Video below: "An Israeli start up has developed a blood clot-prevention device that could one day replace blood-thinning drugs.
After surgery, up to five million patients in the US are given blood thinning drugs every year to prevent potentially lethal clots. However, the medications themselves can cause problems and often have troubling side effects.
Now an Israeli start up believes it has the answer. MCS Medical has developed a device that it claims can prevent blood clots so effectively it can replace blood thinner medication.
According to Adi Dagan, CEO and co-founder of MCS Medical, the results of a clinical trial recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery prove that the device has the same efficacy as the leading drug on the market and eliminates the serious bleeding complications associated with this drug.
The device is based on a convenient, user-friendly pump and a 'sleeve' that speed up the blood movement through the veins. It synchronizes itself with the natural pulsations of the veins in the legs that push the blood up through the body.
Watch this ISRAEL21c video and learn how a medical device developed by a small start-up in Israel is competing with some of the world's major drug companies." (source)
"A new plastic from Israel that disables microorganisms can knock out acne, keep milk from spoiling, make juice boxes bacteria-free, and reduce infections.
Teenagers suffering from acne will try anything to make the redness and infection go away, but current treatments have mixed results and numerous applications are usually necessary.
Thanks to Oplon of Israel, there may soon be rejoicing among acne sufferers. The three-year-old medical materials company in Rehovot in central Israel has come up with a unique patch that radiates an 'energy field' said to be capable of knocking out acne for good.
Beyond acne, Oplon, has high hopes for its technology which can also keep milk from spoiling, wipe out bacteria inside juice boxes, and even reduce the number of infections associated with hospital catheters.
Oplon works its magic by manufacturing polymers - a type of plastic - that have a very specific function: They disable microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. The polymers create an energy field 'that can kill every microbe ever heard of,' says Omer Gonen, Oplon's CFO. The energy field is safe: 'It doesn't radiate, it doesn't heat and it doesn't chill.'
Rather, it's a chemical adaptation of a mechanism that has long existed in nature to help animals and plants defend against similar attackers. Indeed, these energy fields are 'all around us,' Gonen says. 'They're in the air, in the room, and it's much more energy than we create with a polymer.'
Acne patch on sale by next year
Oplon's acne treatment consists of a patch with the polymers inside which the acne sufferer applies overnight. Within six hours, the redness, pus and pain associated with the acne will be significantly reduced, Gonen tells ISRAEL21c. 'After 24 hours, the spot will be practically fully healed.' Best of all, 'In most cases, it's a one-time treatment,' he adds.
However, parents shouldn't be too quick to rejoice, Gonen quips, 'We don't solve all the teenagers' problems. Just the acne.' The acne patch, considered a 'medical device' and not a drug, will be on Israeli pharmacy shelves early next year, sold over-the-counter, with no need for a prescription.
Marketing to the US and Europe will come only after the patch has been thoroughly tested in Israel. In that sense, the country will be a sort of national guinea pig. 'Israel is a controlled environment. We're a relatively small country,' Gonen explains. 'After a year or so, we'll have a better sense of customers' reactions.'
The price has yet to be determined, but Gonen is confident that it 'won't be a big barrier.' And if Oplon can break in, there's a very large piece of pie waiting to be gobbled up - the market for acne solutions is estimated at $60 billion, he says.
Zapping bacteria and superbugs
A cure for acne is just the start. The same material in the polymer patch can be applied to the inside of milk and juice cartons to zap bacteria. That would represent a sea change for food manufacturers who today have two main options for keeping their products fresh. They can add preservatives or 'hot fill' the carton with a beverage heated to 70 degrees Celsius.
Both of those solutions have serious downsides. Preservatives may lead to health problems while hot filling destroys much of the nutritional benefit. Both affect taste. Hot filling also requires thicker plastic to hold the liquid while it's cooling, which costs manufacturers more and causes additional damage to the environment.
Conceivably, a milk carton with Oplon's polymers wouldn't even have to be refrigerated after opening, Gonen suggests.
While the acne patch is essentially a stand-alone product, advancing fairly quickly, Oplon's progress with the beverage-makers is somewhat slower. While it offers them many benefits, it also requires serious buy-in. Manufacturers would have to purchase new carton material, since you can't just 'spray' the microbe-eating polymers on existing cardboard boxes. Nevertheless, Gonen is optimistic that Oplon can 'correctly engineer the prototypes to fit a production line of a major company.'
A third application in the Oplon pipeline involves urinary catheters which, Gonen claims, are responsible for a full 50 percent of hospital-acquired infections (affecting some 90,000 Americans a year), resulting in more days away from home, greater expense, extra antibiotics and, of course, increased discomfort for the patient.
Gonen tells ISRAEL21c that Oplon's material can even kill 'super bugs' - those microbes resistant to all current antibiotics - like MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and VRE (Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus). Oplon is just beginning clinical studies with catheters, so we'll have to wait a little longer for that application.
'Huge potential partners'
As is often the case, Oplon's polymer product line was discovered entirely by accident. The company was founded by a number of scientists - both chemists and physicists (key among them was Uriel Halavee who founded printed circuit board maker Opal which was sold in 1996 to Applied Materials). The scientists were working on an intra-cellular drug delivery system but the experiment went wrong.
'If it was me, I would have thrown it all in the garbage can,' Gonen smiles. But the scientists reviewed their formulas and realized they were on to something even bigger. 'It really was a mistake,' Gonen says modestly. 'Like the discovery of penicillin.'
Oplon is headed by Avi Shemer, a 42-year-old father of five who's a physician by training. The company has 15 staff members and is looking to triple in size in the coming year. While Gonen wouldn't reveal the source of the funds for that growth, he allowed that Oplon is 'in contact with some huge potential partners.' The company previously raised $5 million from Wanaka Capital Partners in 2008.
Oplon's products represent a 'huge platform that will enable us to continue developing products for many years to come. Each product has a market in the billions,' Gonen concludes.
We'll have to wait and see whether Oplon achieves all of its ambitious goals, but in the meantime the teenagers can break out the bubbly - acne relief is on its way." (source)
"Israel's Rounds isn't the first video chat to work within Facebook, but the company claims to have the best interactive games and features.
Dany Fishel and Ilan Leibovitch didn't intend to build one of the hottest new video chat applications for Facebook. They were just looking for a way to help Israeli singles find a match online.
Originally a 'speed dating' website, the Tel Aviv entrepreneurs called their startup '6Rounds,' the idea being that six women and six men would meet for digital dating 'rounds.' The daters would have half an hour to chat and then the program would automatically match participants by profiles.
