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Ambassador Shapiro demonstrated that our English language programs open doors to wider U.S. Israel cooperation when he visited Beit Shean December 20. The Ambassador visited an ORT school, spoke at a town hall, and toured Beit Shean National Park. ORT Israel gave an overview of the “Jordan Valley Robotics Education Center, their vision of a regional center to teach Israeli and Jordanian youth about robotics and environmental issues while promoting peace and understanding. Ambassador Shapiro also visited sites associated with efforts to rehabilitate the Jordan River and a peace park promoting Israeli-Jordanian cooperation The visits were hosted by Friends of the Earth Middle East and regional Mayor Jossi Vardi. With support from USAID, community leaders such as Mayor Jossi Vardi as well as Jordanian leaders have been working together in the “Good Water Neighbors project” to help clean up this important joint resource. Their hard work and advocacy has paid off with construction of a waste water treatment plant that will soon remove the sewage. USAID has been partnering with FoEME since 2001, first as part of the Wye River Agreement, and more recently through USAID’s Conflict Management and Mitigation (CMM) grant.

Photo credit: Matty Stern U.S