Enjoying an occasional breeze in the 31-degree July heat and 58% humidity, I peered into the mesh siding of the stroller parked next to me. I watched my 5-and-a-third-month-old son sleeping, his little chest rising up and down under his safety belt.

Sitting on my bench, I thought about how in just 22 days, I would go back to work. Soon, I would once again be on deadline for two, three or four stories each evening. Our nearly daily walks, during which I gravitated on autopilot to the beautifully sculpted grounds of the Weizmann Institute of Science, would likely be limited to early mornings or weekends. My bench would become another mother’s bench.

My bench at the Weizmann Institute

I can recall the exact day that the bench – unbeknownst to the institute – became my bench. Monday, February 29. Our newborn was just shy of one month old, blissfully unaware of the series of infrastructural problems that had overtaken our aging apartment in the previous two weeks: a kitchen flood, a municipal water main break, a full day without electricity, the demise of our hot water boiler. And that morning, it was the replacement of the heater-air conditioning unit, which had likewise elected to cease functioning.

I decided to take our son out on an extensive walk in the cool February air that morning, leaving my husband to handle the air conditioning technicians. Wandering around the streets of Rehovot with a baby on wheels – still quite a new activity for me at the time – I anxiously negotiated the stroller up and down the curbs, worrying each time that I might have bumped his tiny head a little bit too hard.

I entered the institute and ambled along its immaculately manicured, tree-lined sidewalks, as our son continued to sleep soundly in the infant carrycot attachment of the stroller. I had fed him in our comfortable nursing space at home just before we departed, in hopes that the technicians would not only be on time, but would also finish their work prior to his next meal. Yet as one hour became two hours and two eventually became three, I understood the impossibility of planning ahead in motherhood. I would have to nurse outside that morning, for the first time.

As I walked along the campus’s main road, I noticed a small cement path, leading into a thick grove of trees and ivy hedges. At the path’s end was a wooden bench – its dark brown paint peeling but none worse for the wear. Nestled among the fiddlewoods, my bench promised an ideal combination of privacy and natural beauty to foster confidence in a newly nursing, first-time mother.

Over the coming months of maternity leave, this spot continued to serve as a go-to nursing hub, and later on, a shaded refuge from escalating temperatures. As I ventured out further and longer, I may not have remained entirely exclusive to my bench – but the trusty wooden pew was always there whenever we came rolling by. My bench offered a place to hold and nurse my son, a place to think and write while he slept in his stroller.

On the precipice of my return to work, I decided that we would spend some quality time with my bench. Since my first encounter with my bench, I noticed that the Weizmann grounds crew had significantly widened the cement path, while visibly cropping the ivy hedges that crept up along its sides.

But my son, now in his full-sized stroller, still slept soundly under the trees, only waking when he was ready to nurse – albeit in a slightly less private venue. Since we had begun taking our walks and visiting my bench, he had learned to smile, learned to laugh, learned to babble. He could now roll over as he pleased, sending me rushing to turn him over when I’d find him on his belly at night.

After finishing his meal, he smiled at me from the seat of his stroller, his eyes wandering to the trees above him as spit-up dribbled down his chin. During the past five-and-a-third months, much had changed – a path was expanded, hedges were trimmed, flower buds had fallen. But my bench stood strong, welcoming us as long as we lingered and ushering us on our way.

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2016/07/my-bench/feed/0Facing eviction, Canaan dog breeder turns to public to recruit relocation fundshttp://www.sharonudasin.com/2016/01/facing-eviction-canaan-dog-breeder-turns-to-public-to-recruit-relocation-funds/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2016/01/facing-eviction-canaan-dog-breeder-turns-to-public-to-recruit-relocation-funds/#respondWed, 27 Jan 2016 12:52:27 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1692Read more...]]>For American-Israeli Myrna Shiboleth, preserving the Canaan – the national dog of Israel – and doing so from the dilapidated ruins of Sha’ar Hagai have been nothing short of her raison d’être for the past 46 years.

