In Africa alone, Hadassah estimates having restored eyesight to 1 million people. Likewise, an international master's of public health program taught at Hadassah for 30 years has graduated more than 500 health professionals from 70 countries, the majority of whom have subsequently assumed high-ranking positions in international agencies and public health posts at home. Plant geneticists from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot are currently helping Kenyan scientists protect their wheat crop from parasites. Now with the changing geopolitical climate of recent years, Israel's long history of scientific outreach is finally coming home. The rock 'n' roll program for Israeli and Palestinian teens is just one of dozens of joint social, health and agricultural programs now under way.
Water is an immediate regional issue that transcends political barriers.
Two years ago, the West Bank town of Jenin approached biotechnologist and food engineer Professor Haim Mannheim at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa requesting advice on establishing a laboratory to check water and food purity. The Technion team delivered an in-depth feasibility study in June, and is waiting to hear whether they can help further. The scant respect of microbes and other living organism for international boundaries makes health care another vast area of growing Israeli-Palestinian cooperation. Mosquitoes, a global killer, are being attacked on both sides of Israel's borders by a bacillus that kills without harming the ecosystem. And Ben-Gurion physicians, concerned about the growing gap in health status between Israel and the Palestinians, have proposed a joint consultation clinic directly on one of the borders.