By Cat Holmes
University of Georgia
Despite renewed outbreaks of violence that have brought Middle
East peace talks to a standstill, a smaller peace project that
brings Israeli and Moroccan scientists together to exchange
the seeds of peace took a big step forward recently.
Scientists from the Israeli Arava Institute for Environmental
Studies and Morocco’s National University of Agriculture met at
the University of Georgia campus in Athens on May 15 to discuss
exchanging plants with potential commercial viability that grow
well in the arid, saline soil conditions common to all Middle
Eastern countries.
“Our goal is to find trees and other plants that have some
economic benefit, whether it’s nutritional, environmental or
medicinal, that flourish in the Middle East,” said David
Lehrer, director of the Arava Institute for Environmental
Studies. “But the real benefit is the fact that we’re learning
to trust each other. We are getting to know the people behind
the headlines we read about in the paper.”
Sustainable, collegial relationships is precisely the goal of
the Middle East Regional Cooperation program of the U.S. Agency
for International Development which funded the project, said
Mathew Metz, a diplomacy fellow from the American Association
for the Advancement of Science.
“We don’t fool ourselves that this will create peace in the
Middle East,” Metz said, “but projects like this can nourish
relationships between people in leadership roles in these
countries while peace is being built.”
The project started two years ago, just as the most recent
Palestinian uprising began. In the ensuing months, relations
between Israel and most Arab countries in the Middle East have
eroded – Morocco froze diplomatic relations with Israel – and
the scientists involved in the project haven’t had an easy
time, Metz said.
“It has been an uncomfortable situation at times, but we want
it to work,” said Ali Lansari Morocco’s lead researcher. “There
are no relations between the two countries. But I am a
scientist, and what I am doing is a benefit to my country. I am
not doing politics.”
Since countries in the Middle East have many common issues and
problems, such as drought and rural economic development, MERC
was designed to support projects in which scientists
collaborate to find solutions for their mutual benefit, Metz
said.
For this project, each country chose crops that are salt and
drought tolerant, and have potential value as fresh food, raw
materials and value-added projects.
Each country brings a certain expertise to the table. Morocco
has a collection of native plants that are both salt and
drought tolerant including the endemic Argania spinosa, a nut
tree that produces an oil with both edible and medicinal
properties.
Israel has investigated and acquired drought tolerant plants
from different countries around the world, including India,
Peru and South Africa. The project allows each country to
benefit from the other’s research.
Because Morocco and Israel don’t currently have diplomatic
relations, meetings have been difficult to facilitate. In fact,
last week was the first time scientists from both countries met
for the project, Metz said.
“We have long-term relationships with both parties,” said Ed
Kanemasu, director of international agriculture at UGA, who
facilitated last week’s meeting. “And we are not set back by
the political issues that have been a constraint to both
countries since the beginning of this project. Our role is to
help move the project forward.”
“The program was conceived for peace,” Metz said. “Three years
ago MERC would have insisted that partners from each country
visit each other in their native countries. That is not
currently a feasible requirement. Fortunately we have found
some creative ways to continue direct interactions, otherwise
many scientists could have been shut out by the current
political climate.”
