| |  | | | September 18, 2005 | 
|  Sharon Tells UN It's Time for Palestinian Peace Steps by Joel Brinkley
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel spoke Thursday to the UN General Assembly and challenged the Palestinians to demonstrate their commitment to peace now that Israel has completed its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. (New York Times) Read More.
See also Text of Prime Minister Sharon's Address to the UN General Assembly
The right of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel does not mean disregarding the rights of others in the land. The Palestinians...are also entitled to freedom and to a national, sovereign existence in a state of their own....I am among those who believe that it is possible to reach a fair compromise and coexistence in good neighborly relations between Jews and Arabs. However, I must emphasize one fact: there will be no compromise on the right of the State of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, with defensible borders, in full security and without threats and terror. (Prime Minister's Office) | |  Palestinian Authority: 100,000 Crossed Gaza-Egypt Border Since Monday by Khaled Abu Toameh
Palestinian Authority security officials disclosed that at least 100,000 people had crossed the Gaza-Egypt border in both directions since the IDF left the Philadelphi Corridor last Monday. They said that, in addition to large amounts of weapons, the infiltrators smuggled into the Gaza Strip tons of drugs, including hashish, cocaine and marijuana. According to sources in Rafah, dozens of people from various Arab nationalities have crossed into the Gaza Strip over the past week. "We still don't know who these people are, but they include Saudis, Sudanese, Libyans, Syrians and Lebanese," said one source. (Jerusalem Post) Read More. | |  U.S. and Israel - Best Friends (Almost) by Eyal Birnberg
Israel is the U.S.'s fourth closest ally, after Great Britain, Canada and Australia, a recent poll conducted by the Harris Interactive website shows. The survey shows that 41 percent of Americans view Israel as a close ally, 31 percent regard Israel a friendly country but not an ally. (Ynet News) Read More. | |  Israel's Supreme Court: West Bank Fence Is Legal by Yuval Yoaz
Israel's High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a July 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice in The Hague and ruled that Israel had the authority in principle to build a separation fence in the West Bank, beyond the "green line," for security reasons. The court also ruled that the state must consider an alternative route for the fence near the West Bank settlement of Alfei Menashe. (Ha'aretz) Read More. |
| | 
|  Now, It's the Palestinians' Turn by Ari Shavit
The Palestinians are behaving as if nothing has happened. They continue to declare that the struggle will continue until every bit of Palestinian land has been liberated. And even worse: by torching the synagogues and storming the Philadelphi route, they are signaling that they do not intend to behave as a responsible state. After hundreds of years of subservience some 1.5 million Palestinians have finally gained self-rule. But precisely if the Palestinians do want to advance toward further Israeli withdrawals, they must quickly switch their diskette. Change their ethos. Move from grumbling to constructive activity. Put their feelings of eternal victimhood behind them and begin acting like a mature political entity. (Ha'aretz) Read More. | |  TV Report that Helped Fuel Deadly Palestinian Intifada Appears to Be False by David Gelernter
A 55-second video report, produced in 2000 by a French TV station and distributed free of charge around the world, has caused untold injury and grief to Israeli civilians. The reported death of a Palestinian child, Mohammed Dura, in Gaza did as much as anything else to ignite the current uprising. This month, the French author Nidra Poller analyzes the evidence in Commentary magazine and shows that the video is a fraud - "an almost perfect media crime," the retired French journalist Luc Rosenzweig calls it. There is a wider story here; we are vulnerable to video lies. (Los Angeles Times) Read More. | |  The Civil War that Wasn't by Natan Sharansky
Over the past two months, I spent a great deal of time in Gush Katif, both with families in the last minutes of their lives there, as well as with the soldiers and officers. What I saw was not a division into two camps of evacuating soldiers and evacuees. The settlers and the army were of the same camp. Yet an invisible but very tangible border arose; not between soldiers and settlers, but between those who shared the pain of disengagement and those who did not. Our sages tell us that empathy is the ultimate sign of oneness. (Jerusalem Post) Read More. | |  Banning Hamas? How European Countries Ban Political Parties by David Makovsky (pictured) and Elizabeth Young
It will be interesting to see whether the EU supports the same restrictions on Hamas that European states place on extremist parties at home. Were it to follow the European practice, the EU would require the PA to enact eligibility rules requiring Hamas (and any other party wishing to participate in the January ballot) to disarm, disband militias, forswear violence, and end all forms of incitement to violence. A party running on a platform calling for Israel's destruction by its very nature is an advocate of violence. (Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Read More. |
| | 
|  Campus Initiative To Engage, Not Rage by Jonathan Mark
After years of the Middle East's volcanic passions spilling onto American college quads, Jewish groups increasingly have perceived campuses as hostile environments demanding scrutiny and truth squads — sometimes even hostility in return. This semester, the Israel on Campus Coalition is encouraging a more refined approach, targeting the indifferent students rather than the combative ones, looking to build relationships rather than score debating points. "The big picture of the campaign is that we're going on the offensive," albeit with such gentle weapons as film festivals, concerts and Israel celebrations, ICC Director Wayne Firestone said. The campaign will be known as "Israel Starts With i." (New York Jewish Week) Read More. | |  BU Prof Using Web in Bid to Catch Media's Anti-Israel Bias by Jay Fitzgerald