Now facing a court-ordered eviction following a several- year, government-sponsored lawsuit over land occupancy, Shiboleth is scrambling to crowdfund the relocation of the Sha’ar Hagai Kennel.

While the case has been ongoing since 2011, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled in favor of the Israel Lands Authority on January 17, requiring the occupants of the area’s buildings to vacate within 90 days.

Shiboleth made aliya from Chicago in 1969 and, soon after, settled in the disputed region, located about 20 km. west of Jerusalem just off of Route 1. Continue reading…

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2016/01/facing-eviction-canaan-dog-breeder-turns-to-public-to-recruit-relocation-funds/feed/0Israel National Trail welcomes virtual hiking enthusiasts on Google Street Viewhttp://www.sharonudasin.com/2016/01/israel-national-trail-welcomes-virtual-hiking-enthusiasts-on-google-street-view/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2016/01/israel-national-trail-welcomes-virtual-hiking-enthusiasts-on-google-street-view/#respondSun, 24 Jan 2016 12:55:19 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1694Read more...]]>After finishing up a dive through Australia’s Great Barrier Reef or ambling among Cambodia’s legendary Angkor Wat temples, trekking enthusiasts across the globe can now head out for a hike on the Israel National Trail – all from the comfort of their computer screens.

The 1,100-kilometer trail, which stretches from the country’s northern tip at Kibbutz Dan and winds southward all the way to Eilat, is the longest footpath ever to be photographed for the Google Maps Street View Trekker project.

Equipped with two 360-degree cameras strapped to their backs, some 250 volunteers from the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and Google Israel took turns hiking the trail this summer – capturing panoramic images of the route over the course of nearly three months. Continue reading…

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2016/01/israel-national-trail-welcomes-virtual-hiking-enthusiasts-on-google-street-view/feed/0Analysis: The gas deal – it ain’t over till it’s overhttp://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/analysis-the-gas-deal-it-aint-over-till-its-over/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/analysis-the-gas-deal-it-aint-over-till-its-over/#respondFri, 18 Dec 2015 05:02:05 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1700Read more...]]>While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz were all smiles at Thursday’s ceremony to kick off the country’s natural gas framework, the celebrations that ensued across the sector may still be slightly premature.

As quickly as Netanyahu placed his signature on Article 52 – the legal clause required to activate the gas deal – opposition leader Isaac Herzog reiterated the Zionist Union’s intentions to bring the matter to the High Court of Justice and put an end to what he described as a “crooked process” that ignored the rights of the Israeli public. Meretz chairwoman Zehava Gal-On followed suit on behalf of her party, and an environmental NGO submitted its own petition a day earlier.

The petitions are scheduled for a collective discussion in the High Court on February 3, according to media reports.

Netanyahu, in his role of economy minister, needed to invoke Article 52 of the 1988 Restrictive Trade Practices Law in order to bypass the objections of the antitrust commissioner to the country’s natural gas deal.

Although it is within an economy minister’s rights to activate the clause by citing interests of national security or foreign relations, never before has a minister chosen to do so. Continue reading…

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/analysis-the-gas-deal-it-aint-over-till-its-over/feed/0Netanyahu signs off on controversial natural gas dealhttp://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/netanyahu-signs-off-on-controversial-natural-gas-deal/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/netanyahu-signs-off-on-controversial-natural-gas-deal/#respondThu, 17 Dec 2015 11:45:46 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1698Read more...]]>Putting an end to nearly a year of squabbles that all but froze the nation’s natural gas sector, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday signed a legal clause to activate the sector’s long-disputed framework agreement.

While the gas framework in question – a deal aimed at settling disagreements between the developers and the government – received cabinet approval in August, the plans faced additional hurdles after failing to receive the approval of the antitrust commissioner.

Fully realizing the gas deal ultimately required that the economy minister – a role currently being filled by Netanyahu – invoke a legal clause to circumvent the commissioner’s objections – Article 52 of the Restrictive Trade Practices Law (1988).

