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November 21, 2004
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Yad Vashem on Monday will inaugurate the on-line Central Database for Shoah Victims' Names - an Internet database listing the names of three million Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
Visit the ICC Website
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 Bush: Mideast Peace Top of Agenda by Herb Keinon
President George W. Bush told Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom last week that Middle East peace will be at the top of his administration's agenda. The two met briefly at the inauguration of the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. According to Shalom's office, Bush said the Middle East will be one of the first places Condoleezza Rice will visit after her appointment as Secretary of State is approved. (Jerusalem Post)
Young Palestinians, After Arafat, Hope for Rule of Law by Ilene R. Prusher
While Arafat was seen as the champion of Palestinian nationalism, he also came to represent corruption and dashed hopes for democracy. His passing has many Palestinians - especially young adults - expecting a better caliber of leadership. "After Arafat, we are free. We can impose on the next Palestinian leader what we want, rather than having it imposed on us," says Sattam Mubarak, a student at Bir Zeit University. "We know that Israelis have internal freedom in their society, to move around as they wish and say what they like, and we want those freedoms, too." (Christian Science Monitor)
Christians in Palestinian Territories Concerned About Their Future
Christians of the Palestinian territories are wondering about their future as a small minority - 50,000 in the midst of more than 3 million Muslims. "The political, administrative, and police structures [of the PA] often discriminate against them," explained Graziano Motta, correspondent of Vatican Radio. "They have been continually exposed to pressures by Muslim activists and have been forced to profess fidelity to the intifada....Frequently, there are cases in which the Muslims expropriate houses and lands belonging to Catholics, and often the intervention of the authorities has been lacking in addressing acts of violence against young women or offenses against the Christian faith." (Zenit)
 A Look at Life after Arafat by Mortimer B. Zuckerman
The great delusion in the West was that Arafat would lead the Palestinians to democracy and peace if only he were given more concessions. The hope in the Oslo peace pact was that Arafat might provide security for Israel against terrorism and democracy for the Palestinians. Instead, we ended up with neither security nor democracy. Now the Palestinians are to be guided, it appears, by some 10 feuding groups and their warlords who have about 40,000 guns (to say nothing of the criminal gangs that control swaths of the West Bank and Gaza). (U.S. News)
Out of the Barrel of a Gun by Shlomo Avineri
The future Palestinian leadership will not emerge out of the ballot box, regardless of whether PA elections take place on Jan. 9. The system imported by Arafat and his Tunis colleagues nipped in the bud whatever promises of an open society might have emerged in the Palestinian autonomous areas. Arafat's authoritarian rule has become deeply embedded in Palestinian life, which, like other Arab societies, still lacks most of the ingredients of a civil society... All this will not change overnight. The writer is professor of political science at the Hebrew University (Jerusalem Post)
The Cliches about Arafat by Yair Sheleg
We must no longer put up with the notion - prevalent not only in the Third World but also, unfortunately, in European countries - that the weak and occupied are not subject to any moral restrictions. The Jewish people and the State of Israel possess the utmost moral justification for such a demand: It is doubtful whether in the course of human history there has been another people like the Jewish people in the 20th century for whom achieving sovereignty was not just a matter of national honor and identity, but an existential question. (Ha'aretz)
Are We Being Duped about the Divestment from Israel? by Seva Brodsky
At the center of the local divestment movement is a swapping of causes and effects, which ignores the simple fact that Israeli defensive actions come after and in response to Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli civilians. The suffering of both Palestinians and Israelis is the direct result of the decisions made by the Palestinian leadership. Let us contribute to the peaceful resolution of the conflict by being more informed, open-minded and fair. Now that Arafat is gone, peace may finally have a chance. One-sided resolutions undermine such a noble goal. Seva Brodsky is a law student in Boston (Somerville Journal)
