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<\/a>Canadian PM Stephen Harper vows loyalty to Israel<\/p><\/div>\n
Perhaps some of you have heard the stories of the hardships that the early Jewish pioneers of the late 1890\u2019s and early 1900\u2019s experienced when they arrived in the Biblical land of Israel. One of the areas that they bravely tackled included the Hula Valley, in that time a mosquito-infested swamp responsible for the spread of malaria. Lake Hula was completely drained in 1950, but as time passed it was clear that the benefits were limited and a special ecosystem had been lost. So in the 1990\u2019s a plan was hatched to rehabilitate the lake. It needed careful planning with real expertise needed in the fields of soil sciences, agriculture, hydrodynamics, ecology\u2014and tourism! After careful study the project commenced and a portion of the former swamp and lake region was re-flooded! It all cost $23 million, financed by the Israeli government (67%) and the Jewish National Fund (33%).<\/p>\n
It resulted in a small shallow lake, with the re-introduction of plant species that had disappeared when the area had been drained. Thirty aquatic plant species reestablished themselves spontaneously! It is now surrounded by green pastures with grazing safari animals like the water buffalo, indigenous to the swampy terrain.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the part that I love the most\u2014it has now become a stopping point twice a year for 500 million migrating birds! So it is a bird watcher\u2019s paradise! As a matter of fact, in 2010, BBC Wildlife Magazine rated the Hula ninth in a list of the best sites for viewing wildlife in the world! (If you Google \u2018Hula Valley\u2019 and then click on \u2018Agamon Hula\u2014A paradise for Birds & People\u2019, they have lovely seasonal pictures of the amazing variety of birds and animals that now are a part of this amazing place!)<\/p>\n