Ornithology was the last thing on my mind when I pulled into the parking lot at Kibbutz Yotvata’s highway oasis in the Arava desert. We were on our way home from a vacation in Eilat and with four kids under the age of 10, we definitely needed the pit stop.
It was around 11 pm, and the temperature was still over 30 degrees as we got ready to get back on the highway. We re-arranged the young ones and tried to get comfy for the 3 hours of driving ahead of us. Two vans suddenly pulled in to the empty parking spots near us, the doors slid open and almost a dozen burly, clean shaven and military looking guys emerged. They appeared European, I thought I detected something Scandinavian, but their Israeli guide spoke English to them as they began unloading bags of equipment.
These guys were serious. Fancy backpacks, climbing gear, tripods and other equipment I couldn’t figure out. What were these guys doing in the middle of the night in the middle of the desert at some tourist trap off the highway?
Military or not, they were already dripping sweat as the hot desert wind blew over us, whipping paper cups and other garbage past my vehicle and theirs. They were gearing up, preparing to move out.
Their guide called them together for a mission briefing and I serreptitiously listened in as he gave details on the mission: paths, the height they would climb, watch out for the cliff edges. From their serious demeanor, cropped haircuts, athletic builds and various technical trappings I started guessing that they were on some private paramilitary training program.
Hah! Never more wrong was I!
Their guide suddenly woke me up to reality: he said he hoped to get them a few metres above the nest of some rare winged predator where they would all have enough room to creep up silently and set their cameras to catch the birds as the sun came up.
Bird watchers!!! And not just your ordinary “oh look, dear, there’s a robin!” type. These dudes were serious heavy duty birders, in pursuit of something rare, had travelled thousands of kilometres, and were packing out into the desert wilderness in the middle of the sweltering night where they were guaranteed to sweat buckets and turn their clothes into candidates for a detergent commercial.
Welcome to the other Israel you didn’t know about: the Holy Land is one of the world’s major bird watching capitals. It ranks in the top 100 places in the world for bird watching, and this time of year is why - all those birds from Europe and Asia who flew south to Africa for the winter are returning home, and the skies are sometimes full of clouds of migrating birds.
Not just a few, but half a billion birds twice a year. They head south in the fall, and back north in the spring. The most impressive are the pelicans, who fly in giant circular clouds of several thousand birds at a time - winding their way through the sky like some slow motion speckled tornado. Yikes 500 million birds… glad they generally fly on a path that’s not where my car is parked…
Have a look at the map and it’s pretty clear to see that Israel is the tiny wasp-waist of land joining Africa to Asia/Europe, and if you have wings and don’t like the cold then unless you like landing on water they only way to go is via Israel.
And birds in Israel are photographed and written up constantly, like the apparently rare Oriental Skylark Alauda gulgula that was featured in the latest edition of the UK’s largest bird watching magazine.
Me? I’m still impressed that there is a type of Blue Jay in Israel. No, not as colourful as the Blue Jays in the Great White North, but definitely their distant cousin. It’s a Eurasian Jay, known locally as an Orvani (pronounced OR-vah-knee). Now if only we had maple trees here for them to chirp on…
Next month Canada Post and the Israel Philatelic Service are issuing an international rate commemorative stamp to celebrate the strong bilateral relationship between the two countries, whose friendship began 60 years ago.
This is the first joint issue between the Israeli and Canadian postal administrations, and it will depict the maple leaf and the Star of David in red and blue respectively, each symbol comprised of people standing side by side.
The stamp was designed by Toronto-based q30 design and was intended to communicate the “rich topic of diplomacy between two nations,” according to designer Karen Henricks. Yaron Razon, director of the IPS, said that stamps are ‘paper ambassadors’ that spread the message of their country on letters around the world. “What could be a more symbolic and fitting way to express 60 years of cooperation and friendship between Israel and Canada than a joint stamp issue – the merging of each country’s paper ambassadors?” he asked.
Jim Phillips, director of Stamp Services at Canada Post agreed, saying this joint issue is “a form of diplomacy between postal administrations, providing great opportunities to share with and learn from one another.”
The stamp will launch in Canada on April 14 and will be available in a booklet of 6 stamps. There will be 660,000 stamps issued, each one worth $1.70.
Such is the case in Canada and Israel, both of which boast vibrant artistic communities and a keen appreciation of creative pursuits.
This common thread makes Toronto a perfect place to showcase some of Israel’s most brilliant works of art, which is exactly what’s taking place right now.
Toronto’s Gardiner Museum is featuring more than 40 contemporary ceramic artists who create their masterpieces using the ancient clay of Israel.
The exhibit, entitled From the Melting Pot into the Fire, runs until May 9, 2010.
Ceramic works being featured illuminate the themes of home and identity in Israel, with conceptual creations that are rich from a cultural, aesthetic and philosophical perspective.
