Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, October/November 1998, page 135

Bulletin Board

Compiled by Janet McMahon

CONVENINGS

The Assembly of Turkish American Associations will hold its 19th annual convention, “Turkey 1923-1998: Looking to the Future,” celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey, Oct. 8 to 10 at the Hotel Washington in Washington, DC. Participants will include the U.S. and Turkish ambassadors, President Rauf Denktash of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and officials from the World Bank, Rand Corporation, Middle East Institute and other organizations. A panel on “Turkey in the Muslim World and the Middle East,” to be moderated by Alan Makovsky of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, will feature panelists Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum and Dr. Malik Mufti of Tufts University. For registration and conference information contact ATAA, 1601 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 303, Washington, DC 20009, phone (202) 483-9090, fax (202) 483-9092, Web site www.ataa.org, e-mail assembly@ataa.org

Former first lady of Egypt Jehan Sadat, widow of the late President Anwar Sadat, will deliver the inaugural Fairfield University’s Jacoby-Lunin Humanitarian Lecture Oct. 14, 8 p.m. at the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Tickets are $10 general public, $8 seniors, and $5 students. For reservations call (203) 254-4010; for additional information contact the School of Continuing Education, Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT 06430, (203) 254-4000 ext. 2907.

As a special presentation of the 36th New York Film Festival, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting a retrospective of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine, Sept. 26-Oct. 15, followed by a one-week showing of Chahine’s 1997 masterpiece, “Destiny,” Oct. 16-23. All screenings will be at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 W. 65th St., in Manhattan. Tickets are $8.50 general public, $5 Film Society members, $4.50 senior citizens for weekday matinees. Group sales and schedule information are available from the Walter Reade Theater box office, (212) 875-5600; additional information on the Film Society of Lincoln Center is available on their Web site, http://www.filmlinc.com

Southern Illinois University will be the setting for an Oct. 22 and 23 symposium on “Conflict and Peace in the Middle East,” with speakers including former Sen. Paul Simon and Rep. Lee Hamilton and invited guests Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Martin Indyk, Jordanian Ambassador Adnan Abu Odeh, and David Levy, former foreign minister of Israel. For complete information and registration contact Middle East Symposium, Division of Continuing Education, Mailcode 6705, Washington Square Bldg. C, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901-6705, phone (618) 536-7751, fax (618) 453-5680, Web site http://www.jal.cc.il.us/symposium.html

The Arab Cultural Center in San Francisco will hold its 4th Annual Arab Cultural Festival at the San Francisco County Fair Building (previously the Hall of Flowers) at the corner of 9th and Lincoln in Golden Gate Park Sunday, Oct. 25. For additional information, or to volunteer, donate or participate, contact Muna Al-Yusuf at the Arab Cultural Center, (415) 664-2200.

The William Yale Collection of miniature headdresses from Jerusalem (described on pp. 104 and 105 of the September WRMEA) will be on exhibit through early November at the Pillsbury Free Library on Main St., Warner, NH, (603) 456-2289. It will return to the University of New Hampshire at Durham for display at the Fifth Annual Yale-Maria Lecture on Middle East Studies Nov. 6. For additional information on the lecture, contact Frank Maria at (603) 456-3454.

The Episcopal Diocese of Washington, DC will sponsor a conference and workshops on “Two Sacred Paths, Christianity and Islam: A Call for Understanding,” Nov. 6 and 7 at Washington’s National Cathedral. Keynote speakers include Prof. Abdul Aziz Said, Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr and the Rt. Rev. Dr. Kenneth Cragg. Complete information and registration is available from the Diocese of Washington, Mt. St. Alban, Washington, DC 20016-5098, (202) 537-6532.

Global Exchange is accepting registration for Reality Tours to Palestine and Israel, Jan. 11-25 and June 14-28, and to Iran, Jan. 10-25 and July 11-26, 1999. Cost of the tour to Palestine is estimated at $1,800, and the January tour to Iran at $3,700. A $200 non-refundable deposit and completed application must be received two months prior to date of departure; for complete information contact Shirabe Yamada at Reality Tours, 2017 Mission St., #303, San Francisco, CA 94110, phone (800) 497-1994 ext. 242, fax (415) 255-7498, e-mail shirabe@globalexchange.org, Web site www.globalexchange.org

PEOPLE

Nominees for Mideast ambassadors, all career foreign service officers currently working out of the State Department, include Elizabeth McKune, director for northern Arabian affairs, to Qatar; Steve Mann, country director for India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, to Turkmenistan; and John Craig, director of Arabian Peninsula affairs, to Oman.

According to The Washington Post, Ambassador to Kazakhstan A. Elizabeth Jones will become the new principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Mideast and North Africa Affairs, replacing David Welch, expected to be named assistant secretary of state for international organizations.

Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-IN), former chair of the House Committee on International Relations who is retiring from Congress after the current term, has been named the new director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC, a center for advanced study that serves as the nation’s living memorial to President Wilson. Rep. Hamilton will assume his new post at the end of January, replacing Charles Blitzer, who retired in 1997 after serving as director for 10 years.

DEATHS

Ambassador Charles H. Thomas, special U.S. envoy to the former Yugoslavia before his retirement in 1995, died Sept. 13 of leukemia in a New York hospital at the age of 64. As special envoy to the 1995 Bosnian peace negotiations, he helped try to persuade Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and the Muslim-led government of Bosnian President Ilya Izetbegovic to resume peace talks, and met regularly with leaders of the Yugoslavian, Croatian and Bosnian factions. He previously served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary, having spent his early foreign service career in Latin America. In 1965 he received the Department of State Award for Heroism for his efforts in securing the safe return of four Americans held hostage in Bolivia.

Ahmad Tarawneh, three-time chief of the Jordanian Royal Court under Kings Abdullah and Hussein, died Aug. 8 in his home town of Kerak at the age of 78. During his career he served in both houses of parliament and as minister of justice, agriculture, transport, trade, public works, finance, defense and interior. His son, Fayez Tarawneh, is the current chief of the Royal Court.