Israel expressed its condolences at the tragic loss of the crew of the space shuttle Columbia, including Col. Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut. Campus Roundup: Pro-Israel speaker almost banned in Canada Divestment campaign launched at Duke. Pro-Israel students respond. Israeli Athletes at U.S. Campuses     6'11" Amit Tamir centers for UC Berkeley. Aims for the NBA. Raphael Toren to play for U of South Florida Bulls. Inbal Levavi swims for Md. Terps. Izchak Ohanon, 6'9", jumps for St. Louis University.

After Elections, a Call for Unity by Ariel Sharon     I will ask all Zionist parties to join a unity government that will be as broad as possible. The differences between us diminish in the face of the murderous hatred of the terrorist organizations of anything Israeli and Jewish, the threat of the war in the Gulf and attacks on Israel, and the economic crisis that is ripping Israeli society apart.     This is a time for coming together in unity, for fusing all forces in order to bring about a genuine victory. Victory over terrorism, and the beginning of a true peace process.     Everyone is waiting to see if Israel will act together, united, in order to achieve its aims: security, prosperity, quiet, and peace. This is possible. It depends only on us. (Ha'aretz)

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions on Palestinian Violence and Terrorism (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Media Contact Information Back Issues

• Should the U.S. launch war against Iraq?
• Israel's election results
• "Divestment" rears its head at Duke
• No anti-Semitism at U.S. campuses?

Mapping a Controversy

The poster advertising the first Palestinian film festival at Columbia University seemed innocuous. On closer inspection, the map promoting the festival, called "Dreams of a Nation," was in the colors of the Palestinian

flag: red, black and green. And all of Israel was symbolically Palestinian. The poster controversy came as Israel supporters at Columbia were criticizing the hiring last week of a Palestinian professor. (The Jewish Week)

ADL Study: Anti-Semitism on the Rise – but Not on Campus
Campus faculty and students are the least anti-Semitic among Americans, according to a new ADL study. Anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses is virtually non-existent. Only 3% of undergraduates, and 5% of faculty fall into the most anti-Semitic category. Fully 74% of undergraduates, and 79% of faculty, are prejudice free. "The campus findings are paradoxical," says ADL's Abe Foxman, "coming at a time when anti-Israel rallies, divestment drives and other pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses stemming from the Mideast conflict have been at an all-time high."

Dennis Ross Preaches Peace and Understanding on Colorado U's Campus
Former U.S. Special Ambassador Dennis Ross detailed the Camp David peace talks, explained a possible road map for peace in the Middle East and made it clear that he believes there is no possible chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians if Arafat stays in power. Before Ross came to campus, some Palestinian students from the Coalition for Justice in Palestine expressed concern about the selection of Ross. They said Ross has a bias toward Israel based on his heavy involvement in U.S.-Israel politics. (Colorado Campus Press)

Mideast Scholar Gives Speech amid Protest

Daniel Pipes, the conservative scholar and head of the Middle East Forum, walked into a York University gymnasium to a standing ovation from half the audience and

resentful silence from the rest. His brief speech, in which he argued Middle East peace depends on Arab recognition of Israel, was significant simply because he was allowed to give it. An organized effort by student and faculty groups to ban the Philadelphia-based scholar, who was invited to speak by York's Jewish Students Federation, was stopped dead last week by York's president. (National Post)

Muzzlers of Academic Free Speech Unfit to Teach

Students have much to teach their teachers - and that would include those York (Canada) academics who threw their weight behind the campaign to muzzle Daniel Pipes. They're unfit to teach anybody anything - unless intolerance and totalitarianism are now university credits. By Rosie Dimanno (Toronto Star)

Daniel Pipes

Arabic Grows at Ivy League
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, many more students at Ivy League colleges have begun studying Arabic, and many of these students are Jewish. The number of students enrolling in Arabic at Dartmouth College has more than doubled since the 9/11 attacks. (Forward)

News:

Voices from the Campus:

