several consecutive days of snow to Jerusalem. On the one hand, the city is absolutely magical in the snow - at least it was last January. On the other hand, people were without power - in blackouts - in my old neighbourhood (HaMoshava HaGermanit). And, without electricity in Jerusalem in the winter, staying warm can be a bit of a challenge. A few people have gas insert fireplaces, but many people don't. And, of course, many people who live in the mountainous regions of the Middle East -- e.g. many refugees in northern Jordan -- live in canvas tents that offer little protection from the elements. And while the snow flew in the highlands, including Jerusalem, the rains were hammering Gaza producing horrible flooding and making an already incredibly hard place that much less comfortable. Winter storms in a region unequipped to manage them (or keep people warm) brings additional hardship for many people.

Gaza - Dec 10 - photo credit - CEAHecht

I've received several photos from friends in Jerusalem so here's a few to give you a sense of what this last week has been like.


It started out with a few flakes...

Looking east to Jordan. photo credit: CEAHecht

And it kept falling

Talbiya. photo credit: CEAHecht

Talbiya. photo credit: CEAHecht

East to Jordan. photo credit: CEAHecht

Dec 17 overlooking the Old City, photo credit: CEAHecht

From 10000 kms away

Greetings from the west coast of Canada where I'm on an extended holiday and research visit. We've been enjoying an early winter of Arctic outflows, which always come as a bit of a shock to the populace. Dig out your boots and grab the snow shovel, too. The arrival of snow means there's hope I'll be on my cross country skis soon!

Even though I'm not in the thick of things right now (i.e. not physically in the Middle East), it seems that one is never far from a story about Israel. This week's story (see NYTimes) is that Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel have signed an agreement to build the Red-Dead Canal.

I think this is a terrible project. Terrible. Not because of its goals, but because of its means.

The goals of the Red-Dead project are three.

1) Alleviate Jordan's water shortage - make desalinated water 

The TOR for the project suggest tremendous optimism: they thought they could generate energy out of the scheme! No chance! The water will be piped up 1200 metres of elevation from the Dead Sea (sits at -400m) into Amman (sits at +800m). Between the desal and the 1200 metres that should use up any energy gained from piping the water down the gradient from the Red Sea to the desalination plant at the shore of the Dead Sea. 

Jordan has a major water shortage. Major. To their credit, the Jordanians have been working hard to improve their infrastructure. The leakage rates for Amman's water distribution system were something close to 50% and have been brought down into the 20% range. This is still too much leakage, but it is a huge improvement given the age of the infrastructure, the urban layout, and the topography of Amman (seven jebels (hills!) a nightmare of connections). But, really, the only part of the country that gets much rain is the northwest corner, up by the Sea of Galilee.

[ed. note: by the way - Canadian cities have major leakage in their water infrastructure too. Halifax is a leader in leakage reduction. Get this -- in 1999 (population  ~350,000)  the system needed 168 million litres of water per day, in 2011 (population ~ 390,000) it needed only 130 million. Yep, gobsmacking losses. Plug those holes!]

Jordan has a growing population both from internal factors (a replacement rate of 3.5; Canada is at 1.6) and external factors such as immigration and refugees. The point on refugees is not a small one: Jordan borders Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Jordan has accepted refugees of civil wars since it was established in 1946. The UNHCR (the UN High Commission for Refugees) estimated about 900,000 Syrian refugees would be in Jordan by the end of 2013.  This is huge stress on a country of 6.5 million people with a per capita GDP of less than $4,700. And, it puts further stress on water resources.

Upshot: No amount of conservation or efficiency is going to close the gap for Jordan. More supply is needed.

2) Top up the Dead Sea- save it from environmental degradation

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember the post from last October and the gif of the shrinking Dead Sea. Yikes! Next to nothing from the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea. The days tick by and the Dead Sea shrinks, the shore caves into sinkholes. It's pretty straightforward and super sad.  Please, let's save the Dead Sea soon!

3) Build a symbol of peace and cooperation in the Middle East

I'm a bit mixed on this goal. Without a doubt working on relationships and sharing resources are important parts of peace and cooperation, but the "build a symbol" part makes me think an engineer wrote this.

