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DECEMBER 1999, page 134 Bulletin Board
In conjunction with the United Nations Day of Solidarity with Palestinians on Nov. 29, a town meeting on Middle East issues will be held in New York Nov. 28 to discuss matters of concern for NGOs which support the Palestinian people. One of the NGOs participating in both days’ activities is the Middle East Network of United Methodists (MENUM), which will hold a steering committee meeting Nov. 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m at Drew University. For complete information contact the Methodist Federation for Social Action, 212 E. Capitol St., Washington, DC 20003, phone (202) 546-8806, fax (202) 546-6811, e-mail <MFSA@olg.com>. The World Affairs Councils of America (WACA) will discuss “Understanding the Islamic World: Challenge for the West,” its theme for the year 2000, at its annual convention Dec. 2-5 at the Radisson Barcelo Hotel in Washington, DC. An opening reception at the Jordanian Embassy will be hosted by Queen Noor, and the conference will include four thematic and four country-related roundtables. The Department of State and several Arab embassies will help provide materials to be used by local councils throughout the U.S. in exploring next year’s theme. Additional information is available from local World Affairs Councils or from WACA, 1726 M St., NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036, phone (202) 785-4703, fax (202) 833-2369, e-mail <ncwao@aol.com>. Web site <http://www.worldaffairscouncils.org>. The Christian Peacemaker Teams and New Call to Peacemaking will hold their conference, “On the Way: From ‘Redemptive’ Violence to Active Non-Violence,” Dec. 27-30 at the Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington, DC. Keynote speakers will be Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness and Anne Montgomery, co-editor of Swords into Plowshares. In addition to more than 30 workshops, worship, communion and celebration, training and preparation will precede planned nonviolent civil disobedience and public witness. Pre-registration fee (until Nov. 15) is $85, with several lodging options available. For complete information contact CPT at P.O. Box 6508, Chicago, IL 60680-6508, phone (312) 455-1199, fax (312) 666-2677, e-mail <cpt@igc.org>.
The American Committee on Jerusalem has announced the founding of a new program for outreach to American Christians to increase involvement in the international struggle for a just solution to the question of Jerusalem. Projects include educational delegations, a speakers’ bureau, church bulletin inserts, a data base and other resource materials. Concerned individuals or organizations interested in collaborating on these and future projects are invited to contact Laurel Severns, Coordinator for Outreach to Christian Communities, ACJ, 4201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 302, Washington, DC 20011, phone (202) 237-0215, fax (202) 244-3196, e-mail laseverns@acj.org Mizna, a journal of art and literature by and about Arabs and Arab Americans, is seeking creative writing—poetry, prose, drama and essays—and visual art for upcoming issues of the tri-yearly journal. Submissions of original work, not previously published, are accepted throughout the year. Writers are invited to send three hard copies (no e-mail submissions) of double-spaced work, maximum 2,500 words, to Mizna, Inc., P.O. Box 14294, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Subscriptions to the journal, at $15 per year, are available from the same address. The quarterly journal Peace Review is seeking short essays of 2,000 to 3,000 words that profile the lives and work of peace activists and/or organizations. The profile subject should be a person from anywhere in the world, living or deceased, who has made a signifcant contribution to promoting peace and justice, especially activists who may not enjoy high visibility. For complete information contact Rob Elias, Editor, Political Science Dept., University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton St., San Francisco, CA 94117, phone (415) 422-6349, fax (415) 422-2772, e-mail <watkins@usfca.edu> Author deadlines generally fall midway through January, April, July and October.
Kamal Adham, an adviser to the late Saudi Kings Faisal and Khaled, died of a heart attack in Egypt Oct. 29, at the age of 71. A brother-in-law of King Faisal, he was in charge of Saudi intelligence in the early 1970s, and was sent secretly in 1970 by King Faisal to convince then-President Anwar Sadat to lessen Egypt’s dependence on the Soviets. In 1972 Sadat expelled some 16,000 Soviet military advisers from Egypt. After serving as an adviser to King Khaled from 1975 to 1982, Mr. Adham left government for the private sector. Egyptian Field Marshal Mohammed Ali Fahmy, who commanded Egypt’s air defenses during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, died Sept. 12 in a London hospital of kidney failure at the age of 77. A native of Cairo, he was a graduate of Cairo University, the Egyptian Military Academy and the Staff College, and the Air Defense Academy in Kalinin in the former Soviet Union. He served with British anti-aircraft units in the Western Desert in World War II, personally shooting down a German Ju-88, and commanded Egyptian anti-aircraft regiments prior to the 1967 war. In 1968 he was named air defense chief-of-staff, and served as commander-in-chief of Air Defense Forces from 1969 to 1975. In 1973 he became famous for the “impenetrable wall” of missiles, artillery, radar and interceptors he used against Israel in the attempt to reclaim land conquered in 1967. He introduced systems for the rapid repair of damaged weaponry, provided his infantry with new anti-aircraft missiles, and was a pioneer in Egypt’s use of attack helicopters. He served as armed forces commander-in-chief from 1975 to 1978, and as a personal adviser to his friend, President Hosni Mubarak, having previously been a close adviser to Presidents Nasser and Sadat. In the 1980s he engaged in several business ventures, and was the author of books on military history, strategy and tactics. Shulamit Katznelson, who was awarded the 1986 Israel Prize for Life Achievement, her country’s highest honor, for bringing Arabs and Jews together through learning each other’s languages, died Aug. 6 of a heart attack at age 80 at her home in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv. For nearly 50 years she taught Hebrew to Arabs and Arabic to Jews at Ulpan Akiva, a residential language school she founded in Netanya in 1951. She took pride in the fact that after they finished the school’s intensive six-week live-in course, many of the Arab and Jewish participants remained in touch with each other. Mrs. Katznelson’s family immigrated to Palestine two years after she was born in Geneva in 1919. Nearly 100,000 people from 148 countries attended the school in a converted hotel complex. |
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