Worried that their daters would become bored during their five-minute sessions of Web time, Fishel (31) and Leibovitch (29) started adding features - an 'activities' screen where they could play games like backgammon and chess; the ability to share pictures and video; easy tools to 'mark up' pictures with special effects.
Before they knew it, the add-ons were attracting more attention than the dating program itself. In typical Israeli 'thinking on your feet' style, the company dropped the dating, re-branded itself as just Rounds, and last month launched a social networking application that allows friends to video chat without leaving Facebook.
Bridging the online and offline worlds
Rounds already had a sizable base for its post-speed dating website. There were 250,000 users who discovered the site when it was one of the first applications to be integrated into the now discontinued Google Wave, the search engine giant's attempt to build a next generation e-mail and content management service.
But by jumping into Facebook, the pool of potential users includes the entire 500 million strong Facebook ecosystem.
This has not been lost on investors, who have put some $2 million into the company - $1.5 million last August from Israeli Daniel Recanati's Rhodium Investment Group, and the rest from a group of angel investors including Startup Factory.
Social community marketing manager Natasha Shine tells ISRAEL21c that Rounds aims 'to bridge the offline and online worlds' - to take what two people would do if they were physically together and translate that to the Internet where they might be separated by miles or continents.
Shine proffers her relationship with her mother as an example: 'She lives abroad. For five years she's been saying to me 'you don't tell me what you're doing in your life.' Using Rounds, we could see each other and browse pictures together on Facebook. I can point to a particular shot with my mouse to show her a party that I went to last week.'
If Shine is so inclined, she can also take a snapshot of herself within the app, and decorate it with a variety of effects. Look Ma, I'm on fire! There are also animated characters - she could choose a cute little bunny - that can prance around the screen.
Focusing on the best interface
Still, Rounds isn't all fun and games and its investors expect a return on investment. Its business model includes selling 'premium' effects and characters. It does this using the popular Facebook currency of 'coins.' While some coins will eventually cost, today it's all free. And if you share your snapshots with the rest of the Rounds community, you automatically receive extra coins, which you can use to buy more effects.
Rounds is counting on third parties to create the effects. In August, the company released a developer API (Application Programming Interface), which allows outside vendors to build add-ons to the Rounds platform. The company clearly has its eye on Apple and its app store; a product with a digital ecosystem generally has a much greater chance of success.
Shine mentions eventual advertising as well. But 'we're very focused on providing the best user interface possible,' she says. 'We don't plan to bombard users with ads. It will be very subtle.' Virtual (paid) gifts will also be available to purchase within the Rounds world.
Rounds comes in two flavors: The newly-released Facebook app, and its web-based parent. The latter is far more functional than Rounds on Facebook - you can watch YouTube videos together, listen to music and browse external photo sharing sites like Flickr. The company is planning to release its own browser so that users will be able to visit websites together.
Integration with Facebook's text chat?
Up next is expanding to mobile devices such as the iPhone, and Rounds is using its latest investment to that end, and planning to add new features - for example, the ability to chat with up to six people at once. 'A US office is also in the long-term pipeline,' Shine reveals.
There may even be a new version of the original online dating service. For now, only two people who are formally friends on Facebook can video chat, but that may open up into what's known as 'chat roulette' where people can talk freely with anyone (with strict user privacy controls in place, of course). Intimations can already be seen. When you post a snapshot to Facebook, all Facebook users - even those you're not friends with - can see it and contact you.
Rounds isn't the only video chat program in Facebook; Friendcam is a notable forerunner. And the company has had some preliminary discussion with the social networking giant, although Shine would only disclose that a meeting between Facebook executives and Fishel and Leibovitch had taken place.
Could Rounds' video chat be integrated more tightly with Facebook's existing text chat function? We'll have to wait for the 'next round' to find out." (source)
"Having identified the protein building block missing in patients with brain atrophy, Israeli researchers can now conceive of a way to replace it.
An Israeli scientist has identified a genetic mutation that leads to progressive brain atrophy. His research team has detected a defect in the 21st amino acid that results in a progressive disease of severe mental retardation and epilepsy that begins in infancy.
'The full name of the disease is Progressive Cerebro-Cerebellar Atrophy (PCCA), in which there is a genetically-determined, progressive wasting away of cells throughout the brain,' Birk tells ISRAEL21c, adding that 'affected individuals have psychomotor retardation which is severe by one to two years of age, and spasticity (stiffness of the body, especially arms and legs). Most also have epilepsy.'
Prenatal screening may lead to prevention
According to Birk, 'One out of every 40 Jews of both Moroccan and Iraqi ancestry may be carriers of this mutation, and it is estimated that in Israel there are about 200 cases of the disease. As the disease is both severe and common, testing for these mutations is expected to become a routine prenatal genetic screening test in these two populations, enabling prevention of future cases.'
Explaining the significance of his research results to couples at risk, Birk says that 'if both parents are found to be carriers of a mutation in the gene, they are at 25 percent risk for the disease in each child. They can opt to be tested by chorionic villi sampling (CVS) as of week 10 of the pregnancy or by an amniotic fluid test as of week 16... Another option is to undergo in-vitro fertilization (IVF) with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) at day one or two of the pregnancy, and implant in the mother's womb an embryo that has been tested to be disease free... these options are offered to every couple at risk, and in Israel all the procedures are fully covered by the public health system.
'We assume that once the testing for mutations in this gene is implemented in genetics institutes throughout the world, many cases will be revealed in other countries,' he explains.
It is also believed that further research will identify these other mutations in the same gene as the cause of mental retardation with epilepsy in additional communities.
As the disease is progressive, elucidation of its molecular mechanisms may open new venues to treatment, preventing disease progression. Or in other words says the professor, 'We have identified the amino acid (the protein building block) that is missing in these patients. One can think of conceiving ways to supply the missing building block.'
Defective amino acid leads to malfunction
The human genetic code, as deciphered some 50 years ago, encodes 20 amino acids which are the building blocks of all proteins in the human body. However, in recent years it became apparent that a 21st amino acid exists. Known as Selenium, it enters the body via food and is incorporated in human tissues into what is known as selenocysteine.
This 21st amino acid is unique in that it is encoded by what is normally a stop codon - that is, a DNA sequence that normally instructs the protein-building system to end the chain of amino acids, terminating the generated protein. In contrast with most genes, some 25 genes have a unique component that manipulates the stop codon so that instead of terminating the evolving protein chain, it inserts an SEC building block at that point.