See also Proposal to Divest Israeli Funds Sparks Outrage in Somerville, Mass. by Benjamin Gedan (Boston Globe)
Columbia: Former PLO Terrorist Advocates for Israel by Danielle Slutzky
"I am not ashamed to stand in front of you and say I am Walid Shoebat and I used to be a Palestinian terrorist," a middle-aged man from northern California told over 115 students last week. Walid Shoebat rejected occupation and land ownership as causes of the Arab-Israeli conflict, instead citing global and rising anti-Semitism, propaganda in Palestinian schooling, Islamic fundamentalism, and the relative silence of pro-Israel activists as major factors contributing to the problem. (Spectator)
Florida: Group to Host Israeli Events by Jeff Sirmons
Gators for Israel, which hosts Israel Awareness Week, highlights Israel's accomplishments, including its status as the only country to have a net gain in trees this past decade and the only Middle-Eastern democracy, said Britt Tevis, president of Gators for Israel. "We hope students will become knowledgeable of Israel's many accomplishments in the fields of science and the environment," Tevis said. (Alligator)
Miami of Ohio: Israeli Reporter Discusses Conflict by Amy Saunders
The Jerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on campus. According to Keinon, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan would facilitate Israeli withdrawal from its settlements in the Palestinian-dominated Gaza Strip. "Sharon was the architect of the settlements," Keinon said. "But he believes the battle has shifted radically." Keinon cited the prime minister's desire to maintain U.S. support and his frustration with past failed peace agreements as reasons for the pull-out. "A strategic relationship with the U.S is more important than the settlements." (Miami Student)
Miami: Pro-Israel Rally Motivates Students at UM's Campus by Rebecca Dellagloria
The Hasbara Fellowship program made a stop at the University of Miami last week. "We're trying to give pro-Israel students the tools to defend Israel," said program director Elliot Mathias, "and trying to give a pro-Israel message about why Americans should care about what's going on in Israel." Natan Sharansky, Israel's minister of Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs and a former prisoner of conscience in the Soviet Union, spoke of Israel's unique example in the Middle East as a democracy. (Miami Herald)
Penn: Israel Study Abroad Programs Set to Continue This Spring by Richard Strohmenger
The recent death of Yasser Arafat has brought about many concerns related to the future of the seven current University study abroad programs in Israel. Though University study abroad programs will continue as planned, those plans may be impacted if the region becomes unstable. The political state of the region has impacted University policy in the past. All programs were suspended in spring 2002, but reinstated last year. College junior Josh Weinstein intends to study abroad in Israel next semester and does not expect Arafat's death to impact his plans. (Daily Pennsylvanian)
Penn: Israeli Official Supports Palestine State by Jon Levin
International lawyer and Israeli spokesman Arthur Lenk maintained that his government's first responsibility is the protection of its citizens. He evoked Article 51 of the UN Charter, which gives states the right to act in self-defense "if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations." "We don't want a fence," Lenk said. "The fact is that the fence works....The barrier has drastically sunk the number of attacks." "I'm for the wall in the sense of protecting lives," Penn Medical School student and Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Studies David Keleti said. (Daily Pennsylvanian)
Texas: Former Israeli Official Touts Talks to Gain Peace by Sarah Michel
Arnon Perlman was commissioned by Caravan for Democracy to speak to UT students as a part of their campaign to generate constructive dialogue about the Middle East on college campuses. He said two things must happen to settle the Middle Eastern conflict. "The terror has to stop, and the Palestinians should have their own state." He said only when you get to Israel, do you realize two things - that the conflict is more complex than the media's portrayal, and the area the two cultures must share is very small. (The Daily Texan)
Warwick, UK: Students Go the Extra Miles
