DAILY MAIL, 22nd April 2008
By Matthew Kalman
The family of a British filmmaker shot dead by Israeli troops is set to receive £1.75 million in compensation from the Israeli government.
Prize-winning documentary maker James Miller, 34, was killed by soldiers guarding a security zone in the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on May 2, 2003.
He left a wife, Sophy, and two young children, Alexander and Lottie.
The £1.75 million payout to Mr Miller's widow and children was reported by an Israeli newspaper yesterday. It comes after five years of mounting legal pressure on Israel to accept responsibility for the fatal shooting.
The soldier who shot Mr Miller, Lieutenant Hib al-Heib, was cleared by an Israeli army inquiry then promoted to Captain.
Mr Miller's widow, elderly parents, brother John and sister Katie have pursued the case even though the military probe decided the soldiers on patrol that day had not acted beyond their orders.
His family filed a suit against the State of Israel for murder, and in 2006 a British inquest ruled the killing a murder.
A hearing on the case is set in the Tel Aviv District Court for May 13.
The filmmaker's brother John told the Mail from his home in Paris that the family had not yet been officially notified of the Israeli decision and were awaiting confirmation from the foreign ministry.
"We haven't had an offer," he said. "We do have a scheduling hearing due for May 13 and I suspect because of that they have leaked this."
He said the family had already spent more than £1 million recovering his brother's body, carrying out the autopsy and employing expert witnesses to pursue the case.
The family had sued for compensation in excess of £3 million based on loss of earnings, but "it has never really been about the money," he said.
"It's five years since this happened. You have to reach a point where there's a lot to be said for settling because it takes up an incredible amount of time and effort.
"My parents are both retired should be enjoying life. They have seen the film of James being killed more than 500 times, and that's really not ideal for their situation and not the way to spend their retirement.
"We are quite motivated to end this. I don't imagine we would do it regardless of money, but it certainly isn't the real issue," he said.
"It's about being able to move on five years later rather than having the prospect of another few years in court," he added.
After a lengthy Israeli investigation, officials in Jerusalem originally decided in March 2005 not to press criminal charges against those involved because of insufficient evidence.
The commander of the Israeli force that shot and killed Mr Miller faced disciplinary proceedings for illegal use of firearms, but was exonerated.
An Israeli army inquiry found that Mr Miller's death was a "tragic accident."
An army spokesman claimed that the Londoner "walked right into the middle of an ongoing battle" with heavy exchanges of fire between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen in bad light.
But John Miller said the footage his brother shot that night suggested a different story.
"My brother was filmed going out of the building holding a torch which he was shining on a white flag," he said.
"The film shows my brother, reporter Saira Shah and another journalist walking from the building shouting they were British journalists in English and in Arabic.
"They reach a point where a shot is fired and it's silent apart from that shot.
"They stand still, holding the flag. Then 10-15 seconds later there is a another shot – the one that killed my brother. You see the flag dropped and a great deal of commotion and shouting."
"There were no other shots except for those two and I believe they both came from the Israeli side," he said.
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
American Internships in Israel Promote Extremism, Report Says
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
A forthcoming report on American student internships in Israel and the Palestinian territories says that some programs are promoting extremist politics instead of academic values.
The report, "Human Rights Internships That Promote Conflict, Not Education," is to be published in May by NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog based here.
A draft copy of the report obtained by The Chronicle singles out programs at the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies and George Mason University's Center for Global Education, both of which send students as interns to human-rights nongovernmental organizations, or NGO's, in the Middle East.
"Many of these NGO's are highly political and partisan," says the draft report.
"The NGO's involved in these internship programs are systematically biased in promoting a pro-Palestinian political agenda, and present human-rights and international law in a simplistic, partisan, and misleading manner, in which the environment of terrorism and asymmetric warfare is erased," the draft charges.
Some targets of the criticism assailed the draft report as a right-wing smear, and they said the interns furthered their studies in rigorous academic programs.
Among the NGO's criticized is the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, an Israeli group that promotes an anti-Israeli boycott and denounces Israeli "apartheid" and "atrocities." That committee and Mossawa, an Israeli-Arab rights group, have compared Israel to Nazi Germany. Another group criticized in the draft report, I'lam, was involved in an "Israel Apartheid" week at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
"These internships are an inappropriate element of any kind of university educational program," said Gerald M. Steinberg, executive director of NGO Monitor and chairman of the political-studies department at Bar-Ilan University. "Such one-sided political campaigning by unaccountable NGO's is antithetical to academic norms and standards of conduct."
Mr. Steinberg called on the American universities to "end such biased internships, and to appoint an independent committee to review this and similar activities."
She said her group made no secret of its political agenda, which opposes the Israeli policy of destroying the homes of Palestinians built without permits and the homes of militants in retribution for their attacks.
"We're very political," she said. "We campaign for the human right to have a roof over your head. We say that people's human rights are being abused because of the occupation. If we were in South Africa, then the Israeli separation policies being implemented on the West Bank would be called apartheidthat's the translation."
She said the Israeli committee welcomed students who wanted to study the conflict close-up.
"I have no problem with people who want to learn," she said. "Let them spend time with us and with NGO Monitor. Let them see for themselves."
"Professor Steinberg is labeling all these programs as human-rights and international-law internships," Mr. Lukacs said. "Our program is none of that. It's a workshop in civil society, politics, and conflict resolution."
"Professor Steinberg would have our students wear blinders and pursue only one point of view," he said, "and we don't do that."
He said students spent two months in the Middle East, met with Israeli and Palestinian activists and officials representing all viewpoints, and then began their internships.
"The objective of the program is to let the students decide for themselves what is happening in the area," he said. "This is a rigorous academic program with a full syllabus and lots of course requirements, including research papers. It does not have any particular ideological bent, except that we would like you to see the situation with your own eyes."
"I didn't feel as though I was involved in political activity," said Ms. Szegda. "I saw myself as someone interested in conflict resolution coming in to analyze the level of grassroots organizations and advocacy within the conflict. I felt like, going into Mossawa, I was really aware of who they were and what they represented and what I was going to get out of it."
Mr. Lukacs drew a broader analogy. "Every year hundreds of students head to Washington to intern with U.S. senators for college credit," he said. "Would Professor Steinberg say they were involved in political activity?"
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
A forthcoming report on American student internships in Israel and the Palestinian territories says that some programs are promoting extremist politics instead of academic values.
The report, "Human Rights Internships That Promote Conflict, Not Education," is to be published in May by NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog based here.
A draft copy of the report obtained by The Chronicle singles out programs at the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies and George Mason University's Center for Global Education, both of which send students as interns to human-rights nongovernmental organizations, or NGO's, in the Middle East.
"Many of these NGO's are highly political and partisan," says the draft report.
"The NGO's involved in these internship programs are systematically biased in promoting a pro-Palestinian political agenda, and present human-rights and international law in a simplistic, partisan, and misleading manner, in which the environment of terrorism and asymmetric warfare is erased," the draft charges.
Some targets of the criticism assailed the draft report as a right-wing smear, and they said the interns furthered their studies in rigorous academic programs.
Among the NGO's criticized is the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, an Israeli group that promotes an anti-Israeli boycott and denounces Israeli "apartheid" and "atrocities." That committee and Mossawa, an Israeli-Arab rights group, have compared Israel to Nazi Germany. Another group criticized in the draft report, I'lam, was involved in an "Israel Apartheid" week at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.
"These internships are an inappropriate element of any kind of university educational program," said Gerald M. Steinberg, executive director of NGO Monitor and chairman of the political-studies department at Bar-Ilan University. "Such one-sided political campaigning by unaccountable NGO's is antithetical to academic norms and standards of conduct."
Mr. Steinberg called on the American universities to "end such biased internships, and to appoint an independent committee to review this and similar activities."
'Clear Right-Wing Political Agenda'
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, an official at the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, said Mr. Steinberg and NGO Monitor were pursuing "a clear right-wing political agenda ... he's trying single-handedly to put us out of business."She said her group made no secret of its political agenda, which opposes the Israeli policy of destroying the homes of Palestinians built without permits and the homes of militants in retribution for their attacks.
"We're very political," she said. "We campaign for the human right to have a roof over your head. We say that people's human rights are being abused because of the occupation. If we were in South Africa, then the Israeli separation policies being implemented on the West Bank would be called apartheidthat's the translation."
She said the Israeli committee welcomed students who wanted to study the conflict close-up.
"I have no problem with people who want to learn," she said. "Let them spend time with us and with NGO Monitor. Let them see for themselves."
A Smear?
Yehuda Lukacs, director of the Center for Global Education at George Mason University, accused NGO Monitor of "trying to smear programs like ours.""Professor Steinberg is labeling all these programs as human-rights and international-law internships," Mr. Lukacs said. "Our program is none of that. It's a workshop in civil society, politics, and conflict resolution."
"Professor Steinberg would have our students wear blinders and pursue only one point of view," he said, "and we don't do that."
He said students spent two months in the Middle East, met with Israeli and Palestinian activists and officials representing all viewpoints, and then began their internships.
"The objective of the program is to let the students decide for themselves what is happening in the area," he said. "This is a rigorous academic program with a full syllabus and lots of course requirements, including research papers. It does not have any particular ideological bent, except that we would like you to see the situation with your own eyes."
A Student's Perspective
Julie Szegda, a master's student in international peace and conflict resolution at American University, interned at Mossawa, the Israeli-Palestinian rights group, through the George Mason program in 2007."I didn't feel as though I was involved in political activity," said Ms. Szegda. "I saw myself as someone interested in conflict resolution coming in to analyze the level of grassroots organizations and advocacy within the conflict. I felt like, going into Mossawa, I was really aware of who they were and what they represented and what I was going to get out of it."
Mr. Lukacs drew a broader analogy. "Every year hundreds of students head to Washington to intern with U.S. senators for college credit," he said. "Would Professor Steinberg say they were involved in political activity?"
Thursday, 10 April 2008
International Group of Archaeologists Unveils Proposal for Safekeeping of Israeli and Palestinian Artifacts
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Thursday, April 10, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Israeli, Palestinian, and American archaeologists this week unveiled a draft agreement on archaeological and cultural heritage that they hope to see included in a future Middle East peace agreement.
Presenting their proposal to an audience of archaeologists at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute here on Tuesday, the participants said it was the first time that Israelis and Palestinians had discussed the fate of thousands of artifacts discovered in the West Bank and Gaza since Israel occupied those territories in 1967.
The proposal was presented to Palestinian archaeologists last summer.
"We were not trying to conduct negotiations on a final settlement, but to set out items for future discussion in the peace talks," said David Ilan, director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in Jerusalem, and one of the Israeli participants.
The draft is the result of five years of secret work by the Israeli-Palestinian Archaeology Working Group, a group of Israeli and Palestinian archaeologists who met for talks in London, Vienna, and Jerusalem.