'SEC is an amino acid that is a building block which is essential in the formation of some 25 proteins in our bodies, many of which are essential for normal brain function,' Birk tells ISRAEL21c. 'The mutation in the affected individuals prevents the formation of SEC. In the absence of SEC, the 25 proteins do not form normally, leading to severe malfunction of the brain.'
A little research about the researcher reveals that this most serious scientist is also blessed with a sense of humor. A click on a myspace page in his name leads to an intriguing blog entry that begins thus: 'Minimal bio: Born, raised and will die. Detailed bio: Born, raised, played piano, wrote music. Fell in love, made love, had kids. Loves wife, loves kids. Seeing patients. Doing research. Teaching students. Helping some. Discovering some. Entertaining some. Music: Writing music and texts, playing piano/keyboard + musical arrangements.'" (source)
"Israeli rescue organization ZAKA is now training volunteers from minority communities to be first responders in the wake of tragedy.
For 15 years, Israel's unique voluntary rescue organization, ZAKA, has been sending volunteers to work alongside law enforcement and emergency personnel following acts of terrorism, accidents and natural disasters across the globe.
Now ZAKA is expanding its network within Israel to better serve Arab, Bedouin, Circassian and Druze populations. Two new units in the north and two in the south will be staffed by members of those minority communities, after receiving training that will be adapted to their own religious and ethnic customs.
Until ZAKA (a Hebrew acronym for Disaster Victim Identification) was founded in 1995 by Jerusalemite Yehuda Meshi-Zahav in response to a spate of terrorist attacks, the Jewish state had no organized system for dealing with victims' body parts and blood, considered sacred by Jewish law.
More volunteers means a more perfect world
Fifty-one-year-old Meshi-Zahav tells ISRAEL21c that ZAKA also handles bodies of non-Jewish victims - even terrorists - with sensitivity to cultural and religious principles However, he is eager to have volunteers from Israel's non-Jewish sectors become full participants.
'We believe everyone wants to do good work,' he says. 'Adding as many people as possible to our volunteering circle is a means to perfecting our world.'
Meshi-Zahav was a yeshiva student when he witnessed the first bus bombing just outside Jerusalem in 1989. He and some other students ran to help, but could not offer much assistance without expertise in forensics or first aid. 'I went home and the images kept replaying in my mind like a horror movie,' he recalls.
Over the next six years, he built up the basis for what would become the world's only Jewish organization of its kind.
Today, about 1,500 ZAKA volunteers - including canine, diving, and rappelling specialists - take responsibility for ensuring that all human remains are treated in accordance with religious guidelines. The only organization authorized by the Israeli police to handle recovery and body part identification, ZAKA participates in search-and-rescue missions and firefighting efforts, international disaster relief, and accident-prevention programs.
Government-sponsored training for minorities
Although small ZAKA units are already active among the Bedouin population in the south and the Druze communities of the north, this marks the first time ZAKA's expansion is being sponsored by the government. Galil Ayoob Kara, a Druze member of Israel's parliament and Deputy Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee, has termed the arrangement 'holy work' and a critical step toward equality for all Israeli citizens.
Meshi-Zahav looks to the project as a way of breaking barriers and building bridges between Israeli Jews and minorities, which is one of his priorities. 'We are open to all: Religious and not, Jews and non-Jews, Israelis and Arabs,' he says. 'Our guiding principle is our belief that man was made in the image of God.'
An ultra-Orthodox Jew with side curls and a black skullcap, Meshi-Zahav has been present at some grim scenes as a result of his work with ZAKA.
ZAKA assisted at the sites of the World Trade Center and Mumbai terrorist attacks; the Columbia space shuttle tragedy in Texas; the carnage in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; synagogue bombings in Istanbul; the tsunami aftermath in Southeast Asia; plane crashes in Phuket, Thailand, Mexico, and Namibia; the earthquake in Haiti; and a recent murder of a Jewish traveler in the Ukraine, among other tragedies.
The United Nations officially recognized ZAKA as an international humanitarian volunteer organization in 2005.
UN recognition opens doors
'UN recognition is extremely important in our overseas operations,' explains ZAKA spokeswoman Lydia Weitzman. 'That recognition allows us to go into all areas, even countries where Israel does not have diplomatic relations. The humanitarian message of ZAKA is the key that opens doors to all communities.'
ZAKA recently established International Rescue branches in foreign countries including Mexico, France and Hong Kong, with another planned for Kiev to serve Eastern Europe. Community volunteers are to be trained to offer an immediate professional response to a disaster in their region, before Israel-based volunteers can arrive.
The four new Israeli units will begin gearing up this winter. Gadi Kellerman is working with about 15 Bedouins in the south, recruited mostly from among border patrol and police officers. Hezki Farkash is setting up the new Druze units in Beit Jann and Yirka up north.
'In the north and the south, our goal is to keep growing the number of volunteers from the Druze and Bedouin communities,' stresses Meshi-Zahav." (source)
"Calling Israel a 'a progressive, wonderful example to the rest of the world' for not maintaining any fur farms, former Baywatch TV star Pamela Anderson made her local debut on Sunday at a press conference at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, followed by a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, a day ahead of her guest appearance on the Channel 2 reality show Dancing With the Stars.
The ardent animal rights activist, who is an honorary director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) came to Israel with her dance partner, Australian dance professional Damian Whitewood. She said she was planning to meet with Knesset Members about a bill to ban fur imports to Israel presented by Kadima Knesset Member Ronit Tirosh and currently being discussed in the Knesset Education committee.
She acknowledged that she had sent a letter last week to Shas Religious Affairs Minister Yaakov Margi calling on him to back the bill to ban fur with a link to a PETA video.
She wrote that even a few seconds would be enough for Margi to agree that the way the animals suffer and die in the fur trade violates Jewish principles, which prohibit unnecessary suffering to animals.
Anderson, who competed last year on the US version of Dancing With the Stars, said she had received no pressure from anti-Israel groups to delay her planned visit.
'I've always wanted to come here,' she said. 'My good friend David Chappelle was just here - his exhibit is still up at the Museum of Contemporary Art - and he had the most fantastic time. We don't get to hear about all the wonderful things in Israel, and just looking out my window here at the hotel and seeing the beautiful beach, my goodness, it's gorgeous! I'm sure I'll be
going back with raving reviews.'
The 43-year-old Anderson received a ten, the highest possible score, from each of the three judges on the show last night, after she and Whitewood performed the tango. They are due to perform the rumba on tonight's episode. The two also review the performances of the contestants on the Israeli show.
