After decades of slow-growth proponents fighting a sewer in Malibu, Friday saw the long-awaited opening of what is now called the city’s water treatment facility—a euphemism for what is otherwise known as a sewer. Since water management issues not only affect California, which has been dealing with drought along with many other parts of the world, Rabbi Michael Schwartz of the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue invited two environmentalists who specialize in water issues to speak in Malibu on Thursday.
Representing their organization, EcoPeace Middle East, the two men accepted the Bright Award at Stanford Law School. The prestigious honor annually recognizes someone “who has made significant contributions in the environmental preservation and sustainability area.” What makes EcoPeace Middle East unique is that its non-government organization (NGO) status is cooperatively run by Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians—an otherwise unlikely composition. EcoPeace Middle East has made unparalleled strides in environmental peace-building and is working to restore the depleted Jordan River—a major water source for Middle Eastern countries.
“Despite the politics—harsh and difficult—we use the environment as a means to move issues forward because of the urgency that water and sanitation are lose-lose if they continue to be held hostage to politics and conflict,” said EcoPeace Middle East Israeli Director Gidon Bromberg.
EcoPeace Middle East Chair and Jordanian Director Munqeth Mehyar told attendees Saturday morning at MJCS their mission went beyond religion.
“We’re here to bring a message to faith-based groups and beyond,” Mehyar said. The pair, which also spoke at Malibu Methodist and SorenityRocksMalibu, explained using ingenuity and creating breakthroughs can help bring peace between countries. Mehyar explained his country, Jordan, which has a rich solar energy program, may be able to trade for water technology. “We use the technology of Israel to produce more desalinated water in Israel and Palestine and use Jordan to produce more renewable energy.”
Since water scarcity is such a major problem in the Middle East affecting neighboring countries, EcoPeace Middle East posits finding solutions could possibly bring peace to a volatile situation. While water flows from our taps in California despite the recent drought, that’s not the case in much of the Middle East—especially in Palestine, where some municipalities supply water only once every three months.
“We chose to focus on water because water is not a luxury issue, it’s a life issue,” Bromberg stated.
With a focus on peace through environmental sustainability for Israel, Jordan and Palestine, the group concentrates on interdependency in finding new resources for water and solutions to managing the water economy.
“Water is scarce and, with the climate change today, the rain pattern is changing. We’re not used to what we have today from what we had before. It’s very precious. In Jordan, we receive water once a week from municipal pipes. The picture is not so pretty,” Mehyar explained. “Water is a common denominator. Water goes in everything: agriculture, tourism, domestic, even transportation—energy. It’s all linked together. EcoPeace has an ambitious plan to bring people together.”
Schwartz told of when EcoPeace got mayors together from different towns in the region of the Jordan River.
“They got them to strip down to their bathing suits, hold hands and jump into the river to celebrate this idea of cooperation,” he described. “96 percent of the water of the once-mighty Jordan River is no longer there. When you think of the Civil Rights Movement and all those songs [about the river]—today if you go there, it’s just a little canal—mostly polluted, the little that’s there.”
“One country cannot totally depend on the other, but they need each other at all times and that is a strong base for peace building,” Mehyar said. “We haven’t achieved the peace—certainly not between Israel and Palestine—that we want to achieve.”
Working with staff of Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis, Bromberg said, “We have a powerful model for cooperation on shared water issues.”
Saying he found their work “so inspiring,” Rabbi Schwartz summed up Eco Peace’s efforts saying, “Thinking outside the box may help to bring peace. California needs this kind of thinking.”