A Boston University history professor has started a media watchdog Web site to grade journalists on their reporting of historic events out of the Middle East, and eventually elsewhere. Richard Landes, a professor of medieval French history, said he was so disturbed by what he saw as pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel reporting by the media that he lined up some funding and support to launch this week a Web site called the Second Draft. (Boston Herald) Read More. | |  Earlham: Visiting Professors Will Teach about Israeli-Palestinian Issues by Vernon Redd
She is Israeli. He is Palestinian. Both are at Earlham College this semester for the first pairing of professors from the Middle East nations through the Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence program. Muhsin Yusuf of Birzeit University is a historian and former director of the Palestinian Center for Israeli Studies in Ramallah. He teaches "Historical Context of Current Conflicts in the Middle East." Tal Litvak-Hirsch, a psychology professor at Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, will help Earlham students examine the "Social Psychology of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." (Palladium-Item) Read More. | |  Indiana Wesleyan: Professor to Be Honored for Work Promoting Israel When Wilbur Glenn Williams first traveled to Israel in 1958, he was caught in the political turmoil surrounding the assassination of King Faisal II of Iraq. Instead of visiting the Old City of Jerusalem, Williams only was allowed to stand on a hill and look into the city. "When I crested the hill and looked at the Old City, I began to cry. I couldn't help it," said Williams, a professor of biblical literature and archaeology at Indiana Wesleyan University. "I made God a promise on that hillside that I would run tours to Israel." 47 years and 123 tours later, the 76-year-old Williams is still fulfilling his promise to be a Holy Lands tour guide. (Chicago Tribune) Read More. | |  Michigan State: Event Focuses on Israel by Maggie Lillis
Although Israel is thousands of miles away from East Lansing, a little piece of the country was at the rock on Farm Lane on Thursday night. At Israel Fest - put on by the Jewish Student Union and Spartans for Israel - guests were given an opportunity to learn about Israeli culture and politics. The free three-hour event included Israeli food, demonstrations on Israeli military self-defense and different musical acts ranging from an MSU student to Jewish rapper Remedy, who is affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan. (State News) Read More. | |  Monash (Australia) Stands Firm on Terror Exhibition by Jen Kelly
Monash University is standing firm on a decision to exhibit a controversial terror artwork next month featuring Osama bin Laden. Titled "Canberra's 18," the provocative piece features al-Qaeda, Jemaah Islamiah and 16 other terrorist groups banned by the Federal Government. Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said the artwork was "designed to generate empathy for terrorists." (Herald Sun - Australia) Read More. | |   NYU: Shimon Peres Appears on MTV
In a New York college class, the MTV camera and all eyes were on the door, awaiting the professor - a surprise. In walked Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres. "I am your surprise," the 82-year-old Nobel Prize winner, cracking a smile, told the undergraduate students at New York University. The result was a taped-for-MTV discussion of the world's troubles, with Peres telling the politics majors that the biggest achievement of the past century was the liberation of women. The session is to air Sept. 27 on MTV's college-targeted network, mtvU. (Ynet News) Read More. | |  78 Foreign Students at MDA Course by Marion Fischel
Seventy-eight university students from 11 countries began an eight-day course last week, which will allow them to qualify as Magen David Adom volunteers across Israel. Although MDA runs these courses every couple of months, this one brings the total number of participants this year to 450, making it a record year. Additionally, whereas participants are usually from North America, this time the students, all tourists, also hail from South America, Central Europe and the UK. (Jerusalem Post) Read More. |
| | 
|  Babson: My Time in Israel by Herbert Weisburgh
While I was in Israel, I was able to get the perspectives of people on every side of the issue of Disengagement. Whether or not Israel should retreat from Gaza, by withdrawing unilaterally and with little to no explanation, during an investigation into the integrity of his campaign, Sharon has all but guaranteed the failure of the Disengagement. There can be no peace unless a government is set up in Palestine that actually represents its people's best interest. The terrorist organizations in Palestine need to be weeded out and certainly cannot be the community leaders. (Free Press) Read More. | |  Buffalo: Speakers Giving False Impressions of Israel by Elinor Weiss
There have been complaints of anti-Semitism on the University at Buffalo campus. UB, hiding behind the guise of academic freedom, is unwittingly allowing professors to prey on college students who lack basic knowledge of the Middle East. They are allowing lecturers, such as Norman Finkelstein, who are admired by neo-Nazis, to speak on campus. This is akin to letting the KKK speak as "qualified" specialists in their field. The author is a SUNY-UB graduate. (Buffalo News) Read More. | |  UCLA: Future of West Bank Depends on Choices Today Interview with Prof. Steven Spiegel