The issue is so sensitive that of the nine participants, two remain anonymous.
The five-page draft agreement has been presented to Israeli and Palestinian leaders, U.N. officials, and the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy. It calls for Israel to repatriate all items excavated in the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians except for those with "deep symbolic value," which should remain on loan to Israel. The group also urges both sides to respect and preserve archaeological sites on both sides of any new border.
Regarding Jerusalem, the group proposes a special "heritage zone" to safeguard the city's "unique archaeological heritage."
The group says that both sides "hold special responsibility to preserve the archaeological heritage of Jerusalem as it significance extends far beyond national borders."
The group has compiled the first publicly accessible computer-mapped database of more than 6,000 archaeological and heritage sites in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, locations that had previously been kept secret by the Israeli occupation administration.
Potential Opposition
A heated debate erupted at the Jerusalem meeting when Shuka Dorfman, director general of the Israel Antiquities Authority, criticized the group for what he called its secrecy and its political tendencies.
"I agree with almost everything in this document," said Mr. Dorfman. "I have no problem with dialogue. It's very important. It's essential. But not when it becomes political. This is politicization of archaeology."
But Ran Boytner, director of international programs at the University of California at Los Angeles's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, rejected Mr. Dorfman's criticism. Mr. Boytner and Lynn Swartz Dodd, curator of the Archaeological Research Collection at the University of Southern California, started the working group and secured money for its activities.
"What is the role of archaeology in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?" said Mr. Boytner. "We didn't politicize archaeology, we tried to solve a political problem affecting archaeology."
"My hope is that when there will be a final peace agreement, that this document will serve as the foundation to build the archaeological chapter," he added.
Facilitators at the group's meetings included Moty Cristal, a former Israeli Army negotiator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from 1994 to 2001. He said there was a long history of so-called Track 2 negotiations involving academics and experts from both sides, which had accompanied the peace talks since the early 1990s.
"Before Camp David, we consulted with dozens of professors and experts, and it helped enormously," said Mr. Cristal, referring to the Clinton-Barak-Arafat peace summit in July 2000.
"This is a very, very important document," said Mr. Cristal. "We will hear attacks from all sides, but this document will be on the shelf and available to the negotiators. If they want it, they can take it."
Under the 1993-94 Oslo Accords, Israel ceded control of archaeological sites in territory handed over to the Palestinian Authority, with the exception of an ancient synagogue in Jericho and Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Both those sites were seized by Palestinian militants at the start of the intifada uprising in 2000.
Under the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement, Israel returned all archaeological artifacts discovered in the Sinai Peninsula, as required by the 1954 Hague Convention. Uzi Dahari, deputy director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who oversaw that process, said he favored a similar deal with the Palestinians but warned that many of the items returned in 1979 were now inaccessible and had effectively been lost to science. He also described the legal position as more complicated than the Egyptian model.
"The Hague Convention only applies to sovereign states, and in 1967 the sovereign state controlling the West Bank was Jordan," said Mr. Dahari. "If we are to return the artifacts to the Palestinians, which I personally favor, then it will be a matter of negotiation, not of law. At the same time, I oppose handing over items of supreme importance to the Jewish people, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those must remain in our possession."
The group's document could meet with stiff opposition from a broader cross-section of archaeologists.
"I think this paper will divide Israeli opinion. Many Israelis would not agree with returning the items," said Adi Keinan of the Israeli Institute of Archaeology, who was the principal researcher on the group's West Bank database.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Israeli, Palestinian, and American archaeologists this week unveiled a draft agreement on archaeological and cultural heritage that they hope to see included in a future Middle East peace agreement.
Presenting their proposal to an audience of archaeologists at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute here on Tuesday, the participants said it was the first time that Israelis and Palestinians had discussed the fate of thousands of artifacts discovered in the West Bank and Gaza since Israel occupied those territories in 1967.
The proposal was presented to Palestinian archaeologists last summer.
"We were not trying to conduct negotiations on a final settlement, but to set out items for future discussion in the peace talks," said David Ilan, director of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in Jerusalem, and one of the Israeli participants.
The draft is the result of five years of secret work by the Israeli-Palestinian Archaeology Working Group, a group of Israeli and Palestinian archaeologists who met for talks in London, Vienna, and Jerusalem.
The issue is so sensitive that of the nine participants, two remain anonymous.
The five-page draft agreement has been presented to Israeli and Palestinian leaders, U.N. officials, and the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is now a Middle East peace envoy. It calls for Israel to repatriate all items excavated in the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians except for those with "deep symbolic value," which should remain on loan to Israel. The group also urges both sides to respect and preserve archaeological sites on both sides of any new border.
Regarding Jerusalem, the group proposes a special "heritage zone" to safeguard the city's "unique archaeological heritage."
The group says that both sides "hold special responsibility to preserve the archaeological heritage of Jerusalem as it significance extends far beyond national borders."
The group has compiled the first publicly accessible computer-mapped database of more than 6,000 archaeological and heritage sites in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, locations that had previously been kept secret by the Israeli occupation administration.
Potential Opposition
A heated debate erupted at the Jerusalem meeting when Shuka Dorfman, director general of the Israel Antiquities Authority, criticized the group for what he called its secrecy and its political tendencies.
"I agree with almost everything in this document," said Mr. Dorfman. "I have no problem with dialogue. It's very important. It's essential. But not when it becomes political. This is politicization of archaeology."
But Ran Boytner, director of international programs at the University of California at Los Angeles's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, rejected Mr. Dorfman's criticism. Mr. Boytner and Lynn Swartz Dodd, curator of the Archaeological Research Collection at the University of Southern California, started the working group and secured money for its activities.
"What is the role of archaeology in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?" said Mr. Boytner. "We didn't politicize archaeology, we tried to solve a political problem affecting archaeology."
"My hope is that when there will be a final peace agreement, that this document will serve as the foundation to build the archaeological chapter," he added.
Facilitators at the group's meetings included Moty Cristal, a former Israeli Army negotiator in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from 1994 to 2001. He said there was a long history of so-called Track 2 negotiations involving academics and experts from both sides, which had accompanied the peace talks since the early 1990s.
"Before Camp David, we consulted with dozens of professors and experts, and it helped enormously," said Mr. Cristal, referring to the Clinton-Barak-Arafat peace summit in July 2000.
"This is a very, very important document," said Mr. Cristal. "We will hear attacks from all sides, but this document will be on the shelf and available to the negotiators. If they want it, they can take it."
Under the 1993-94 Oslo Accords, Israel ceded control of archaeological sites in territory handed over to the Palestinian Authority, with the exception of an ancient synagogue in Jericho and Joseph's Tomb in Nablus. Both those sites were seized by Palestinian militants at the start of the intifada uprising in 2000.
Under the 1979 Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement, Israel returned all archaeological artifacts discovered in the Sinai Peninsula, as required by the 1954 Hague Convention. Uzi Dahari, deputy director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, who oversaw that process, said he favored a similar deal with the Palestinians but warned that many of the items returned in 1979 were now inaccessible and had effectively been lost to science. He also described the legal position as more complicated than the Egyptian model.
"The Hague Convention only applies to sovereign states, and in 1967 the sovereign state controlling the West Bank was Jordan," said Mr. Dahari. "If we are to return the artifacts to the Palestinians, which I personally favor, then it will be a matter of negotiation, not of law. At the same time, I oppose handing over items of supreme importance to the Jewish people, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those must remain in our possession."
The group's document could meet with stiff opposition from a broader cross-section of archaeologists.
"I think this paper will divide Israeli opinion. Many Israelis would not agree with returning the items," said Adi Keinan of the Israeli Institute of Archaeology, who was the principal researcher on the group's West Bank database.
Monday, 7 April 2008
Iran fears spark Israel terror drill
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, April 7th 2008
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - Israel launched a week-long nationwide Civil Defense drill
Sunday as speculation mounted about a possible U.S.-led strike on
Iran.
Sirens blared and rescue workers rushed to simulated chemical and
biological attack scenes across the Jewish state as authorities
mounted the biggest-ever drill in Israel's history. Officials insisted
that the exercise - code-named Turning Point 2 - is part of a
long-term plan to increase civil preparedness after the failed 2006
invasion of Lebanon.
"This is a routine drill," said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "The State
of Israel is not seeking violent confrontation." Israel's neighbors
and Palestinians blasted the drill as a prelude for more cross-border
attacks in Lebanon, Syria or the Gaza Strip.
The drill also came amid rising saber-rattling with Iran, which the
U.S. accuses of meddling in neighboring Iraq. A British newspaper
reported that Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq,
will set the stage for military action against Iran when he testifies
before Congress this week.
Two weeks ago, Petraeus accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guards of
carrying out rocket attacks on the Green Zone in Baghdad that left 15
civilians dead.
A joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran might take aim at the Islamic
Republic's fledgling nuclear program - and also seek to deter it from
interfering in Iraq. Israeli commentators have speculated that any
attack on Iran would most likely take place after the November
election, in the dying days of the Bush presidency.
Monday, April 7th 2008
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
JERUSALEM - Israel launched a week-long nationwide Civil Defense drill
Sunday as speculation mounted about a possible U.S.-led strike on
Iran.
Sirens blared and rescue workers rushed to simulated chemical and
biological attack scenes across the Jewish state as authorities
mounted the biggest-ever drill in Israel's history. Officials insisted
that the exercise - code-named Turning Point 2 - is part of a
long-term plan to increase civil preparedness after the failed 2006
invasion of Lebanon.
"This is a routine drill," said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "The State
of Israel is not seeking violent confrontation." Israel's neighbors
and Palestinians blasted the drill as a prelude for more cross-border
attacks in Lebanon, Syria or the Gaza Strip.
The drill also came amid rising saber-rattling with Iran, which the
U.S. accuses of meddling in neighboring Iraq. A British newspaper
reported that Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq,
will set the stage for military action against Iran when he testifies
before Congress this week.
Two weeks ago, Petraeus accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guards of
carrying out rocket attacks on the Green Zone in Baghdad that left 15
civilians dead.
A joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran might take aim at the Islamic
Republic's fledgling nuclear program - and also seek to deter it from
interfering in Iraq. Israeli commentators have speculated that any
attack on Iran would most likely take place after the November
election, in the dying days of the Bush presidency.
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
Palestinian University Closes Temporarily After Violent Clashes on Its Campus
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Classes have been suspended at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City until
Thursday after violent clashes on Monday that were blamed on
supporters of Hamas.
The university is regarded as one of the last bastions in Gaza of the
Fatah movement, which is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas. The rival Hamas group, which controls the Palestinian
parliament, seized power in Gaza last year.
