The Joint Environmental Mediation Service (JEMS)

With the support of a large number of Israeli and Palestinian environmental professionals, the Joint Environmental Mediation Service (JEMS) has been created in Jerusalem as a non-governmental organization to incorporate environmental mediation expertise in the Middle East. The main goal of JEMS is to establish environmental conflict management capabilities in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The center's primary activities are:

1) Mediation of Active Disputes

2) Negotiation and Mediation Training for Palestinian and Israeli Environmental Professionals

Cost of Service

JEMS will carry out a preliminary investigation of any case brought to its attention at its own cost. JEMS will also do an initial mapping of the dispute through confidential consultations with all relevant stakeholders ("conflict assessment") at its own cost, as long as it has sufficient resources to make such up-front investments. If it is determined that a full-fledged mediation process is desirable, it may be necessary for JEMS to seek either contributions from one or more of the parties to a dispute or to work with the parties to raise additional funds.

JEMS was created as a partnership between the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), a joint Palestinian-Israeli public policy think-tank devoted to developing practical solutions to the Middle East conflict, and the Consensus Building Institute (CBI), a non-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, that provides mediation and dispute system design services to public and private clients worldwide.

The JEMS initiative has the approval of the Israeli and Palestinian Ministries of the Environment. The project's main funding is being provided by the Scandinavian V. Kann-Rasmussen Foundation.

For additional information, contact JEMS, P.O.B. 9321, Jerusalem 91092; phone (972-2) 676-9460; fax (972-2) 676-8011; e-mail: jems@ipcri.org; website: http://www.ipcri.org/jems.

Copyright 2004 Search for Common Ground