Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April/May 1999, pages 136-137

Bulletin Board

Compiled by Janet McMahon

CONVENINGS

Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS), in conjunction with the Middle East Research and Information Project (MERIP), will present its 1999 symposium on “The Arts in Arab Societies: Culture in a Transnational Era” April 7 and 8. Musicians, visual artists, writers, filmmakers and journalists from throughout the Arab world will engage in dialogue with each other, academic specialists, and conference participants. Each day will end with a musical performance. Complete registration and conference information is available from CCAS 1999 Symposium, 241 Intercultural Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057-1020, phone (202) 687-6228, fax (202) 687-7001, e-mail <ccasinfo@gunet. georgetown.edu>, Web site <www.georgetown.edu/edu/sfs/programs/ccas>.

The School of Islamic and Social Sciences (SISS) presents as part of its 1999 Spring and Summer Seminar Series lectures on “Islamic Philosophy” by George Washington University Professor Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, on “Isma’ili and Hermetico: Pythagorean Philosophy,” April 7; “Ishraqi Philosophy and the ‘Transcendent Theosophy’ of Mulla Sadra,” May 19; and “Major Issues of Islamic Philosophy: Islamic Philosophy Today,” June 2. All lectures take place from 3 to 5 p.m. at SISS, 750-A Miller Dr. SE, Leesburg, VA. For directions call (703) 779-7477, ext. 402.

Northeastern University will sponsor the 17th annual meeting of the Center for Iranian Research and Analysis (CIRA), on the theme of “Iran at the Threshold of the New Millennium,” April 23 and 24 in Boston, MA. Topics to be addressed will include U.S.-Iranian relations, Caspian Sea resources and their utilization, Iran’s foreign policy, Islam and women, and human rights. Complete information is available from CIRA, c/o Dept. of Economics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, and from the conference Web site <http://www.dac.neu.edu/cira/ forthc~1.htm>

The 7th Annual International Conference on Conflict Resolution, co-sponsored by the U.S.-based Common Bond Institute and the Harmony Institute of St. Petersburg, Russia, will be held May 6-16 (formal conference program May 7-12) in St. Petersburg. Based on the theme “Sharing Tools for Personal/Global Harmony,” the conference will feature full-day institutes, workshops, roundtables and lectures offering training in practical skills, intensive dialogues and networking and collaboration. Package costs including conference fee, airfare (from New York), full room and board, cultural events, guides and interpreters begin at $2, 850. For complete information contact the conference coordinators at the Common Bond Institute, 12170 S. Pine Ayr Dr., Climax, MI 49034, phone/fax (616) 665-9393, e-mail <solweean@aol. com>, Web site <http://ahpweb.org/cbi/icr.html>

The Pilgrims of Ibillin and the Grosse Point (MI) Memorial Church are sponsoring a Travel Seminar of Israel/Palestine and Jordan May 19 to June 1. Led by the Rev. Dr. V. Bruce Rigdon, the group will visit Father Elias Chacour at Ibillin in the Galilee, then travel to Jerusalem and Amman and Petra in Jordan. Cost per person is an estimated $2,990; a required $500 deposit is fully refundable until April 15. For complete information and an application form contact Rev. Rigdon at 16 Lakeshore Dr., Grosse Pointe Farms, MI 48236, phone (313) 882-5330, fax (313) 882-1035.

Global Exchange will lead a “reality tour” to Palestine and Israel June 14-28. Participants will meet with Palestinian and Israeli peace and human rights activists, visit the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Golan Heights, a kibbutz and the experimental Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salaam village to explore the question “Post-Oslo: Peace at Last or Conflict Renewed?” Cost is $1,800 ($1,500 students) excluding airfare, with a limited number of partial scholarships available. A $200 deposit is required, along with a completed application, two months prior to departure. For complete information and application materials contact Shirabe Yamada at Global Exchange, 2017 Mission St., #303, San Francisco, CA 94110, phone (800) 497-1994, fax (415) 255-7498, e-mail <shirabe@globalexchange.org>, Web <www.globalexchange.org>

OPPORTUNITIES

The University of Tunis’ Bourguiba Institute of Living Languages (IBLV) offers an intensive summer Arabic course—as well as instruction in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German—in July of each year at beginning, advanced beginners, and advanced levels. Weekday four-hour language classes are supplemented by optional courses in Tunisian Arabic as well as by workshops in such activities as Oriental dancing, traditional Tunisian cooking, music and drama, and films. Dormitory accommodations are available. Enrollment for the summer program takes place at the Institute from May 15 to June 15, with enrollment and placement exams scheduled July 2-4 and classes beginning July 5. Summer tuition is 389 TD (1 TD=approx. $1), with housing accommodations (not including meals) 80 TD. Along with a completed application form, 2 ID photos and a non-refundable deposit of $20 is required. For complete information contact the IBLV, 47 Ave. de la Liberte, 1002 Tunis, Tunisia, phone 011-216-1-832-418, fax 011-216-1-833-684.

