Palestine is a potential eco-friendly hub
Palestine is one of the poorest regions in the world and certainly in the Middle East, the territory which is loosely made up of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, is a large refugee camp because none of the inhabitants have sovereignty and therefore do not have a centrally strong government to provide basic services. Much of the areas income is derived through donations and money earned by day laborers within Israel.
In effect then, the territories function in a similar manner to that of a small, impoverished African country like the Sudan or Somalia. Yet the people of Palestine have something to offer other than the piracy commonly attributed to Somalia or the genocide that has made Sudan famous.
In a true manifestation of the saying that ‘desperation breeds genius’ the Palestinian people are beginning to, quietly, show that they have more to offer the world than desperate cries for help and erratic rocket fire into Israel.
Fadi Elsalameen, the executive director of a Web site called The Palestine Note asks her readers the question, “Can you imagine defending your land and resisting occupation with windmills, solar panels, and recycled car tires?” The inherent political bias aside and suspending the issue of occupation and the legality of it for a moment, her proposition is an interesting one. She continues, “If you live in Palestine, this is not an eco-Utopian dream - it is the reality of a few West Bank communities squeezed by settlements and occupation.”
Faced with the difficulties of daily life in Palestine then, some of the population have begun to establish the foundations of what many would consider a eco-Utopian dream, recycling and sustainable living and all the issues conservationists and environmentalists wish the world would focus more attention on.
Due to the nature of Palestine’s ambiguous and contested legal status, it has a weak central government, often referred to as the Palestinian Authority and due to Israeli security measures, electricity and water supplies are frequently cut-off, while the government is unable to provide them itself. Elsalameen, who could be said to be a part of Palestinian news media, contends that when faced with such challenges, there is nowhere to turn but to self-sustainability.
Therefore, if a schools needs to be built, or, as might be the case, needs to be re-built, mud and old disused car tyres will be used to erect the walls as traditional materials such as cement are not allowed. Electricity is provided to the school through a windmill and solar panels.
One such school is Al-Khan Al-Ahmar primary mixed school just outside Jerusalem. It is able to accommodate 54 boys and girls through to the 4th grade, after which they have to travel to Jericho to finish their schooling. When the Al-Khan Al-Ahmar community first tried to build their school using a bulldozer and traditional materials (after the previous structure was destroyed in a bombing raid), the bulldozer was confiscated and some members of the community were arrested.
Elsalameen asserts that this is because Israel wants to push the people off their land and illegally claim it to build more settlements. Israel denies this and insists such efforts are part of ongoing projects to secure security from rocket fire attacks and cross-border terrorism.
What is certain, however, is that this focus on recycling and sustainable energy generation may benefit Palestine in the long run, they will secure a degree of energy and resource independence while limiting their impact on the environment, possibly setting themselves up as an example which the rest of the world could emulate.
Such an idea seems unlikely now, but if desperation does indeed breed genius then every Palestinian has the potential to be one.