The "Smart" and Innovative Ma'alot-Tarshiha: An Energy Independent City

Our city of "Ma'alot-Tarshiha" is a beautiful joint Jewish and Arab community of 27,000 people in northern Israel, located in the Western Galilee, about 600 meters (1,969 feet) above sea level. Our Municipality has become energy independent by the introduction of energy efficiency measures that have created economic benefits to the city budget.

In 2013, the Municipality of Ma’alot announced to the world that it was instigating a new project, called “Going into the Light,” administered by the Israeli start-up Juganu Systems. where over 13,000 new and retrofit luminaries were installed replacing all of the old street lights.  By the implementation of this initial step Ma’alot we have not only reduced our “Carbon Footprint "but we have induced other towns and villages in our area to join us. Ma'alot now enjoys brighter lighting while saving about $90,000 US each year in electricity operating costs, capital improvement and maintenance costs on all lighting elements. According to independent testing performed by the IEC (Israel Electrical Corporation), "Ma’alot reduced energy consumption by 75% while delivering even more light throughout the city’s streets and buildings."

At the time of the introduction of the program it was announced that some of savings derived from the LED lighting program would be reinvested into the creation of a "Innovative" research team that would be used to analyze city wide data and recommend additional programs to implement and integrate. The purpose of the Innovative Team would be to research means to increase energy efficiency, learn how to better manage waste and to improve the infrastructure and water programs under the auspices of the Park Koren Industrial Management in Ma'alot. These steps are being done to complete the change for a better and “Smarter” Ma’alot as an energy independent city.

Economical Savings and Energy Independent

In our research, we have seen on the Internet how other cities throughout the world have gained economical and energy savings through leasing underutilized public spaces for photo-voltaic (PV) Solar Roof systems to produce renewable sources of electricity.

In Ma’alot we have leased several Municipal buildings; mainly the city's schools and our Community Center to solar companies for solar energy collection. By the installation of solar energy collection roofs, the municipality has realized economical and energy savings gained from leasing the underutilized public spaces for community solar farms. Furthermore, we have recently instigated a program to lease underutilized parking areas to Solar Energy companies. This will benefit the community not only by producing clean energy by harnessing the power of the sun.

We did research into the posibility of installing solar canopies over parking areas which would contribute to the welfare of the residents. We found that the installation of solar collection units over parking areas will provide shaded areas from the sun and protection from inclement winter weather for the residents and their vehicles.

Parking in a covered facility contributes substantially to increased vehicle fuel efficiency, because it saves; having to cool cars in the summer and heating cars in the winter during inclement weather.

We have also taken strides in further reducing our “Carbon Footprint” and increase economic savings and energy reduction to the Municipality by instigating a “cogeneration program” for the reduction in city bio-mass in our waste management. With a cogeneration furnace, the municipality can improve the efficiency in waste reduction, reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, promote economic growth, and maintain a robust energy infrastructure.

It is said that the transforming into a smart city is a long marathon, not a sprint. Without a well-structured strategic plan, you can’t prioritize nor make informed decisions nor can you track milestones or measure success.

Israeli accelerators are full of ‘Smart’ solutions which are being devised and developed in - healthcare, water management, energy supply and transport, for example. More and more of these Israeli designed technologies (apps) are becoming part of everyday life, and increasingly we live in an (IOT) Internet of Things network society, where (almost) everything is connected to (almost) everyone.

Clean and Efficient living

Smart Cities use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enhance quality, performance and interactivity of urban services, to reduce costs and resource consumption and to improve contact between citizens and government.

Citizen Participation

Cities need to be prepared for future developments to improve the quality of life. They can achieve this by sharing civic responsibility with residents through citizen engagement activities such as; kitchen table discussions at private homes, online discussion forums and workshops at community centers to communicate and engage citizens in a dialog about city projects. Through IOT apps, that allow for the ready exchange of data, cities can improve the efficiency of services and meet residents’ needs as well as unleash innovation and efficiency as well as new entrepreneurial opportunities.

Conclusion: An Energy Independent City

As we stated in this document we wish to implement "Smart City" solutions, with the objective transforming our municipality into a low CO₂, resource-efficient antifragile city. The installation of the LED lights on our streets and in our municipal buildings, was the initial step in our goal to becoming an energy independent city. Since this initial step we have shared our knowledge and experience with other municipalities.

From our experience, we have found that Cities can and need to substantially increase their efficiency in their daily operations and to manage their energy use through the use of ecologically friendly and carbon free methods to produce energy so that they can become true energy independent cities.

The Green Line is NOT a border!