According to witnesses of Monday's clashes, Hamas supporters,
including many nonstudents, broke into the campus at dawn, detained
university security guards, and attacked several lecturers and
students.
The intruders festooned the campus with Hamas flags and portraits of
Hamas's founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and held a ceremony to mark the
fourth anniversary of his assassination in an Israeli helicopter
strike.
The commemoration violated an order from the university administration
banning student political activities on the campus.
Ayman Shaheen, a political-science professor at Al-Azhar, told The
Chronicle that the infiltrators began beating staff members and
students who tried to remove the Hamas flags and posters.
"Because of the tense situation in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas, the
university administration decided a month and a half ago to stop all
student political activities on campus," he said on Tuesday. "The
university wants to avoid any clashes between the two main groups. But
the Hamas supporters forced their way in to hold their festival."
There were conflicting reports about whether Hamas security forces
aided the demonstrators.
A Hamas spokesman flatly denied that the security forces had a role in
Monday's clashes. "The police were not involved," the spokesman, Sami
Abu Zuhri, said. "This was an internal matter and very small."
"The Islamic students' committee has been repeatedly denied permission
to hold any kind of activity in Al-Azhar University, and the
administration has not given them any explanation," Mr. Abu Zuhri
said. "On Monday they wanted to mark the anniversary of the death of
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin but the university withheld permission. So the
students insisted on going ahead with the celebration anyway. ...
There were small clashes with other students who supported Fatah."
Since Hamas took power in Gaza, Al-Azhar has managed to stay open, but
Hamas security officials have raided the campus at least five times.
Several female students were beaten on Monday while attempting to tear
down posters in support of Hamas, according to news reports. One
student told the Palestinian Center for Human Rights that she was
beaten and sprayed with chloride.
Jaber El-Da'our, the university's vice president for administrative
affairs, told the human-rights group that he and two colleagues were
pursued through the campus by Hamas members.
"The teachers and I decided to stay away from them and their ceremony.
However, they pursued us again and started to assault us till we left
the campus. We demonstrated near the main university entrance;
however, the police came and beat us and insulted us, using gas to
disperse us," he said.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights called on all parties to keep
educational institutions out of the struggle between Fatah and Hamas,
and to protect academic and public freedoms.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Classes have been suspended at Al-Azhar University in Gaza City until
Thursday after violent clashes on Monday that were blamed on
supporters of Hamas.
The university is regarded as one of the last bastions in Gaza of the
Fatah movement, which is headed by Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas. The rival Hamas group, which controls the Palestinian
parliament, seized power in Gaza last year.
According to witnesses of Monday's clashes, Hamas supporters,
including many nonstudents, broke into the campus at dawn, detained
university security guards, and attacked several lecturers and
students.
The intruders festooned the campus with Hamas flags and portraits of
Hamas's founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and held a ceremony to mark the
fourth anniversary of his assassination in an Israeli helicopter
strike.
The commemoration violated an order from the university administration
banning student political activities on the campus.
Ayman Shaheen, a political-science professor at Al-Azhar, told The
Chronicle that the infiltrators began beating staff members and
students who tried to remove the Hamas flags and posters.
"Because of the tense situation in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas, the
university administration decided a month and a half ago to stop all
student political activities on campus," he said on Tuesday. "The
university wants to avoid any clashes between the two main groups. But
the Hamas supporters forced their way in to hold their festival."
There were conflicting reports about whether Hamas security forces
aided the demonstrators.
A Hamas spokesman flatly denied that the security forces had a role in
Monday's clashes. "The police were not involved," the spokesman, Sami
Abu Zuhri, said. "This was an internal matter and very small."
"The Islamic students' committee has been repeatedly denied permission
to hold any kind of activity in Al-Azhar University, and the
administration has not given them any explanation," Mr. Abu Zuhri
said. "On Monday they wanted to mark the anniversary of the death of
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin but the university withheld permission. So the
students insisted on going ahead with the celebration anyway. ...
There were small clashes with other students who supported Fatah."
Since Hamas took power in Gaza, Al-Azhar has managed to stay open, but
Hamas security officials have raided the campus at least five times.
Several female students were beaten on Monday while attempting to tear
down posters in support of Hamas, according to news reports. One
student told the Palestinian Center for Human Rights that she was
beaten and sprayed with chloride.
Jaber El-Da'our, the university's vice president for administrative
affairs, told the human-rights group that he and two colleagues were
pursued through the campus by Hamas members.
"The teachers and I decided to stay away from them and their ceremony.
However, they pursued us again and started to assault us till we left
the campus. We demonstrated near the main university entrance;
however, the police came and beat us and insulted us, using gas to
disperse us," he said.
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights called on all parties to keep
educational institutions out of the struggle between Fatah and Hamas,
and to protect academic and public freedoms.
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
I bow in shame over Holocaust, Merkel tells Israel’s parliament
DAILY MAIL, Wednesday 19 March
From Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
ANGELA Merkel yesterday became the first German Chancellor to address the Israeli parliament, triggering protests from the families of Holocaust victims.
‘I can’t bear the thought of hearing German in the Knesset,’ said Arieh Eldad, a Right-wing MP who was one of a handful who boycotted the session.
‘This is the language my grandparents were murdered in.’
But those who heard Mrs Merkel open and close her speech in Hebrew applauded her.
The German leader said she bowed in shame to Holocaust victims.
‘The Shoah fills us Germans with shame,’ she said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed. ‘I bow to the victims. I bow to all those who helped the survivors.’
She closed her speech by saying in Hebrew: ‘Congratulations on the State of Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Shalom.’
Mrs Merkel, 53, the first German Chancellor to be born after the Second World War, was ending a symbolic three-day visit.
Iran’s nuclear programme was high on the agenda of her discussions with Israeli leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has described Tehran’s nuclear programme as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state.
Iran denies it is seeking atomic arms and says it is pursuing its nuclear programme and uranium enrichment for power generation.
But Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for Israel to be ‘wiped off the map’.
‘The threats the Iranian president is launching against Israel and the Jewish people are without doubt a particular cause for concern,’ Mrs Merkel said in her speech. ‘If Iran gained access to the atomic bomb, this would have devastating consequences. This must be prevented.
‘Germany is setting its sights on a diplomatic solution, together with its partners. The German government will, if Iran does not give in, continue to defend sanctions resolutely.’
In her address, Mrs Merkel, who visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on Monday, said every German chancellor felt Germany’s ‘historical responsibility’ for Israel’s security.
‘I am deeply convinced that only if Germany avows itself to its everlasting responsibility for the moral disaster in German history, we can build the future humanely,’ she said, describing IsraeliGerman relations as excellent.
Prime Minister Olmert, who addressed the session, broadcast live on two Israeli television channels and three German networks, called Mrs Merkel a ‘constant friend’ and said Israel’s ‘ties with Germany have transcended grim and dark events’.
From Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
ANGELA Merkel yesterday became the first German Chancellor to address the Israeli parliament, triggering protests from the families of Holocaust victims.
‘I can’t bear the thought of hearing German in the Knesset,’ said Arieh Eldad, a Right-wing MP who was one of a handful who boycotted the session.
‘This is the language my grandparents were murdered in.’
But those who heard Mrs Merkel open and close her speech in Hebrew applauded her.
The German leader said she bowed in shame to Holocaust victims.
‘The Shoah fills us Germans with shame,’ she said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed. ‘I bow to the victims. I bow to all those who helped the survivors.’
She closed her speech by saying in Hebrew: ‘Congratulations on the State of Israel’s 60th anniversary celebrations. Shalom.’
Mrs Merkel, 53, the first German Chancellor to be born after the Second World War, was ending a symbolic three-day visit.
Iran’s nuclear programme was high on the agenda of her discussions with Israeli leaders.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has described Tehran’s nuclear programme as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state.
Iran denies it is seeking atomic arms and says it is pursuing its nuclear programme and uranium enrichment for power generation.
But Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has called for Israel to be ‘wiped off the map’.
‘The threats the Iranian president is launching against Israel and the Jewish people are without doubt a particular cause for concern,’ Mrs Merkel said in her speech. ‘If Iran gained access to the atomic bomb, this would have devastating consequences. This must be prevented.
‘Germany is setting its sights on a diplomatic solution, together with its partners. The German government will, if Iran does not give in, continue to defend sanctions resolutely.’
In her address, Mrs Merkel, who visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on Monday, said every German chancellor felt Germany’s ‘historical responsibility’ for Israel’s security.
‘I am deeply convinced that only if Germany avows itself to its everlasting responsibility for the moral disaster in German history, we can build the future humanely,’ she said, describing IsraeliGerman relations as excellent.
Prime Minister Olmert, who addressed the session, broadcast live on two Israeli television channels and three German networks, called Mrs Merkel a ‘constant friend’ and said Israel’s ‘ties with Germany have transcended grim and dark events’.
Monday, 3 March 2008
We won't let up, defiant Israel tells world as 100 die in Gaza
DAILY MAIL : 3 March 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Israel defied international condemnation yesterday and threatened to
step up the Gaza offensive that has so far claimed 100 lives.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet: "Let it be clear that
Israel has no intention to stop the fighting for a single moment."
He spoke as the unrest spread from Gaza to the West Bank and
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas suspended contact with Israel.
Yesterday a 21-month-old girl was among at least ten Palestinians
killed. It followed more than 60 deaths on Saturday, one of the
bloodiest days in Gaza since the 1980s.
Although many of the dead were Hamas fighters, at least three women
and nine children died in Gaza on Saturday.
Israel said it was acting in self-defence to curb daily rocket attacks
from the Gaza Strip.
It threatened to intensify its ground and air campaign, despite a UN
charge it was using excessive force.
Gaza fighting
Referring to the rockets, Mr Olmert warned: "If anyone is under the
illusion that extending their range will cause us to limit our
operations, that's a serious mistake."
However, Palestinian Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the militants, said
an invasion of Gaza would not halt the rockets.
More than 25 were fired at southern Israel yesterday, scoring direct
hits on houses in Ashkelon and the town of Sderot. Nine Israelis were
slightly wounded.
"The tough Israeli attacks will only make the militants stronger and
increase their determination not to stop rocket attacks," Mr Mujahed
said in Gaza City.
Across the border Ashkelon's mayor Roni Mahatzri said he was willing
to sacrifice his residents' sense of security for the short term, but
would not accept the rockets becoming a normal reality.
"This is a state of war, I know no other definition for it," said Roni
Mahatzri, from his makeshift office in an underground bunker.
"We have no intention of allowing this to become part of our daily routine."
The areas used by the militants to fire rockets have seen fierce
battles between Israeli troops backed by tanks and Palestinian gunmen
who have laid ambushes for them. Two Israeli soldiers died in the
fighting on Saturday.
Many of the Palestinian civilian casualties have occurred when Israeli
missiles fired by helicopters, jets and unmanned drones have hit
buildings and homes that the army said were used by militants.