A group of Warwick University students in the UK tried to get as far as possible from Coventry with a "jailbreak" stunt to raise cash for charity. Before the event, one of the organizers said: "We are fundraising for a charity called Magen David Adom for ambulances to help people in the Middle East conflict between Palestine and Israel." (IC Coventry)
Waterloo: Prof Won't Be Disciplined for Calling All Israeli's "Targets"
A Canadian university professor who is also president of the country's Islamic Congress won't be disciplined for saying that all Israelis over the age of 18 are legitimate targets of suicide bombers, the University of Waterloo announced Wednesday. Officials with B'nai B'rith Canada said in a statement that the university's decision not to discipline Elmasry is "unacceptable." Despite Elmasry's remorse over the incident, local police have launched an investigation into his comments as a possible hate crime. (Jerusalem Post)
Yeshiva Scrimmages against Visiting Israeli Squad by Elie Goldberg
The Yeshiva basketball team, the Macs, played host to an overseas program called Israel at Heart, an independent touring entity whose primary concern is the image of Israel. Israel at Heart brings Israelis who have all completed military service and are between the ages of 21 and 27. At some campuses they play a friendly game of basketball but at other stops they have been asked just to tell their life stories. (Commentator)
York Condemns Professor's Actions by Caroline Alphonso
York University condemned the actions of one of its professors last week, saying material he handed out on campus targeted Jewish members of the school community. After a film presentation Thursday sponsored by the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, professor David Noble distributed material alleging that the York University Foundation is "biased by the presence and influence of staunch pro-Israel lobbyists, activities and fundraising agencies." "We have absolutely no affiliation [with Noble] and don't endorse such material," Rabia Siddiqui, a spokeswoman for the SPHR, said in an interview. "Hate is not part of our mandate." (Globe and Mail-Canada)
Brandeis: Meeting Arafat, Shaking his Hand in Ramallah by Alexander Suderow
I pushed my luck and safety aside. After crossing a chaotic checkpoint, we asked the Ramallah taxi driver to take us to al-Moqat'a, Arafat's compound. Suddenly, the door opened and I could see a small, frail man seated in a barren room at a raised desk. I was the first to enter. The first things I noticed were his white, patchy beard and watery eyes. His pale, sunken face and lips quivered from Parkinson's disease; this was not a healthy man. His grip was surprisingly iron-fisted (read metaphor). Yasser, wherever you are, I think the world is better off without you, but thanks for letting me out of your place alive. (The Justice)
UC-Irvine: Yasser Arafat's Death is a Call for Dialogue - Editorial
It is our sincere hope that the death of Yasser Arafat will serve as an impetus for civil discourse among Muslims, Jews and the broader global community, but especially within our immediate university setting. Campus dialogue between the Jewish and Muslim student groups seems to have all but ceased. It is time to resume a constructive community dialogue that aims at a reconsideration of opinions and preconceptions regarding the contentious issue of Palestine, and of the broader issue of the peace in the Middle East. (New University)
Columbia: Hate 101 - Climate of Hate Rocks University by Douglas Feiden
Columbia is at risk of becoming a poison Ivy, some critics claim, and tensions are high. In classrooms, teach-ins, interviews and published works, dozens of academics are said to be promoting an I-hate-Israel agenda. In three weeks of interviews, numerous students told the Daily News they face harassment, threats and ridicule merely for defending the right of Israel to survive. (New York Daily News)
Cornell: Good Riddance by Shahar Ziv
Arafat's death means the removal of power from a single compromised source and provides the ability for more moderate Palestinian leaders to listen to their brains instead of their egos. There are hundreds of hurdles that the Palestinians and Israelis both need to overcome until a long-lasting peace is reached; however, the big boulder standing in front of all those hurdles has finally been removed. (Daily Sun)
Florida: In Arafat's Aftermath, Opportunity by Drew Shenkman
Why must Palestinian supporters continue to place blame on anything and everything they possibly can, while never for a second looking introspectively at their own people's society? Now is the time to allow new Palestinian leaders to come forward, to support their reforms, to have real elections, to give Palestinian women the same rights as men, to look inward at the way they are teaching their children and to end the culture of terrorism that is in no way the answer to peace. (Alligator)
