Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July/August 1998, Page 137

Bulletin Board

Compiled by Janet McMahon

PAPERS SOUGHT

Peace Review: A Transnational Quarterly accepts 2,500- to 3,500-word essays in peace studies, including war, violence, human rights, political economy, development, culture and consciousness, the environment, gender, race and related issues. Upcoming issue themes include Overcoming Linguistic Violence (Winter 1998; deadline July 20) and Media and Democratic Action (Spring 1999; deadline Oct. 23). For complete information and writers’ guidelines contact the Peace Review, Peace & Justice Studies, University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA 94117, phone (415) 422-6349, fax (415) 388-2631, e-mail eliasr@usfca.edu.

The Association of Muslim Social Scientists invites scholarly papers and/or session proposals for its 27th Annual Convention, to be held Oct. 23-25 in Chicago. For a list of suggested issues and additional information contact Ihsan Bagby, Program Chair, Dept. of International Relations, Shaw University, 118 E. South St., Raleigh, NC 27601, phone (919) 755-0168, fax (919) 828-0769, e-mail ibagby@aol.com Deadline for session proposals and paper abstracts is Aug. 15.

The Arab Studies Journal is accepting papers for its next issue and will consider original work in any social science discipline or in literature, in English and Arabic. Research papers should be 25 to 35 double-spaced typewritten pages, including endnotes; book reviews will also be considered. Graduate students are encouraged to submit original work. Inquiries and submissions should be directed to Arab Studies Journal, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University, Intercultural Center 241, Washington, DC 20057, phone (202) 687-0904, fax (202) 687-7001. Deadline is Aug. 28.

The Arab Bankers Association of North America announces a call for papers for its Second Biennial Essay Competition. Original, previously unpublished essays on any aspect of Middle East banking and finance by banking and finance professionals, academics (including students), private economists, members of the legal profession and others will be considered. A first prize of $10,000, second prize of $5,000, third prize of $3,000 and four honorary mentions of $500 will be awarded. Essays, in English and not to exceed 40 double-spaced typed pages, should be submitted to the Executive Director, ABANA, 380 Lexington Ave., Suite 1700, New York, NY 10168. Deadline is Sept. 15.

RESOURCES

“Yanbu Revisited: The Jewel of the Red Sea,” a 50-minute video on Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu Industrial City (Madinat Yanbu Al Sinayah), is available from the Parsons Corporation, the Management Services Contractor for Yanbu since the early 1970s, working for the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu. “Yanbu Revisited” is available (for less than $15, including shipping and handling) by calling The Parsons Employee Recreation Club at (818) 440-3493 or writing The Parsons Corp., PERC Store, 100 West Walnut, Pasadena, CA 91124. Payment is requested in advance of shipment.

Tahrir Radio is offering the series “Six Arab-American Poets in conversation with Barbara Nimri Aziz” free of charge to local community/college radio stations, as well as to commercial stations, libraries, or for personal use at a modest fee. Each half-hour interview features a member of the Radius of Arab American Writers, Inc. and includes the poet reading from his or her work. Listeners may call their local stations to request airing of the series; additional information, including a free demo tape, is available from Tahrir Productions, c/o WBAI, 505 8th Ave., New York, NY 10018, phone (212) 561-0424, e-mail aziz@escape.com.

DEATHS

Sheikh Mohammed Mutwali Sharawi, the Egyptian cleric whose televised Friday lectures were widely watched, died June 17 in Cairo at the age of 87, a week after being hospitalized with severe asthma. He studied at Al-Azhar in Cairo before becoming a theological lecturer in Saudi Arabia. Returning to Al-Azhar as director of teaching, he was forced to leave following a dispute with then-President Gamal Abdel Nasser over Egypt’s growing alliance with the Soviet Union. He gave thanks after Egypt’s defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War, saying that if Nasser had won, Egypt would have become communist. He served as minister of religious endowments under Nasser’s successor, Anwar Sadat.

Sheikh Saeed Shaaban, the Sunni Muslim cleric who led an armed militia during Lebanon’s civil war and advocated Islamic rule in Lebanon, died June 1 of a heart attack at his home in Tripoli, at the age of 69. An activist in Muslim groups since the 1950s, he attended a French-language misisonary school in Tripoli before studying religion at the Islamic Academy. He traveled to Egypt for Arabic-language education at Al-Azhar University, worked as a teacher in Algeria and Iraq, and helped convert Morocco’s educational system from French to Arabic before returning to Lebanon. He gained control of Tripoli from moderate local politicians and opposed the post-civil war Christian-Muslim consensus governments. He was one of the few critics of Pope John Paul II’s 1997 visit to Lebanon.

John Wesley Jones, U.S. ambassador to Libya from 1958 to 1963, died of pneumonia May 20 at his home in North Carolina at the age of 90. A career foreign service officer, he was a native of Sioux City, Iowa, where he attended Morningside College, graduating from George Washington University. He also served as ambassador to Peru and as deputy commandant of the National War College, before retiring in 1972.

Sheikh Assad Bayyoud Tamimi, a Palestinian Muslim cleric who became an advocate of peace with Israel, died March 21 of kidney and liver ailments at the age of 86 in an Amman, Jordan hospital. Shortly after the 1967 war, Israel deported him to Jordan from Hebron for his activities in the radical Hezb Tahrir, or Liberation Party, which resisted the Israeli occupation. In Jordan, he led the Jihad al-Islami Beit al-Maqdes (Islamic Struggle-Jerusalem), which advocated violent confrontations with Israel, before becoming a close friend of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who reportedly channeled millions of dollars to the sheikh’s organization in return for its support of the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords.

Dr. Donald Lehman, a pediatrician, civil rights and peace activist who founded Middle East Peace Now in Minnesota, died Dec. 8, 1997 in Roseville, MN at the age of 82. A pacifist and activist in the Fellowship of Reconciliation, he and his wife, Barbara, founded MEPN in 1976 after a trip to the Middle East. They often said that they decided to make the Middle East safe for their daughter, who married an Israeli. At the time of its founding as well as today, MEPN included among its members Christians, Muslims and Jews. In addition to his wife, Dr. Lehman is survived by two daughters, a sister, and three grandchildren.