Israeli leaders said they did not want to stage a full-scale invasion
of the Gaza Strip, but defence minister Ehud Barak said a broad ground
operation was "real and tangible". He warned: "We won't shy from it."
Other officials said another option was a major strike on the
leadership of Hamas, which took control of Gaza last summer from the
more moderate Fatah faction.
Violent protests against Israel's action spread to the West Bank and
East Jerusalem. A boy of 13 was shot dead as he tried to cut down a
security fence in Hebron.
Earlier yesterday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the
Israelis for using excessive force but called the rocket attacks "acts
of terrorism".
The EU and the Pope also called for an end to the fighting.
Though Palestinian president Mr Abbas called off peace talks with
Israel, he stopped short of declaring dead the U.S.-brokered talks
which are opposed by hardliners Hamas.
He later spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and urged
her to put pressure on Israel.
A spokesman for Miss Rice confirmed she would go ahead with a visit
this week when she will meet Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert.
In Britain, Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on both sides to
"step back from the brink".
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Israel defied international condemnation yesterday and threatened to
step up the Gaza offensive that has so far claimed 100 lives.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told his cabinet: "Let it be clear that
Israel has no intention to stop the fighting for a single moment."
He spoke as the unrest spread from Gaza to the West Bank and
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas suspended contact with Israel.
Yesterday a 21-month-old girl was among at least ten Palestinians
killed. It followed more than 60 deaths on Saturday, one of the
bloodiest days in Gaza since the 1980s.
Although many of the dead were Hamas fighters, at least three women
and nine children died in Gaza on Saturday.
Israel said it was acting in self-defence to curb daily rocket attacks
from the Gaza Strip.
It threatened to intensify its ground and air campaign, despite a UN
charge it was using excessive force.
Gaza fighting
Referring to the rockets, Mr Olmert warned: "If anyone is under the
illusion that extending their range will cause us to limit our
operations, that's a serious mistake."
However, Palestinian Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the militants, said
an invasion of Gaza would not halt the rockets.
More than 25 were fired at southern Israel yesterday, scoring direct
hits on houses in Ashkelon and the town of Sderot. Nine Israelis were
slightly wounded.
"The tough Israeli attacks will only make the militants stronger and
increase their determination not to stop rocket attacks," Mr Mujahed
said in Gaza City.
Across the border Ashkelon's mayor Roni Mahatzri said he was willing
to sacrifice his residents' sense of security for the short term, but
would not accept the rockets becoming a normal reality.
"This is a state of war, I know no other definition for it," said Roni
Mahatzri, from his makeshift office in an underground bunker.
"We have no intention of allowing this to become part of our daily routine."
The areas used by the militants to fire rockets have seen fierce
battles between Israeli troops backed by tanks and Palestinian gunmen
who have laid ambushes for them. Two Israeli soldiers died in the
fighting on Saturday.
Many of the Palestinian civilian casualties have occurred when Israeli
missiles fired by helicopters, jets and unmanned drones have hit
buildings and homes that the army said were used by militants.
Israeli leaders said they did not want to stage a full-scale invasion
of the Gaza Strip, but defence minister Ehud Barak said a broad ground
operation was "real and tangible". He warned: "We won't shy from it."
Other officials said another option was a major strike on the
leadership of Hamas, which took control of Gaza last summer from the
more moderate Fatah faction.
Violent protests against Israel's action spread to the West Bank and
East Jerusalem. A boy of 13 was shot dead as he tried to cut down a
security fence in Hebron.
Earlier yesterday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the
Israelis for using excessive force but called the rocket attacks "acts
of terrorism".
The EU and the Pope also called for an end to the fighting.
Though Palestinian president Mr Abbas called off peace talks with
Israel, he stopped short of declaring dead the U.S.-brokered talks
which are opposed by hardliners Hamas.
He later spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and urged
her to put pressure on Israel.
A spokesman for Miss Rice confirmed she would go ahead with a visit
this week when she will meet Mr Abbas and Mr Olmert.
In Britain, Foreign Secretary David Miliband called on both sides to
"step back from the brink".
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Gay-Quake
Last Modified: 27 Feb 2008
By: Channel 4 News
More4 News reports on the prominent Israeli religious politician who has caused controversy by saying that earthquakes are the result of the liberalisation of laws on homosexuality.
It may seem bizarre and offensive, but the views of Schlomo Benizri are not quite as marginal as they may sound. The Shas party has four cabinet ministers and ten per cent of the MPs in the Knesset.
From Jerusalem, Matthew Kalman reports.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/gayquake+/1667847
http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/asx/showvideofeature_omni.jsp?id=show:11266:14989
By: Channel 4 News
More4 News reports on the prominent Israeli religious politician who has caused controversy by saying that earthquakes are the result of the liberalisation of laws on homosexuality.
It may seem bizarre and offensive, but the views of Schlomo Benizri are not quite as marginal as they may sound. The Shas party has four cabinet ministers and ten per cent of the MPs in the Knesset.
From Jerusalem, Matthew Kalman reports.
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/gayquake+/1667847
http://www.channel4.com/player/v2/asx/showvideofeature_omni.jsp?id=show:11266:14989
Student Killed by Rocket at Israeli College
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
NEWS BLOG February 27, 2008
Jerusalem An Israeli student was killed today in a Palestinian rocket attack on Sapir College, in Sderot, in southern Israel.
Ron Yichia, a 47-year-old student, died after suffering chest wounds when a rocket fell near his car in the parking lot of the college. The campus had been hit at least twice before, but Mr. Yichia was the first campus fatality and the first person to die in Sderot since May 2007, following daily rocket barrages from the nearby Gaza Strip.
Hamas said it had fired the rocket. The Palestinian group said the attack was a response to Israeli security measures that have wreaked havoc on the Palestinian territories, including the killing of five Palestinian militants this morning.
David Brennan, chairman of the Sapir College Student Union, called on the Israeli government to do more to stop the attacks, which have left Sderot and surrounding communities close to economic collapse. A statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Hamas and other Palestinian groups of committing war crimes by taking aim at civilian installations like Sapir College. Matthew Kalman
NEWS BLOG February 27, 2008
Jerusalem An Israeli student was killed today in a Palestinian rocket attack on Sapir College, in Sderot, in southern Israel.
Ron Yichia, a 47-year-old student, died after suffering chest wounds when a rocket fell near his car in the parking lot of the college. The campus had been hit at least twice before, but Mr. Yichia was the first campus fatality and the first person to die in Sderot since May 2007, following daily rocket barrages from the nearby Gaza Strip.
Hamas said it had fired the rocket. The Palestinian group said the attack was a response to Israeli security measures that have wreaked havoc on the Palestinian territories, including the killing of five Palestinian militants this morning.
David Brennan, chairman of the Sapir College Student Union, called on the Israeli government to do more to stop the attacks, which have left Sderot and surrounding communities close to economic collapse. A statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused Hamas and other Palestinian groups of committing war crimes by taking aim at civilian installations like Sapir College. Matthew Kalman
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Ariel Sharon's son starting jail term for election fraud
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Tuesday, February 26th 2008
By Matthew Kalman
Special to the News
JERUSALEM - Ariel Sharon turns 80 Tuesday and the family of the comatose, stroke-stricken former prime minister is now facing another tragedy as one of his sons heads off to prison.
Omri Sharon, the eldest son of the lionized military hero, begins a nine-month prison sentence tomorrow after the country's Supreme Court let stand his election finance fraud conviction.
Before he goes, Omri and his brother Gilad will visit their dad today along with their children.
Sharon remains in a vegetative state since he was felled by a massive stroke in January 2006.
He is in Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, north of Tel Aviv. Two plainclothes officers from the Shin Bet secret service are on permanent 24-hour guard outside his door.
"There has been no recent change in his condition," said David Weinberg, a hospital spokesman.
Sharon is able to breathe without assistance but is fed through a tube. He could remain alive but unconscious for years, experts said.
Tuesday, February 26th 2008
By Matthew Kalman
Special to the News
JERUSALEM - Ariel Sharon turns 80 Tuesday and the family of the comatose, stroke-stricken former prime minister is now facing another tragedy as one of his sons heads off to prison.
Omri Sharon, the eldest son of the lionized military hero, begins a nine-month prison sentence tomorrow after the country's Supreme Court let stand his election finance fraud conviction.
Before he goes, Omri and his brother Gilad will visit their dad today along with their children.
Sharon remains in a vegetative state since he was felled by a massive stroke in January 2006.
He is in Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, north of Tel Aviv. Two plainclothes officers from the Shin Bet secret service are on permanent 24-hour guard outside his door.
"There has been no recent change in his condition," said David Weinberg, a hospital spokesman.
Sharon is able to breathe without assistance but is fed through a tube. He could remain alive but unconscious for years, experts said.
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Number of Israeli Scholars in the U.S. Equals One-Quarter of Those at Home, Report Says
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Thursday, February 21, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
A new report on the brain drain from Israeli universities suggests
that the ratio of Israeli academics working in the United States to
those in Israel is nearly 25 percent.
The report, "Brain Drained," is based on a study by Dan Ben-David of
the department of public policy at Tel Aviv University. It says that
"a massive policy breakdown" in higher education has created
conditions in which "the rate of academic emigration from Israel to
the United States is unparalleled in the Western world."
In the report, Mr. Ben-David argues that a shortage of university
teaching and research posts here "has made it extremely difficult for
young new researchers to return to Israel," and so "a large and
growing number of Israel's top researchers and scientists have
emigrated from the country, primarily to the United States."
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, 82,905 foreign scholars worked at American universities
in 2003-4, representing 7.1 percent of the combined senior academic
staff.
Of those, the largest single group was 3,117 British scholars,
representing 2.1 percent of the senior academic faculty in Britain.
Among Canadian scholars, the ratio of those residing in the United
States that academic year to those in Canada was 12.2 percent.
Philosophers From Afar
Israeli scholars were far ahead of that rate. "The 1,409 Israeli
academics residing in the States in 2003-4 represented 24.9 percent of
the entire senior staff in Israel's academic institutions that
yeartwice the Canadian ratio and over five times the ratio in the
other developed countries," writes Mr. Ben-David.
He says that the numbers of Israelis working in the United States are
equal to one-eighth of all Israel's chemists, 15 percent of the
country's philosophers, and 29 percent of "top Israeli economists."
"The group with the greatest proportional representation in the top
American departments is computer science," he reports. "The number of
Israelis in just the top 40 U.S. computer-science departments
represents a full third of the entire contingent remaining in Israel."
Israel's educational policy makers have been concerned for some time
about a brain drain. A government committee that reported last year on
reforms in higher education recommended specific new spending to
encourage talented young academics to stay in Israel and to lure back
those who had left.
