Israeli and Palestinian scientists continue collaborations amid conflict

During the 15 months of the cruel war in the Middle East, scientific cooperation crossed an unexpected border. Ornithologists at Tel Aviv University in Israel have continued to meet online with their counterparts in Jordan, Palestinian regions and European countries.Tito alba) To reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture.

The project attachs the owl to eat crop rodents instead of relying on farmers using toxic rodents to control the population. In January, shortly after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, researchers from 13 countries collected in Greece. Their mission was to discuss both of them how to expand the use of barn owls for biological control and promote the project as an example of research cooperation to promote peaceful co -existence.

The first 42-day phase of the ceasefire ended officially on 1 March. The conversation between various parties has resumed in Doha, Qatar, but what will happen next, there is a huge uncertainty on whether the ceasefire will tolerate the break. Despite opposition from many countries, the Israeli government is currently preventing food and fuel from entering Gaza. It has also stopped supply of electricity to Gaza’s main spinning plant, aimed at expanding Hamas to the first phase of the ceasefire.

“I am not Bhola,” the project founder and an ornithologist at Tel Aviv University, Yosi Leshem. “The ceasefire is very critical.

Leshem and other Israeli scientists say Nature That they are committed to continue their research and pursue cooperation. Among them are David Leharr, director of the Center for Applied Environmental Diplomacy at the Arva Institute, located in Ketura south of Israel.

Lehrr Palestinian non-profiting organization is coordinating an attempt with Demor for Community Development, which has offices in both Gaza and West Bank. In January, 60 Palestinian, Jordan and Israeli Specialists The Middle East met in Athens to discuss how to solve water, energy, food-protection and overall environmental problems. Last week, the group announced further studies in seven project ideas. One has to create an artificial structure from the debris of destroyed buildings. The structure will have solar energy or water splitting infrastructure.

“Seventy percent of buildings in Gaza and almost all infrastructure have been destroyed due to war,” says Lehar. So far, “debris forms a major environmental and human threats, destroyed by the chemicals released in the form of buildings and a large amount of unexplained ordinance was mixed with debris”, they say.

To reorganize it, any project will “require major coordination between Israel and Palestine and can only be achieved when all sides, including international communities, are fully on board”.

Co -existence between boycott

After Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, the country launched intense, deadly airstrikes on the populated areas of Gaza for 15 months. For that time, Israel was also in war with Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Some universities in Europe have suspended institution level relations with universities in Israel. For example, the Council of Rectors of Belgian French speaking universities, Said in a statement in January It is committed to suspending institutional collaborations with organizations, regardless of their origin, that repeated support or directly involve international law and human rights violations.

In an open letter Published in May last May, some 185 researchers of Gaza and university administrators wrote: “We give support and support for those national and international institutions who stand in solidarity with us, provide support and support during these challenging times, however, we effectively emphasize the importance of coordinating these efforts to reopen in Gaza.”

Mauna Maroon, a rector neurobiologist at Haifa University in Israel, opposed the boycott of Israeli universities. “Educationist is an opportunity to share knowledge and do research in complete freedom,” Maroon says that there is an Arab -Israel citizen. “People in the Middle East have common issues, more than factors that can distinguish and discriminate between us.”

Tamir Sheer, the rector of Hebrew University, Jerusalem, agrees. “Israeli is independent of academic government,” he says. “At Hebrew University, our 20% of our students are Arab -Mahalinians, including thousands of students from Eastern Jerusalem.

In February, the Israel Association of University Heads released a report in which about 500 complaints were filed by the Israeli researchers by foreign institutions and professional academic associations. Researchers reported rejection of papers, disruption of lecture, avoiding colleague reviews, difficulties in receiving money and “demanding Israel’s intentions from Israel as a condition for continuous participation in a conference”.

According to the Israeli Science Foundation (ISF) of some international academics of the country’s main research, the country’s Chief Research-Finance Agency, Israeli researchers are denying colleague-review requests, although such refusal is relatively unusual, the Matter-Mitravoch, Director General of ISF, is located in the Jorusalem.

These Gaza scientists are keeping research alive amidst war, destruction and uncertainty

In 2024, ISF contacted around 22,000 international researchers for 6,600 grant-review posts. “We were very worried,” physicist Daniel Zajfman says, who presides over the Educational Board of ISF. He said, “We thought,” no one wants to see Israeli science. ” Jeff-Mitvoch says that about 170 of these possible critics refused to review applications, clearly citing political reasons-doing so politely, and some do not say so politely.

Scholarship runs

Although military service in Israel is mandatory for most adult citizens, war has not reduced the scientific production of the country according to ISF data. In 2024, grant applications increased by 10% from 2,500 applications annually in previous years. Zajfman thinks that this growth can be partially attributed to the determination of scientists to continue with their scholarship. “The feeling is that we cannot allow these events, this war, to impress what we are doing now,” they say.