The Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability at Bethlehem University notes with grave concern that rainfall in our region is 48-49% of normal average for this time of year to now and 38% for full average season. And since we do not expect more rainfall coming two weeks, the latter percentage is likely to hold. Climate change of course is wreaking havoc around the world but the situation is exacerbated here by colonialism. The impact in Palestine will be catastrophic on rainfed agriculture, recharge of water aquifer, and availability of water this summer for a parched population already suffering from water injustice as colonial settlers take the vast majority of water leaving local/indigenous (remaining people after ethnic cleansing) less than 7% of water. We expect horrific outcomes for our people and for nature.
Meanwhile the march of folly continues with the US giving $3 billion new weapons to the Israeli apartheid regime. Gutting social services and fattening US military-industrial-real estate tycoons' coffers: Gaza, Greenland, Canada, Ukraine are still on the menu. Rare minerals, oil, Gas (off the coast of Gaza), and more, gold statues of trump and Netanyahu. Oh my oh my! Catastrophe looming ever closer on our planet. As Howard Zinn noted "You can't be neutral on a moving train" (heading off the cliff if I may add). We need to get off the train and we need to derail it! The humiliation of the comedian Zelenskyy at the white house is typical of how empires deal with their puppets when they finish their role. Nobody reads history and they repeat it. The pro US Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili was like Zelenskyy a darling of the west. He lost two provinces to Russia and was dropped like a hot potato (betrayed by his handler in similar ways). Arab leaders (especially Mahmoud Abbas, Sisi, and MBS) need to be aware that colonialism is about real estate and profit not about people. You will be dropped. Mark my words. Let this month of Ramadan be a month of reflection by leaders and go back to the only card they really have (besides their God if they believe in one): their people. I also suggest a need for learning, reading, and acting on knowledge (like about human impact on the environment).
This is what we at the Palestine Institute for Biodiversity and Sustainability (Bethlehem University) do every day. You can read and be inspired by our 2024 annual report.
Scars on the land (Cara reports on his visit and our interview on environmental issues)
Through a child's eye: Genocide in Gaza.
Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone (BBC documentary)
Stay Humane and keep hope alive
Mazin Qumsiyeh
A bedouin in cyberspace, a villager at home
Professor, Founder, and (volunteer) Director Palestine Museum of Natural History
Palestine Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability Bethlehem University Occupied Palestine
facebook pages Personal Institute
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