Dr. Ed Beck, President of SPME recently met with David Lehrer, Executive Director; Dr. Clive Lipkin, Director of Research; Dana Rassas, a recent graduate and now Program Coordinator for the Strategic Affairs Unit of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information; along with David Weisberg, Executive Director, Friends of the Arava Institute, to discuss areas of mutual interest, collaboration and support.

The Arava Institute is a significant environmental teaching and research center located in Kibbutz Ketura near the Jordanian boarder. The program is dedicated to preparing future Israeli and Arab leaders to cooperatively solve the region's environmental challenges. Together students and faculty from the region and from around the world come to together to study. A research institute, the academic program includes semester, summer and both Bachelors level courses as well as courses leading to a Masters Degree in Desert Studies: Environmental Studies Specialization and is affiliated with Ben Gurion University and Tel Hai College. Arava also runs its Peace and Environmental Network (APEN) where Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian alumni from the program work to stay collaborating. Arava Institute, a productive research and academic training center is a working model of Israeli, Palestinians and Jordanians working and living together to face important trans-border environment issues in the region.

Following the meeting, David Lehrer, Arava Institute's Executive Director stated, "The Arava Institute brings together Jews and Arabs - Palestinians, Israelis, Jordanians and students from all over the world in order to teach them that Nature knows no borders and in order to solve the environmental challenges in the Middle East we need to work together. We breath the same air, drink the same water and share the same land. Only if we cooperate will we be able protect our natural resources."

" Through research and scholarship where faculty from around the region and from around the world work together to solve important human and environmental problems, we be optimistic that more cooperation and collaboration can lead to breaking down barriers and increasing communications and solving many problems....SPME is committed to promoting such opportunities in research and academic centers," commented SPME's Beck following the meeting.