Israeli and Jordanian Activists Plead for the Environment

by Alexandra J. Wall

"Water could be what the next war is based on," Dana Rassas, a Jordanian

citizen who is interning with several Bay Area coastal organizations,

warned recently. But, she added, "if the countries work together, it could

bring peace, too."

Rassas is one of six students from Israel's Arava Institute for

Environmental Studies, who is interning with Bay Area environmental

organizations this summer. Five of them spoke recently about their areas of

expertise at the Berkeley/Richmond Jewish Community Centre, at an event

sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.

While each intern shared his or her fields of research, the overriding

theme of the evening was that when it comes to the environment, political

differences must be put aside