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A Peace Village

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on July 7, 2025| 3 Comments »

A classroom in the village of Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom, an Israeli village where Jews and Palestinians live together to promote peace.

Here’s an impossibly hopeful story that is in danger because its approach to peace is not the same as the government’s.

Chris Osuh reported at the Guardian in May, “An Israeli village where Jews and Palestinians live together to promote peace is in danger of losing vital overseas funding following Israeli government proposals to impose an 80% tax on foreign donations, residents have warned.

“Leading figures from the unique community – Wahat Salam/Neve Shalom, which translates as ‘Oasis of Peace’ – flew to the UK [in May] in a visit hosted by the Co-operative Group, which is calling for the UK government to support peace-building cooperatives worldwide with foreign and development policy.

“Samah Salaime, an Israeli Palestinian, and Nir Sharon, an Israeli Jew, co-direct the village’s educational institutions, which include the School for Peace for activists and a primary school where 250 Jewish and Palestinian children learn each other’s histories, in Arabic and Hebrew.

“The co-directors addressed a parliamentary round table, attended by Labour and Co-operative MPs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) … in a visit coinciding with the 77th anniversary of the Nakba, when more than 700,000 Palestinians were dispossessed. On Saturday, the pair addressed the Co-operative Group’s annual general meeting in Manchester.

“Before the meeting, Salaime told the Guardian of the threat posed by a bill being debated in Israel’s Knesset. If it became law, it would decimate the finances of NGOs in Israel that receive funding from foreign states. …

“ ‘The biggest supporters for Wahat Salam come from the UK, from the Co-op, our friends in Switzerland, in Sweden, in the US. We don’t have any local Israeli support for our project … financially and ideologically, they are against us.’ …

“Conceived by Bruno Hussar, a Jewish Catholic priest, the village started with a handful of residents in 1978, in ‘no man’s land’ between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

“It now has 300 residents, half Israeli Palestinians and half Israeli Jews, including academics and tech professionals, with a waiting list of about 200 families.

There is no synagogue or mosque: instead, residents pray or meditate in a dome called the Court of Silence.


“Surrounded by olive trees, communal life in the village revolves around committee meetings where the co-operative’s decisions are voted on, shared meals, the swimming pool and the Garden of Rescuers, which commemorates heroes of global catastrophes. There is a guesthouse in the village, and children from surrounding areas are bussed in to attend the school.

“Salaime said: ‘We were attacked by settlers three times. … We have all kinds of unfortunate incidents, and we survive. … We break the rules, we break the stereotype, the brainwashing of the Israeli mainstream that peace isn’t possible,’ Salaime said. ‘We have to win this and offer a different agenda.’ “

More at the Guardian, here. France’s Le Monde has more here.

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Hawaii Tax to Go to Environment

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on June 30, 2025| 3 Comments »

Photo: Brian Howell, Flickr Commons.
A helicopter circles a wildfire on Kaua‘i, where these fires are becoming increasingly common during drier summer months.

A Guardian update on what governments are doing about increased environmental costs sent me to Hawaii’s website. The island state, already grappling with the effects of global warming, is the first in the US to approve a tourism tax designated for climate issues.

The article says, “Lawmakers in Hawaii have passed first-of-its-kind legislation that will increase the state’s lodging tax to raise money for environmental protection and strengthening defenses against natural disasters fueled by the climate crisis. …

“[Gov. Josh] Green said in a statement. ‘Hawai‘i is truly setting a new standard to address the climate crisis.’

“The bill passed [adds] a 0.75% levy to the state’s existing tax on hotel rooms, timeshares, vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations. It also imposes a new 11% tax on cruise ship bills, prorated for the number of days the vessels are in Hawaii ports.

“Officials estimate the tax will generate nearly $100m annually. They say the money will be used for projects like replenishing sand on eroding Waikiki beaches, promoting the use of hurricane clips to secure roofs during powerful storms and clearing flammable invasive grasses like those that fed the deadly wildfire that destroyed downtown Lahaina in 2023. …

“Hawaii already levies a 10.25% tax on short-term rentals. As of 1 January, the tax will rise to 11%. Hawaii’s counties separately charge a 3% lodging tax, and travelers also have to pay the 4.712% general excise tax that applies to all virtually all goods and services. The cumulative tax bill at checkout will climb to 18.712%, among the highest in the nation. …

“As many visitors travel to the state to enjoy the environment, [Green] predicted they would welcome committing dollars to protect shorelines and communities.

“ ‘The more you cultivate good environmental policy, and the more you invest in perfecting our lived space, the more likely it is we’re going to have actually lifelong, committed travelers to Hawaii,’ he told the Associated Press.

“Zane Edleman, a visitor from Chicago, said … ‘If you really focus on the point – this is to save the climate and actually have proof that this is where the funds are going, and that there’s an actual result that’s happening from that, I think people could buy into it.’ …

“John Pele, the executive director of the Maui Hotel and Lodging Association, said there’s broad agreement that the money raised will go to a good cause. But he wonders if Hawaii will become too expensive for visitors.

