The overall aim of this USAID sponsored project is to generate information required by government air quality planning agencies in Israel and West Bank/Gaza to develop strategies for the socially and environmentally sustainable urbanization of their coastal areas. The project re-search team is composed of experts (from Israel, West Bank/Gaza, and U. S.) in meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, pollutant emissions, land use/GIS, (urban and regional) planning, and socioeconomic impacts. Specific research objectives include: (1) Installation of environmental monitoring sites in Gaza and the West Bank and preparation of a comprehensive environmental database and a regional climatology, (2) Execution of intensive field observational campaigns dur-ing periods conducive to poor regional air quality that will involve measurement of both meteoro-logical and air quality parameters, and (3) Adaptation and application of the RAMS regional met-eorological model and the CAMx photochemical air quality model to gain an increased understand-ing of air quality problems associated with current levels of regional urbanization. Preliminary ob-servational and modeling results are presented in this paper. The field campaign is scheduled for July 2001, and groups interested in taking part in the campaign should contact project personnel. Results will be presented to show: (1) typical diurnal and monthly variations of observed atmo-spheric surface pollutant concentrations, (2) aircraft observations of elevated urban ozone plumes, (3) regional anthropogenic and natural emission patterns, (4) RAMS mesometeorological modeling results, and (5) Lagrangian particle dispersion modeling results.