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TIME honors Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian group for environmental work By Zafrir Rinat Tags: TIME, Environment  Three directors of the Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian environmental organization Friends of the Earth - Middle East (FoEME) have been chosen as Time Magazine's Heroes of the Environment 2008. The magazine gave Palestinian Nader Khateeb, Jordanian Muinqeth Mehyar and Israeli Gidon Bromberg, among other people, this year's award for their contribution to cooperation between Palestinians, Jordanians and Israelis and raising awareness of environmental issues such as preserving the Dead Sea and groundwater sources. Last year's Hero of the Environment was Zalul Environmental Association founder Benjamin Kahn. Advertisement One of FoEME's first campaigns, after it started operating in 1994, was for preserving the Dead Sea, protecting it from development projects and stopping it from drying up. "When we started this activity people laughed at us and said it was the Dead Sea, so there's nothing to preserve there," says Bromberg. "Today decision-makers and the world's media understand the issue's importance." Recently FoEME has been campaigning for examining alternatives to the option of funneling water from the Red Sea via a channel to save the Dead Sea. The Israeli and Jordanian governments support this alternative, but FoEME says it is ecologically hazardous to the Arava and the Dead Sea itself, and fails to solve the acute water shortage that the Jordan River also suffers from. Every FoEME branch makes decisions appropriate to its country on the basis of a joint vision, but the three branches maintain close cooperation to protect their shared ecological heritage, and Bromberg spends much of his time in Jordan. The Jordanian and Palestinian activists compromise their safety by cooperating with their Israeli counterparts: They have been subjected to threats, and a few years ago an attempt was made to murder Mehyar in Amman. "We believe we have to cooperate to prevent the environment's destruction," says Bromberg. "People can start looking for solutions now, rather than wait for the end of the conflict." After working to influence decision-makers in the first years, FoEME has focused a large part of its activities in community centers on both sides of the border in recent years. The organization's flagship, "Good Water Neighbors," encourages local leaders of some 20 communities on either side of the border to cooperate to conserve water and act against pollution, overpumping and other water waste. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Defending against Iran U.S. deploys early-warning radar system at Israeli base to detect Iranian missiles. Chinese train in Israel Haifa stadium had been turned into mock Bird's Nest in pre-Olympics exercises.

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