Florida: If Leaders Want Peace, They Must Look Ahead by Joel Lombardi
The fictional "right of return" Palestinians claim is simply a red herring for their ultimate goal of the destruction of Israel. This "right" would flood Israel proper with hostile Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has begun his unilateral pullout from Gaza, and with Arafat out of the picture, perhaps a chance for Palestinian moderates to take control is at hand. (Alligator)
Georgetown: A Self-Determined Struggle for Rights by Ben Bixby and Deidre Moskowitz
Why, through the creation of the world's 21st Arab state, must the world's only Jewish state disappear? The "one-state solution" implicitly endorsed and certainly not disavowed by Students for Justice in Palestine is an unjust deprivation of the right of the Jewish people to self-determination. On behalf of the Jewish Students Association, we challenge SJP to acknowledge that the Jewish people are equally entitled to self-determination in our homeland and to join us in advocating for the rights of both our peoples. Ben Bixby is president of the Jewish Students Association (JSA). Deidre Moskowitz is former president of the JSA. (The Hoya)
See also Do We Really Just Need to Move On? by David Kahane
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) sponsored an event last week on "bi-nationalism." Look beyond the aura of political correctness and you will find that the term means nothing short of the destruction of Israel as a Jewish state. Israel exists. And not only will it exist, but it will exist as a Jewish democratic state. Now let's move on. (The Hoya)
Israel, Campus Unreality and Democratic Reality by Joey Tartakovsky
All campus radicals, no matter their inspiration - socialists, animal rights activists, ethnic racists, radical greens, alien cults - seem to have a problem with Israel. The calls to abandon our only ally in the Middle East and the foul apologies for terrorism are testaments to the intellectual corruption of the academy. The Holocaust destroyed forever the universe of European Jewry. But one of the most curious aspects of this narrative is that the survivors did not allow themselves to drown in a black ocean of loss and pity, or pledge eternal revenge against Germany. Instead, they set about to rebuild, painfully, but inspirited by a deep sense of faith and dignity. Joey Tartakovsky graduated this year from UC Santa Barbara, where he was founding president of American Students for Israel. (VDH's Private Papers)
Nebraska: Next Palestinian Leader Needs Peaceful Vision - Staff Editorial
Deaths of leaders of nations are more than a time for remembrance and mourning. They present an opportunity for change. And that is what the Palestinian people must do now. Whoever is chosen to lead the Palestinians will go a long ways in determining the future of the Middle East. Though the future leader will be determined in 60 days, it could be even longer before the world will know what Arafat's lasting legacy is in the region. (Daily Nebraskan)
Tulane: "Gay Rights in the Middle East: Israel Stands Out" by Renee Masor, letter to the editor
Rauda Morcos, co-founder of the first Palestinian lesbian support organization, fled persecution by fellow Arabs in her community to the relative openness of Tel Aviv. Israel is among the world's most progressive nations for sexual minorities. The Israeli gay community has reached out to its Palestinian counterparts. Renee Masor is a member of the Tulane Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Jewish Law Society (Hullabaloo)
Virginia: A Murderous Legacy by Joe Schilling
He was responsible for and complicit in the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians over the past 40 years. His cells committed heinous crimes: suicide bombings, attacks on children, execution-style murders and more. Yet, astonishingly, there was his casket, draped in the Palestinian flag, carried to a plane by a French honor guard past thousands of well-wishers. Unfortunately, while history may remember Arafat for his Nobel Peace Prize, nothing will change who the true Arafat was: a heinous brute and a notorious terrorist. (Daily Cavalier)
Archaeological Excavations in Israel 2005
Many archaeologists enlist volunteer help on their digs, as volunteers are highly motivated and wish to learn and gain experience, although the work is often difficult and tedious. The list of archaeological expeditions which accept volunteers is compiled by the Israel Foreign Ministry as a service to the public. Some expeditions offer credit courses from sponsoring institutions. (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Illinois Adds An Israeli Tennis Recruit
