Wednesday, May 5, 2010

First Muslim CEO of Jerusalem YMCA

Forsan Hussein is one of the most influential of Israel's young Arabs, becoming known as the Israeli Obama. He has recently been appointed the first non-Christian CEO of Jerusalem International YMCA.

This YMCA is definitely not your father's YMCA. Housed in what has been described as the most beautiful YMCA in the world, it attracts the rich and famous and serves often as a place where international diplomats and activists from east and west Jerusalem meet for intimate get-togethers as well as for more lavish functions.

Hussein was born and grew up in the Israeli Muslim Arab village of Sha'ab, near Acre, north of Haifa. While he graduated high school with a near perfect score of 98on his exams, he couldn't afford university and went to work in an industrial park. But in 2006 he won a a scholarship to study at Brandeis University in the US.

Fitting in with and moving easily between life in America and life in Israel, including both the Tel Aviv nightlife scene and the small Arab village where he grew up, the soon-to-be-married Hussein is hoping to use all his life experience to turn the Jerusalem Y into something bigger than it already is. Quoted by Israel21c (its article can be found at http://www.israel21c.org/201005047924/people/the-qisraeli-obamaq-takes-on-the-y) , he says:

"I was born and raised as a Muslim. What sets me apart here is that my appointment is groundbreaking. I'm the first Muslim to head the Y since it was established," says Hussein, whose duty it will be to make sure that the Y, owned by the YMCA of the USA, will gain financial independence.

"[W]e are trying to make the Y an example of what Jerusalem should be - a dynamic interfaith peace center," says Hussein.

"In our renewed vision we want to position it, and develop and empower its ethical values and moral citizenship. There will be many different activities tackling this," Hussein continues.

"We will try to capitalize on the diverse center of the Jerusalem community, what Jerusalem is and what this entire region can be, the way Lord Allenby described it," he says, citing Allenby's words from his dedication speech at the Jerusalem Center in 1933, now emblazoned on the wall at the Y: Here is a place whose atmosphere is peace, where political and religious jealousies can be forgotten and international unity fostered and developed.

Hussein calls himself a Palestinian Israeli, but says that the words don't matter much. "I am Palestinian in terms of nationality, or peoplehood. But I am also an Israeli, as a citizen, someone who is loyal to Israel, it being my only country."

The Jordan River is going dry!

Christian pilgrims flock to the Jordan River to immerse themselves in the water where Jesus was baptized, mostly in the few stretches of the river that are not polluted. But a team of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian environmental scientists say that one of the efforts to clean the river large stretches of it may dry up by 2011, leaving behind a river of sewage.

It is ironic how things got to this point. It began when Israel and Jordan agreed to stop dumping waste into the river and to build treatment plants in each country to clean the waste water before they dump it into the river. Those plants are expected to be up and running 2011 and the treated sewage will be used for agriculture purposes, meaning it will not be pumped into the Jordan. But the problem is that if no wastewater enters the lower Jordan — the river's largest section — then no water will flow in it at all!

The Jordan River, of course, is where John baptized Jesus. And also, of course, Israel and Jordan each claim that the baptismal site is on their side of the river and built tourist sites that face each other across the river, which at that point is only a few yards wide.

The Bible describes the river as "overflowing." And the Associated Press reports that "in 1847, a U.S. Naval officer visiting the area reported on the 'deafening roar of the tumultuous waters'. But over the past five decades, Israel, Jordan and Syria have diverted about 98 percent of the Jordan River and its tributaries for drinking water and agricultural use. Only 700 million to about 1 billion cubic feet (20 million to 30 million cubic meters) flow through the river today, a tiny fraction of the 45 billion cubic feet (1.3 billion cubic meters) that used to surge through before the 1930s, when the first dam was built on the river in what is now Israel. What was once the narrowest stretch of the river has now become its widest. In some spots, the Jordan is only a trickle. Otters and other creatures that used to live on its banks are long gone. Today, the lower section of the Jordan is choked with sewage from towns on the Israeli, West Bank and Jordanian sides."

Most Christian pilgrims who visit Israel to immerse themselves in the Jordan River do so in the clean waters at Yardenit, a modern-day baptismal tourist site in Israel near the Sea of Galilee. A few go to the polluted traditional baptism site of Jesus and dip in the brown waters there.

And sadly it is no surprise that political disagreements among Jordan, Israel and Syria regarding sharing the waters of the Jordan and other water sources has exacerbated, if not created, the water shortage. Each complains that the other's projects divert shared water sources for their own needs. These diversions have also been the major reason why the Dead Sea has lost one-third of its volume since the 1960s.

The Israeli-Jordanian-Palestinian team of environmental scientists determined that 400 million cubic meters of water each year would be needed to rehabilitate the river, gradually rising to 600 m.cu.m. In addition, the river would have to flood once a year to rehabilitate the shores. (The river has not flooded since the winter of 1991-92.)

So where would that much water come from?

The scientists suggested Israel contribute 220 m.cu.m., Syria 100 m.cu.m. and Jordan 90 m.cu.m.. Each country has dammed the river or its tributaries and diverted it for use. Seventy-five percent of the water would have to be fresh water and the rest highly treated sewage water to preserve the saline balance.

Looking at both the supply and demand side, the team of scientists, again one Israeli, one Palestinian and one Jordanian, suggested measures for Israel to take, like fixing leaky pipes, covering reservoirs to prevent evaporation, raising awareness, changing plants in gardens and using grey water (wastewater generated from domestic activities such as laundry, dishwashing and bathing). For Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, wastewater reclamation was the key to conserving fresh water. Jordan should also reduce water conveyance loss, reform gardening and raise awareness.

Following these suggestions would also go a long way toward saving the Dead Sea.