Commenting on her own experience on the show in the US she says, 'There's less pressure making the final basket in a basketball game in the final seconds than there is to be a contestant on Dancing With the Stars.'" (source)
"Experts at transforming the disadvantages of the desert into advantages, Israel is sharing its solutions for the growing problem of desertification with the world.
'Desertification' may sound like a course to end a sumptuous meal. But with just one 's', it refers to fertile land becoming dry desert. Many factors contribute to the problem, such as soil erosion, climate change and groundwater mismanagement. Israel, which is 97 percent dry land, was one of the first countries to begin addressing this crisis.
He tells ISRAEL21c that he is heartened by the response. Despite major conventions on desertification signed at Rio de Janeiro in the 1990s, many Western countries persist in relating to the issue as a low priority, he says. The perception started to change four years ago, when the UN and the World Bank re-emphasized that desertification, a problem that affects more than 200 million people, is a major cause of global poverty and hunger.
A world leader in combating desertification
'We believe that by bringing a diverse group of academics, professionals and policy-makers together to confront the myriad critical issues of desertification, the BGU conference can serve as a meaningful catalyst for cooperative and collaborative projects in the future at the global level,' declares Tal, a North Carolina native who moved to Israel 30 years ago.
Israel is one of the few countries that has successfully restored marginal lands and is recognized worldwide as a leader in protecting its dry lands from further deterioration. The Negev desert is smaller than it was in 1948, parts of it having been transformed into a fertile breadbasket.
Forests thrive in places where trees never took root before and salt- and drought-resistant plants flourish, innovated by Israeli scientists. Commercial fishponds dot the desert, and algae grow abundantly for use in pharmaceuticals and health foods.
'The goal has to be to take the disadvantages of the desert and turn them into advantages,' Tal explains. Algae actually grow faster in dry regions, and the desert is the perfect setting for solar and wind power. Sun and open spaces are also attractive to eco-tourists.
Water management is a crucial part of controlling desertification. About half the water used for agriculture cycles through 240 reservoirs built by Keren Kayemeth L'Yisrael-Jewish National Fund, another key player in desertification efforts and education. Israel reuses about 74 percent of its wastewater; Spain, the second most efficient country in wastewater recycling, reuses only 20 percent.
'As the world becomes more urbanized, sewage is both a problem and an opportunity,' states Tal, who coauthored a model for an agreement on environmental cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. 'We made huge mistakes and had the humility to learn from them. Now we have standards that can help other countries recycle their sewage.'
Israel's status should be public policy
Tal gives much of the credit for all these accomplishments to Dr. Uriel Safriel, a professor of ecology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the world's leading authority on desertification.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs chose Safriel and Tal, among other experts, to represent Israel at previous UN conventions on desertification. 'The other representatives have learned to respect Israel - even the Arab countries in this forum are cooperative and there is lots of formal discussion,' Tal tells ISRAEL21c.
Attendees to the conference this year will hear presentations about the public health aspects of desertification; sustainable building in desert environments; remote sensing to assess how flora are responding to anti-desertification attempts; grazing and the Bedouin community; the future of the Dead Sea; environmental education and dry-land agriculture; and soil and water restoration.
Tal relates that the UN expects developed nations to provide assistance to developing nations, which is an ideal shared by MASHAV, the Foreign Ministry's agency for international development, which works with ecologists and forestry experts from several countries, particularly in Africa.
'If you do nothing about desertification, people will starve and die,' Tal declares. 'So there is a need for Israel's status as a leader in this field to be expanded into public policy. We have to dig into our pockets to make the world a better place.'" (source)
"Eight Israeli start-ups, one Palestinian start-up, two weeks, ten campuses in the US - that's the recipe for the Tel Aviv Tech Tour, 2010.
From November 8 through 21 they'll be in New York, Connecticut, Boston, Michigan, San Francisco, Palo Alto, Los Angeles and more, 'hopping from campus to campus to meet face to face with students and tech communities, present their start-ups, discuss innovation, entrepreneurship and current hot trends in technology.'
They want to launch and introduce their ventures to their real audience, get their feedback and start generating buzz - and if some investors happen to stop by they say, well that's okay with them, too.
A partial list of the participating start-ups: Fiddme, a social network for foodies and a 'friend-finder;' the iStreamer by AllofMe.com, a new mobile application, specifically designed for Apple's iPad, that gives you a zoomable, 3D continuous Timeline; DoNanza, the world's largest work-from-home job search engine for freelancers, from professionals to work-at-home moms, students and hobbyists; ChatSq, that integrates location-based social networks and communication channels into a single, simple-to-use mobile interface; give2gether, that provides a unique SaaS (Software as a Service) platform, tailored for non-profits and NGOs; LoyalBlocks, that allows businesses to create and manage location-based loyalty clubs using an in-store dedicated Android device; and Jolicam, a service that upgrades any webcam into a surveillance system." (source)
"Need a drink? Volcani researcher Eran Raveh attaches the water stress monitor to a lemon tree. It sounds like a fantasy of Audrey II, the colorful man-eating plant from the Little Shop of Horrors movie: Israeli scientists have developed a new device that taps into the stem of a tree and when water levels are low, the tree can text a message, email the farmer, or turn on the irrigation tap to water itself.
Measuring electric conductivity inside the tree, a parameter of water stress, the Israeli researchers Eran Raveh and Arieh Nadler from the Volcani Institute of Agriculture, say that Californian citrus and mango farmers, banana plantations and vintners have already expressed interest in the technology, which can be programmed by the farmers themselves.
Now developing it into a product, Raveh tells ISRAEL21c that it will take about three to four years until the novel device is on the shelves: 'We have a water crisis here in Israel and need a way to irrigate more accurately,' says Raveh.
The device, still without a name, will save farmers up to 30 to 40 percent in water use, he calculates. 'The idea is that we were trying to find a way to give water more accurately to the trees. Usually [devices today] measure soil water content.'
Measuring tree water content this way, says the plant and soil specialist, is 'complicated and takes a lot of time until you get a 'true' measurement, because there are many varying parameters involved.'
Cheap, simple, accurate
To get a true estimate of the moisture level in a plant or tree, a farmer must make a grueling check of 26 points in the ground around the plant.
'We've found a different way for measuring a tree?s water status: by sticking probes - three simple nails -- into the main stem of the tree, we measure electric conductivity of the stem, and analyze the data to tell people if the tree is under good water conditions. It's important to be able to do this in a simple and cheap way,' says Raveh, who came about the idea by accident: ?Our solution is cheap, it can be automated and is very accurate.