“ ‘Will we be taxing on tourists out of wanting to come here?’ he said. ‘That remains to be seen.’ ”

The website Hawaii.gov notes that “2015 and 2016 were Hawaiʻi’s warmest years on record, and average air temperatures are 2 degrees warmer than they were in 1950. In 2019, Honolulu experienced its hottest recorded day three times, representing the hottest year ever recorded in the city. The last five years have seen peak average annual temperatures years across all islands.  In 2015-2016, it was so hot in Honolulu that emergency public service announcements were issued to curtail escalating air conditioning use because it stressed the electrical grid.” 

Among other global-warming consequences the website lists are the loss of 1.5 million acres of native forests, increasing numbers of wildfires, rapid growth of invasive species, “mass coral bleaching and mortality,” and a severe strain on water and energy infrastructure.

More at the Guardian, here, and at Hawaii’s official website, here.

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A Town Commits to Day Care

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on May 1, 2023| 7 Comments »

The Little Sprouts Learning Center in Warren, Minn., is the town’s only day-care center. Residents recently voted to expand it — and fund it. 

The residents of a small town in northern Minnesota recently decided that “put your money where your mouth is” meant ponying up for a day-care center they couldn’t do without.

Cathy Free wrote at the Washington Post, “Lindsey Buegler learned that the only day-care center in her town of Warren, Minn., would be closing. She went to work that afternoon, upset and terrified. …

“She went to her boss, Phil Thompson, who owns the accounting and crop insurance firm where she worked, and told him: ‘We have no family here to help. If there is no child care, we’ll have to move.’

“Thompson said the moment hit hard as he realized Buegler and others were in a precarious situation. He decided to pitch in about $20,000 with a local banker to keep the Little Sprouts Learning Center open in the rural town, which has a population of about 1,600.

“That worked for a while, but Thompson said he knew it wouldn’t be enough to sustain the day-care center, which was operating as a nonprofit. …

“Thompson said he has written other large checks to help keep Little Sprouts running since that first crisis in 2015. He now employs about 30 people at his firm, and doesn’t mind when employees bring their children to work in a pinch when they need it.

‘I’ve seen firsthand how this affects people,’ said Thompson, who is also chairman of the Warren Economic Development Authority. ‘If people have to move away to work and raise their families, our town can’t grow.’

“In 2019, Thompson helped put together a committee that spent several years taking an in-depth look at Warren’s day-care dilemma. They explored several options to financially assist the day-care center, which was licensed for 47 infants and children and seven teachers. None of those options worked long-term.

“Last year, he and the committee proposed an idea: The city would ask residents to vote on a 20-year sales tax increase of half-a-cent to fund a $1.6 million low-interest loan for a new child care center, while keeping the old one open as it was being built. By doubling the number of teachers and increasing the availability of open slots, the day-care facility could survive.

“The plan was that Warren City would own the building and lease it to Little Sprouts, and the day-care center could continue to operate as a nonprofit. On Nov. 8, 2022, the measure narrowly passed. …

“ ‘We’re an agricultural community centered around corn, soybeans and sugar beets, and we have a lot of young people,’ [Thompson] said. ‘Now there’s an incentive to keep them here.’

“Nationwide, about 51 percent of the population live in child care ‘deserts‘ with no child care providers or not enough licensed child care slots, according to a 2018 study by the Center for American Progress. The pandemic made the situation more dire.

“Thompson and other residents of his farming community were determined to offer a day-care center option for working parents. ‘We became completely centered on solving this problem,’ said Mara Hanel, Warren’s mayor from 2018 to 2022. ‘At one time, we had a shortage of 180 child care slots in a 20-mile radius. We knew that we had to do something.’

“Shannon Mortenson, Warren’s city administrator, said the town decided that child care should become an essential service like water, electricity and sanitation.

“ ‘We knew that if we lost Little Sprouts, we would also lose revenue and some of our workforce,’ she said. ‘If parents had no options, they would move their families elsewhere.’

“The idea of moving to be near child care created stress in the community, said Adam Sparby, whose two daughters and son attend Little Sprouts. ‘Everyone was really worried — closing the day-care would mean a lot of us would have to move to another town and commute back and forth to work,’ said Sparby, who sells John Deere farm machinery in Warren.

“He said that his wife, Ashley, a pharmacist, would often volunteer at Little Sprouts on her lunch hour to help the teachers when the center was short on staff.

“ ‘Day-care is such a huge thing for families, so I’m really excited that the tax increase passed and we’ll soon have a new facility,’ Sparby said.

“Thompson said the sales tax increase will raise enough funds over 20 years for the town to pay off a $1.6 million loan for the new center but the community still needed to raise another $700,000 to $800,000 to offset price increases that occurred during the pandemic.

“ ‘We should meet our goal soon,’ he said, noting that businesses and residents have contributed about $600,000 to the effort. ‘Our community might be small, but people have been incredibly supportive and generous.’ ”

More at the Post, here.

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