Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1998, pages 108-109

Diplomatic Doings

ARAB AMBASSADORS’ WIVES RAISE $500,000 FOR ST. JUDE HOSPITAL

The Embassy of the State of Bahrain in Washington, DC was the setting for presentation of a check for $500,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital by the Mosaic Foundation. Mrs. Mariam Al-Mahmood, chair of the foundation and wife of Bahraini Ambassador to the U.S. Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar Abdulla, made the presentation to Richard Shadyac, national executive director of St. Jude.

Accompanying Shadyac were Dr. Bassein Razzouk of the hospital’s Lebanese Syrian Outreach Project and Dr. Najat C. Daw, a Lebanese physician in training in the hospital’s Department of HematologyOncology.

The nonprofit Mosaic Foundation raised the half-million dollars at its First Annual Benefit Gala held on May 19 of this year. For the event the Atrium of the Kennedy Center was transformed into a Middle Eastern bazaar, and each Mosaic Foundation board member wore her country’s traditional dress.

The formation of the Mosaic Foundation marks the first entry of the wives of Arab diplomats into the social and political life of Washington since they set up tents and wore traditional dress in Lafayette Park across from the White House to protest the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

The Mosaic Foundation was established by the wives of 17 Arab ambassadors to the United States to foster deeper understanding between the peoples of the Arab world and the United States. This contribution to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was chosen for their opening project because of the hospital’s unparalleled research into and treatment of grave childhood illnesses worldwide and because the late entertainer Danny Thomas, the founder and longtime patron of St. Jude, was a Lebanese-American.

Members of the Mosaic Foundation board of trustees are: Mrs. Mariam M. Al-Mahmood, chair (Bahrain); Mrs. Hoda Maher (Egypt); Mrs. Sawsam K. AlMoualem (Syria); Mrs. Aicha Lamamra (Algeria); Mrs. Amina Farah Ollhaye (Djibouti); Mrs. Lynne Muasher (Jordan); Shaikha Feryal D. Al Sabah (Kuwait); Mrs. Nina Chatah (Lebanon): Mrs. Mone Sid’Ahmed (Mauritania); Mrs. Laila H. Benaissa (Morocco); Mrs. Zakyia Abdulla (Oman): Mrs. Malea Abdel Rahman (Palestine Liberation Organization); H.R.H. Princess Haifa Al Faisal (Saudi Arabia); Mrs. Wahbia Abdalla Ahmed (Sudan): Mrs. Karima Mejdoub (Tunisia); Mrs. Huda Al Shaali (United Arab Emirates); and Mrs. Saboura Al Hajjri (Yemen).

—Sandra Rangel

New U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Speaks

Founding chairman Peter J. Tanous of the American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) and president of Lynx Investment Advisers, and his wife Ann hosted an ATFL buffet reception in Washington, DC, on Aug. 26, in honor of the new U.S. ambassador to Lebanon, David M. Satterfield. He is a career foreign service officer whose previous overseas postings included Jeddah, Tunis, Beirut, and Damascus, and whose most recent position was director of the office of Israel and Arab-Israeli affairs at the State Department.

“Strong ties unite Lebanon and the U.S.,” Ambassador Satterfield told the large group which gathered to send him off to his new assignment. “The Lebanese-American community has made an enormous contribution to American life.”

The American Task Force for Lebanon plays an important role in strengthening the important ties between the U.S. and Lebanon, and should be commended for its work, Ambassador Satterfield said. Former Arab League Ambassador to the U.N. Clovis Maksoud, former Assistant Secretary of State Robert Pelletreau, former Illinois Sen. Charles Percy, and Indiana Sen. Vance Hartke were among the dignitaries attending the reception.

Satterfield noted that Lebanon still has to negotiate Israel’s withdrawal from its territory, and that the Lebanese economy is not yet booming, as reconstruction projects drain budgets, and Lebanese elections draw near. “There is a lot of work for Americans to do in Lebanon today,” he said. “The chaos, violence and suffering have left many marks on Lebanon.

“I look forward to seeing the new Beirut, where the museum is a museum, not a crossing from one war zone to the other,” he said, remembering his last posting in Lebanon.

He added, however, that “America wants to help Lebanon achieve a lasting, comprehensive peace and I have every confidence in the world that we will see that peace achieved.”

—Delinda C. Hanley