'We were doing some other work, and realized that the data that came out of it reflects tree water status,' he says.
This data is the intellectual property that the future company will revolve around. Whether the information collected will be transmitted by SMS, email message, fax, or sent to switch on an automated tap, is a matter of simple programming.
For tomatoes and potatoes too
For now, the team will continue refining the first product, shaped like a small hammer -- for trees -- and will continue fine-tuning it to apply it in farm produce as well. Raveh envisions the cost will be very affordable for most farmers, about $250 per orchard: only one probe will be needed to reflect the water content in about every 500 trees.
'It can work on every stem and doesn't matter what kind of plant material,' he says. 'Olives, palm, banana -- at the moment we are working with big trees, but it's a matter of calibrating [the device] to move it to younger and smaller plants.'
Orchard farmers everywhere, and the planet, will be saying thank you. 'In big orchards, water use is a problem,' says Raveh, who estimates that an orchard with thousands of trees could cut its water use by almost half. It could also spare trees and plants from being over-watered.
He doesn't expect the device will be that useful for the homeowner with a few trees on a lot, because in this case it's not difficult to see if a tree is water stressed. A 'smart' tree that can send text messages, however, could be used a novelty item to entertain and teach the kids about water, plants and the environment." (source)
"A lone Israeli among China's thousands of kung fu adherents, Shmuel Shoshtari was thrilled to be his country's flag bearer at the martial art's main event.
Shmuel Shoshtari proudly carried the Israeli flag at an international kung fu competition in China in October. He enjoyed the privilege - so he says - not because he is a master of the martial art, but because he was the only Israeli the organizers could locate among China's thousands of kung fu students.
'I am not good enough to compete against these people,' 22-year-old Shoshtari tells ISRAEL21c in an interview via Skype from the Shaolin Wushu School of Kung Fu in Deng Feng where he has been studying since January 1. 'They have been training for years while I have been training for a few months. It would be like asking you to compete against Michael Phelps because you know how to swim - or because you have a bathing suit.'
But since Israel hadn't sent a delegation and the competition planners wanted representation from as many countries as possible, they made inquiries at the 60 kung fu schools in Deng Feng, seeking an Israeli, and they found Shoshtari.
He describes the event, held in Zhengzhou, as 'the kung fu equivalent of the World Cup or Olympics,' taking place every four years. Martial artists arrived from across the globe, including Japan, Tanzania, India, Spain, Macau, China, Singapore and Argentina. Even the prince of Trinidad and Tobago came to take part in a sparring contest.
In training since age five
'Both the school and I knew I wasn't good enough to compete,' Shoshtari insists. 'There were people there from the Chinese National Team and others who've been training since childhood. A week before I went, I trained with a competition group at my school, which includes the best of the 5,000 students here, ranging from eight to 17 years old. You see these 10-year-olds with unbelievable power.'
For a person who has been training for only a few months, he acquitted himself quite well. 'In open fist form, I got ninth place out of 12, and in spear form I placed 10th out of 16. You can make very small mistakes; your leg can slip a bit on the carpet and they take away points.'
Shoshtari was born to an American mother and an Israeli father living in a small agricultural village, Moshav Haniel, in central Israel. When he was about five years old, his parents sent him to learn krav maga, the Israeli self-defense system. Years later, he took an interest in kung fu, one of the oldest martial arts forms in the world.
'Kung fu has so much precision and power in the moves - that's what it's about. It's like classical music,' he explains.
Shoshtari eventually met an older student who'd studied in China, and found the notion of spending a year at such a school irresistible. He learned some Chinese, saved some money, quit his job in software development, and went at the end of December. 'My father thought I was out of my mind,' he recounts.
Perception of Jews, Israelis is phenomenal
Living in a dorm under fairly stark conditions with two 12-year-old Korean roommates, Shoshtari wakes at sunrise for intense power training - sprinting, running upstairs, jumping - to increase stamina and muscle development. After breakfast and a break, there is another long session on techniques and forms, then more training following a break and lunch. Twice a week, night sessions are added. 'I couldn't run before I came here,' he confides. 'I was totally out of shape. This place really changed my body and was a great experience.'
Fortunately for Shoshtari, who tries to observe the Sabbath, the schedule is more easygoing on Saturdays. He spent the Jewish holidays in Shanghai, where there is an organized Jewish community.
'As a Jew, it's amazing to be in a place where the perception of Jews and Israelis is phenomenal,' he says. 'They all want to take pictures with me. They consider us very clever, and they respect us. I've met people here from all over the world who never met religious Jews and they're all very nice.'
At the opening ceremony of the Wushu competition, national flag-bearers stood in alphabetical order. That put Shoshtari next to the athlete from Iran. Though Israel and Iran are not on good diplomatic terms, Shoshtari has found that such tension is irrelevant on an individual level, and he gets along just fine with an Iranian student at Shaolin Wushu.
Shoshtari plans to return to Israel at the end of the year and pursue studies in electronic engineering. He expects to return to krav maga roots as well, while keeping up with kung fu informally. 'I think I'll be reviewing what I learned here for years,' he states. 'Like playing a classical piece, you can always improve your speed, power, and precision.'" (source)
"Kamada's flagship inhalable AAT replacement treatment has succeeded in five clinical trials and 'the safety is almost perfect,' bringing hope to sufferers of this fatal genetic disorder.
Approximately one out of every 2,500 people in the world suffers from a deficiency of the Alpha-1 Antitrypsin or AAT protein. Untreated, this genetic disorder - which affects the liver and lungs - is always fatal. Now an Israeli bio-pharmaceutical company has developed a more efficient treatment delivery system, holding out the promise of both an improvement in a patient's quality of treatment, and their quality of life.
Kamada is no newcomer to drug development and manufacturing. Founded in 1990, the company went public in 2005 and has more than 15 products on the market. But it is hoping that the next generation of its flagship product - an inhalable version of its AAT replacement treatment - will be its biggest winner yet.
VP of business development Yaron Cherny, tells ISRAEL21c just what's so revolutionary about Kamada's latest medication. AAT deficiency, he says, starts in the liver and results in chronic inflammation of the lungs, which slowly suffocates the patient. There are currently only two ways to treat the ailment: Via a lung and liver transplant or a lifetime of receiving AAT intravenously.
For most patients, where transplants are not an option, intravenous AAT delivery requires weekly hospitalization and medical support; it is also often prohibitively expensive - upwards of $100,000 a year. Insurance companies, which nearly always cover the treatment, are acutely aware of this fact.
