April 1996, pg. 126

Bulletin Board

Compiled by Janet McMahon

Convenings

New York University's Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies presents "Censorship and the National Interest: Arab Media in Diaspora," a discussion with Jihad Khazen of Al Hayat and Hisham Melhem of Radio Monte Carlo and As Safir, April 9, 6:30 p.m. in the Stephen Chan Auditorium. For additional information contact the Kevorkian Center, 50 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012, (212) 998-8877.

Georgetown University's Center for Contemporary Arab Studies presents a lecture by Roy Mottahedeh on "Contemporary Islamic Theories of Pluralism," April 10, 4 p.m. in Room 141 of the Intercultural Center. CCAS' 25th annual symposium will be on the topic "Arab Jerusalem," and will take place April 18-19. For complete information on both events, contact CCAS, 241 Intercultural Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, phone (202) 687-5793, fax (202) 687-7001.

Hanan Munayyer of the Palestinian Heritage Foundation will discuss the cultural and historic context of traditional costumes worn in the Levant, April 18, 7:30 p.m., at the U.S. Military Academy, Washington Lecture Hall, Bldg. 745, Room 5006, West Point, NY. For additional information call (914) 938-2400.

Kan Zaman, a classical and folkloric Arabic music community ensemble, will perform in concert May 4 at 8 p.m. at the California Institute of Technology's Beckman Auditorium, 1201 E. California Ave., Pasadena, CA, 91125. Tickets are $15; for reservations and information call the CalTech box office at (800) 432-8849.

Awards and Appointments

The King Faisal Foundation has announced the winners of the King Faisal International Prize for 1996: for Medicine (management of the premature infant), Prof. Bengt A. Robertson, director of the Division of Pediatric Pathology at the Sarolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and Prof. Testuro Fujiwara, chairman of the Iwate Medical University School of Medicine in Japan; for Science (biology), Dr. Gunter Blobel of the Rockefeller University in New York, Dr. Hugh R. Pelham of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology at London's Medical Research Council, and Dr. James E. Rothman of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York; for Arabic Literature (literature analyzing the writings of early Arab travellers), Shaikh Hamad bin Muhammad Al-Jasir, publisher, author, and world authority on the history, geography, cultures and people of the Arabian peninsula; for Islamic Studies (the life of the Prophet Muhammad), Professor Akram Dia'a Ahmed Al-Umari of Iraq, professor of Islamic history at the College of Shari'a and Law at Qatar University and author of The Authoritative History of the Prophet Muhammad; and for Service to Islam, Dr. Abd Al-Rahman Humood Al-Sumait of Kuwait, a gastroenterologist, author, and founder in 1981 and secretary-general of the African Muslims' Committee, the first specialized Islamic organization serving the entire continent of Africa.

Nominations from academic institutions throughout the world are currently being accepted for the 1997 Prizes; special topics include Science (physics) and Medicine (degenerative diseases of the nervous system). For guidelines and application information, contact The General Secretariat, The King Faisal International Prize, P.O. Box 22476, Riyadh 11495, Saudia Arabia, phone 011-966-1-465-2255, fax 011-966-1-465-8685. Deadline for nominations is May 31.

U.S. Ambassador at Large Robert L. Gallucci, currently in charge of coordinating reconstruction efforts in Bosnia, will become dean of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service on May 1; his Bosnian duties will be assumed by John C. Kornblum, senior deputy assistant secretary of state for European affairs. Named as the first U.S. ambassador to Macedonia is Christopher Hill, one of six members of the Bosnia negotiating team who also has served in Belgrade, Warsaw and as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Albania. Kenneth C. Brill, former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, has been named ambassador to Cyprus.

Deaths

Sheikh Gad al-Haq, grand sheikh of al-Azhar, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious Islamic institutions, died of a heart attack March 15 at his home in Cairo, at the age of 78. Born in Batra village in the Nile Delta province of Daqhaliyya, he earned his diploma of higher learning from al-Azhar in 1945. Beginning in 1960, he was a member of the Egyptian Higher Council for Islamic Affairs, and was appointed mufti in 1978. Appointed grand sheikh of al-Azhar in 1982 by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Sheikh Gad al-Haq was known for his conservative views and opposition to the recent U.N. conferences on population and on women. He was viewed by Egypt's Islamists, however, as too close to the government and, although he recently demanded strict enforcement of religious laws in Egypt during Ramadan, he was not viewed as an ally by the militants.

Mohammed el-Ghazaly, a prominent Egyptian scholar and preacher at al-Azhar in Cairo, died March 9 of a heart attack at the age of 78. He was attending a cultural seminar in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when he was stricken and died in a hospital there. Known throughout Egypt and the Arab world, he was head of Islamic Dawa, held senior positions in Egypt's Ministry of Islamic Affairs, and was the author of 94 books on Islam.

Princess Shams Pahlavi, sister of the late Shah of Iran and daughter of the military leader Reza Khan, died Feb. 29 at the age of 77 following surgery in California, where she had lived since 1984.

The Rev. Bruno Hussar, founder of the Israeli community Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam which promoted Arab-Jewish understanding, died Feb. 8 at the French Hospice in Jerusalem at the age of 84. Born in Egypt of a Hungarian father and a French mother, both secular Jews, he was ordained a Dominican priest in France in 1945 and considered himself both a Christian and a Jew. He moved to Israel in 1953 and became a citizen in 1966; in 1973 he founded Neve Shalom, having persuaded a nearby Trappist monastery to lease him 100 barren acres at 25 cents a year for 100 years. Located halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Neve Shalom did not receive Israeli government assistance, as did other kibbutzim, and did not attract Jewish residents until 1976. It eventually received funding from the U.S. and Europe, and has accommodated some 15,000 Israeli high school students for four-day "School for Peace" workshops. The primary school has an enrollment of 100 Arab and Jewish students, one-third of whom are residents of Neve Shalom.

Dev Kanta Borooah, former president of India's Congress Party, died of a heart attack at the age of 82. He fought for Indian independence from the British and joined the Congress Party following independence in 1947, serving in Indira Gandhi's cabinet and as governor of some Indian states. As Congress president from 1973 to 1977, he is known for the controversial slogan, "India is Indira and Indira is India," which he coined when then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed a state of national emergency, suspending all basic rights, from 1975-77.