Rabbi Michael Melchior, chairman of the education committee in the
Knesset, Israel's Parliament, puts the total number of Israeli
academics abroad at about 3,000 - more than double the figure cited by
Mr. Ben-David.
"It costs about $1-million to train and educate someone to professor
level," Mr. Melchior told The Chronicle. "So we've paid about
$3-billion, which has been thrown out of the window."
Thursday, February 21, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
A new report on the brain drain from Israeli universities suggests
that the ratio of Israeli academics working in the United States to
those in Israel is nearly 25 percent.
The report, "Brain Drained," is based on a study by Dan Ben-David of
the department of public policy at Tel Aviv University. It says that
"a massive policy breakdown" in higher education has created
conditions in which "the rate of academic emigration from Israel to
the United States is unparalleled in the Western world."
In the report, Mr. Ben-David argues that a shortage of university
teaching and research posts here "has made it extremely difficult for
young new researchers to return to Israel," and so "a large and
growing number of Israel's top researchers and scientists have
emigrated from the country, primarily to the United States."
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, 82,905 foreign scholars worked at American universities
in 2003-4, representing 7.1 percent of the combined senior academic
staff.
Of those, the largest single group was 3,117 British scholars,
representing 2.1 percent of the senior academic faculty in Britain.
Among Canadian scholars, the ratio of those residing in the United
States that academic year to those in Canada was 12.2 percent.
Philosophers From Afar
Israeli scholars were far ahead of that rate. "The 1,409 Israeli
academics residing in the States in 2003-4 represented 24.9 percent of
the entire senior staff in Israel's academic institutions that
yeartwice the Canadian ratio and over five times the ratio in the
other developed countries," writes Mr. Ben-David.
He says that the numbers of Israelis working in the United States are
equal to one-eighth of all Israel's chemists, 15 percent of the
country's philosophers, and 29 percent of "top Israeli economists."
"The group with the greatest proportional representation in the top
American departments is computer science," he reports. "The number of
Israelis in just the top 40 U.S. computer-science departments
represents a full third of the entire contingent remaining in Israel."
Israel's educational policy makers have been concerned for some time
about a brain drain. A government committee that reported last year on
reforms in higher education recommended specific new spending to
encourage talented young academics to stay in Israel and to lure back
those who had left.
Rabbi Michael Melchior, chairman of the education committee in the
Knesset, Israel's Parliament, puts the total number of Israeli
academics abroad at about 3,000 - more than double the figure cited by
Mr. Ben-David.
"It costs about $1-million to train and educate someone to professor
level," Mr. Melchior told The Chronicle. "So we've paid about
$3-billion, which has been thrown out of the window."
Monday, 18 February 2008
Woman finds she is 120, or older still
DAILY MAIL : Monday 18 February, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem
A WOMAN has declared herself the oldest living person after her birth certificate was uncovered, showing she is 120.
Mariam Amash rises at 5am, walks unaided and puts her longevity down to eating lots of vegetables.
She said: 'Yes, I am the oldest person in the world. I eat, drink and take showers. I hope to keep going for another ten years.'
Her Ottoman Empire birth certificate says she was born near her home in Jisr az-Zarka, northern Israel, in 1888.
Mrs Amash, who is a Bedouin Muslim, has ten children, 120 grandchildren, 250 great-grandchildren, and 30 great-greatgrandchildren.
The oldest living person in the Guinness Book of Records is Edna Parker, of Indiana, who is 114.
Mrs Amash's age came to light this month when she applied to the Israeli interior ministry to renew her ID card.
Official Moshe Hazut said: 'She was born during the Ottoman period, when the population registry was very inaccurate. It is possible she is younger – or even older.
'She was perfectly capable of walking by herself. Her hearing is impaired but she seemed fine, God bless her.'
By MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem
A WOMAN has declared herself the oldest living person after her birth certificate was uncovered, showing she is 120.
Mariam Amash rises at 5am, walks unaided and puts her longevity down to eating lots of vegetables.
She said: 'Yes, I am the oldest person in the world. I eat, drink and take showers. I hope to keep going for another ten years.'
Her Ottoman Empire birth certificate says she was born near her home in Jisr az-Zarka, northern Israel, in 1888.
Mrs Amash, who is a Bedouin Muslim, has ten children, 120 grandchildren, 250 great-grandchildren, and 30 great-greatgrandchildren.
The oldest living person in the Guinness Book of Records is Edna Parker, of Indiana, who is 114.
Mrs Amash's age came to light this month when she applied to the Israeli interior ministry to renew her ID card.
Official Moshe Hazut said: 'She was born during the Ottoman period, when the population registry was very inaccurate. It is possible she is younger – or even older.
'She was perfectly capable of walking by herself. Her hearing is impaired but she seemed fine, God bless her.'
Thursday, 14 February 2008
Hezbollah military leader slain
NEWS ANALYSIS: Despite denials, many believe Israel tracked, killed its No.1 enemy in Syrian capital
Jerusalem -- Shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday, an aide handed Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak a brief message of no more than five words. Barak glanced at the note, pursed his lips, and continued briefing reporters about his trip to Turkey.
Barak, a former commander of an elite special operations unit and a highly decorated veteran of many daring raids into enemy territory, had just been informed of the assassination of Israel's Enemy No. 1 - Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh.
Was Barak's apparent lack of surprise an indication that he had been expecting the news, or was he too stunned to react?
The Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its ally, Iran, immediately blamed Israel on Wednesday for the assassination by car bomb in the Syrian capital of Damascus.
"This is a loss of a major pillar in resistance work. He was an expert at making victories and building fighting capacities against Israel," Ali Hassan Khalil, a member of Lebanon's parliament with Amal, a Shiite Muslim group allied with Hezbollah, told the Washington Post. "He played an essential role in all resistance activities, especially the last war."
Many analysts believe the Lebanese-born Mughniyeh's slaying was orchestrated by the Mossad, Israel's secret service, an allegation quickly denied by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
"Israel rejects the attempt by terrorist elements to ascribe to it any involvement whatsoever in this incident," said a statement by Olmert's office in a rare departure from a long-standing policy not to comment on intelligence matters.
But if Israel was behind the assassination "it can be seen as the most significant intelligence accomplishment in the war on terror," said Yossi Melman of the daily newspaper Ha'aretz, an expert on Israeli intelligence.
The death of the 45-year-old Mughniyeh in the heart of Damascus is deeply embarrassing for Syria, which has long provided a safe haven for Palestinian and Iranian-backed terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Some analysts say the assassination has also rocked the highly secretive network linking the Iranian Revolutionary Guards with Hezbollah and other groups whose terrorist operations could be a key weapon against Western attempts to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
But whoever killed Mughniyeh, his death has sent a clear message to Beirut, Damascus and Tehran that nobody is safe if they threaten Israeli security.
"If there is no court capable of bringing people like this to trial, they have to be dealt with in another manner," said Gerald Steinberg, professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan. "They won't be able to live to a ripe old age."
Mughniyeh's security precautions had been legendary. He rarely appeared outside his inner circle and traveled between hiding places in Lebanon, Syria and Iran. He was rarely photographed, never appeared in public, and reportedly underwent plastic surgery to alter his appearance after the FBI placed a $5 million bounty on his head in 2001 over his role in planning the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner that killed a U.S. Navy diver. It is believed he never slept in the same place two nights in a row.
"Mughniyeh is probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we've ever run across," Robert Baer, a former CIA operative who hunted Mughniyeh for years, said in a past interview on the "60 Minutes" news program. "He enters by one door, exits by another, changes his cars daily, never makes appointments on a telephone, never is predictable. ... He only uses people that are related to him that he can trust. He is the master terrorist, the grail we are after since 1983."
Israeli counterterror expert Boaz Ganor of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya said Mughniyeh was the linchpin of Hezbollah's international terror network, which also acts as an arm of Iranian intelligence.
"Mughniyeh's importance lies not only in his ability to execute extraordinary attacks against targets around the world - or even in his control of Hezbollah's operational branch in Lebanon - but more significantly in the close connections he established between Iran, Syria and Hezbollah," Ganor wrote in the Jerusalem Post. "Mughniyeh positioned himself as the operational link between these actors."
Mughniyeh was the alleged mastermind of the 1983 bombings of a Marine barracks that killed 241 and the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon earlier that year. Western intelligence agencies have blamed him for the early-1990s bombings of the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 114 people. He was also linked to the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, an attack that killed 19 Americans, according to the Associated Press.
Steinberg says whoever killed Mughniyeh not only found him in the upscale Kfar Sousse neighborhood but booby-trapped his Mitsubishi Pajero from under his security's nose. He figures it was an inside job, which should cause Hezbollah and Iran to worry about infiltration at the highest levels.
"If this was the Mossad, and I have no idea if that is the case, then it is a clear demonstration that they are back in the game, that they have managed to restore their capability for secret operations that was somewhat degraded during the 1990s and reached its low point with the botched assassination attempt against Hamas chief Khaled Mashal in Jordan in 1997," said Steinberg. "This would be Israel restoring its deterrent capability and sending a clear message to its terrorist enemies: You can run, but you can't hide."
Steinberg also points out that other nations also wanted Mughniyeh dead, including the United States. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack echoed that sentiment.
"You can just go down the list of other nationalities that were affected by his acts of terror. ... The list goes on and on and on," McCormack told reporters. "He was a cold-blooded killer, a mass murderer and a terrorist responsible for countless innocent lives lost. One way or another he was brought to justice."
Meanwhile, Mughniyeh's body was brought to Beirut in a coffin wrapped in Hezbollah's yellow flag. The militant group announced there would be a demonstration Thursday in its south Beirut stronghold amid calls for revenge. Israeli embassies and consulates have been placed on high alert.
This article appeared on page A - 10 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, 11 February 2008
Brooklyn rabbi accused of sexual abuse loses extradition battle
Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz
An Israeli judge ruled Sunday that a disgraced Brooklyn rabbi accused of sexually abusing children more than two decades ago can be extradited to the U.S.
Rabbi Avrohom Mondrowitz, who fled to the Jewish state in 1984 to avoid prosecution, could now be headed back to Brooklyn within a matter of months to face sodomy and sex abuse charges.
"It's good news," said Michael Lesher, who represents several of the rabbi's alleged victims. "This order means he'll be on the way back to face trial."
Mondrowitz, 60, a married father of seven, could still appeal the decision to the Israeli Supreme Court, a move that could take nearly a year to resolve.
"There's still some work to be done," said Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes. "We look forward to bringing him to justice in Brooklyn."
Mondrowitz was arrested last year after the U.S. and Israel agreed to broaden their extradition pact.
The rabbi argued that the statute of limitations had run out on his alleged crimes.
But Judge Nava Ben-Or ruled Mondrowitz should not benefit from fleeing prosecution.
