Israeli's And Palestinians Keeping Rivers Clean

Since nobody enjoys swimming, drinking or even fishing in a polluted river, a group of Palestinians and Israelis have teamed up together in order to clean up their environment.

(Israel 21^st Century) "The river was so unclean, there were dead fish, plastic bottles and other garbage floating downstream and it was a disgusting brown colour," says the director of special projects at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies on Kibbutz Ketura near Eilat.

"The tide was out, so the filthy river just stopped five feet from the Mediterranean. The sea looked so pristine and clear, but at high tide, all the filth from the river washes straight into the sea polluting it for miles around," he told ISRAEL21c.

The miserable state of the Alexander, which runs through both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, is one of the reasons why a team of Israeli and Palestinian researchers have joined forces to create a blueprint for action to restore the quality of not only the Alexander, but the 15 rivers that flow through both Israeli and Palestinian areas.

This gang was able to get a one million dollar grant from the Middle East Regional Cooperation Program (aka MERC) in order to implement their plan on cleaning up the polluted river.

Despite what you may hear on the news, Palestinians and Israelis can actually get along quite well.

Note: You can find out more info about the project by visiting the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Palestinian Water Training Institute.

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