cnewmark

imagine: 2018 Israeli/Palestinian peace in ten years

OneVoice is a serious peace grassroots peace movement, not "do-gooders" in the usual sense, but hundreds of thousands of people on both sides, getting real traction.

OneVoice launched imagine: 2018 to inspire Israelis and Palestinians to visualize what the region would look like in 10 years if a peace agreement were to be signed in 2008. The objective is to challenge people to regain hope and discard the assumption that the conflict is intractable, by enabling them to picture some of the tangible, everyday benefits of a peace agreement. The imagine: 2018 initative involves parallel essay contests in Israel and Palestine & an international film project.

Check out Palestine in 2018 - Noor al-Huda Mahmoud Jameel Shriem:

A Palestinian girl named Salma awakens from a ten-year coma to find a startling reality - an independent, prosperous Palestinian state, at peace. She wanders around Jerusalem taking in the new sites, amazed at what she sees - factories, schools, roads free from checkpoints.

More to come!

Queen Rania of Jordan does YouTube for peace

Hey, it's good when moderate leaders speak out. Here's Daniel Lubetsky from OneVoice on her efforts:

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and His Majesty King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein are among the most impressive leaders I’ve ever met. Almost a decade before other dignitaries started realizing that the challenges we face are not between religions or between nations, but between philosophies of tolerance versus philosophies of extremism, Queen Rania and King Abdullah were already spreading this message, consistently, always on point, always ahead of the game, always as an inspiration to OneVoice.

Now Queen Rania is also at the cutting edge of diplomatic communication and efforts to build global understanding, having launched a webpage on Youtube.

g.ho.st and MEET: Palestinian & Israeli computer people working together

Hey, you might have read, last few days, about g.ho.st, a well-regarded effort to be a Web-based desktop, serious technology with real funding. It's a joint effort by Israelis and Palestinians, featured at the D conference as well as recent articles by NY Times and AP.

Some of the same folks are also behind MEET, "Middle East Education through Technology". They're training high-school students from Palestine and Israel to do serious software work. I visited them a coupla months ago, saw some of their work, and was very impressed. They're learning Java as a first language, which ain't easy, but involves good programming habits from the beginning.

All of this is a big deal, indirectly helping all to good jobs and eventual peace.

I am a "hnun"

Yes, that's Hebrew for nerd.

You should say it with the hard "ch" sound, an "h" with an edge, as in Hanukah or Chanukah.

More precisely, one should spray it, not just say it.

Meeting OneVoice students in Tel Aviv via Susan Mernit

Well, Susan Mernit is one of those "traveling geek" bloggers who write much better than myself:

It's a weekend morning, in Tel Aviv and Craig Newmark, JD Lasica and I are meeting with the director and a group of student leaders from One Voice , a powerful, grassroots peace movement that has engaged Israelis, especially college students, from all over Tel Aviv, Ramallah, and Gaza, as well as drawn in members from the US, the UK, Canada, and other parts of the world. The group is bright, committed, and right now, engaged in making sure this group of American bloggers and funders (Craig is on their board), understands how they work and what they have to offer.

Jerusalem, old, new

Good recap site for our trip to Israel

The Traveling Geeks group blog helps remind me that these folks are really good writers and photographers, check out the slideshow.

Best chance for "Jerusalem Syndrome" today

That's usually where an American visitor starts thinking he's some Biblical figure. We'll be getting a tour of the old city of Jerusalem.

For reasons unknown, I'm considering John the Baptist, though I hope not to lose my head.

Solar energy innovations

Hey, yesterday we visited a coupla groups doing some realistic new stuff regarding energy production.

We visited Xjet Solar, whose innovations involve new ways to do solar cells very cheaply, which is a big deal... using some new proprietary tech. This is a photovoltaic solution, wherein light is converted directly into electricity. The focus is on small applications, like powering a home. While promising, it's a future.

We also visited Solel which uses existing tech to use thermal energy. That is, this uses the sun's heat to create electricity using turbines. It's another way to generate steam to get power. It can be used at power stations, like one that might be at the Mojave Desert.

This tech is here and now, and power stations are being built.

It uses arrays of parabolic mirrors which follow the sun, focusing on glass/steel tubes wherein the hot water is generated. The first photo shows a mirror, with the black line being the tube which concentrates heat. The second photo shows a stack of those tubes close up.

My first rocket attack, and I eat algae

Well, after getting lost in the wilds of Israel, we arrive at Ashkelon. We're going to see a proof of concept where Seambiotic uses algae to produce biofuel.

I didn't quite get how close it is to Gaza. While waiting for security to clear we hear a siren, and the guards rush us to a wall. The siren alerted them to a rocket attack which probably landed far south of us. They ushered us up against a wall, which presumably protects against shrapnel from one side.

(first time I've ever needed to write "shrapnel.")

For your own rocket attacks, I recommend the Qassam.

Anyway, they showed us the processes used to grow algae used to produce biofuel on a possibly industrial basis.

The resulting dust is also an excellent source of Omega-3 nutrients.