The disengagement provides the Palestinians with a way of controlling their own fate, and how they address it will have great influence on their future ability to attain full statehood. For Israel, it will test the efficacy of unilateral disengagement. If Palestinian violence declines, we are likely to see more unilateral withdrawals from the West Bank, and the prospect of negotiations will be facilitated. If violence accelerates, Israelis will toughen their policies toward the Palestinians, and rely for their security more on military than political means. (Daily Bruin) Read More. | |  Yeshiva: Neville Chamberlain, 2005 - Peace In Our Time Unlikely by Elyasaf Schwartz
While Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would not consider his policy in Gaza appeasement, he has unfortunately headed down the same road as the former British Prime Minister. In assessing the Disengagement, the most important security question is: How do the terrorists view the move? Like in 1938, the answer is one word: victory. For now, perhaps the Disengagement will grant Israel a brief reprieve, but raised Arab expectations and freer reins in Gaza forebode a difficult road ahead. (Commentator) Read More. | | Australia: AUJS' Condom Controversy
Risque or radical? Outrageous or outstanding? The decision by the Australasian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS) to distribute blue-and-white condoms to promote Israel on campus last week has, unsurprisingly, divided many in this community. Some universities have vetoed the campaign for their annual Israel Week. AUJS' condom campaign is refreshingly inventive at a time when Jerusalem's hasbara has been impotent at best. That said, it is the end, not the means, which counts. And if the means is purely a publicity stunt, albeit a clever one, with no guarantee that in the end the students will be left any the wiser about Israel, then the condom campaign, no matter how popular, will have been a failure. (Australian Jewish News) Read More. |
| | 
|  Kelly Clarkson's 'Israeli Idol' by David Brinn
Guitarist extraordinaire Danny Weissfeld is realizing his dreams by anchoring the band of American Idol superstar Kelly Clarkson. In addition to performing around the world and writing songs for Clarkson's next album, the 28-year-old Kfar Sava native is also teaching his boss how to play the guitar. "It's kind of fascinating for Americans when they find out I'm Israeli," says Weissfeld. "I get a lot of questions about the army - and what's going on in Israel. A lot of people have actually gone on trips to Israel because of me - sometimes I feel like an ambassador," he adds with a smile. (Israel21c) Read More. |
| | 
|  Frozen Organ Transplant Gives Hope for Humans by Sheryl Uberlacker
A new way of freezing tissue has allowed researchers to successfully remove, store and re-implant ovaries in sheep, providing hope the procedure could one day be used for women at risk of losing their fertility. Furthermore, the freezing process may offer a way to preserve scarce donor organs, such as hearts, kidneys and livers, which now must be transplanted into recipients within hours of retrieval, the scientists say. "This is the first time an intact organ was frozen, thawed and came back to full function," said Dr. Amir Arav, a biologist at Israel's Agricultural Research Organization. (Globe and Mail) Read More. | |   Ben-Gurion & Oregon: Discovering the Real Baby Einsteins by Allison Kaplan Sommer
You may think that your baby is merely gazing at the stars, when in fact, she may be counting them. That's what Israeli researcher Dr. Andrea Berger and her colleagues have set out to investigate in their pioneering research on what goes on inside the minds of young babies, focusing specifically on their mathematical abilities. Berger, a lecturer at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev says that the aim of her project, conducted together with experts at the University of Oregon, is to provide data to back up the theory that "babies can process quantity data very, very early in life and can even perform very basic mathematical operations like addition and subtraction." (Israel21c) Read More. |
| | 
|   San Diego State: Native Israeli Sophomore Runs for More than just a First-Place Finish by Ryan Horton
Lital Azulay is not sure where she belongs. America is very different from Israel, Azulay's home country, and to say moving here has been difficult would be an understatement. The San Diego State sophomore cross country runner comes from Holon, Israel, a large city of 200,000 people just outside of Tel Aviv. She is very accustomed to living in the city, which is why when she came to the United States and attended Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina it was extremely difficult for her to adjust. However, since she has transferred to San Diego State the feeling of belonging is back. (College Sports) Read More. | |  You Go Girl! by Israel Kasnett
Those who haven't heard of the Israeli Women's Flag Football Team, are missing out on a sensational moment in Israeli sports history. This team, coached by Yona Misha'an, won the largest, most crucial tournament in Europe. Their victory, 33-32 against the French Pygargues at the Flag Oceane Tournament, qualified them for a spot in the EFAF (European Federation of American Football) Senior Flag Championships, taking place September 16-18 in Helsinki, Finland. (Jerusalem Post) Read More. |
| | 
|  Israeli Teen Actor to Push for Organ Donations by Michal Yasoud Beit Or
A teen idol has been recruited to help raise youth awareness about organ transplants: Actor Max Oliarchik is now starring in a short film produced by the Education Unit of the National Center for Organ Transplants to be screened at Israeli schools. The purpose of using Oliarchik (known for his role in the Israeli TV series "Pick Up") is to stimulate school discussions about organ transplants and raise awareness among youngsters who would then register for the ADI organ donor card. (Ynet News) Read More. |
| | 
Who Are You, Mr. Sharon?
