The Arava Institute for Environmental StudiesIts mission is to save the natural environment by bringing people closer together.
Students from Israel, Jordan, and Palestine were invited to collaborate on energy, food, and water challenges at the school in the middle the desert.
Dr. David Lehrer, the institute’s international director and former executive Director, is in Milwaukee at Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun this weekendHis ideas on how a shared environment goal can improve relationships in Middle East. The public is welcome to attend.
In 1996, the institute was opened in southern Israel. Lehrer said that faculty members quickly realized that it wasn’t as simple as gathering students in one room to solve water problems and protect lizards.
If we don’t initiate the conversation, the conversation won’t happen. This is when we began to build this relationship. Peace-building Leadership Program, Lehrer says.
Lehrer says that while students are often excited to meet people from different countries when they first arrive, their honeymoon soon ends.
Lehrer: The Palestinian, who is now living with an Israeli, suddenly realizes that Israeli one time a year serves in the army reserve and at check posts in West Bank. Lehrer adds that the Israeli has a family of Holocaust deniers.
He believes that schools programs give students the tools to engage in difficult conversations. Lehrer says it is the Middle East. These sessions aren’t very quiet and often end with students screaming and stomping out of the door. But in the end, they live on the same campus, sharing rooms, drinking tea, and coffee.
They are also stuck in a desert and it is difficult to get away. Lehrer believes the formula works.
Over 1500 alumni are located around the globe, with two-thirds of them in the Middle East. Lehrer said that they keep in touch with each other and with the institute.
Alumni have been teachers, some at the institute and others in government leadership roles in their communities.
Lehrer says that this was the beginning of a network of people who understood the importance of cross-border cooperation, especially to address environmental issues and climate change.
He believes that the peace-building model can be used to tackle other problems in other parts of the globe.
The institute is attempting to establish this. Center for Applied Environmental DiplomacyLehrer says this because we believe that our actions in the Middle East between Israelis and Palestinians and Jordanians, as well as a wider range of Arab countries, can teach us lessons for general conflict resolution.
He said that people must feel heard. “Especially those who view themselves as victims. Lehrer says it is crucial to learn to listen objectively so that people can express themselves and feel heard.
He said that listening fosters trust.
Trust is the most important step. The last lesson is that it’s not all about talking. Lehrer says that while talk is nice, people want to feel that there’s some improvement, some impact for this collaboration.
Over the years, he has observed people who would not normally consider the other person in the room to be their enemy. Lehrer believes that this is true in many places around the world.
He said that some people are brave enough reach out to others. Lehrer says that dialogue is not enough. Otherwise, it will feel like you’re whitewashing or greenwashing.
These lessons can be applied to multiple situations, he believes. Lehrer states that the environment is a common interest for all people on the planet.
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