For years in releation to the conflict between Israel and the "Arabs of the Mandated powers" (aka Palestinians) politicians and the news media have relayed a false statement by stating there are borders separating Israel from its surrounding Arab neighbors. This statement is a blatant untruth.

The Green Line, of 1949 was an Armistice and demarcation line set out in the Armistice Agreements between the armies of Israel and those of its neighbors (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria) after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. 

This line was draw according to positions of the two warring powers and it served as the de facto borders of the State of Israel from 1949 until the Six-Day War in 1967. It still continues to represent Israel’s internationally recognized borders with Lebanon, Syria and the two Palestinian territories: the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

This false statement which is consistently used in refernce to the "West Bank" -the "Disputed Territories" and Gaza, infers the existance of the separation of territory by "Two High Contracting Parties" in a negotiated treaty, as ordainined in UNR 242. 

The truth of the matter is that the Arabs, "of the Mandated powers" (aka Palestinians) have never accepted any of the offers of generously negotiated peace treaties with the "Jewish State" of Israel.

So to clarify  the so called "Green line" IS NOT an international border. 

It refers only to the Armistice lines agreed to by all sides in the 1949 Rhodes Agreement after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Its name is derived from the green surveyor’s pencil that was used to indicate the Armistice lines on the map.

Justice Stephen M. Schwebel, who spent 19 years as a judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague including three years as President. explained; 

"...modifications of the 1949 armistice lines among those States within former Palestinian territory are lawful (if not necessarily desirable), whether those modifications are, in Secretary Rogers's words, "insubstantial alterations required for mutual security" or more substantial alterations - such as recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the whole of Jerusalem.." and in a footnote he added "It should be added that the armistice agreements of 1949 expressly preserved the territorial claims of all parties and did not purport to establish definitive boundaries between them". 

Therefore the 1949 Armistice lines are not fixed, as purported by the Palestinians and their anti-Zionists/Israel supporters. 

It is a historically recorded and documented fact, that in 1948 the Jordanian Government Army invaded the territory of the Palestinian Mandate and at the end of the fighting illegally annexed the “West Bank” and East Jerusalem. An act which was recognized only by Britain and Pakistan. 

In terms of international law, between 1948 and 1967 the entire area of what remained of the Palestinian Mandated Territory in the “West Bank” was terra nullius, or "land belonging to no one" over which sovereignty may be acquired through occupation.

Armistice lines do not establish borders, and the 1949 Armistice Agreements in particular specifically stated (at Arab insistence) that they were not creating permanent or de jure borders.

In line with the above idea, the Israeli government has officially stated that its position is that the territories cannot be called occupied, as no nation had clear rights to them, and there was no operative diplomatic arrangement, when Israel acquired them in June 1967.

Territories are only "occupied" if they are captured in war from an established and recognized sovereign, but no state had a legitimate or recognized sovereignty over the West Bank, Gaza Strip or East Jerusalem prior to the Six-Day War.

The Fourth Geneva Convention is not applicable to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, since, under its Article 2, it pertains only to "cases of…occupation of the territory of a High Contracting Party" by another High Contracting party. (The representatives of states who have signed or ratified a treaty. .. the signatories)

The West Bank and Gaza Strip have never been the legal territories of any High Contracting Party.

The concept of terra nullius is well recognized in international law. Therefore the “Palestinians” never had sovereignty over the “West Bank” or East Jerusalem. Justice Schwebel concluded that since Jordan, the prior occupying power of the “West Bank” and East Jerusalem had seized that territory unlawfully in 1948; Israel, the “Jewish State” which subsequently took that territory in the lawful exercise of self-defense in 1967 has better title to it as one of the beneficiaries for the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine.

In fact, during negotiations for the 1995 peace agreement signed between Israel and Jordan, the Jordanian government made no claim to it. 

And as East Jerusalem came into Israel's possession in the course of a defensive war, Israel was entitled to annex it and create a united Jerusalem. 

Consequently, the Jerusalem City Council has jurisdiction over building approvals for Jewish and Arab resident in any part of the "Municipal Area".

As to the truth of the issue of LEGAL and INTERNATIONAL Borders issue.

As you may well know we signed two FULLY Negotiated Peace Treaties. The treaty with Egypt on 26 March 1979, following the 1978 Camp David Accords and the second at the southern border crossing of Arabah on 26 October 1994 with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Regretfully the Israeli-Lebanese Peace Treaty, signed on May 17, 1983; by Mr. William Drapper for the United States, Mr. David Kimche for Israel and Mr. Antoine Fattal for Lebanon and Lebanese President Amine Gemayel, failed due to severe and violent Syrian opposition to the agreement.

