Munqeth Mehyar, Nader al Khateeb and Gidon Bromberg

Ecopeace

Skoll Entrepreneur(s): Munqeth Mehyar, Nader al Khateeb and Gidon Bromberg
Focus Area(s) Addressed: Water and Sanitation
Award Year: 2009

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Gidon received a masters’ in international environmental law at American University in 1993, focusing on the environmental implications of peace. He feared unsustainable regional development plans were being vetted as part of the then-nascent Oslo peace efforts. Gidon brought together Egyptian, Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian environmentalists to create EcoPeace (also known as Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME)). Munqeth co-founded the organization and now serves as chair and Jordanian director. Nader joined as Palestinian director in 2001 at a critical time for keeping the tripartite nature of the organization alive.

IMPACT AS OF JAN. 2013:

FoEME is a key voice in the ongoing debate about whether it is possible to use the Red Sea to replenish the shrinking Dead Sea. The World Bank just completed a 10-year study on the matter. “During that period, international attention should have been devoted to the ‘root cause of the problem and the real reason for the shrinking of the sea – the diversion of the Jordan River flow and the unlimited use of Dead Sea waters by the mineral industries,’ FoEME said in 2013.
FoEME has involved over 10,000 Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli neighboring residents in neighbor’s path tours to learn about their crossborder water issues, highlighting the interdependent nature of the water resource and the need for cooperation to advance sustainable solutions.
FoEME has leveraged an investment of over $70 million from local governments and donor states in water and sanitation infrastructure solutions in the expanded 25 Good Water Neighboring communities, rewarding them for identifying common visions and solutions.
The FoEME methodology of linking topdown and bottomup advocacy for concrete problem solving has been recognized and adopted for replication in conflict areas by key donor institutions such as USAID and the European Commission and policy institutions, such as the United Nations Environment Program.
FoEME has 11 active projects. See them all here: http://foeme.org/www/?module=projects-new

LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR WORK:

Gidon Bromberg, Nader al Khateeb, and Munqeth Mehyar. Eco-Peace, Friends of the Earth, Middle-East .

The middle-east is a region fraught with conflict, where working across borders can be considered traitorous, and nearly always carries great personal risk. Eco Peace is the only social benefit organization in the region operating with a tri-national structure.

Its model of shared leadership, an emblem of hope for the region. Eco Peace's good water neighbors initiative has paired 17 communities across borders to make a potential source of conflict, water, a well spring for cooperation.

Eco Peace is also leading an initiative to create a trans-boundary, Jordan River Peace Park on an Island, through which the Israel/Jordan border currently runs.

Ladies and gentleman, Gidon Bromberg, Nader al Khateeb and Munqueth Mehyar.

Thank you very much. We're very very honored to receive this award.

I want to share with you a story. A story from one of our communities. A story about a school teacher that is participating in a parents-teachers night.

One of the parents stands up and charges that the teacher is a collaborator. That the teacher, sorry, that the school principal is working with the enemy, and that everyone in the room, in the parents-teacher night should get up and leave.

The school principal has to defend himself. He has to defend himself because indeed, he brought Palestinian, Jordanian, and Israeli children to learn about each others shared water resources.

He helped to train youth Palestinian, Jordanian, Israeli how to build rainwater harvesting facilities.

And, in fact, he even accepted that they build such facility in his own school.

So he responded, and he stood up, and he raised his voice, and he said to the parent, "I'm the collaborator?"

"I brought water resources, to our children. I've empowered our youth to understand that they can contribute, that they themselves can make a difference. They don't need to wait to end a conflict. I have enabled that your children don't need to come to school with a bottle of water.

Because, water is not guaranteed everyday when you turn on the tap . It's not surprising that the only parent that left the room was that the charge the schoolteacher the school principal of collaboration .

Empowering, indeed empowering those of the silent, those of the silent majority of our peoples, Palestinian, Jordanian, Israeli, is what we do it through the shared water resources that are all over our region.

With the Skoll award we're going to be having access to more communities, to more school principals in teachers and student and mayors to understand and take responsibility, that they can make a difference.

That they can, from the bottom up, build the peace that we so desperately need in the Middle East. I thank you very very much.

Skoll Foundation

Ecopeace

CONTACT INFO

LOCATION

Friends of the Earth Middle East Helps Preserve Heritage and Agricultural Site

Gidon Bromberg's Message to President Obama

Jeff Skoll's Visit to the Middle East

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