Each work includes a label personally written by the artist, with their ideas and reflections adding a poignant element to the exhibit.
The exhibit was organized by the Ceramic Artists Association of Israel in concert with the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, North Carolina.
To find out more about the exhibit and featured artists, please log onto www.gardinermuseum.com or phone 416-586-8080.
Renewable energy is all the rage these days, and Israel is looking to connect with Canada for help in fuelling up.
To that end, a group of Canadian businesspeople recently attended an information session in Toronto regarding opportunities with the Eilat-Eilot Energy Technological Center.
The centre aims to “develop vertically integrated renewable energy projects in the Eilat-Eilot region that will generate sustainable regional development and promote Israel’s renewable energy industry.”
Once up and running in the Eilot region, the centre will work towards developing innovative Israeli technologies and supporing Israeli companies commercializing these products.
A number of pilot projects specializing in alternative energy production are already in the works.
Several industrial groups and individuals backing the centre, including Ben-Gurion University and investor Ligad Rotlevy, spoke at the session, which was hosted by the Canada-Israel Chamber of Commerce.
Some folks who’ve experienced celebrity look completely different in person to how they look on stage or on the covers of the albums, - but Idan Raichel is not one of them. A few days ago I had the opportunity of meeting him back stage at the UBC Chan Centre for the Performing Arts as he prepared for an 8pm performance, his first and only one in Vancouver. Raichel was chatty, friendly, and identical to his picture.
Raichel said he and his fellow musicians were incredibly jetlagged after arriving in Vancouver via Seattle. They were off to Boston on Friday and New York after that, stopping only briefly in Israel before heading to Europe. But he was completely unfazed by the travel schedule.
“You lose sense of time when you’re on tour, and it’s a great feeling, - not exhausting at all,” he confessed. “We’re so used to being tied to a schedule. Two years ago my sister left for a Brazilian island where she’s opened a bar on the beach. She has no concept of time anymore and she called us to say she’s not coming back.”
Luckily for Israel, Raichel has every intention of going home eventually, when his tour ends. He’s thinking about creating a DVD of his music in the coming months, set in the shadow of the King David Tower in Jerusalem. “I’d like to play there and in-between the songs, to talk to people and discuss the music,” he muses. “I’m trying to find an interesting concept.”
His performance on Thursday night entertained a packed audience where Hebrew was an oft-heard language – both on stage and among the audience. It was the opening night of the 2010 Chutzpah Festival and though many spectators were Jewish, Raichel was quick to point out that his is not a Jewish project.
“Sure, we have Jewish influences, for example we had a cantor, Yehia Tsubara, join us for a few songs. But before anything else, I see myself as an Israeli artist. Not everyone in the group is Israeli, but it’s definitely an Israeli project.”
Raichel was joined on stage by five of the many musicians who form part of the Idan Raichel Project. There are some 75 musicians who have participated in the project, some as young as 16 and others in their 80s. Each song changes shape, style and sound, incorporating different languages and the rhythms of the countries represented by the musicians. Raichel composes and arranges many of the tracks, plays the keyboard and collaborates with the other vocalists and musicians.
“I really suck at playing the piano,” he confessed. “I’m not a pianist, just a piano player.” But you wouldn’t have known it to listen to his music, though, nor to watch him perform. Raichel hunched over the piano, focusing intensely and deliberately on the sounds emanating from it. He was so absorbed in his music that when it came time for intermission, he was quite willing to skip it.
The audience applauded loudly and when he asked if anyone wanted an intermission, everyone expressed a preference to keep listening to his music. The Chan Centre staff weren’t about to forego their opportunity to make a few bucks at the concession, though. They gave Raichel another five minutes for a last song and then insisted the group take a break.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty will be leading a trade mission to Israel and the West Bank May 24-27, with plans to stop in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ramallah and Bethlehem. The trip is intended to expand the province’s research cooperation with Israel and build more economic partnerships in health care. The premier also hopes his trip will enable Ontario to tap into Israel’s expertise in turning good high-tech ideas into good high-tech jobs.
A press release from the premier’s office said that Ontario’s exports to Israel have grown by more than 70 percent since 2004. “This is an important market for Ontario and this trade mission will strengthen cultural and commercial ties while creating jobs for Ontarians,” McGuinty said at a press conference in late February.
He added that this will be his first ever trip to the Middle East. “I think it’s high time and I’m very much looking forward to it,” he said.
In a surprising twist for international hockey, a team from Israel recently skated to a gold medal at a tournament held in Quebec City.
The team, who are based in Bat Yam, Israel, scored the top prize at the 35th annual BSR International Peewee Hockey Tournament.