Inhaling your meds
An inhalable version of AAT can be used at home, obviating a trip to the clinic. That both makes the process less expensive and grants the patient significantly more freedom. From a medical point of view, since the inflammation is in the lungs, inhaling the drug directly makes more therapeutic sense, not to mention that it avoids the risks of infection that comes with using an IV.
While there are three other firms with AAT intravenous solutions, Kamada is the only one with an inhalable version (competitor Talecris Biotherapeutics was working on one but dropped out earlier this year).
Still, people suffering from AAT deficiency shouldn't rush to their doctors to demand the drug just yet. The inhalable product is now in Phase I and II tests in Europe, which are slated to be completed in 2012. Indeed, Kamada only received FDA approval for the intravenous version in July of this year. And, as Cherny explains, until a drug is officially approved, 'there's always uncertainty.'
The good news is that Kamada's inhalable AAT has already succeeded in five clinical trials 'with no adverse effect,' according to Cherny, who adds that 'the safety is almost perfect.'
An additional benefit is that Kamada's IV version is in liquid rather than powder form. That means it doesn't need mixing before delivery, as do the medications from the other companies. 'We don't have to develop the drug all over again,' Cherny says, since 'the liquid particles are the right size to go into the inhalation device.'
Good news for investors
Inhalable AAT has been approved for 'orphan' drug status, a form of marketing protection that is given to drugs for diseases affecting small numbers of people. As the developer of an orphan drug, Kamada has the exclusive rights to marketing inhalable AAT for 10 years in the US and 12 years in the European Union, which 'for many companies, is better than a patent,' Cherny declares.
This should also put investors at their ease - it can take more than half a billion dollars and 10 years of development and testing to bring a biological drug to market.
Only 5,000 people in the US and 6,000 in Europe have been diagnosed with AAT deficiency. However, Cherny estimates there may be upwards of 200,000 people suffering from the genetic disorder in those two regions alone. That makes the potential market much more lucrative. And if inhalable AAT brings greater awareness to physicians, Kamada will have contributed to much more than its own corporate bottom line.
AAT replacement therapy may also have implications for people suffering from cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis, Cherny reveals. And new research by Dr. Eli Lewis of Israel's Ben Gurion University of the Negev suggests it may help those suffering from Type 1 diabetes, although this is not related to AAT deficiency and Kamada is not active in this area.
All of Kamada's products are based on the company's in-house developed chromatographic purification technology. This was originally used to create only the active ingredients in drugs, which large pharmaceutical companies would then mix together to create complete medications. Kamada now manufactures the entire drug for its products.
Deal with Baxter
In August, Kamada signed a strategic agreement with Baxter International for production and marketing of its intravenous AAT drug. Shipments will begin in September. It's a deal that CEO David Tsur believes will help make the company profitable and could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues. Kamada will receive up to $45 million in milestone payments, including a $20m. upfront payment.
For inhalable AAT, the company has partnered with PARI, a German-based firm specializing in inhalation solutions.
In other sectors, Kamada has just registered its passive rabies vaccine in Russia, and expects to begin sales in the first half of 2011. The vaccine is derived from human plasma with additional antibodies, and is used to prevent rabies, which affects the central nervous system.
Kamada was founded by Argentinean Jewish immigrant Ralf Hahn, whose family has been active in the drug industry for years, and businessman Tzur.
The company, which is listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, has raised more than $139 million. Kamada's stock price has increased more than 70 percent since 2007, despite the worldwide economic crisis.
Kamada has 250 employees, 30 in its Rishon Letzion headquarters, and 220 in the company's manufacturing plant on Kibbutz Beit Kama. The name is a play on words composed of the name of the kibbutz plus the world mada, which is Hebrew for 'science.'" (source)
"Video below: The Mahane Yehuda 'suk' in Jerusalem has been changing with the times for over a hundred years and shows no sign of slowing down.
When people in Jerusalem say they're going to the suk, they can only mean that they're on their way to the Mahane Yehuda open-air market.
Harvey Stein wended his way through Jerusalem's 100-year-old colorful and intoxicating market for ISRAEL21c and found one-of-a-kind boutiques proffering clothes and accessories alongside juice bars, pungent spices, candy and halva, exotic cheeses, fish, meat, poultry and Judaica.
There's also the 'etrog man', selling juice as well as creams, sprays, lotions and potions made from the sweet-scented etrog, or citron.
At the end of the 19th century the first merchants sold their wares in the area on an empty lot and in the 1920s, the British cleaned up the market, building the first permanent stalls and roofing.
The neighborhood around the market is filled with history, and still contains many old buildings and pilgrimage sites.
Jerusalem's Light Rail train, scheduled to begin operation in spring 2011, will stop right outside the Jaffa Street entrance to the market.
"Sears, Macy's and Bloomingdales are all on board with FiftyOne, the Israeli company that finally opened up American merchandise to the rest of the world, online.
While US culture, brands and entertainment have been exported to the four corners of the world, until recently, American retailers have had a hard time exporting their wares - despite the longing by tens of millions of people to shop the websites of American retail legends like Bloomingdales, Macy's, the Gap, and many others.
Now, with technology developed in Israel, fans of the latest US fashions across the globe can buy whatever they want from their favorite online stores, via a site administered by Israeli company FiftyOne.
Very few American companies have sold over the Internet to retail customers outside the country, not because they didn't want to, explains Mike DeSimone, CEO of FiftyOne, but because from a logistical/security standpoint it just wasn't feasible. Ensuring secure credit card transactions, converting between currencies, complying with import laws and paying duties were all a nightmare for retailers who were already working with razor-thin profit margins and didn't have the resources to develop an export department.
A win-win solution
Following the 2008 recession retailers were hit hard as consumers in the US began to do without.
'At that point, retailers realized that they needed to respond to the challenging sales environment if they wanted to continue to grow, and we were able to offer our services to them, to the extent that now there are many more US retailers selling abroad than there were just a few years ago,' DeSimone tells ISRAEL21c.
Indeed, a glance at FiftyOne's customer page is like taking a stroll through a virtual US mall, taking in names familiar to many shoppers like Sears, PacSun, Brookstone Johnston and Murphy, along with big web retailers like Overstock.com, Drugstore.com, Shoes.com, and many more.
Users in most countries outside the US (including Israel) can register on most sites with their home address and country of residence, and receive a display of the products available in their countries (just about everything is available, other than heavy appliances and furniture, which are mostly off-limits because of shipping issues).