The violence by Syria and their proxies in Lebanon reached a climax on the 14th of  September 1982 when president-elect Bachir Gemayel was assassinated by an assassin sent by the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).

By refusing to move its troops from Lebanese soil, Damascus effectively torpedoed its implementation, since Israeli withdrawal was contingent on Syria doing the same.

As a result, the Lebanese government repudiated the agreement on March 5, 1984.The agreement was revoked by the Lebanese parliament under the leadership of newly-elected speaker Hussein el-Husseini.

Ergo Israel has ONLY TWO official NEGOTIATED Borders.

As to Gaza, in the 1994 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, it was agreed that "the security fence erected by Israel around the Gaza Strip shall remain in place and that the line demarcated by the fence, as shown on the map, shall be authoritative only for the purpose of the Agreement"  (i.e. the barrier does not necessarily constitute the border). The barrier was completed in 1996.  

I refer you and the critics to: "Draft Agreement on the Gaza Strip and Jericho Area", Palestine Israel Journal of Politics, Economics and Culture. 1994-04-26. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 12, 2007. https://tinyurl.com/y7me6ekw

Why was the U.S. Report on Climate Change Leaked

What is on my mind? Is the article "Speaking Truth to Power on Climate Change: Why the U.S. Report Leaked" by Mr John H Cushman Jr.

In my humble opinion "Something is rotten in Denmark!" Or should I say the "Swamp" in Washington DC?
It is my humble opinion that climate change, which effects us all should be a "Bi-partisan" issue.
So is this article revealing to us the truth?
Why is it that the story is worded to incite more rage and anti-Trump hatred? Which those in the anti-Trump camp have so lovingly expressed.

Pay heed to this quote: "There have, after all, been cases where that happened in past Republican administrations" Here we see the writer is expressing an aversion for the political parties and there previous difference in points of view.

Consider this if you may:
"An early draft was released for public comment a month before President Obama left office."  Okay.....

So this brings up the question that "IF" it were, "released for public comment"  and it was done "a month before President Obama left office."

Why wasn't there any statement or interest expressed by President Obama or any member of his administration since "They -the Democrats" are so concerned about "Climate Change". And why did the New York Times correspondent question this?

It also brings up the even more serious question that since Hillary Clinton was seen as a "shoo in" - certain winner in the last election, why she or any member of HER Democratic Presidential Team failed to speak up when the initial report was published? ESPECIALLY since the issue of Climate Change IS a major concern of the Democratic Party?

The writer of the article goes on to state that: "It was reviewed in detail by an expert panel at the National Academy of Sciences, the gold standard for peer review, which gave its imprimatur in April." Nu? that was months ago so why the wait to bang the drum?

The writer of the article Mr John H Cushman Jr. states:
"Would the Trump Administration deep-six the report? Some scientists involved in the process reportedly were worried about that."
"There have, after all, been cases where that happened in past Republican administrations" So since it is by his own admission to be a Partisan issue why is it so surprising to him, that the "Republicans" whom he may remember DO NOT exactly have  a deep love for President Trump, may "dump the report?"

"Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said that "federal scientists'(?) concerns that the administration will try to change or suppress this report are well-founded." What is his concern founded on?

"The Trump administration has consistently demonstrated its lack of regard for science and evidence, including on climate change." Let us note here ladies and gentlemen that the "Trump administration" began on January 20th of this year a mere eight months into a four year term so how can one use the term "consistently"?

"So someone arranged to get it published on the website of The New York Times—a leak that broke protocol" Gee our favorite "We Hate Trump Newspaper. And like there isn't enough HATRED in America at this moment that someone has to fill up the can of gasoline to fan the flames.

Gotta love this statement of Cushman's-"Publication of the third draft, since it had long been available, didn't constitute a leak. But publication of the fifth and final draft did," Eh Tu Brute?

So where is the Times questioning as I mentioned of President Obama and Hillary Clinton's silence?

So in conclusion the main point:
"Even so, the publication of this fifth edition lays down a marker. It would be hard, for example, for any revisionist to try to undo the EPA's landmark "endangerment finding" that underpins regulations of carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act without taking into account the findings that are so completely laid out here."

That the Republican Senators and the members of the house may be in Big Oils pocket is NO surprise to anyone but WHAT is the surprise is WHY the Democrats are only now showing concern? Why wasn't it a campaign issue then BEFORE the Elections "IF" it was "SO" important?

And yes boys and girls we ARE in deep with Climate issues and YES we the people of the world -that means ALL of us those who want to "Make America Great Again" and those who hate for the sake of hating- need to make changes for our children and grandchildren's sake's.