Victories were earned in all the division games the players participated in, along with the final match, in which the Israelis shot their way to an 8-7 win over a New Brunswick team.
While it may have been at the peewee level, the win was no small feat, with over 130 teams from eight countries taking part.
In addition to winning the gold, the players were treated to a tour of the Montreal Canadiens’ Bell Centre, as well as a meet and greet with Jean Perron, coach of the Canadiens 1986 Stanley Cup winning team.
Israeli hockey organizers expect the championship to further spur peewee hockey in the Holy Land, which has a few hundred kids playing today.
Ever wonder where Canada’s Foreign Ministry dollars go? When it comes to teaching Canadian-style global democracy and educational values, some of Canada’s taxpayer’s money goes to creating equal opportunities in Israel. A project through the Merchavim Institute in Ramle, Israel, is helping teach Israeli society how to embrace –– and access –– its multi-cultural identity. With some 8,000 to 10,000 Arab Israeli teachers without work, and with a shortage of Israeli Jewish teachers, the Institute’s project “Teaching Across School Streams” aims to bring Israeli Arab educators into the fold. With four different school systems in Israel, and very challenging political points of view, Teaching Across School Streams is working to make sure that more Arab Israeli schoolteachers are finding employment in Israeli schools.
For Canadians, who welcome any race, religion, and previous nationality to teach in their school systems, this need to bring more Arab Israelis into the school system might sound archaic. As a fairly young country, Israel is still challenged to trust the ‘other’, and to oversee the complicated political reality facing it. It’s the same reality the southern states in America faced 40 years ago when it brought the first black teachers into the school system in southern America. That was only 40 years ago! The organizers of Merchavim see the opportunity of employing more Arab Israelis in the school system and are now in the process of placing several hundred teachers in several hundred Israeli schools.
The director of Merchavim, Mike Prashker, says, “By placing Arab teachers in Jewish schools, we aim to address a growing shortage of Jewish teachers, raise teaching standards and provide employment for some of Israel’s 10,000 unemployed Arab teachers. We also intend to raise familiarity and comfort levels between Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel and help them develop a greater sense of awareness and pride in their shared Israeli citizenship.”
When Prashker invited an American colleague to visit a Jewish school in Ramle a couple of years ago, they met Iman, one of a few Arab Israelis teaching at a Jewish school. As part of a program undertaken by Merchavim, Israel’s Ministry of Education, and donors like Canada’s Foreign Ministry, Iman got the opportunity to teach a fourth-grade Arabic class. In traditional Muslim wear, “We could tell that her placement was a great success,” says Pashker to the Forward two years ago. “The special connection and mutual affection between this 25-year-old traditionally dressed Muslim Israeli and her Jewish students was obvious. It was only when we left the school that I saw how deeply moved my American colleague had been by the experience.”
The visit reminded his colleague of her first black teacher in a very white Southern school almost 40 years ago, she told Prashker.
In 2006, Merchavim, working with Israel’s Ministry of Education, began integrating Arab-Palestinian-Israeli teachers in Jewish-Israeli schools to promote shared citizenship, raise teaching-standards and provide much needed employment opportunities. Here is a great video about the project:
Noveko International Inc., a Montreal-based biotech company founded in 2002, has made an agreement with Zer Hitech in Israel for exclusive distribution of its antimicrobial masks and respirators, biodegradable air filters, purification systems and hand sanitizers.
Zer Hitech is contracted by Sarel, the Israeli health-care products company, to supply Noveko masks to health-case establishments throughout Israel, according to an article in the Canadian Jewish News. Sarel acts as the official purchaser for the Israeli Ministry of Health.
Noveko’s air filters are biodegradable. Uri Zer, Zer Hitech’s senior VP, described Noveko’s advanced patented technologies as “a unique, major breakthrough helping to provide a healthier and safer environment.
Karin, a Canadian-Israeli, meets Prince Hassan of Jordan at a water security conference in Switzerland last week.
It was a meeting of minds, water minds. Water consultants, ambassadors who’ve built water treaties, and government specialists and negotiators from around the Middle East and Europe gathered in Montreux, Switzerland for a two-day workshop on Water Security in the Middle East last week. Green Prophet was invited to attend. The object was to explore sustainable and cooperative solutions to water security, and to use the problem of water and turn it into an instrument of peace.
Organized by the Strategic Foresight Group, the same India-based firm that brought us the Cost of Conflict to the Environment in the Middle East report, the event included a gala supper, and meeting with the Prince of Jordan, sponsored by the Swiss and Swedish governments. Both peace-loving and humanitarian nations are eager to ease future conflicts in the Middle East, with all fingers pointing to water conflict being the fuel for the next big one, many believe. But how can it be done? [Read more →]
Karin, a Canadian-Israeli, meets Prince Hassan of Jordan at a water security conference in Switzerland last week.