"When someone is escaping justice it is only fair and reasonable that this period of time is not taken into account," said Gal Levertov, an Israeli Justice Department official.
Dressed in a long black coat and yarmulke, the shackled Mondrowitz sat impassively as the judge read his decision.
His wife and children sat behind him, but were prevented by two guards from touching or talking to him.
"I'm very proud of my kids. I'm always proud of my kids," Mondrowitz said to his family as he was led away.
"We're proud of you, too," one of his sons cried out.
Mondrowitz was once a popular child psychologist and youth counselor in Borough Park, where he was especially well-known among Hasidic Jews.
He fled to Israel after several boys filed horrific complaints claiming he sodomized them after befriending them or taking them on outings to amusement parks and movies.
One of Mondrowitz's victims told Lesher he was pleased that the rabbi is one step closer to facing trial for his alleged crimes.
"It's been a long time to see any sort of justice," Lesher said. "We feel we are tangibly closer now."
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
Day suicide bomb terror returned to haunt Israel
DAILY MAIL : February 5 2008
From Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
SUICIDE bombers struck in Israel for the first time in a year
yesterday, killing a woman at a shopping mall.
But the carnage could have been much worse as only one of the two
bombers involved managed to detonate his bomb.
The second Palestinian was knocked over by the blast when his comrade
blew himself up in the town of Dimona.
An Israeli doctor, thinking the stunned man was one of the wounded,
ran to his side and tore open his jacket, only to discover he was
wearing a suicide belt. As the doctor backed away a policeman stepped
up and shot the Palestinian at point-blank range, killing him.
The blast occurred only a couple of miles from Israel's most sensitive
military site, the nuclear reactor in the desert just outside Dimona.
The Palestinians came from Gaza and entered Israel via the Sinai
Desert through the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
The border was breached two weeks ago when Hamas blew up the barrier
and smashed through it with bulldozers.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Brigades of
Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
In Gaza, residents handed out sweets and flowers and fired into the
air to celebrate.
Al-Aqsa Brigades spokesman Abu Fouad boasted that 'the attack has been
planned for a month, but was only made possible after gunmen bombed
the fence'.
He identified the bombers as Mussa Arafat, 23, and Lawai Abwaini, 20.
Arafat's father said: 'Thank God he died a martyr.'
In the alley outside Abwaini's home in Gaza City, the bomber's father
held up a picture of his son and praised him as a hero.
But his mother Ibtissam, remained inside, sitting on a mattress on the
floor and sobbing uncontrollably. She said she had learned of her
son's death from neighbours.
She cowered when her husband and other men in the family reprimanded
her for grieving.
Dr Baruch Mandeltzwieg, a local doctor who tried to treat the injured
in Dimona, said the second bomber was bleeding from the head when he
ran up to try to help him.
'His head was moving,' said Dr Mandeltzwieg.
'We started to treat him and then we saw an explosive belt … I managed
to see a small gas canister and small plastic bags attached to his
body.'
Tony Blair, special peace envoy for the Middle East, who is due in the
area today for talks, condemned the bombing as a 'despicable act of
terror'.
From Matthew Kalman in Jerusalem
SUICIDE bombers struck in Israel for the first time in a year
yesterday, killing a woman at a shopping mall.
But the carnage could have been much worse as only one of the two
bombers involved managed to detonate his bomb.
The second Palestinian was knocked over by the blast when his comrade
blew himself up in the town of Dimona.
An Israeli doctor, thinking the stunned man was one of the wounded,
ran to his side and tore open his jacket, only to discover he was
wearing a suicide belt. As the doctor backed away a policeman stepped
up and shot the Palestinian at point-blank range, killing him.
The blast occurred only a couple of miles from Israel's most sensitive
military site, the nuclear reactor in the desert just outside Dimona.
The Palestinians came from Gaza and entered Israel via the Sinai
Desert through the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
The border was breached two weeks ago when Hamas blew up the barrier
and smashed through it with bulldozers.
Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Brigades of
Fatah and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
In Gaza, residents handed out sweets and flowers and fired into the
air to celebrate.
Al-Aqsa Brigades spokesman Abu Fouad boasted that 'the attack has been
planned for a month, but was only made possible after gunmen bombed
the fence'.
He identified the bombers as Mussa Arafat, 23, and Lawai Abwaini, 20.
Arafat's father said: 'Thank God he died a martyr.'
In the alley outside Abwaini's home in Gaza City, the bomber's father
held up a picture of his son and praised him as a hero.
But his mother Ibtissam, remained inside, sitting on a mattress on the
floor and sobbing uncontrollably. She said she had learned of her
son's death from neighbours.
She cowered when her husband and other men in the family reprimanded
her for grieving.
Dr Baruch Mandeltzwieg, a local doctor who tried to treat the injured
in Dimona, said the second bomber was bleeding from the head when he
ran up to try to help him.
'His head was moving,' said Dr Mandeltzwieg.
'We started to treat him and then we saw an explosive belt … I managed
to see a small gas canister and small plastic bags attached to his
body.'
Tony Blair, special peace envoy for the Middle East, who is due in the
area today for talks, condemned the bombing as a 'despicable act of
terror'.
Thursday, 31 January 2008
Israeli inquiry blasts war effort
Olmert's government, military ripped for 'failures and flaws' in 2006 combat in Lebanon
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE : Thursday, January 31, 2008
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Jerusalem -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is fighting for his political life after a 16-month government inquiry Wednesday slammed his conduct of the 2006 war in Lebanon.
The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Eliyahu Winograd, blasted Olmert's government and the Israeli army for "serious failings and shortcomings," blaming them for "a great and severe missed opportunity" in the 33-day war with Hezbollah militia.
Reservists, some families of soldiers killed during the conflict known as the Second Lebanon War along with Israeli opposition leaders quickly called on Olmert to resign.
"The Winograd Committee placed clear responsibility on the political echelon, which is led by the prime minister, and he must take personal responsibility and quit," said a statement from the right-wing opposition Likud party.
The five-member committee did not call for any resignations, but it detailed "structural and systemic malfunctioning" and referred repeatedly to "failures and flaws" in the decision-making process, which it said were shared equally between military officials and politicians. All military leaders involved in the 2006 conflict already have resigned, including the former army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz. Ex-Defense Minister Amir Peretz was replaced in an internal party contest.
"Israel embarked on a prolonged war that it initiated, which ended without a clear Israeli victory from a military standpoint," Winograd told reporters after delivering his 629-page report to Olmert. "A quasi-military organization (Hezbollah) withstood the strongest army in the Middle East for weeks," Winograd said.
"We found serious failings and flaws in the quality of preparedness, decision-making and performance in the (Israel Defense Forces) high command, especially in the army," Winograd said. "We found serious failings and flaws in the lack of strategic thinking and planning, in both the political and the military echelons. We found severe failings and flaws in the defense of the civilian population and in coping with its being attacked by rockets."
Within minutes of the report's publication, Olmert was assailed by politicians from both sides of the political spectrum.
"Olmert will enter history as Israel's most failed leader," said Arieh Eldad, a legislator for the rightist National Union-National Religious Party.
Yossi Beilin, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, said "critical decisions for the future of Israel were made without using judgment and without understanding their potential outcomes."
"If the prime minister understands that he bears personal responsibility, the only conclusion is not that he is the only one who can amend his mistakes, but that he must resign," Beilin said.
Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz called the report "a damning and inescapable indictment. In one of its central assertions, the report noted that Israel cannot survive in this region without the political and military leadership, military capabilities and social robustness to deter and if necessary overcome its enemies," Horovitz wrote. "And in its withering depiction of the capabilities of the government and the IDF senior command that oversaw the Second Lebanon War, the committee made appallingly clear how absent those fundamental, existential qualities were."
Although it seems unthinkable that a prime minister could continue in office following such severe criticism from a committee which he himself appointed, Olmert has said he will not be forced out.
"The prime minister intends to take responsibility and lead a process to fix the flaws," said Cabinet Secretary Ovad Yehezkel, a key government adviser. "Taking responsibility means staying on, fixing, improving and continuing to lead the way forward."
Owing to the vagaries of Israeli politics, Olmert's political future rests with his largest coalition partner, Labor Party leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak promised last year to quit the government and force early elections if the report criticized Olmert, but recently he has shown signs that he, too, wishes to remain in the current government.
But if Barak pulls Labor's 19-member faction out of the coalition, Olmert will no longer have a parliamentary majority and could be forced to call an election. Recent polls indicate that Israeli voters would bring back former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party.
On Wednesday, dozens of reservists demonstrated outside Olmert's Tel Aviv office to remind him of his promise to step down if the report criticized his handling of the war. At the same time, critics within his Kadima party remained silent, but his closest allies appeared confident that the prime minister would survive.
"Unless Ehud Barak springs something dramatic on us, the report will be history by next week," said Vice Premier Haim Ramon. "No one in Kadima will rise against the prime minister."
The Winograd report, however, did exonerate Olmert from the most serious accusation leveled against him - that he needlessly launched a last-minute offensive in the final days of the war at the cost of the lives of 33 Israeli soldiers. The dead included Jonathan Grossman, the son of renowned author David Grossman, who has been among the most prominent Israeli figures calling for Olmert to quit. The committee said the decision to launch the final ground offensive was "legitimate."
Israel launched what became the Second Lebanon War on July 12, 2006, after Hezbollah forces killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two more on patrol along the Israel-Lebanon border. The militant Shiite group also attacked nearby Israeli villages with Katyusha rockets.
At least 1,109 Lebanese were killed in the subsequent Israeli invasion, most of them civilians, according to Human Rights Watch, while 119 Israeli soldiers and 40 civilians were killed. More than 1 million Israelis were forced to leave their homes or huddle in shelters under daily Hezbollah rocket bombardment.
This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE : Thursday, January 31, 2008
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Jerusalem -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is fighting for his political life after a 16-month government inquiry Wednesday slammed his conduct of the 2006 war in Lebanon.
The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Eliyahu Winograd, blasted Olmert's government and the Israeli army for "serious failings and shortcomings," blaming them for "a great and severe missed opportunity" in the 33-day war with Hezbollah militia.
Reservists, some families of soldiers killed during the conflict known as the Second Lebanon War along with Israeli opposition leaders quickly called on Olmert to resign.
"The Winograd Committee placed clear responsibility on the political echelon, which is led by the prime minister, and he must take personal responsibility and quit," said a statement from the right-wing opposition Likud party.
The five-member committee did not call for any resignations, but it detailed "structural and systemic malfunctioning" and referred repeatedly to "failures and flaws" in the decision-making process, which it said were shared equally between military officials and politicians. All military leaders involved in the 2006 conflict already have resigned, including the former army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz. Ex-Defense Minister Amir Peretz was replaced in an internal party contest.