“We came, today, to provide gas to Israel, to the Israeli economy, to the Israeli citizens,” Netanyahu said at the signing ceremony held at the Neot Hovav Industrial Park in the Negev. “The gas that was given to us as a gift from God found in the deep sea where we were given enormous gas reserves. They potentially transform us not just into an energy power, but certainly into an important international energy force with a very great capability – and we need to extract them.” Continue reading…

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/netanyahu-signs-off-on-controversial-natural-gas-deal/feed/0Lead Israeli environmentalist: Country failed to live up to its potential at climate conferencehttp://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/lead-israeli-environmentalist-country-failed-to-live-up-to-its-potential-at-climate-conference/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/lead-israeli-environmentalist-country-failed-to-live-up-to-its-potential-at-climate-conference/#respondSun, 13 Dec 2015 04:25:20 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1704Read more...]]>Departing from the 12-day United Nations Conference on Climate Change without a national action plan to implement its modest emissions targets, Israel has failed to live up to its potential at the annual Conference of Parties, according to the country’s leading environmentalist.

“This conference, COP-21, is first and foremost a business opportunity – a business opportunity that our government has missed,” Naor Yerushalmi – CEO of Life and Environment, the umbrella organization for all of Israel’s green groups – told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

Yerushalmi, who had joined the Israeli delegation in Le Bourget, outside Paris, for the second half of COP-21, spoke with the Post on Thursday evening, as the convention leaders were working to settle on a final agreement.

Among OECD countries, Israel’s greenhouse gas emission target – a 25-percent reduction by 2030, in comparison to 2005 levels – is one of the lowest, but the government has yet to approve a program toward realizing this and other environmental goals, Yerushalmi explained. Continue reading…

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/lead-israeli-environmentalist-country-failed-to-live-up-to-its-potential-at-climate-conference/feed/0Palestinian strawberry growers welcome bugs to farms pilot projecthttp://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/palestinian-strawberry-growers-welcome-bugs-to-farms-pilot-project/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/palestinian-strawberry-growers-welcome-bugs-to-farms-pilot-project/#respondMon, 07 Dec 2015 23:51:33 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1702Read more...]]>After years in which insects have been optimizing Israeli crop growth by serving as biological pesticides, the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria has begun to bring these same friendly bugs to West Bank Palestinian farmers.

Five Palestinian strawberry growers, from the Tulkarm and Jenin areas, are taking part in a pilot program to bring integrated pest management – the combined use of natural insect and chemical pesticides – to their strawberry plots.

By employing wasps to combat destructive aphids, farmers are able to decrease the use of chemical pesticides by about 80 percent, strengthening consumer health and increasing the product value, according to the Civil Administration.

The administration has been conducting meetings between the Palestinian growers and Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu-based BioBee Biological Systems Ltd., which specializes in natural pesticide use, over the past three months. During these sessions, the farmers studied the various diseases and pests that threaten strawberries, as well as the employment of both natural pesticides and permitted chemical preparations to combat their spread. Continue reading…

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/12/palestinian-strawberry-growers-welcome-bugs-to-farms-pilot-project/feed/0Researchers stumped as dust storm persists in Israel for third dayhttp://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/09/researchers-stumped-as-dust-storm-persists-in-israel-for-third-day/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/09/researchers-stumped-as-dust-storm-persists-in-israel-for-third-day/#respondFri, 11 Sep 2015 06:02:56 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1659Read more...]]>As a thick haze shrouded Israel’s buildings and roads for the third day in a row on Thursday, scientists continued to ponder the equally hazy meteorological explanation for the dust storm, the strongest and most polluting such event to hit the country in 15 years.

The dusty conditions are the result of sandstorms raging in the Syrian desert.

However, why and how these sandstorms began at this time of year – and ultimately blew south to Israel and its neighbors – has puzzled meteorologists.

There have been no reports of such significant haze in early September since the country began recording weather measurements 75 years ago, Dr. Amos Porat, head of the Israel Meteorological Service’s Climate Department, explained on Tuesday, the first day of the event.

The sandstorms, which he described as “unprecedented for this time of year,” flowed into the region by northeasterly winds at a low altitude.