After choosing their purchases, customers are forwarded to a site administered by FiftyOne, which calculates their shipping and duty charges. In essence, they do their buying through FiftyOne, while the retailers fill their order. It's great for the retailer, enthuses DeSimone, since he or she doesn't have to get involved in the details, and great for the consumers, who have the opportunity to shop for products and styles that may not be available where they live.
Investments to the tune of $30 m.
There are dozens of issues to consider in such transactions, notes DeSimone, with currency exchange being the least of them. Shipping - finding the cheapest service that promises the quickest delivery - is a concern, as are computing, collecting, and remitting customs duties and taxes.
Some items - like those containing GPS chips - cannot be legally exported from the US, and FiftyOne has to keep track of these and inform customers. Then there are the myriad, ever-changing regulations about what can and cannot be imported into particular countries. 'For example, you can't import leather into Italy,' DeSimone mentions, adding that he has become a far 'worldlier' person than he ever expected to be, after delving into the different rules and regulations.
FiftyOne employs 77 people in its offices in New York and Tel Aviv (where the programming and R&D are located). While DeSimone says he isn't at liberty to disclose specific numbers about particular companies, he will say that many of his clients do between three and 15 percent of their business through FiftyOne.
FiftyOne didn't start out with the intention of becoming 'the world's marketplace.' For its first seven years the company was known as e4X and it enabled businesses to easily convert currencies to make international trade smoother.
It was founded in 1999 by Israeli serial startup entrepreneur Yuval Tal, who is now CEO of Payoneer, another company he started, that markets and provides service for prepaid MasterCards. According to DeSimone, FiftyOne emerged in 2007 when '... we realized that businesses working internationally had frustrations other than currency exchange. We asked them what they needed, and after all the suggestions, we realized we had the makings of an important service here.'
DeSimone maintains that FiftyOne offers the most comprehensive and extensive service of its kind. 'As retailers have sought solutions to international sales - after all, more than 80% of all online consumers live outside the United States - several other companies have gotten into the picture, so there is competition.
'But I'm very happy with our customer list. Companies like Sears, Macy's and Bloomingdales, among many others, are smart enough to make the right choice. I'm very happy to be in a business that is so helpful to US retailers, and that helps out the American economy and gives customers around the world the freedom of choice to get the products they want.'" (source)
"For Israel's Ethiopian community, the Sigd holiday is one of the most significant of the year. Now it's becoming part of Israel's national tradition too.
At a ceremony at the President's House marking the Ethiopian Sigd holiday, President Shimon Peres marveled at how Ethiopian Jewry has survived not only an environment of assimilation, but also hostility from so many sides.
'This is truly a miracle,' he said, 'and it's not just your festival, it's the festival of the whole of Israel.' Indeed, the Sigd is entering the Israeli psyche as part of the national heritage.
This was the second consecutive year in which the Sigd festival activities were launched at Beit Hanassi and the 10th year in which Sigd was celebrated in Israel. The event coincided with the 25th anniversary of Operation Moses, the cooperative effort of the Mossad, the Israel Air Force and the Israel Navy to covertly transport some 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel.
The holiday, which is also a fast day, is traditionally marked on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan, which is 50 days after Yom Kippur. Unique to the Ethiopian Jewish community, Sigd was first celebrated in Israel by members of the Ethiopian community in the early 1980s.
In February 2008, MK Uri Ariel submitted legislation to the Knesset that would see Sigd established as an Israeli national holiday. The Knesset officially added Sigd to the list of state holidays in July 2008.
The word 'sigd' is Amharic word for 'prostration.' The celebration of the festival in Israel is marked by a fast and a gathering in Jerusalem, during which the Kessim (the Ethiopian religious leaders) read from the Orit (an Amharic version of the Torah). The ritual is followed by the breaking of the fast, dancing, and celebration." (source)
"Video below: Israelis are ready to start their engines. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May - presenters of the Emmy-award-winning BBC TV series Top Gear about motor vehicles were seen crossing into Israel from Jordan on used roadsters in mid-October.
The crew was reportedly in Israel to film an episode of the show to be aired during the coming season and the trio was said to be on its way to Jerusalem. During the journey, the presenters would complete various tasks and improve their cars in the amusing and entertaining style for which the program has become famous.
While receiving acclaim for its visual style and presentation, the show has also drawn considerable criticism for its content and comments made by its presenters.
Images of the cars being brought into Israel showed some modifications for the Middle East environment. One vehicle was painted in camouflage colors and another had a nargileh pipe attached to its door.
During the coming season, to be aired in Britain in a few months, viewers will learn exactly what Clarkson, Hammond and May thought about Israel's roads.
Estimated to have 350 million viewers worldwide, first run episodes of Top Gear are broadcast in the UK on BBC Two and the program is also aired in the US, Canada, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America.
The show's popularity has led to the creation of two international versions, in Australia and Russia.
A recent segment on the US television news magazine 60 Minutes was said to pull in 16 million viewers." (source)
"Green architect Michal Vital-Baron is at the forefront of a movement that's introducing natural building techniques to the Bedouins in southern Israel.
In the shade of an expansive mulberry tree at the bottom of her family's rambling garden in leafy Karkur, in northern Israel, Michal Vital-Baron points to a pie chart on her laptop screen. 'You see how much energy is wasted in quarrying, transporting and building with these materials?' she asks.
A group of 15 burly Bedouin men from the southern village of Quasr Al-Sir soak up the data like diligent schoolchildren. They have been bused in from the distant Negev, and want to cram as much knowledge into the day as possible. Minutes earlier, they had returned from a visit to a nearby community garden, full of admiration for the local residents who had transformed a waste plot into a blooming organic vegetable garden.
Forty-seven-year-old Vital-Baron is one of a handful of Israeli architects specializing in 'natural building' - construction using materials such as straw bale, adobe, cordwood, stone and granite. She doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, cares about the environment and is concerned about society, which is why helping the Negev Bedouins to help themselves is so important to her.
She also walks her talk. When the time came to renovate the family living room, she chose to rebuild the walls using compacted earth blocks. These are bricks made from highly-pressed soil that contain mineral, rather than organic substances.
Having completed several design courses conducted by Israel's permaculture guru Talia Schneider, Vital-Baron is about to hold her own (third) four-month permaculture design course - one of which was held for 15 Bedouin men and women in the southern city of Beersheba.
