Tomorrow marks the end of the American delegation visit to the Palestine Wildlife Society as the final wrap-up day. Last night I wrote up the final report for the American visit, and today at work I made a slide show of pictures from the whole week. I have done so much neat and interesting stuff in the last week; I've been all over the West Bank, visited ancient ruins, nature reserves, I met the Minister of Agriculture (who is treated like a king- they call him "your excellency") plus we got a dog! Instead of spending my spare moments writing this blog, the dog has gotten all of my attention. This post is an attempt to catch up what I haven't mentioned in the last several days.
First of all, I forgot to include that St. Jiries monastary is 1,500 years old. It is partially carved into the mountain side and the rest is constructed from outside sources. Anyways, Tuesday morning we started the day off with a visit to the Department of Agriculture. Qasem Abdo, the Deputy Assistant for Natural Resources, said a few things before we left for the El Hashmee nature reserve. He told the Americans that their visit carries special significance because they are finally able to see the environmental degradation taking place with their own eyes. He spoke about the challenges of taking care of the environment while living under occupation, and he also emphasized the need for Palestinians to economically cooperate with the Israelis (including the settlers).
From there we drove to the El Hashmee (Beit Ello) Nature Reserve. We admired the natural beauty of the area and speculated about what could be done to take care of the trash that was littered all over the ground. We learned about how popular the site is among the local people, who like to go there often to enjoy a picnic with their family. We also met Abu Isam, the longtime park ranger who has held jurisdiction over the park since all the way back to the British Mandate (thats like, 50 years). His house is right in the middle of the park. We discussed the activity of local visitors in the area and the lack of facilities, rules, and rule enforcement. Before heading out we all joined Abu Isam for a cup of tea.
Ibrahim standing in front of the American security car:
The next site we went to was the ancient Roman ruins of Sebastia. This place was different than the others we had been to because it is an important cultural environment, as opposed to the natural environments we had visited so far- it was wicked cool.
Despite the sweltering heat we went on a full tour of the site and learned all about its rich history. Because of its historical, archaeological, cultural, and religious appeal Sebastia has the potential to become a major tourist attraction for people from all over the world. Right now the site entirely lacks any kind of organization, and important infrastructure is needed to make it an attractive tourist destination. Even though there is a wonderful restaurant on site (where we had lunch), there is no parking lot and no one guarding the ancient ruins. 
One of the ruins sites is said to be the location of where John the Baptist was beheaded. When we reached this particular area on our tour, we noticed graffiti scrawled across the ancient stone. The Americans seemed shocked, and Cheryl asked out tour guide, "Who did this??" he shrugged and replied, "Eh, kids." Still in disbelief she said "Well who is guarding this place??" Again he shrugged, pointed up, and said, "Allah" (Arabic for God). For all these reasons the Americans have come to save the day by providing technical assistance in the form of a management plan. Its a simple yet powerful concept: the transfer and exchange of knowledge.
The Israeli control over a large chunk of the park also poses as a major challenge to its overall preservation. About three quarters of the park is Area B, and the last section is Area C, which means it is under full Israeli control. The Palestinians are unable to do anything to the Area C section of the site so it is in complete shambles. A large portion of the road for tourists to reach the ancient city ruins also goes through Area C, and since the Palestinians need a permit to fix it and the Israelis refuse to issue them one the road has decayed to the point where cars cannot travel on it. Up until the day before we got there when the Israelis finally allowed people to travel on the bypass road, tourists had to park about half a mile away and walk to the site.
While we were at the ruins in Sebastia I had a chance to chat with Basem Hammad, the General Director of Forestry, Rangeland, and Wildlife under the Ministry of Agriculture.
He told me there are about 95,000 domuns of forest land in the West Bank (1 donum is 1,000 square meters), but only 25,000 fall into Areas A and B; the rest is controlled by Israel. Furthermore, illegal settlements continue to be established throughout Areas B and A without showing any signs of slowing down. Basem told me that this has made it almost impossible to plant new forests, and combined with Israeli land confiscation for "military use" it has led to a sharp increase in overgrazing.Wednesday we had a day off so I went to Tata Huda's senior citizens home with her. This has been the hottest week of my life.. each day is between 40-45 degrees Celcius, which translates to A LOT in Farenheit (like 110+).
On Thursday, August 5th we met in Jericho at Dr. Sami’s botanical garden again. On the way there we passed through several checkpoints even though we never left the West Bank- why are there checkpoints WITHIN the West Bank!? They are really annoying. They cause traffic jams and they're not protecting anyone, not even the illegal settlements (often times they are no where near them). Most of the time you sit at a checkpoint for over half an hour at LEAST and they never even check IDs, the Israeli soliders just take their sweet time letting everyone through. But the way it usually goes is that the people with yellow (Israeli) license plates go through the fast lane while everyone with a white (Palestinian) license plate sits and waits their turn to show their passport. The picture I posted by itself yesterday is of an Israeli soldier checking Palestinian IDs.