Dust storms in Israel are more typical in the winter and spring.

Dust levels have been so thick that the Environmental Protection and Health ministries have issued ongoing warnings advising that people with pulmonary or cardiac conditions – as well as the elderly, pregnant women, and children – stay indoors and refrain from physical activity. Continue reading…

Among the treks are two hiking trails, a bike tour and a walking trip, according to Eco-Peace, which has offices and directors in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. Realized through special funding from the United States Agency for Development (USAID), the project has brought together tour guides, tourism experts and trails in all three places, in what EcoPeace describes as “an unprecedented collaboration for the common cause of attracting tourists to our region.”

“We are proud to introduce an initiative that comes from cooperation among Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. We expect that the trips will attract many tourists from around the world,” said Gidon Bromberg, Israel director for EcoPeace.

Representatives of some 25 European tourism agencies gathered for the launch of the cross-border trails on Thursday in Tzur Hadassah, where they were also joined by Deputy Regional Cooperation Minister Ayoub Kara.

“I believe that tourism is one of the keys to good neighborly relations,” Kara said. “Therefore, the Regional Cooperation Ministry and I have begun to examine the possibility of giving tourists from Arab states the possibility of passing freely to Israel through Jordan, using Jordanian transfer certificates.

If this takes place, it will greatly contribute to strengthening our relations with the Hashemite Kingdom and with other Arab countries.”

The EcoPeace tours come in various shapes and sizes, organized by an assortment of tour companies from the three places and offering different prices per person based on group size. Continue reading…

]]>http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/09/environmental-ngo-unveils-israeli-palestinian-jordanian-hiking-cycling-trails/feed/0Egyptian gas find may close Israel’s ‘window of opportunity’http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/09/egyptian-gas-find-may-close-israels-window-of-opportunity/
http://www.sharonudasin.com/2015/09/egyptian-gas-find-may-close-israels-window-of-opportunity/#respondTue, 01 Sep 2015 10:06:54 +0000http://www.sharonudasin.com/?p=1661Read more...]]>The likely discovery of a large natural gas reservoir off Egypt’s shores must serve as a wake-up call for Israel – a reminder that further delays in the sector could cause the economy undue harm, experts warned on Monday.

On Sunday, the Italian energy giant Eni announced that it had identified the Mediterranean’s largest known gas field off the Egyptian coast, the 30 trillion cubic feet (849 billion cubic meter) Zohr field. If the estimates are correct, the Zohr gas field would be significantly larger than Israel’s biggest field, Leviathan, which is approximately 621 b.cu.m.

While Eni company executives celebrated the find as a potential solution for Egypt’s gas needs for decades to come, Israeli officials and energy analysts viewed the discovery through a more cautionary lens.

National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz stressed the need to urgently finalize the country’s natural gas compromise outline, to end the freeze that has overtaken the sector at home.

Following the December announcement of outgoing Antitrust Commissioner David Gilo – who completed his term on Monday – that he intended to review whether the market dominance of Delek Group and Noble Energy constituted an illegal “restrictive agreement,” nearly eight months of negotiations among the companies and government officials ensued. Although the cabinet approved a compromise outline two weeks ago, numerous bureaucratic and regulatory hurdles are still preventing the outline from receiving final authorization. As a result, development has yet to begin at the Leviathan and several smaller gas reservoirs.

On Sunday night, Steinitz described Israel as “standing still and taking its time” with the outline, while “the world is changing before our eyes.” Such procrastination, he explained, could impact Israel’s export possibilities.

Among such export opportunities are the possible sales of gas from Israel to Egypt. Last year, the natural gas companies operating in Israel’s waters signed letters of intent for the provision of 71 b.cu.m. of Tamar reservoir gas to Spanish Union Fenosa’s Egyptian liquefied natural gas plant and the supply of 105 b.cu.m. of Leviathan gas to the British Gas LNG plant, also in Egypt. Another letter of intent was signed with Jordan’s National Electric Power Company for the provision of 45 b.cu.m. of gas from the Leviathan reservoir.