Jordanian Ph.D. Wants to Bring Peace Through Water
Jordanian Ph.D. Wants to Bring Peace Through Water
May 26, 2015
The Times of Israel — Dr. Amer Sweity lives at Midreshet Ben-Gurion in Sde Boker, a tiny community located about 30 miles south of Beer-Sheva. He is a Negev desert pioneer, but not in the usual sense.
Conducting research at the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research at BGU’s Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Dr. Sweity recently became the first Jordanian citizen to earn a doctoral degree from an Israeli university. In fact, Dr. Sweity, 34, is the first foreign national from any Arab country to have received a Ph.D. in Israel.
When Dr. Sweity completed his undergraduate degree in land and water management at The Hashemite University in Zarqa, Jordan, he knew he wanted to study desalination and that Israel was the best place to do this.
Dr. Amer Sweity in his water lab at BGU
“Five desalination plants were built in Israel and that shifted everything for Israel in terms of water,” he says, referring to Israel’s solution to its historical water crisis.
His parents, who are originally from the Palestinian village of Beit Awwa, south of Hebron, were not thrilled about the idea their son (the seventh of their eight children and the only one to pursue academia) had of moving to Israel to continue his education.
Dr. Sweity, who received the BGU Rector’s Award for excellence upon the completion of his degree this past March, is an expert in desalination. His research focuses on the polyamide membranes used in the process of turning seawater into potable water.
Dr. Sweity’s interest in water research is not at all surprising given that his home country suffers from a severe water shortage.
According to the World Health Organization, Jordan has one of the lowest levels of water resource availability, per capita, in the world.
In the Jordanian capital Amman, where Sweity’s family lives, water flows to people’s taps at home only once a week. “It’s like that even in the winter, and it’s been like that for around 20 years,” says Dr. Sweity.
Although Dr. Sweity has applied for post-doctoral positions in Holland, Israel and several Arab countries, he says he is committed to returning before too long to Jordan to help increase water desalination efforts there.
In particular, he’d like to be involved with the Red Sea-Dead Sea Canal Project, a major collaboration between Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority backed by the World Bank to provide drinking water to Eilat and Aqaba and raise the level of the Dead Sea.
“I want to do something for the coming generations in all the countries in the region. Science doesn’t stop at borders,” he says.
Read the full article by Renee Ghert-Zand on The Times of Israel website >>
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