Salman Rushdie at breakfast with David Saranga in 2008.

David Saranga was a fixture in New York City’s social and media circles when he was Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Consulate General of Israel. We first met when I was invited on a press junket to Israel in 2007, and we have remained friends. I credit him for so much valuable first-hand knowledge into the region and some extraordinary experiences.

The other day I read his piece on Huffington Post about traveling to Morocco–one of the few Arab countries that Israelis can visit–and I was moved:

For the first time in 15 years, I arrived in a country without the Diplomatic passport I carry and without the sense of demonstrative pride which says “I am Israeli”. Since I wanted to have as many interactions with locals as possible I had an internal debate regarding the way I should behave: to identify myself as an Israeli or to identify myself as a New Yorker.

From this trip, Saranga had several epiphanies:

In retrospect, we Israelis ask ourselves repeatedly what the reason is for the failure of the peace process with the Palestinians. “We agreed to withdraw from 97% of the territories, divide Jerusalem and find a solution agreeable to both sides on the refugee issue – and still, that was not enough for the Palestinians,” we often say. The answer might be simple: we do not understand our neighbors, their culture and their language. Their tradition of negotiation, for instance, the fact that when they say yes, they mean maybe, when they say maybe, they mean no, and when they say no, they don’t always mean no – depending on whether it was said publicly or behind closed doors.

We need to internalize the understanding that the culture and language of the other starts at home. It starts with the Israeli school system, which unwisely didn’t teach Israelis the Arab language. It continues through dialogue with the Arab Israeli minority, which, as opposed to its vocal leaders — who represent 10% of the Israeli parliament — can provide a bridge to understanding our neighbors. We have not yet learned to build this bridge with the Arab Israeli minority, and with each passing day we are more distant from our neighbors and from segments of Israeli society.

Part travel essay, part personal journey, Saranga’s essay is insight into our common humanity.  Click here to read it.

This week’s Economist has an interesting story about a new Jewish lobby that focuses on Israel.  The magazine points out that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has an almost folkloric reputation in Washington D.C., and has been accused of heavily skewing America’s foreign policy interests.

Enter J Street, a lobby group comprised mostly of American Jews who describe themselves as “pro-Israel,  pro-peace”.

Israel’s Likud government is not pleased (although Shimon Peres and Tzipi Livni have expressed support), and its ambassador declined to attend J Street’s first annual conference.  In addition to pushing aggressively for a two-state solution with Israel returning to its pre-1967 borders, the Economist–which has followed J Street closely–writes how that is not all that has upset the Israeli lobby’s applecart:

In print and in the blogosphere, in America and Israel, foes have excoriated J Street for having called for an immediate ceasefire during last year’s Gaza war, paying excessive heed to Richard Goldstone’s report accusing Israel of war crimes, making room at its conference for people who do not support the Zionist idea of a Jewish state, and other alleged heresies against the orthodox line of Israel’s traditional supporters in America.

Compared to AIPAC’s $60M annual budget, 275 employees, $130M endowment and new $80M capitol hill headquarters; J Street has an annual budget of $3M and 8 staff (that includes former Senator Lincoln Chafee, one of my favorite politicians).

The blog Isreality, which previously spotlighted some of my Jerusalem photos, recently showcased “Sexy Tel Aviv” as seen through my eyes for Wikipedia and the Creative Commons.  Click the image to read Rachel Neiman’s post.

This  image of dancers at TLV nightclub is found on Wikipedia articles Pheromone, Erogenous zone and Axilla.

Israeli rock star Ivri Lider invited me backstage at Webster Hall tonight when he swung through New York City on a North American tour that hits D.C., Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles.  We made some images for the creative commons; click on them to download higher resolution sizes.

Rock on, Ivri, shalom and welcome back to New York.

Hillel Mintz posted a quick interview with me about my perspective on Israel after having traveled there twice for the creative commons and Wikimedia projects.  Go here to read it.

Speaking of Israel, tonight I will be photographing Israeli rock star Ivri Lider at Webster Hall.

Earlier today I met with a couple of local New York literary scenesters to discuss the formation of a new website.  We began its design.

Last week one of the most influential Israeli websites, Israelity.com, profiled some of my 2007 images of Jerusalem that are found on Wikipedia.  Many of these images are reproduced in numerous places around the Internet and published in books, free of copyright restrictions for their use.

This image of the Israeli countryside is used by both Wikipedia and Encyclopædia Britannica, amongst others

It was particularly exciting to have this website profile my images because the Israel you see in the media bears no resemblance to the reality of the country.  Israelity.com is an attempt to show the nuances and life of a culturally rich and diverse nation, which most people know little about outside of conflict.

I have taken two trips to the country as part of my public art project that explores information as art.  The information the public receives about Israel is incomplete, distorted and myopic.  My photography was an attempt to show a bigger picture of the country, its people and its landscape.

Check out Rachel Neiman’s piece about some of my work from the 2007 trip.