Volunteers for Peace in Palestine is the Middle East Children’s Alliance’s placement program for North Americans to work for peace and human rights groups in Jerusalem and the West Bank. Internships run from one to six months and start anytime. Volunteers are responsible for their own living expenses; housing arrangements can be made for a home-stay with a Palestinian family or a shared apartment in the West Bank. Interested individuals should submit a completed application form, a résumé and photo, and a $50 sign-up fee. MECA will then match the applicant with an appropriate host organization, such as the Alternative Information Center, Birzeit University, or the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition. For complete information contact Barbara Lubin or Penny Rosenwasser at MECA, 905 Parker St., Berkeley, CA 94710, phone (510) 548-0542, fax (510) 548-0543, e-mail <meca@peacenet.org>, Web <www.peacenet.org/meca>

PEOPLE

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright appointed career U.S. diplomat Frank Ricciardone, formerly deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, to coordinate the efforts of the various Iraqi opposition groups to overthrow Saddam Hussain.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Syria and Algeria Christopher Ross has been named executive director of SEARCH for Common Ground’s Middle East project, which has offices in Gaza and Amman and works throughout the region.

DEATHS

Samiha Khalil, the Palestinian social worker and political activist who was a candidate in the first election for president of the Palestinian Authority, died Feb. 26 of a heart attack in a Ramallah hospital at the age of 76. Born in the West Bank town of Anabta, in 1965 she established the Society of Inash el-Usrah, a family welfare group offering education and vocational training to women. From its beginnings in a small garage with a budget of $140, the Society grew to occupy three buildings housing six vocational departments, with an annual budget of $400,000. Mrs. Khalil began organizing demonstrations against Israeli occupation soon after the 1967 Six-Day War, and was arrested six times and confined to the borders of Ramallah from 1980 to 1982. She became the first woman in the Arab world to run for president when, in 1996, she challenged Yasser Arafat in the first Palestinian general elections. She is survived by five children.

Sir Anthony Nutting, a British baronet, farmer and writer who resigned his office and seat in the House of Commons to protest his country’s 1956 invasion of Egypt, died Feb. 23 at his London home of a heart attack at the age of 79. Heir to a fortune in beer and rails, he graduated from Eton and Trinity College at Cambridge University, where he studied agriculture. During World War II he served in the army and as secretary to then-Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, after which he joined the Foreign Office, with postings in Paris, Madrid and Rome. In 1956, under the Conservative government of Prime Minister Eden, he was minister of state—equivalent to deputy foreign secretary—in the Foreign Office, and was widely viewed as a future leader of the Tories. When he learned of Britain’s plans to join France and Israel in invading Egypt, he resigned his office and his seat in the House of Commons, ending his political career. In addition to his book on the Suez Crisis, No End of a Lesson, he was the author of I Saw for Myself: The Aftermath of Suez, Lawrence of Arabia: The Man and the Motive, The Arabs, and the biography Nasser. In addition to his writings he engaged in agricultural pursuits for the remainder of his life.

Gordon H. Mattison, a retired foreign service officer with extensive experience in the Arab world, died Jan. 27 in a Washington, DC-area nursing home at the age of 87, having suffered a cerebral hemorrhage two years ago. Born in Washington, he grew up the son of a missionary in India. After graduating from the College of Wooster in Ohio, he joined the foreign service and was stationed in Naples, Baghdad, and Basra, Iraq. After an assignment with the office of the secretary of state in Washington, he studied Arabic at Princeton University and subsequently served in Beirut and Damascus. He was later chief of the division of Near Eastern and South Asian affairs, then served as deputy chief of mission in Cairo and Tehran and as consul general in Calcutta and Katmandu prior to his retirement in 1968.

Jeffrey C. Kitchen, a former State Department officer and Northrup Corp. vice president, died Jan. 14 of pneumonia in a Hilton Head, SC hospital at the age of 77. A native of Bend, OR, and a graduate of the University of Oregon, he served with the Lend-Lease Administration regional headquarters in Egypt during World War II. He joined the State Department after the war, serving as special assistant to the secretary of state and deputy director of the office of Greek, Turkish and Iranian affairs. Following five years as a senior research associate with the RAND Corp., he returned to the State Department in 1961, serving as deputy assistant secretary of state of political-military affairs until 1968, when he became vice president of Northrup’s national development programs, based in Tehran. He also served in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as director of the Treasury Department’s representation office for the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation. He retired in 1986 to accompany his wife, Stephanie Kitchen, a career foreign service officer, to posts in Tangier, Riyadh, Madrid and London, later settling in Bluffton, SC.

Dr. Amin Majaj, a member of the Jerusalem municpal council and acting mayor of East Jerusalem at the time of his death, died Jan. 4 in Jerusalem. Born in Ramallah in 1921 to a well-known Anglican Christian family, he was a violin prodigy as a youth. Educated at St. George’s High School in Jerusalem, he later matriculated at the American University of Beirut and London University, where he specialized in children’s health. He was medical director and head of the pediatrics department at Jerusalem’s Augusta Victoria Hospital from 1950 to 1991, and held similar posts at the Makassad Islamic Hospital from 1967 to 1982. His research into malnutrition and its attendant diseases among children in Palestinian refugee camps was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1966, and he contributed many articles on related subjects to British and German medical journals. Dr. Majaj became a member of the Jerusalem municipal council in 1950, and was a member of the Jordanian parliament from 1967 to 1988, serving as minister of health in 1957 and 1964. He assumed direction of Musa Alami’s Arab Development Society in Jericho, which taught agricultural and other skills to boys from Palestinian refugee camps. He was known for his humor, humanity, and refusal to compromise his beliefs as a healer, a researcher, or as a Palestinian. He is survived by his wife, the former Betty Dagher of Lebanon, who is director of the Princess Basma Center for Disabled Children in Jerusalem, and by their son and three daughters.