"Israel embarked on a prolonged war that it initiated, which ended without a clear Israeli victory from a military standpoint," Winograd told reporters after delivering his 629-page report to Olmert. "A quasi-military organization (Hezbollah) withstood the strongest army in the Middle East for weeks," Winograd said.
"We found serious failings and flaws in the quality of preparedness, decision-making and performance in the (Israel Defense Forces) high command, especially in the army," Winograd said. "We found serious failings and flaws in the lack of strategic thinking and planning, in both the political and the military echelons. We found severe failings and flaws in the defense of the civilian population and in coping with its being attacked by rockets."
Within minutes of the report's publication, Olmert was assailed by politicians from both sides of the political spectrum.
"Olmert will enter history as Israel's most failed leader," said Arieh Eldad, a legislator for the rightist National Union-National Religious Party.
Yossi Beilin, leader of the left-wing Meretz party, said "critical decisions for the future of Israel were made without using judgment and without understanding their potential outcomes."
"If the prime minister understands that he bears personal responsibility, the only conclusion is not that he is the only one who can amend his mistakes, but that he must resign," Beilin said.
Jerusalem Post editor David Horovitz called the report "a damning and inescapable indictment. In one of its central assertions, the report noted that Israel cannot survive in this region without the political and military leadership, military capabilities and social robustness to deter and if necessary overcome its enemies," Horovitz wrote. "And in its withering depiction of the capabilities of the government and the IDF senior command that oversaw the Second Lebanon War, the committee made appallingly clear how absent those fundamental, existential qualities were."
Although it seems unthinkable that a prime minister could continue in office following such severe criticism from a committee which he himself appointed, Olmert has said he will not be forced out.
"The prime minister intends to take responsibility and lead a process to fix the flaws," said Cabinet Secretary Ovad Yehezkel, a key government adviser. "Taking responsibility means staying on, fixing, improving and continuing to lead the way forward."
Owing to the vagaries of Israeli politics, Olmert's political future rests with his largest coalition partner, Labor Party leader and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Barak promised last year to quit the government and force early elections if the report criticized Olmert, but recently he has shown signs that he, too, wishes to remain in the current government.
But if Barak pulls Labor's 19-member faction out of the coalition, Olmert will no longer have a parliamentary majority and could be forced to call an election. Recent polls indicate that Israeli voters would bring back former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of the Likud party.
On Wednesday, dozens of reservists demonstrated outside Olmert's Tel Aviv office to remind him of his promise to step down if the report criticized his handling of the war. At the same time, critics within his Kadima party remained silent, but his closest allies appeared confident that the prime minister would survive.
"Unless Ehud Barak springs something dramatic on us, the report will be history by next week," said Vice Premier Haim Ramon. "No one in Kadima will rise against the prime minister."
The Winograd report, however, did exonerate Olmert from the most serious accusation leveled against him - that he needlessly launched a last-minute offensive in the final days of the war at the cost of the lives of 33 Israeli soldiers. The dead included Jonathan Grossman, the son of renowned author David Grossman, who has been among the most prominent Israeli figures calling for Olmert to quit. The committee said the decision to launch the final ground offensive was "legitimate."
Israel launched what became the Second Lebanon War on July 12, 2006, after Hezbollah forces killed three Israeli soldiers and captured two more on patrol along the Israel-Lebanon border. The militant Shiite group also attacked nearby Israeli villages with Katyusha rockets.
At least 1,109 Lebanese were killed in the subsequent Israeli invasion, most of them civilians, according to Human Rights Watch, while 119 Israeli soldiers and 40 civilians were killed. More than 1 million Israelis were forced to leave their homes or huddle in shelters under daily Hezbollah rocket bombardment.
This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Students visit Arab countries for MIT
Group promotes education in US
MIT students Rameez Qudsi (left) and Ibrahim Kanan, seen here in Jerusalem, were among seven students on a weeklong trip through the Middle East to raise awareness of the school. (David Blumenfeld for the Boston Globe)
BOSTON GLOBE : January 26, 2008
JERUSALEM - The two MIT students stood in the austere surroundings of a 130-year-old high school in the historic Old City of Jerusalem, pitching a high-tech future that reached across cultural and national boundaries.
In the first gathering of its kind here Wednesday, Ibrahim Kanan and Rameez Qudsi urged more than 200 Palestinian students, segregated by gender in keeping with Muslim tradition, to dream big and apply to elite Western colleges like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Not only will education transform their lives, they told the students, but their presence on campus will enrich the schools and their communities.
"We don't see enough students like us on campuses," Kanan, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering senior who was born in New Jersey to Palestinian parents, said as he and Qudsi guided the enthusiastic audience from 10 high schools through MIT's admissions process in English and Arabic.
"You have the chance to take your culture to the leaders of tomorrow," he said. "You have the chance to change the image of Palestine in America. You can help your country by going to those colleges, meeting the future leaders, and taking from the resources they have in the United States. Then you can come back here and help our people."
The two are among seven members of MIT's Arab Students' Organization on a weeklong trip through eight Middle Eastern countries in a hunt for untapped potential.
The students believe it is the only organized project of its kind, although MIT encourages foreign alumni to introduce high school students back home to the possibility of studying in the United States.
For this trip, students raised most of the money themselves, and MIT is covering the balance and helping to provide contacts and other support.
MIT says that over the past four years, it has accepted, on average, about 10 undergraduate students a year from Arab countries, and that students from those counties account for about 10 percent of MIT's international undergraduate population. The school does not have precise figures for the number of Arab-Americans in the domestic student population.
MIT officials applaud the Arab students' Middle East initiative.
"I think it's a great idea," said Stuart Schmill, interim director of admissions, who said his office had helped the students prepare for the trip and connected them with MIT alumni in several countries. "There's a lot of talent across that region we'd like to develop."
In little over a week, Kanan and Qudsi visited Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Syria, as well as East Jerusalem. In their final stop today, in the West Bank town of Ramallah, they were scheduled to meet local students and hold a video conference with students in the Gaza Strip.
Four more colleagues visited Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya.
It hasn't been all smooth sailing. A third MIT student did not come to Jerusalem because she is a Syrian national who would probably have been barred from entry by the Israelis. Kanan and Qudsi were detained for much of Tuesday by Israeli security officials as they crossed the Allenby Bridge from Jordan to the West Bank.
"It was a bit frustrating," Kanan said, though they anticipated delays because they had traveled to Syria and Lebanon.
Kanan and Qudsi said their motivation in starting the traveling program is their desire to see more students from the Middle East in top American universities as relations between the West and much of the Arab world have suffered.
"I think it's a two-way street," said Qudsi, a 23-year-old graduate student in health sciences and technology who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in New York. "I want people in the US to get exposed to people who live in the Middle East and then learn about the Middle East through them."
In Jerusalem, Kanan and Qudsi were hosted by Amal Alayan, an MIT alumna and venture capital pioneer in the Arab world. She volunteers as an educational counselor to interview potential applicants and said she hoped the road show would broaden the appeal of MIT and other top US colleges for Arab students from conservative, traditional homes.
"A lot of families don't want to send their kids to America," she said. "Until now, only the very rich and very liberal families have sent them."
After the presentation in East Jerusalem, a demure girl in a headscarf approached Kanan and Qudsi with her mother and asked whether they would send their own sister to MIT.
Qudsi said that he would. "There is security; all the services are there," he told them. "There are all-female dorms, if you'd like that. We think it's really worth it."
Monday, 21 January 2008
Israeli Universities Extend Summer Semester as 3-Month Faculty Strike Ends
CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Monday, January 21, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Israeli universities finally began their fall semester on Sunday,
three months behind schedule, after the end of a 90-day strike by
tenured professors.
The strike was settled on Friday after all-night talks lasting 20
hours involving representatives of the senior faculty members, the
Israeli ministries of education and finance, and university
presidents.
The agreement gives the professors a 24-percent pay increase in three
stages over the next two years, which includes a 14-percent supplement
to make up for the erosion of salaries since the last collective
agreement was signed in 1997. The professors had argued that their pay
had systematically eroded in recent years as part of deep budget cuts
in government education spending.
The universities will extend the summer semester by up to two months
to catch up on lost teaching time, with classes added in the evenings
and on Fridays, which are usually free days.
Professor Zvi Hacohen, leader of the professors' union, described the
deal as "excellent, the best in the past decade."
"It was achieved after a long and difficult struggle. We think it will
be a solution and an answer to the brain drain and help the State of
Israel," he said on Friday after signing the agreement. "We apologize
to the students. For lack of an alternative, we were forced to do them
harm."
As part of the agreement, the professors pledged not to strike again
before 2010.
Government Wants Change
But Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On, who had opposed the professors'
demands, warned that in order to avoid a future crisis, the deal must
go hand in hand with government-backed proposals "to change the
content and essence of higher education, not only the wage structure
of a small sector of lecturers."
"Without reform, I emphasize, there will be no change," he said.
The government has been pushing for wide-scale reform of the
higher-education system, including an increase in tuition and the
introduction of government-backed student loans. Those proposals
triggered a lengthy strike by students at the end of the last academic
year.
The 90-day strike, which involved 4,500 professors, was not the
longest in Israeli academic history. That dubious record is held by a
five-month strike of junior teaching staff in 1997.
Effect on Students
There was widespread relief on university campuses on Sunday as
students returned to class, but many said they still did not know
exactly how the faculty planned to organize the remainder of the year
to cover the course work missed because of the strike.
Some classes were taught by junior, nontenured professors, who are
members of a different union, but most students found at least some of
their courses canceled, with some cut off from as many as 75 percent
of the courses they signed up for.
Shlomo Levy, chairman of the student union at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, said the students had supported the professors' strike but
were pleased it was over.
"There was a united front among students, graduate students and the
professors," said Mr. Levy, a third-year student in social sciences
and economics. "They all saw this as a long-term struggle for the
future of the entire academic system. The struggle of the professors
for higher salaries was a struggle to stop teachers leaving the
universities, which in the end will lead to lower teaching standards
for the students."
He said many students would suffer from the extension of the summer
semester since it was normal practice for Israeli students to spend
the summer vacation working in order to finance their studies for the
following year.
Monday, January 21, 2008
By MATTHEW KALMAN
Jerusalem
Israeli universities finally began their fall semester on Sunday,
three months behind schedule, after the end of a 90-day strike by
tenured professors.
The strike was settled on Friday after all-night talks lasting 20
hours involving representatives of the senior faculty members, the
Israeli ministries of education and finance, and university
presidents.
The agreement gives the professors a 24-percent pay increase in three
stages over the next two years, which includes a 14-percent supplement
to make up for the erosion of salaries since the last collective
agreement was signed in 1997. The professors had argued that their pay
had systematically eroded in recent years as part of deep budget cuts
in government education spending.