The Plan

The "symbol of peace" is a massive piece of engineering (and some ancillary deals about water in the Sea of Galilee). A pipe goes into the bay at Aqaba in Jordan. It withdraws salt water (and the Red Sea is pretty salty, makes for great swimming) and pipes it on a downward slope to a desalination facility on the Dead Sea. Produced desalinated water is piped up to Amman and into the city's distribution network. The brine - the salty part of the Red Sea water - is sent into the Dead Sea. Major red flag right here: in the World Bank report they admit to not knowing what the brine is going to do to the Dead Sea. No idea. But, it'll be monitored so, with our typical resource management gusto, they think they can keep an eye on it and prevent damage to the unique ecosystem of the Dead Sea. Um...this is so far from a precautionary approach I'm rendered speechless. The Dead Sea is amazing and it is a major tourist attraction for both Israel and Jordan (and could be for the proto state of Palestine, too). Yikes.

The price tag on this project, when I went to the open house in Jerusalem last February, was USD 10 billion. People I chatted to then thought that the current economic climate would prevent the deal from being signed and the project going forward. The deal is signed. Whether the project gets built remains to be seen. 

If you've read this far, you're probably waiting for me to make my point. What's wrong with this project? Well, in short, I think it's early 20th century problem-solving for a 21st century problem. And, I'm not the only one. The authors of an alternative study suggested that a more incremental approach would include desalination and water transfers at the north end of the system. Israel could install additional desal capacity on the Mediterranean and pipe that water across to Amman, where the distances and elevations are less. Reclaimed wastewater or water from from the Sea of Galilee could then be sent into the Dead Sea, thus recharging it with something other than desal brine.  Such an approach has the advantage of addressing Amman's needs as required rather than building out more capacity than may be needed and leaving space for new innovations to change water demands. The authors of the alternative report also suggest water transfers from Turkey may be feasible at a future date. I have no idea about the technical aspects of any of these suggestions, but I appreciate that they offer a multifaceted approach to solving the two main challenges -- watering Amman and the Dead Sea -- in ways that seem more favourable, less expensive, more adaptable, and way less scary for the Dead Sea.

The signed deal probably gives Jordan geopolitical comfort - the entire project will be constructed in its sovereign territory. It doesn't have to negotiate anything else with the two other parties. So, in a way, the Red-Dead Canal Project may actually do less to build cooperation. Massive infrastructure may not be the best symbol of peace.

Winter in Jerusalem

Is characterized by sweaters, rain (only a few drops so far), bowls of soup, and ripening citrus fruit.

 And, bougainvillea that continue to bloom.

I think sweater weather in mid-November is pretty amazing. I have abandoned my open-toed shoes in favour of sneakers and boots, but I still mostly dress in jeans, a tshirt, and a sweater. Yesterday was the first really cold day we've had; I took an extra layer. Today it's warmed up again and the sun is shining. Amazing. Truly. The climate is spectacular.

Still, it's winter and bowls of soup are on the menu, especially kubbeh soup - an Iraqi-Jewish specialty. Here's an example of a winter lunch we had last week at Azura in Mahane Yehuda. Two bowls of kubbeh soup (a dumpling stuffed with beef and pine nuts) and a ground beef and pine nut-stuffed eggplant. (Getting the theme here?!) Plus hummus and pita of course (oddly pickles and onion were missing that day).

Lunch at Azura

In the courtyard near Azura there is a cafe packed with older men drinking coffee, smoking and playing backgammon. In a city filled with anachronisms, this is one that I worry about the future of. For how long will these old cafes and their Shesh Besh players persist? Will men of my generation be doing this in their retirements? 

Shesh Besh at Mahane Yehuda

Breathe Freely

It may be that Israel's current gas mask era is nearly over. A story today in Ha'aretz provides considerably more detail on gas mask distribution and production than I was able to obtain in August. It seems, if the Ha'aretz story is reliable, that only about 60% of Israelis have received gas masks since the state started a redistribution of them about 5 years ago. Masks already budgeted for and in production will be distributed up until March 2014. After that, it looks like gas mask distribution will stop: no funds in the 2014 national budget have been allocated to producing more masks.

Why?

Firstly, cost. Ha'aretz says it would cost NIS 1.3 billion (CAD 365 million) to outfit the remaining population (something less than 40% of the country) and an additional NIS 300 million (CAD 81 million) annually to maintain the population in masks (replacement of parts; refitting - kids grow out of theirs). I have no idea if maintenance (of the 'fleet' of gas masks) continues; if it continues while the masks are distributed and production is halted so that nearly 2 in 5 people don't have a mask; or if the state will begin to collect the masks for central maintenance.

Secondly, threat reduction. Observers report that Syria's chemical weapons store is being dismantled according to plan.

I'm inclined to think the budget is driving this decision...