(29 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stefanovikeio, Greece – 22 January 2025
1. Various of people taking part in bird-watching field trip by Lake Karla
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Yossi Leshem, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University’s School of Zoology: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND PARTIALLY OVELAID BY SHOT 3++
“(It) was the joint venture of people to people. Suddenly the farmers from Jordan, we made many seminars together, also with the Palestinians and after they meet like we are here now, together in the field, they become friends."
3. Various of Leshem and retired general Mansour Abu Rashid, former director of Jordanian military intelligence, talking, laughing and looking at birds
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Mansour Abu Rashid, environmentalist: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND PARTIALLY OVELAID BY SHOT 5++
“We go to the schools, we go to the universities, and also we go to the mosque, because the imam and the sheikh in the mosque can convince the people when they say some phrase from the Quran and some phrase from Prophet Muhammad, what he said about the benefit of the barn owls and how much the barn owls help the farmers and their farm.”
5. Various of birdwatchers
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexandre Roulin, Swiss Scientist: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND PARTIALLYY OVELAID BY SHOTS 7 AND 8++
“This is what we call scientific diplomacy. We use science to bring people together because the scientists should be neutral, they are interested in science and not in politics. And this can help the ambassadors, the diplomats, the politicians to start the dialogue, starting from the barn owl up to the top.”
7. Mid of birdwatchers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Athens, Greece – 21 January 2025
8. Close of barn owl
STORYLINE:
It soars over the borders and divisions of the war-torn Middle East, bringing Arab and Israeli academics together.
An unlikely symbol of cooperation, the barn owl is now getting global attention.
Experts from 12 countries gathered in Greece last week to discuss an effort to help this remarkable predator that began decades ago as an unlikely Israeli-Jordanian collaboration.
The moon-faced, shoebox-sized owl is a ruthless pest controller, protecting crops from rodents and other nuisances.
But as modern building techniques eliminate the nooks and crannies that shelter their nests, their populations have fallen.
Conservation initiatives aim to protect the barn owl from urban encroachment by creating networks of artificial nests, typically modified plywood boxes, and by cutting down on the use of pesticides and rodenticides that can poison predatory birds.
In 2002, Yossi Leshem, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University’s School of Zoology, partnered with retired Gen. Mansour Abu Rashid, to bring the boxes to Jordan.
Abu Rashid helped extend the project’s tracking system to Jordan, using lightweight radio transmitters to monitor the birds.
"(It) was the joint venture of people to people," Leshem said.
"Suddenly the farmers from Jordan, we made many seminars together, also with the Palestinians and after they meet like we are here now, together in the field, they become friends."
Arab and Israeli scientists have kept their collaboration going during periods of tension and war, including the ongoing conflict in Gaza. When necessary, they switch to online meetings and talks at international conferences.
According to conference officials, the main impact of the war on the owl program recorded so far is the large amount of land destroyed in Lebanon, burning nesting areas and boxes in areas near the Israeli border.
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