I don’t know why I find graffiti interesting.  I don’t like it ninety percent of the time I see it, but occasionally I come across a phrase or image that makes me pause, and sticks with me.  The ones that are templated are some of my favorites because of the design involved in an ornate template conducive to spray paint.  When graffiti is political, it is extreme and succinct. Always.

I once photographed an act of graffiti I committed and put the image on Wikipedia.   In 2006 I was out for a long night with friends in the East Village, and we stopped at the bar Nowhere.  I used their bathroom, and someone had written on the wall “SAMO Shit”:

In my inebriated state and trying to keep my urine stream straight, I immediately recognized it as the tag of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who used to write it on walls in the East Village.  So somebody had homaged Basquiat on the bathroom wall, in the East Village and I boozily beamed at the moment.  I had a Sharpie, and wrote “Jean Michel Basquiat did it first” with arrows for emphasis.  Basquiat just used to write “SAMO” but that’s what it stood for: same old shit.

I put the photo above on the Jean-Michel Basquiat Wikipedia article, and it was there for perhaps a year or two before someone removed it.  Rightfully so; it was a youthful indiscretion in my early days on Wikipedia.

Below are some Israeli graffiti shots I recently uploaded to Wikimedia Commons:

The campus of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, where some of the world’s foremost academic study of solar energy and water research is conducted, is in the heart of the stunning Negev desert.  The design that went into the campus is modern yet it still melts into the landscape.  It is also ecologically sound.  Below are a few photos from Jacob Blaustein Institutes that are now found on Wikipedia:

New photos of the Negev desert for Wikipedia:

The Zin valley, where Moses supposedly drew water from a rock, as seen from Midreshet Ben Gurion, at the location of the tomb of David Ben-Gurion.

Rahat, the largest Bedouin city in Israel, and the only Bedouin community to have city status.

Campus of the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, which is the epicenter of Israeli solar research.

People lounging on the grounds of Midreshet Ben Gurion.

A community comprised of Blueprint Negev mobile homes.

The above photo of a heart on a rock, and the one below of an Easter Island-esque stone head statue, were a couple of random pieces of art that were out in the desert.

An area considered the edge of the desert, where the agricultural center and north begins to turn into the Negev. The land may be green, but it is less arable.

The drive from Tel Aviv to the Negev Desert is one that shows the accomplishments of the Israelis in building a thriving, “developed” (by western standards) country out of nothing.  Tel Aviv itself, the diverse economic and cultural hub that vibrates with sexuality and modernity, was built where nothing had existed before it.  But it’s the drive to the Negev that shows the strides.  The changing landscape evidences how Israelis have greened land that was previously covered with arid sand.  Urban to suburban to agriculture to desert.  Even in the desert, however, there are signs of life on every horizon.

“Every tree you see here,” said my guide Andy motioning out the window, “was planted.  None of them have grown naturally.”  What’s the point? I asked.  Hundreds and hundreds of trees dot even the most remote stretches of landscape as Highway 6 blends into Highway 40, which cuts down to Sde Boker through the desert.  Are they being planted for future towns?  To fight desertification?

“No, it’s just aesthetic.  Jews like trees,” replied Andy.  “It’s one of the ways you can tell the difference between Jewish towns and Arab towns in Israel.  Arab cities don’t want to plant trees.”

A common site along the stretches of highway through the Negev. Man-made dunes such as the one above help create oases to keep in the rainwater.

It is not just the landscape in the Negev that shows the transformation of Israel in its sixty years, but also who calls the desert home: the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, where some of the world’s leading solar energy and water research is conducted.  Located at the Institute is the largest solar dish in the world for use by the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, and one of solar’s top researchers, David Faiman, its director.

Upon meeting Faiman, I explain to him that I wrote a small Wikipedia biography about him and the Israeli solar energy industry.  I tell him what a great honor it was for me to shake his hand, and how the work he is doing may change humanity.  He is embarrassed by my accolades.   He is a soft-spoken but passionate man with a cold.  He drinks his tea and poses politely for my photography.

Faiman and his team at the National Solar Energy Center had recently discovered a way to make solar energy cost effective.  They have designed a reflector made of mirrors that collects and intensifies the light a thousand times over that is so strong, it will burn human flesh almost instantly.  When I ask if I can climb a ladder to take pictures of the interior of the large solar dish on his grounds, Faiman quietly explains that legalities aside, they have no idea which way the light is reflecting off the dish and that I might not “last long” if I went up to my desired vantage point.

David Faiman, the sweatered solar sage of the Negev, in front of the largest solar dish in the world.

As with all breakthroughs, there are still some minor issues to resolve with the cost of the materials; issues that could be resolved with more funding.  Regardless, Faiman’s solar work is no small feat.  If a system using his research was built on roughly 4.5 square miles it could produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity, which is approximately 10 percent of Israel’s general electricity needs, according to Faiman.  A home system based upon his team’s technology is currently under development with Zenith Solar.  Faiman is adamant he will not profit off this collaboration with Zenith; it all goes back into his research. Research that is aimed at trying to make the world a better place because after all, the sun is more dependable than the Saudis.

And it’s happening there in the desert.  In Israel.