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How Barn Owls Are Helping to Bring Peace to the Middle East
(Independent-UK) Ian Johnston - Thirty years ago, after farmers near Beit She'an in the Hula Valley in Israel realized that poison used to control rodents was killing the local barn owl population, some 100 Israeli Jews, Jordanians, Palestinians and Israeli Arabs began to collaborate to help the barn owls. Professor Alexandre Roulin, of Lausanne University in Switzerland, said: "Initially we started this project for the barn owls. This was not for peace-building or reconciliation. The idea was to solve an ecological problem. What we realized is once we met with all these people...we realized, wow, these people really become friends. When you have an issue people have to solve, nothing to do with religion, tradition or culture, people really agree to be together." He said the project to save the barn owls had essentially given Palestinians, Jordanians, Israeli Arabs and Israel Jews a common cause.