Anyways, on the way we drove past a checkpoint where the soldiers had pulled over a large van taxi, and there were about a dozen Muslim girls around the age of 15 standing on the sidewalk holding their purses open while the soliders rummaged through them. It was so frustrating to watch. Even more frustrating is that you can't take pictures. When I pull my camera out anywhere near a checkpoint whoever I am in the car with usually gets genuinely afraid and tells me to put it away. I can't imagine living my whole life in fear like that. Also, when you go through the checkpoint there is always one or two soldiers standing in a little booth with their M-16s (huge guns) pointed- one at the driver and one at the passenger as the car passes through the checkpoint. Its unsettling to say the least. Many Palestinians go through these every day on their way to and from work.
That morning the car ride was not a happy one. Imad (the director of the PWLS/Jiries' cousin) had just found out that the permits he had applied for to go to a conference in Jerusalem with several Palestinian farmers had been rejected for the third time for "security reasons". He was deeply disappointed and frustrated. He told me a few stories about the trouble he has had obtaining permits for himself and others in the past. In spite of this discouragement, Imad somehow continues to stay optimistic ALL the time.
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?
Eventually we made it to the botanical garden. We heard presentations from Buthanya Mezied (from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature) and each of the Americans who discussed their area of expertise and why it is important. They taught us important information about management goals and what factors to take into consideration while developing those goals. Jennifer spoke about site designs and Cheryl talked about interpretive planning. After we broke into three groups and each American delegate facilitated a workshop centered around one of the sites. We brainstormed important aspects of each site and what kind of message we wish to convey to visitors, what the target audience should be, and how it would be possible to attract more visitors in general. Each group had a spokesperson who presented to everyone else the findings of their group, and of course I was involuntarily volunteered (which happens all the time because I am the youngest everywhere). It was good practice for me- giving an improptu mini-talk on something I know little to nothing about in front of U.S. government officials (am I a politican yet?). Overall it was a really interesting day. I learned how site management is actually pretty difficult, but when it is planned in the right way and all of the stakeholders are involved than it has the best chance of success.
Sunday, August 8th, we met at the Environmental Quality Authority, which is the main body for environmental protection in Palestine. We talked about rehabilitation of natural resources and the major challenges imposed by the Israeli occupation, which has proved to be a major theme in every discussion.
We also talked about the significance of exchanging technical assistance, which is the main reason the American delegation is here. The Americans (including me!) received informational booklets about the biodiversity in Palestine before we headed to the Ministry of Agriculture again. There we met with the minister himself for a brief period of time (everyone referred to him as "his excellency," which leads me to believe be may or may not be more excellent than everyone else) and he shared some insight about the importance of land conservation in light of the current political situation. He believes that it is important to work with the Israelis, and not against them, because we all live in the same climate and the protection of nature is a joint venture. He stressed the need for the country to move towards a “greener Palestine” and lamented the lack of progress that has been done in this area.
From left to right: Me, Imad Atrash, the Minister of Agriculture, and Chris (from the US Forest Service)
After the minister spoke we heard presentations by Bassam Hammad, the General Director for Forestry, Rangeland and Wildlife who I spoke with when we were walking around Sebastia, and Thaer el Rabi (whose job I can't remember). They both provided details about their areas of expertise. When they were finished speaking we discussed the overarching themes, findings, and recommendations based on the site visits. The American delegation handed out their tentative management plan for El Hashmee (which is the realy name for Beit Ello that no one thought to mention until the second to last day of meeting) and we provided constructive feedback so that they can fine tune it in accordance with the kind of message the stakeholders want to convey to their target audience. It gave everyone a very good idea of the kind of time and effort that needs to be put into structuring these sites in order to establish sustainable ecotourism and preserve the natural beauty of each area. Personally I am overwhelmed by how complicated everything in the real world is.
........ I wrote all that last night but I fell asleep before posting it complete with pictures. Today was the last day and we did a lot of reminiscing about the week and summarizing what we learned. It was sad saying goodbye to the Americans, but I am really glad I met them and got to spend so much time with them. I developed a much greater appreciation for the time and effort that goes into site planning, and I also think it is really fantastic that the US Forest Service has an international outreach program; that was something I never knew.
After work yesterday I came home for a few minutes but later in the afternoon I went with Ibrahim from PWLS and Dr. Yousef the vet to treat some donkeys in nearby villages. That was an adventure worthy of its own blog post and I took some amazing pictures. Right now I am going to go play with the puppy, help Jiries build a fence for her, and later I will write about the donkey excursion.
First, some old pictures that never made it into previous posts:
Palestinian women interpret the designs of dried coffee to tell each other's fortunes
This is a rack of headscarves in a store in Ramallah:
Incredible art on the separation barrier at a checkpoint:
A painting on the side of a store in Bethlehem
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