'She's opening our eyes'
Blue-eyed and soft-spoken, she somehow manages to penetrate male-dominated mindsets. 'The Bedouins have a lot of respect for me,' she tells ISRAEL21c. 'They have a term jaddah, which means a woman with power. It's mutual - I see in them people from whom I have much to learn: How to accept life when it's hard, without complaining. They are very optimistic people with boundless patience. It's hard to break their spirit. The Bedouin women see me as an example of what a woman - a mother - can achieve.'
Earlier that morning, she had introduced the Bedouin men to the concept of the ecological footprint. 'She's opening our eyes,' exclaims Ibrahim Elhwashla, head of the village council.
'Michal has taught us about green construction methods, heating and cooling of structures, energy consumption and waste reduction - things we didn't think about before.
'We don't have this knowledge - how to build permanent homes,' Elhwashla admits. 'Meeting Michal has introduced us to a different way of thinking, an ecological mindset. We want to strengthen this. Look at the young men - they want to learn. I'm convinced that this is the right way for us - closer to nature. The whole world is beginning to understand the ramifications of everything we do. If God made us from nature, we should protect it.'
Vital-Baron was a professional weaver ('one of the last weavers in Israel - the textile market is dead') for 15 years while raising three children. 'All that's behind me now - the last of my children left the nest two weeks ago.'
After studying interior design at the Hermelin College of Engineering in Netanya, she joined her mother's company, Edith Baron Interior Architecture, in 1995, following a family tradition. 'My grandfather, Zalman Baron, was one of the first designers of Tel Aviv. My father is an engineer and my mother an interior designer. I was a conventional architect who specialized in redesigning the interior of hotels,' she says.
Discovering the Earthships
In 2001, during a trip to the US, she first came across Earthships - sustainable homes made of natural and recycled materials - while working in a Jewish summer camp in Colorado. For three months, she watched how a complete Earthship, designed by green construction pioneer Michael Reynolds was built. She also travelled to Taos, New Mexico, to see up close the Greater World Earthship Community being constructed.
'I took plenty of notes. During this process I came to realize that we can do things naturally, with an added value to the environmental. These houses are pretty, but also practical, sturdy structures. I learned how to do things properly, taking into account both the environment and social factors.'
Upon her return, she completed Israel's first green architecture course, held under the auspices of the Environment Ministry, at the Israel Building Center on Kibbutz Ga'ash. 'The very concept was an urban legend in Israel at that point - something people talked about but had never actually done. The field was still in its infancy here in 2002.'
Vital-Baron focused on 'natural building' technologies, 'but I had no idea what to do with this knowledge at that point. The economy was in recession brought on by the second intifada, and my work at the family business was cut to three or four days a week. This left me with time to do other things.'
The breakthrough came when the NGO Bustan, which promotes sustainable community action among the Bedouins of the Negev desert, contacted her. The proposed project: To build a medical clinic in one of the dozens of Bedouin shanty settlements that dot the Negev, following a High Court decision that 'unrecognized' villages must receive medical services.
Together with the late architect Yuval Amir, she designed a 9x7 meter (29.5 x 23 foot) straw-and-mud structure for Wadi Na'am, a rambling collection of cinder block-and-tin shacks near the Ramat Hovav hazardous waste dump. An outer enclosure wall, built from adobe-covered tires filled with gravel and garbage, was built to protect the clinic from the Sharqia, or eastern desert wind.
Not a paradigm shift, but a strong trend
'The pracice of adobe/straw building has a history in Bedouin tradition, and this project reintroduced these sustainable, low-budget techniques. It was an amazing experience that brought hundreds of Jewish Israeli volunteers to unrecognized villages and made them aware of the problems the Bedouins face, and also exposed them to natural building,' she says.
Vital-Baron is keen to point out why Israelis need green building: 'Because we are exhausting our resources on quarrying, transportation and the accompanying air pollution. Construction is a heavy industry. Natural building has many advantages - that's why we're examining materials that are not quarried. A modern house with all the facilities can be built with natural materials, and be just as functional. Between 20 and 30 such houses already exist in Israel.'
In 2005 she went solo, opening one of Israel's first 'green' architecture companies. 'Only Yuval operated in the field of natural building at the time, and there were about five other companies with a declared environmental approach.'
During the latter half of the decade, interest in this unconventional field - and eventually job orders - began to increase. Now she is fully-booked and employs another architect.
'Most people turn to me asking for 'regular' construction or renovation, but with the added value of minimizing the environmental damage. I talk to them about making their homes solar passive, the importance of shade, insulation and lowering water usage.
'We offer the same services as a regular company but with a green emphasis. For example, conducting a thermal analysis of a house helps the owner decide what is worth investing in. The second group is those who want to build with their own hands. They need closer support, often physically on-site,' she explains.
'There are at least five to eight other companies similar to mine now, dealing with natural materials. It's unbelievable - only a few years ago it looked like a distant dream to me, but now everyone seems to be interested. It's too early to talk about a deep-rooted change of attitudes, a paradigm shift, but it's definitely a strong trend - and it's also coming from above.
Solutions in synch with surroundings
'There's more awareness of energy usage and saving, often the result of local councils and municipalities demanding greater insulation, shading, etc. in building design. It was nice working only with the hard-core environmentalists until now - but it makes me really happy to see official bodies making such demands,' she adds.
Vital-Baron's approach has been adopted by Quasr Al-sir, a neglected, litter-strewn desert shanty near Dimona, home to some 5,000 Bedouins. The rapidly expanding settlement received state recognition in 2006, joining the Abu Basma regional council that unites 11 such villages.
'The regional council has drawn up development plans, with demarcated plots of land, a school, kindergartens and a community center,' Vital-Baron relates. 'Bustan adopted the community center project and I planned it together with local residents - representatives of both the men and the women. It's been an interesting, unprecedented process that will serve as a platform for further development programs. Sustainable development is the way forward for the Bedouins,' she says, adding, 'I took all sorts of techniques that can be done with a local workforce - part of the idea is to train a core group of builders in the village.'
A group of 15, 18-to-30 year-old Bedouins - who would otherwise be unemployed - are working on her projects right now, learning the trade as they go. Earlier this year, they underwent a training course at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava desert, Israel's 'greenest' community, paid for by Bustan. 'The vision is to organize for them a long training course recognized by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry that would give them a professional qualification,' she says.
'We want to set up a community center for the elderly and youngsters of the village,' says Elhwashla, the local council head. 'We intend to start building in the coming months. There's a lack of belief among the Bedouins (the exception being Ahmed Amrani, who has been dubbed 'the green Bedouin') that it is possible, because our economic situation is so bad. But for a low price, we can make it happen. We want to be an example to other Bedouins.'" (source)