The universities will extend the summer semester by up to two months
to catch up on lost teaching time, with classes added in the evenings
and on Fridays, which are usually free days.
Professor Zvi Hacohen, leader of the professors' union, described the
deal as "excellent, the best in the past decade."
"It was achieved after a long and difficult struggle. We think it will
be a solution and an answer to the brain drain and help the State of
Israel," he said on Friday after signing the agreement. "We apologize
to the students. For lack of an alternative, we were forced to do them
harm."
As part of the agreement, the professors pledged not to strike again
before 2010.
Government Wants Change
But Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On, who had opposed the professors'
demands, warned that in order to avoid a future crisis, the deal must
go hand in hand with government-backed proposals "to change the
content and essence of higher education, not only the wage structure
of a small sector of lecturers."
"Without reform, I emphasize, there will be no change," he said.
The government has been pushing for wide-scale reform of the
higher-education system, including an increase in tuition and the
introduction of government-backed student loans. Those proposals
triggered a lengthy strike by students at the end of the last academic
year.
The 90-day strike, which involved 4,500 professors, was not the
longest in Israeli academic history. That dubious record is held by a
five-month strike of junior teaching staff in 1997.
Effect on Students
There was widespread relief on university campuses on Sunday as
students returned to class, but many said they still did not know
exactly how the faculty planned to organize the remainder of the year
to cover the course work missed because of the strike.
Some classes were taught by junior, nontenured professors, who are
members of a different union, but most students found at least some of
their courses canceled, with some cut off from as many as 75 percent
of the courses they signed up for.
Shlomo Levy, chairman of the student union at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem, said the students had supported the professors' strike but
were pleased it was over.
"There was a united front among students, graduate students and the
professors," said Mr. Levy, a third-year student in social sciences
and economics. "They all saw this as a long-term struggle for the
future of the entire academic system. The struggle of the professors
for higher salaries was a struggle to stop teachers leaving the
universities, which in the end will lead to lower teaching standards
for the students."
He said many students would suffer from the extension of the summer
semester since it was normal practice for Israeli students to spend
the summer vacation working in order to finance their studies for the
following year.
Monday, 24 December 2007
Doctors unite for Bethlehem hospital
Dr. Scott Harrison and Sally Harrison of CURE International are watched by kids
as they plant olive tree at site of Bethlehem hospital
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, December 24th 2007
BY MATTHEW KALMAN
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
BETHLEHEM - On the spot where the Gospel says an angel told the
shepherds that Christ was born, a new hospital is planned for the
neediest children.
A $16.5 million, state-of-the-art hospital funded by the Christian
charity CURE International will rise on an abandoned Israeli military
base, bringing together Christian, Muslim and Jewish doctors to treat
the kids.
"The Bethlehem hospital is unique in that it is bringing together
three faith groups to build a facility of healing in a very volatile
region," said CURE founder Dr. Scott Harrison at a groundbreaking
ceremony last week.
"Christians and Muslims will serve together at the hospital and will
receive additional training at some of the leading hospitals in
Jerusalem," he said.
The hospital, which will replace an army base in Shepherds' Field,
should be ready to open in two years.
It will be the 12th medical facility established by CURE, which has
treated more than 50,000 children around the world from Afghanistan to
Zambia. It also will be the first dedicated children's hospital in the
Palestinian territories. CURE will train local doctors in complex
surgery and treat up to 10,000 children every year.
"We've come to Bethlehem because we're aware of the enormous need that
children here have and the great difficulty they have in getting
medical care," said Harrison.
The new facility is a symbol of hope in a region where religious
differences have often resulted in warfare, and comes as the White
House tried to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with
meetings in Annapolis, Md., and Paris.
"It is appropriate that after the Annapolis Accord and after the
meetings in Europe just a few days ago that we're bringing together
the Jewish community, the Arab community and the international
community," said Harrison. "We're working together now on a very
concrete example of what the international leaders have been trying to
do."
Salah Al Tamari, the governor of Bethlehem, said the new hospital will
unite Palestinians of all faiths.
"The CURE hospital will be well received by all people," said Al
Tamari. "In Bethlehem, we set the example for co-existence. Bethlehem
is not just a holy place. It is a message - a message of peace,
tolerance, freedom and acceptance of all people."
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Palestinian student trades rifle for amnesty and quest for peace
![[]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tKD7lbncd2qhxgqGP0TTEEnfrIBXrHuY4HcOBYIQjVhOzyROFyckurcs_J1h6DpdjKKOqtfTEiLpwa3Cy_y6MjIgagE5yCM0czuVh6s6PLAdZYZ0qEl8bIyGF5cQxOKcdAAQiL1L-2y0P6X6m-4_GL2bw-mCLQomXsb4SHlpce1a6lhT4=s0-d)
Rabiya Hamed, as a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, was shot six times by Israeli commandos in an assassination attempt. Photo by David Blumenfeld, special to the Chronicle
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service
Ramallah, West Bank -- Less than a year ago, Israeli soldiers pumped six bullets into Rabiya Hamed in a botched assassination attempt that left four others dead and more than 30 wounded.
Hamed has since signed a controversial amnesty pact with Israel along with 177 other members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant armed wing of Fatah, the political movement founded by the late Yasser Arafat. They agreed to surrender their weapons and renounce terrorism in exchange for Israel taking them off the most wanted list. All have been recruited back into the Palestinian security forces.
Even though other Al-Aqsa members continue to carry out attacks - the latest a November drive-by shooting that killed an Israeli man - the 178 former gunmen are keeping up with their end of the bargain, according to two Israeli security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Today, Hamed is studying for an undergraduate degree in social work at the Arab Al-Quds University in Jerusalem and hoping to find a wife. He draws a salary from the Preventive Security forces - the largest security paramilitary security group loyal to Fatah - but spends most of his time studying.
Many Palestinians believe the amnesty is less about strengthening Israeli security than emboldening Fatah's ability to bolster its security forces against its chief political rival - the militant Islamic group Hamas. Fatah aims to prevent Hamas from strengthening its position in the West Bank after being ousted by Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
At 33, Hamed represents a generation of Palestinians reared on violence who hope that the recent peace conference in Annapolis, Md., will mark a fresh beginning in their dream to achieve independence.
"Maybe this time the talks will bring peace. I don't know. I hope so," Hamed said.
The day undercover Israeli commandos came to kill Hamed last January, he was studying for a midterm exam in social work. Hamed knew he was a marked man, singled out for assassination for his Al-Aqsa activities.
When the second Palestinian intifada erupted in September 2000, Hamed was a counterterrorism officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security forces. He soon joined Fatah gunmen, who became the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and secured a spot at the top of Israel's most-wanted list.
For the next few years, Hamed lived like a fugitive, hiding in the hills around this West Bank city. He slept in caves and abandoned buildings, seeing his family perhaps once a week. He lived for months in the Mukata, the Palestinian presidential compound in Ramallah, under the protection of Arafat, then Mahmoud Abbas, who became president of the Palestinian Authority after Arafat's death in 2004.
When the intifada petered out in 2005, Hamed remained on the run, hunted by Israel for crimes so serious that even he declines to talk about them. An Israeli army spokesman described Hamed as "a senior wanted terrorist who was involved in attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers."
"It's not wise for me to reveal security information that might be used by the Israelis," said Hamed, while chain-smoking and drinking thick black Arabic coffee at a Ramallah cafe.
Hamed's part-time course at Al-Quds University was the closest he came to living a normal life. That January afternoon, he had gone to the second floor of an office building near an open-air market in the center of town to use a friend's computer and prepare for exams.
About 3.30 p.m., the phone rang. It was a friend from the Martyrs Brigades, warning him that an undercover Israeli unit had entered Ramallah. The phone rang again, but when he answered there was no one there. Then a stranger appeared in the office doorway.
"He asked me where the toilet was but I sensed immediately that he was an Israeli soldier," said Hamed. "I walked out into the corridor to show him the way, and there were two more strangers out there. 'Are you guys also looking for the toilet?' " I asked.
"The next thing I knew, a few of my friends were flying up the stairs, looking for me. Within seconds, the Israelis had them on the floor, with guns pointing at their heads. Then they started shooting at me from point-blank range."
Hamed was hit six times. One bullet drilled a hole in his lung, narrowly missing his heart. Another whisked through his neck, an inch away from his spine. He was shot in the lower back, thigh and arm. The volley of bullets propelled him backward. He toppled over down two flights of stairs, and crashed down the steps to the street door.
"I got up and I ran," he recalled. "I just ran until I couldn't go any further. I must have run about 400 yards and then I just collapsed, right next to a taxi. That's the last thing I remember. Everything went blank. He (taxi driver) must have scooped me up and driven me to hospital. I was rushed into emergency surgery. It saved my life. The next thing I knew was when I woke up in hospital after the operation."
Back in the market, there was pandemonium. The three strangers were part of an elite undercover commando unit of the Israeli army. As Hamed plummeted down the staircase, dozens of Palestinian gunmen and youths came running toward the office building. Within seconds, a huge crowd had gathered.
The Israelis called for backup, which came in the form of Apache helicopters, a dozen jeeps filled with soldiers and a D-9 armored military bulldozer, which plowed through the market toward the trapped soldiers, crushing parked cars and destroying shops and stalls.
The crowd fought back, pinning the Israelis for two hours with a barrage of bricks, stones, bottles and small-arms fire. Four Palestinians were killed and 30 injured.
Hamed was eventually whisked back to the heavily guarded Mukata compound, where Abbas took him under his wing. He spent the next month and a half confined to a bed in a specially equipped room just a few yards from Abbas' office.
In July, Israel offered amnesty to wanted Fatah gunmen if they pledged to lay down their arms and renounce violence. In a ceremony at the presidential compound, Hamed handed over his M-16 rifle.
Accepting amnesty put Hamed and his 177 colleagues at odds with Hamas, who accused Fatah of giving up the resistance to the Israeli occupation. In a communique last month, Izzedine Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said Fatah had turned their forces into "guards of the Zionist entity."
But such slights don't seem to faze Hamed.
"I felt good about signing. We in Fatah have a political leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, and he told us to give up our guns, so we did. We began this battle by the decision of Abu Ammar," he said, referring to Arafat's nom de guerre. "Now we have ended it by the decision of Mahmoud Abbas. The order came each time from the same authority, from my political leader.
"The fact that I have laid down my gun does not mean I have stopped fighting," Hamed said. "I continue my work, just not in the military. I continue through my work in the Palestinian security forces."
But Hamed still sleeps in the Mukata for his own protection.
"It's miserable sleeping in the Mukata. I'm 33 years old. I need to feel that I have my own home," he said. "I want to get married, have a family and live a normal life. Like every Palestinian, I'm waiting for peace and a better day."
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This article appeared on page A - 21 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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