Presentations and Conferences:
ALO Conference, "Synergy and Development 2002,"
held at Swissotel Washington - The Watergate, August 12-14, 2002
Click here to Access Powerpoint
Presentation
Two Far'a Project team members, Riham Barghouti, Birzeit University, and Bert de Vries, Calvin College, attended to report on the Far'a Project, and meet officials and members of other projects. The main conference agenda was 76 short reports on ALO projects partnering American Universities with counterparts in Africa, Asia and the Near East, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Carribean. In addition plenary sessions featured the role of higher education in development, media exposure, and funding opportunities from federal agencies. The general impressions of all plenary session presenters was that the combined linkages of education with development and American universities with overseas partner institutions has been highly successful. Successes mentioned included not only the effectiveness of the projects themselves, but also the extremely efficient use of the money provided, which is limited to a maximum of $100,000 per project.
The Far'a Project report was the first in a panel of five, titled Managing
limited water resources and fragile aquatic ecosystems in a larger section
called Natural Resources Management. Other projects in the panel were located
in Botswana (2), Russia and West Bank/Gaza. Our report was to have been
presented by co-director Kamal Abdulfattah, who was unable to attend due
to the Israeli reoccupation of his hometown, Jenin. Instead, co-director
Bert de Vries and co-administrator Riham Barghouti delivered the report,
which stressed three aspects of the project:
The nature of the partnership itself. A basic project goal is the creation
of a close-knit team of Americans and Palestinians ranging from undergraduates
to graduate students and professors, teamed up according to their various
specialties as full and equal participants. As Riham Barghouti stressed,
the result was a strong group loyalty and dedication that enabled the completion
of the work in spite of the extreme obstacles of the intensified conflict
in the West Bank. Thus, a major achievement of the project is this process,
through which our joint labors became a partnership for peace.
The multi-disciplinary study of the Wadi el-Far'a catchment. Study and analysis
of the natural and human landscapes has led to a long list of restoration
and development recommendations for the physical, cultural and communal
aspects of the landscape. These were divided into high priority rescue operations
and long-range restructuring plans for the sustainable coexistence of the
natural and human components of the landscape.
The vision the Wadi el-Far'a as a comprehensive "eco-cultural landscape."
Prof. Abdulfattah has suggested that the conservation and development be
based on the treatment of the valley as a single integrated entity, based
on the creation of a grass-roots mobilization of the human communities.
To achieve and sustain that vision at all levels, a specific goal is to
create a field school for the study of the entire valley, seen as a single
"living" museum/preserve. The achievement of this integrated eco-cultural
landscape is to be a model for all of Palestine.
Barghouti and de Vries met with ALO and USAID program officials in order to discuss the prospects of another two year phase of the Wadi el-Far'a project. This phase would (1) to continue the Far'a research towards implementation and (2) to make the integrative research approach a model for comprehensive planning throughout Palestine. They also met with counterparts of four other West Bank/Gaza projects (three focused on water and one on law) to do preliminary planning for a joint workshop (tentatively scheduled for early 2003) to discuss common experiences and goals and future cooperation.
Bert de Vries
North-Central Section (36th) and Southeastern Section (51st), Geological Society of America Joint Annual Meeting (April 3-5, 2002)
1. Palestine Watch :Monitoring and Assessing the Wadi
el-Far'a Drainage Basin <Click
for Powerpoint Presentation>
2. Palestine Lands: Understanding the Physical Environment of the
Wadi el-Far'a as a Means for Assessing Environmental Problems <Click
for Powerpoint Presentation>
July 18/19 Americans arrive in West Bank (Ramallah) or Jordan
(ACOR)
July 23 Americans leave for Beit Hanina
July 23-26 Teams work on General reintegration, sectoral team research and
planning
July 26-29 Americans go to the Old City.
July 29 American return to Amman, Jordan
July 29-Aug 10 Editing and Finalizing Reports at ACOR
Aug. 11 Jerash
Aug. 12 Departures