IsraelCast Episode 153

Based in Kibbutz Ketura in the Negev, The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is an academic and research institute working to advance cooperation between Israel and its neighbors on pressing environmental concerns. A valued Jewish National Fund-USA affiliate, the Institute brings together Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian students to study and address common problems relating to water usage, sustainable agriculture, and renewable energy. Host Steven Shalowitz sits down with Dr. Tarek Abu Hamed, Executive Director of the Arava Institute, to discuss the environmental issues facing the Middle East, how the Institute is solving these issues while building community bridges, and the immediacy with which we need to address climate change.

Dr. Tareq Abu Hamed became Executive Director of the Arava Institute in August 2021. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Director of the Institute’s Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation, a center which he established upon arrival in 2008.

He temporarily left the Institute in 2013 to become the Israeli Ministry of Science’s Deputy Chief Scientist, and later the Acting Chief Scientist, the highest ranking Palestinian in the Israeli government at that time. He returned to the Arava Institute in 2016.