Publications

The hbs office in Ramallah opened in 1999. It currently operates as a regional office with responsibility for Palestine and Jordan. The activities of hbs are guided by the fundamental political values of universal human rights, ecology, democracy, solidarity, and non-violence. The hbs office Ramallah is working in close partnership with currently more than 20 local partner organizations in Gaza, East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Jordan.

In Paris in 2015 governments agreed to keep global warming to well below 2 degrees. The mainstream pathways pin theirhopes to risky and costly technologies. In this joint publication, together with Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND) and Misereor, we present alternatives that are possible and necessary for a change of course.

When ISIS announced the establishment of the so-called ‘Islamic State’ it fuelled discussions as to whether  this would herald  the ‘end of Sykes-Picot’ – borders artificially drawn by the colonial powers at the beginning of the twenti- eth century. But borders are more than ‘lines in the sand’: they divide. While the privileged few may cross legitimately  by simply presenting their passport, for most, these borders present difficult if not insurmountable hurdles. People fleeing from war, climate change  or economic hardship, attempt to cross the Mediterranean but many drown trying.

The Middle Eastern and Northern African (MENA) region, faced with tumultuous changes in the last five years, shows a picture of shrinking spaces for civil society activism. In contrast, ecological activism is growing and connecting the fight for climate justice to other demands for community and indigenous rights, gender equality, democracy and transparency.