| Sharon's Farewell Speech by Sever Plocker
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon chose the most unexpected venue - the United Nations General Assembly - to bid his own party, the Likud, a final farewell. Sharon's moderate, touching, and excellent speech, which he delivered in Hebrew, was directed in its entirely to the ears of Israeli centrist and leftist voters. It did not include even one paragraph of flattery to his tradition constituency, namely the Likud Central Committee and the ruling party's members. Sharon's speech, with its plethora of messages regarding further painful concessions to the Palestinians and their national rights, served as an unequivocal testament to Sharon's departure from the core of Likud ideology and his significant turn to the left, and marked a resounding end to his leadership of the Israeli hawkish right-wing camp. Commentators expected to hear messages that would be well-received by Likud rightists ("Who wants to uproot terror?") but instead got a speech that was music to the ears of Shimon Peres ("Who wants a Palestinian state and concessions for peace?") As of Thursday evening, then, members of the Likud Central Committee can no longer have any doubts: Sharon does not care about them any more. He has embarked on a new road. Sharon told the entire world he has decided to dedicate the latter part of his political career to bringing peace for Israel and the boosting of normal neighborly ties between Israel and the Palestinians, as opposed to quarrels with Likud rival Benjamin Netanyahu. Sharon's words were broadcast on television and laid the groundwork, not for a victory in the Likud Central Committee and certainly not for a victory in the Likud primaries, but rather, an overwhelming victory in the next Knesset elections, if and when he takes the helm of a new party, whose platform he outlined on Thursday. (Ynet News) Read More. | | Time for New Elections by Yossi Beilin
The withdrawal from Gaza is a precedent for the evacuation of settlements from the West Bank. It also created an unprecedented split in the Likud, and provided Israel with a timeout from the international community. Despite the fact that Sharon says that he has no intention of continuing with diplomatic moves for the current time, his image is littered with a record of not telling the truth. People say, 'he's never told the truth, why should we believe him now when he promises not to do anything? Maybe he'll surprise us and make peace.' But the interview that Sharon gave to Newsweek magazine and the Washington Post tell the whole story. He invented the 'first stage of the roadmap' and he will be remaining in it until the Palestinian Authority destroys the terrorist infrastructure. Calm is not enough for him. He needs a real civil war, without which he will not begin to fulfill his role. The man who was scared two years ago by mounting American pressure has defeated the 'road map," the Geneva initiative, and police investigations against him. He even sacrificed Gaza for the West Bank settlements. The last thing on his mind is to continue is to exploit the Gaza withdrawal to begin peace negotiations, or at least to realize the 'map', or to continue with unilateral withdrawal. He can be sure that Abu Mazen won't fight the Hamas, since the Hamas is stronger than him, for the moment. And that's why Sharon can enjoy from his position in 'long term parking,' and not do a thing. This is the famous Dov Weisglass formula. The task of the peace camp now is to make a huge effort to shorten the days of the government and bring elections forward. First of all, every elections outcome, against the background of what is happening in the Likud, is better than the current political situation. Second, 14 months of diplomatic freeze are preparing the ground for a renewal of violence. Sharon is not the messenger of the peace camp and did not act fulfill its vision. He does not believe in peace, and prefers - even when Abu Mazen replaced Arafat - to shut the door in the face of the Palestinians in Gaza, instead of reaching an agreement with them. (Ynet News) Read More. |
| | | For Daily News Updates, see the Daily Alert
To subscribe to Israel Campus Beat, click here.
To manage your subscription to the Israel Campus Beat, click here.
To unsubscribe from Israel Campus Beat, click here. | |
No comments:
Post a Comment