[yshavurah] this wk's snippets and upcoming events
- From: "Cherie Kurland" <kurlandc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
- Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 22:38:28 -0400
From www.environment.gov.il April 2004 newsletter: ?Responsible partnership
between Jew and Arab on behalf of a better environment and a better society ?
this is what LINK is all about. The organization, which has been working
proactively to advance the cause of the environment in the Galilee, was first
set up in 1995?.the organization can boast an impressive list of projects and
achievements:?.LINK?s work with more than 20 local and regional municipalities
in the Arab and Jewish sectors has led to a significant increase in the
recycling of paper and cardboard and used cooking oil?.LINK coordinated a
two-year community project?that involved Jewish and Arab residents in the
planning process of a national park?.[A] community-based environmental
center?supported by the Kiryat Tivon Local Council, seek to change consumer
habits by offering a second-hand store, an exchange center for household items
and a series of workshops?emphasizing the relationship between consumerism and t
he environment and offering practical eco-consumerism skills?.The projects,
each of which has a Jewish and Arab coordinator, are empowering the residents
of the Galilee to find solutions to their environmental problems?.?
From http://www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v1n04/v1n04-2.htm: ?The Galilee
Society (GS), based in Shfr'am, northern Israel, http://www.gal-soc.org/,
describes itself as "a Palestinian Arab non-partisan, community-wide,
non-governmental organization (NGO) located in Israel." Established in 1981 by
four health care professionals, it is now the largest Arab NGO operating in
Israel?. an example of an NGO working in the field of civil and human rights in
the Middle East that has not allowed an ideological bias to undermine its
purposes. Over the past twenty years, its contributions have helped its
constituency, the Arab population of Israel, come nearer to its stated goals.
The GS was originally founded as a development organization, specializing in
health issues and the environment. In more recent years it has moved into
advocacy and lobbying due to what its director Basil Ghattas perceived as a
serious leadership crisis and a lack of professionalism in the Arab community.
?.GS's reports illustrate how it is possible for an Arab organization to
campaign for social and human rights issues while maintaining balance and
context beyond simplistic point-scoring in the Israeli-Arab conflict
The GS has an impressive range of achievements. ? from providing sewage plans
for the local village authorities in the Arab sector, to the installation of a
pollution prevention and monitoring devices in the Tzippori Industrial Zone,
Galilee. Other achievements include a campaign to secure drinking water
connections for Arab unrecognized villages in Israel? GS is most famous for its
well-respected Regional Research & Development Center. ? the first research
center to be established in an Arab community in Israel ?..? [NGO Monitor is
run by Dore Gold.]
Interesting sentences from a report written by Gabriel Weimann, a senior fellow
at the US Institute of Peace, at www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr116.html:
??.The website operated by the Muslim Hackers Club (a group that US security
agencies believe aims to develop software tools with which to launch
cyberattacks) has featured links to US sites that purport to disclose sensitive
information such as code names and radio frequencies used by the US Secret
Service. The same website offers tutorials in creating and spreading viruses,
devising hacking stratagems, sabotaging networks, and developing codes; it also
provides links to other militant Islamic and terrorist web addresses?.The Sunni
extremist group Hizb al-Tahrir uses an integrated web of Internet sites,
stretching from Europe to Africa, which asks supporters to assist the effort by
giving money and encouraging others to donate to the cause of jihad. Banking
information, including the numbers of account into which don
ations can be deposited, is provided on a site based in Germany?.Many
terrorist groups, among them Hamas and al Qaeda, have undergone an
transformation from strictly hierarchical organizations with designated leaders
to affiliations of semi-independent cells that have no single commanding
hierarchy. Through the use of the Internet, these loosely interconnected
groups are able to maintain contact with one another ? and with members of
other terrorist groups?.The World Wide Web is home to dozens of sites that
provide information on how to build chemical and explosive weapons?.Another
manual, The Mujahadeen Poisons Handbook, ??published? on the official Hamas
website, details in [23] pages how to prepare various homemade poisons,
poisonous gases, and other deadly materials for use in terrorist attacks?.Hamas
activists in the Middle East?use chat rooms to plan operations and operatives
exchange e-mail to coordinate actions across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and
Israel?.
?.while we must thus better defend our societies against terrorism, we must not
in the process erode the very qualities and values that make our societies
worth defending. The Internet is in many ways an almost perfect embodiment of
the democratic ideals of free speech and open communication?.Unfortunately,?the
freedom offered by the Internet is vulnerable to abuse from groups that,
paradoxically, are themselves often hostile to uncensored thought and
expression?..?
