Marda Permaculture leader Murad al Khofash and new creative Wael Al Saad have recently received excellent media coverage, some extracts below

Facebook: Marda Permaculture

Video: Murad al Khofash and traditional farmer colleague interviewed at Klimaforum09, Permaculture.TV

The Palestinian farmer who grows his own resistance

Mr al Khofash, dubbed the “Palestinian with a green thumb”, is picking up on a permaculture project that began in Marda in 1993 but was shut down by the Israeli army at the onset of the second intifada in 2000. The Sustainable Development Centre, in Marda, was initiated by Australian permaculturists and involved dozens of villages in the Salfit district. It ran training courses in water management, composting and other aspects of organic, sustainable farming that were attended by thousands of Palestinians, but was a target of nearby settlers who would burn trees and vandalise farm property before the Israeli military closed the centre completely in 2000. Now, locals say, the military use the building to question Palestinians that they have detained in the area.

The farm begun by Mr al Khofash in 2003 utilises all the skills he learnt while working a four-year stint at the centre, and during a remote-study permaculture course. The farm, which is a member of the UK Permaculture Association and the Global Ecovillage Network, is a blooming tract of land, on which everything is sown with careful consideration to the principles of permaculture.

Mr al Khofash is energised with enthusiasm and ideas as he bustles around the robust-looking farm, pointing out patches of aubergine, chilli, potatoes, beans and onions. Demand routinely exceeds supply for his vegetables.

“The methods we use in permaculture are some of the same methods of traditional Palestinian farming,” said Mr al Khofash.

Source: The National

With Marda as the Model: Be the Change for a Global Green Palestine

At Marda, we are calling for social equity, social justice, democracy, freedom, putting expectations on top-down change in politics, rather than down-scaling our expectations on building reality in our communities. Like in most societies, our mental efforts are spent on materialistic fights and crises, making money by poor value trading, and saving money through buying which ruins honest social relationships. Our lives are filled with commerce for profits rather than sharing and cooperation.

For many reasons the masses are not focusing on change and remain trapped in the old mould: reproducing miserable life conditions. Is there any way out? Which is the most effective vehicle of change?

My conclusion is that we should start a new large-scale initiative within the field of gathering energy masses to spend their daily efforts within a new economy. Everyone has or needs a job. Palestinians helped building their own separation wall from Israel, and the nearby Jewish settlements, because they needed jobs. Thousands of Palestinians from rural areas, especially from Jenin spent cold nights in bad conditions in Ramallah constructing Palestinian National Authority leaders’ trade towers, and also over in Israel as cheap workers. Thousands have immigrated out of the region to find jobs.

Livelihood is the main agenda of the majority of people here. It’s not resistance and it’s not politics. The need for money has replaced the human need for each other and for their eco-system. It looks as though there is nothing no better choice, neither for the elite nor for the masses, but a systemic change and the development of new radical alternatives.

Source: Green Prophet

About Marda Permaculture

The Marda Permaculture Farm (MPF) is a sustainable development NGO in the village of Marda in the West Bank of Palestine. The Farm initiated in 2006, is also recognized as a branch of the Global Village Institute, an international NGO based in Summertown, Tennessee, in the fall of 2008.

The Marda Permaculture Farm is a working farm and a demonstration site for permaculture principles, techniques and strategies.

Permaculture is an ecological design system that draws heavily from indigenous, local wisdom as well as cutting edge science to help individuals and communities maximize local resources toward sustainable production, generation, and recycling of food, water, energy, housing, and other resources.

The Marda Farm was founded by permaculturist Murad Alkhufash, whose family has farmed the region for over ten generations. The project seeks to promote ecological, cultural, and economic resiliency in the region by developing a small scale permaculture site that serves as a model and teaching center for local farmers and international permaculture students. Farm staff will also facilitate permaculture design courses in diverse communities across Palestine.

The Marda Permaculture Farm is supported by a rich network of international and local sustainability visionaries and partners including Geoff Lawton, Director of the Australia Permaculture Institute, Albert Bates, Director of the Global Village Institute in the U.S., Starhawk, Jesse and Tanya Lemieux of Pacific Permaculture in Vancouver, Canada, Julie Firth of Drylands Permaculture Farm in Australia and many others.

We are currently planning a Permaculture Design Course for March of 2010 which will include a 3 day immersion course in Arabic, regional culinary courses, and historic tours of Marda.

Recently Wael Al Saad joined MPF-team. With his visionary concept about Global Green Palestine, he is helping to develop the Marda Farm into a model for an alternative holistic green bottom-up economy

Source: Marda Permaculture