Maria Gugel will join 'The fighting Illini' as part of their tennis program in August 2005. Gugel, the 2003 U.S. Junior International Hard Court doubles champion and singles quarterfinalist, is from Moscow, Russia, but has dual citizenship and is Israel's second-ranked junior player. She has earned world doubles rankings as high as No. 93 in the ITF (for juniors) and No. 628 in the WTA. Gugel has been ranked in singles as high as No. 145 (ITF) and No. 802 (WTA). (CSTV: College Sports.com)
Multi-Ethnic Israeli Hip-Hop Band Rocks U.S. Audiences With Reality by Loolwa Khazzoom
Hadag Nahash, a popular Israeli hip-hop group was making an 11-city tour in the United States. The nexus between quality hip-hop and Jewish identity has two main benefits: It reaches out to Jewish students who otherwise might not be interested in Israel, and it provides a bridge-building opportunity between Jewish youth and youth of other ethnic backgrounds. According to Juan Calvin Turner, a senior at Howard University and a hip-hop artist, "Hadag Nahash was really hot. I was impressed with them. Being a Jewish band, I didn't know what to expect." (JTA)
See also Israeli Hip-Hop Takes U.S. by Loolwa Khazzoom
In an effort to help Israelis heal from the trauma of terrorist attacks, Hadag Nahash created an Israeli hip-hop compilation album in memory of DJ Benny the B. Originally from small-town Pennsylvania, Benny the B was a leading hip-hop DJ in Israel - until he was killed two years ago in the Hebrew University suicide bombing. Proceeds from Remember Ben CD sales go to a soup kitchen collectively run by devout and secular Israelis, on a mission to promote religious tolerance. (Rolling Stone)
Israeli Miri Ben-Ari, "The Hip-Hop Violinist," Takes Hip-Hop To The Next Millenium by Alison Waldman
Miri Ben-Ari, "The Hip-Hop Violinist," has been making a lot of noise lately. The Israeli-born virtuoso wrote, produced, arranged and performed all strings on Kanye West's debut album The College Dropout, and has been touring the country with West, wowing crowds at sold-out shows in New York, Chicago and LA. Real Player clip (Soundslam)
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 - The Palestinian Authority expects to hold elections on January 9. Israel reunited Jerusalem in 1967. Should Israel permit Palestinian residents of east Jerusalem to vote?
| No, Do Not Permit Them to Vote (Excerpts)
- Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom: "We believe that east Jerusalem is part of the State of Israel, therefore we don't see room to allow this." Allowing east Jerusalemites to take part in the vote would lend legitimacy to Palestinian claims to the eastern part of the city, Shalom said.
- Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert, formerly Jerusalem's mayor, said that the criterion for taking part in the PA elections is whether or not the person will in the future be a resident of the PA. "Since Jerusalem will not be a part, giving them the right to vote is liable to be interpreted as our willingness to divide Jerusalem, something which is out of the question," he said.
- Minister-without-Portfolio Tzahi Hanegbi also came out against the idea, saying he hopes Israel doesn't let people living in its capital choose the PA leadership. (Jerusalem Post)
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Yes, Permit Them to Vote (Excerpts)
- Prime Minister Sharon reminded his cabinet - split on the issue - that east Jerusalemites voted by mail in the last PA elections in 1996. Furthermore, he said Israel cannot keep them from traveling to Ramallah to cast their ballots.
- Interior Minister Avraham Poraz said since Israel has no interest in letting east Jerusalem residents vote for the Knesset, they should have the right to vote in the PA elections. "They can't vote in Israel and they can't vote in PA elections? They have to allowed to vote somewhere," he said.
- Poraz continued: "When an American citizen in Israel votes in the US elections, it doesn't turn Tel Aviv into a part of America. Likewise regarding east Jerusalem Arabs. The fact that they vote in PA elections doesn't turn their place of residence into Palestine." (Jerusalem Post)
See also PM Favors Granting East Jerusalem Voting Rights by Gideon Alon
MK Yossi Sarid (Yahad-Meretz) said that the 200,000 Palestinians there are very much part of the Palestinian people and any attempt to separate them is artificial and won't last. (Ha'aretz)
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