From 4/15/04 weekly email newsletter from American Jewish Congress: ?More than
25 years after Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel, children in the largest
Arab country still cannot find their neighbor properly identified on maps. This
is one of the key findings of a comprehensive study of Egyptian schoolbooks
published by the AJC and the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace. The
report, War and Peace, Israel and the West, in Egyptian Schoolbooks, surveyed
more than 100 books used in Egyptian state and religious schools. "In spite of
the peace treaty, Israel is not treated in the Egyptian textbooks as a
sovereign state," the report concludes. Except for two maps in a history book
that refer to the "Jewish State," Israel's name does not appear on any of the
maps. ?.previous report, published in 2003, dealt with textbooks used in
schools in Saudi Arabia.?
From www.jcpa.org/daily for 4/16/04: Muslim Explorers Preceded Columbus? -
George Archibald (Washington Times)
An Indian tribe has forced distributors of an Arab studies guide for U.S.
teachers to remove an inaccurate passage that says Muslim explorers preceded
Christopher Columbus to North America and became Algonquin chiefs. Peter
DiGangi, director of Canada's Algonquin Nation Secretariat in Quebec, called
claims in the book, the Arab World Studies Notebook, "preposterous" and
"outlandish," saying nothing in the tribe's written or oral history support
them. The Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), a Washington advocacy group that
promoted the curriculum to school districts in 155 U.S. cities, has decided to
remove the two-page chapter called "Early Muslim Exploration Worldwide:
Evidence of Muslims in the New World Before Columbus." Meanwhile, the Thomas
B. Fordham Foundation this week issued a report that is critical of Arab World
Studies Notebook, titled "The Stealth Curriculum: Manipulating America's
History Teachers."
And from 4/13/04: · Gen. Abizaid: Iran, Syria Involved in Iraq
Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command, said Monday, "Clearly, there
are indications from intelligence folks that there are some Iranian activities
going on that are unhelpful...and there's also unhelpful actions coming from
Syria." (Defense Department)
See also Iran's Role in the Recent Uprising in Iraq
A former Iranian intelligence official in charge of activities in Iraq,
identified as Haj Sa'idi, told the London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that
the Iranian plan to turn Iraq into another Iran involves the recruitment of
thousands of young Shi'ites. He said more than 300 reporters and technicians
who are working now in Iraq for television and radio networks, newspapers, and
other media agencies are in fact members of the Al-Quds Army and the
Revolutionary Guards intelligence units. He also claimed that Iranian
allocations for activities in Iraq reached $70 million per month. (MEMRI)
11% of Palestinians Killed by Other Palestinians, Study Shows - Arnon Regular
(Ha'aretz)
Over 11% of Palestinians killed since September 2000 died at the hands of other
Palestinians, according to a report by the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human
Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG). The report states that 297 Palestinians were
killed by other Palestinians. See also The "Intra'fada": An Analysis of
Internal Palestinian Violence - Leonie Schultens (PHRMG)
Friday, April 23-Saturday, April 24, 2004: Beth Jacob Synagogue Scholar in
Residence programs with Professor Sara Reguer. After dinner 4/23: "More
Precious than Oil: Water & Peace in Israel"; 4/24 8PM: "The Unexpected
Aliyah". RSVP required for related meals: 937-274-2149.
Sunday, April 25, 2004 4-6PM: Dayton premiere of Israeli film, "Adjusting
Sights", Hillel Academy, Free. More information: Deva Zwelling 937-854-4150.
Monday, April 26, 2004 11AM through early afternoon: Holocaust videos and
related readings, Sinclair College, Kendell Student Activities Center, lower
level, Building 8. Free.
Monday, April 26, 2004 7PM: Israeli band, Seeds of Sun, Beth Jacob Synagogue.
Free. (Food available for purchase beginning 5:30PM) More information: Deva
Zwelling 937-854-4150.
MAY
VYZ Sunday, May 9, 2004: Book Review: ?At the Entrance to the Garden of
Eden?, Dayton Christian-Jewish Dialogue event, 7:30 p.m. University of Dayton
Alumni Hall, room 101. Speaker: Dr. Eric Friedland. For information, contact
Lillian Gillespie, chair, at 937-456-2662 or revlil@xxxxxxxxx
--- Cherie Kurland
--- kurlandc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
--- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
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