Tufts: The Palestinians' Judgment Day
By Ilan Behm

The Israelis have already spoken in the elections. It is now the time to hear the voice of the Palestinians. I dare them to speak up. I dare them to stand up to Arafat and take matters into their own hands. If

they so passionately desire a state of their own, then they must prove so by ousting their current leadership. The violence must end and the notion that they can defeat Israel must cease to exist. (Tufts Daily)

Stanford: Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: The Forgotten Refugees
By Morris Cohen and Joseph Abdel Wahed

The Arab-Israeli conflict produced two refugee groups, Palestinian and Jewish, yet world attention has largely focused on the Palestinian refugees. The reason is that

Israel solved the Jewish refugee problem by resettling them. Meanwhile, the Arab world has not adequately responded to the Palestinian refugee problem, refusing to permanently resettle enough of them, and using them as political pawns against Israel. (Stanford Daily)

Wayne State: Free Speech in Israel
By Shira A. Drissman

Israel has a parliamentary system of government. The governing body is called the Knesset in which 120 members conduct business. There are 28 parties that fight each

other for these seats. These include Liberals, Conservatives, Arabs, Greens, Marxists and Communists. There's even a party devoted to the legalization of marijuana. It needs to be remembered that while Israel is a democracy, it was created with a Jewish character as well. (South End-Wayne State)

UC San Diego: Alliance Promotes Israeli Awareness

The Israel Alliance presented "Got Israel?" - an exhibition of facts and figures and a multimedia presentation, "The 1,000 Faces of Israel." "We did this to educate the campus

about the politics, culture and people of Israel, and to show that they're not all the same," Shelley Sorger said. (UCSD Guardian)

Michigan: Students Face Off with Rally, Vigil

Pro-Israel students organized their gathering to defend democracy and peace, LSA junior Brad Sugar said. "We want to make it understood that peace is a two-way street,"

Sugar said. "We are here to say that Israel needs a partner for peace before it can be achieved." Defending Israel, LSA junior Danny Aghion said the country should not negotiate with terrorists. "We are pro-Israel, pro-peace," Aghion said. "Israel is here to stay. It is not going anywhere. This University is not going to divest from Israel." (Michigan Daily)

Campus Organizations:

Birthright: Battered But Resilient

When it launched its first trips in the winter of 1999-2000, Birthright Israel faced a radically different world. The American and Israeli economies were strong and Israeli-Palestinian peace appeared imminent. After the first trips enthusiastic college students

testified that birthright changed their lives and inspired them to be more Jewish. A few months later, it all came to a crash with the intifada. Today, the decline in U.S. participation has opened up spots for more Jews from other countries, giving birthright much more of an international flavor, with a particularly strong showing from Europe, the former Soviet Union and Latin America. (The Jewish Week)

Point – Counter - Point:

Is War with Iraq the Only Option?

• Containment has worked in the past and can work in the future, even when dealing with Saddam Hussein.
• Hussein has gone to war when he was threatened and when he thought he had a window of opportunity. These considerations do not justify Iraq's actions, but they show that Mr. Hussein is hardly a reckless aggressor who cannot be contained.
• Hussein's use of poison gas was despicable, but the U.S. can retaliate with overwhelming force, including weapons of mass destruction. This is why Mr. Hussein did not use chemical or biological weapons against American forces or Israel during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
• Attacking Iraq would undermine the war on terrorism, diverting manpower, money and attention from the fight against Al Qaeda. (New York Times)

• A return to a hollow pursuit of containment will be the most dangerous option of all.
• There are myriad reasons that argue that an aggressive policy toward Iraq now is the least bad of our alternatives: the Stalinist character of Saddam's state: the pervasive use of torture to terrorize and subdue the citizenry and insure the loyalty of the Army and the security apparatus; the acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing; the use of chemical weapons on neighbors and his own citizens; the sponsorship of terrorist groups; the refusal to relinquish weapons of mass destruction despite the humanitarian and economic cost the Iraqis pay through international embargo.
• History will not easily excuse us if, by deciding not to decide, we defer a reckoning with an aggressive totalitarian leader who intends not only to develop weapons of mass destruction but also to use them. (New Yorker)