Growing up as a Palestinian Israeli in east Jerusalem, Tareq Abu Hamed always believed in the power of science. It is, he says, a universal language that can bring people together to solve problems.
“When you live in the Middle East, where there’s conflict and environmental challenges like water scarcity, it becomes a necessity to cooperate and work with your neighbors,” Dr. Abu Hamed told the Monitor during a visit to Boston in mid-February. “We share everything in the Middle East.”
A chemical engineer by training, Dr. Abu Hamed made history in 2013 as the first Palestinian to hold a senior role in an Israeli ministry, serving as deputy chief scientist and later as acting chief scientist at the Ministry of Science. He now heads up the Israel-based Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which promotes environmental leadership in the Middle East.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused on
The need for cooperation has been particularly acute amid the war in Gaza. To this Palestinian Israeli scientist, science is the language that brings people together.
The need for science and cooperation has been particularly acute amid the war in the Gaza Strip that followed Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Working with its Gaza-based partners, the Arava Institute is leveraging science to help rebuild Gaza.
This interview with Dr. Abu Hamed was condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Courtesy of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies
Q: The Arava Institute provides refuge and essential services to more than 5,000 Palestinians in Gaza. Can you describe the “off-grid” emergency shelters your team has built and the services provided?
The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies has been working in Gaza for the last decade. We’re providing people with the basic needs like drinking water, solar energy, wastewater treatment systems, capacity-building for engineers and technicians, and training programs.
The reason we work in Gaza is because of the low quality of water. Ninety-seven percent of the aquifer in Gaza is polluted. Seventy percent of the beaches in Gaza are polluted with sewage because of the lack of electricity, preventing them from treating wastewater.
All of [our] technologies are decentralized, off the grid, and run on solar energy. They don’t need to be connected to any infrastructure.
When Oct. 7 happened, we, with our Palestinian partners in Gaza, decided that we needed to continue working with each other. Our Palestinian partners told us that rebuilding Gaza will take years. However, people will need shelters. People will need drinking water.
Q: What are the advantages of building off-grid shelters instead of traditional homes?
These off-the-grid technologies don’t rely on the electricity grid [or] the water network, and are both modular and scalable. I can build a system to serve 10 tents and connect it with another one to serve 50 tents.
It’s the same with solar energy and the wastewater treatment systems. If the refugee camp or shelter decides to move from one location to another, it’s very easy to transfer these systems to a new location. It requires technical expertise to set up, but our Palestinian partners were trained at the Arava Institute and know how to install them.
[Our] drinking water system generates around 5,000 liters [about 1,320 gallons] of water per day. So if we assume that every person consumes 5 liters, that means each system provides drinking water for a thousand people a day. Also, [our] wastewater treatment system can serve 3,000 to 4,000 people.
Courtesy of Damour for Community Development
Q: Have you faced any challenges in your work providing these services at this critical time?
The main challenge that we face is the lack of permits from the Israeli army to send these systems into Gaza. Another challenge is the safety and security of the people that we work with. Sending a truck into Gaza loaded with food or tents or water bladders – sometimes it’s hard [for security reasons] to cross from Israel to Gaza to reach the shelters.
Before Oct. 7, it was much easier.
Q: Your team has built four pilot shelters in Gaza. What are the next steps to achieve your goal of helping 20,000 people there?
I strongly believe once we provide shelters, there will be a lot of other international organizations that will duplicate our work. They will see the benefits of these systems. We use these systems in Israel and in the West Bank, so we know their advantages.
Can you imagine yourself living without drinking water, not showering for months, or having to look for a toilet? Even though [these systems] look simple, they really change people’s lives. If we look at history, people live where the water is.
Q: The Arava Institute is known for bringing together Palestinians and Israelis to work on environmental projects. What lessons have you learned?
The most important one is the engagement of the community in identifying the needs, designing the solution, and implementing the solution. We also learned how to increase the public acceptance of a project that [we] had to implement by taking into consideration who will use the technology and if there are any cultural or religious sensitivities there.
You cannot go to a community that has environmental challenges and just provide them with engineering solutions. You have to engage and educate them. That’s why I started working with schools in the region. It’s a lot of investment, but it brings more results.
What keeps us in this business during this difficult time is the impact. We see that our methodology is working to bring people together.
Courtesy of Damour for Community Development
Q: What role can environmental cooperation play in fostering dialogue?
A lot, because it’s not a luxury. It’s not that I am a tree hugger, or someone who is an environmentalist, or a vegan, to protect the environment. These are still very important things. However, in the Middle East, climate change is a real threat, and people need to have the right technologies to cope with that.
Today, you don’t see climate as a big debate in elections around the world. But very soon, it will be a major part of the political debates, because it will impact everyone’s life.
Q: What gives you hope for the future of the Middle East?
Seeing communities in the Negev [desert] in Israel, in the Jordan Valley, and in Gaza, asking us for help during this time. Seeing that the methodology of science diplomacy builds trust and understanding.
It seems simple, right? But none of this work is easy, especially in our region. We live in a world where no one has the luxury of giving up on things we believe in.
Peace, democracy, or human rights are not guaranteed. But protecting these values is doable through dialogue.
