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Latest news briefs from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
(JTA) - 15 killed in Israel
At least 15 people were killed in twin suicide bus bombings in Beersheba. Nearly 100 people were wounded Tuesday when explosions ripped apart two buses in the southern Israeli city. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks, the first suicide bombings inside Israel in five months.
(JTA) - Bush defends Sharon
President Bush defended Ariel Sharon at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. Bush was asked Monday by a woman at a campaign rally in Nashua how he could describe the Israeli prime minister as a man of peace "if he causes death and torture among innocent Palestinians." Bush answered, "First of all, Ariel Sharon is defending his country against terrorist attacks, just like we will." That got applause in this battleground state. Bush said Sharon wanted a Palestinian state, but one with a reliable leadership that could pursue peace. "Ariel Sharon is a duly-elected official in a democracy. In other words, Israel is a democracy. We would hope that the Palestinians would have that same kind of democracy which would lead to a more peaceful world."
(JTA) - Giuliani cites Israel in selling Bush
Rudy Giuliani twice cited Israel in making the case for President Bush at the Republican Party convention. In a major speech Monday night, the former New York City mayor said terrorists were strengthened by the release of Palestinian terrorists involved in murderous attacks at the 1972 Munich Olympics and on the Achille Lauro ocean liner in 1985. "Terrorist acts became like a ticket to the negotiating table," Giuliani said in his keynote speech. "How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize while he was supporting a plague of terrorism in the Middle East?" Bush, Giuliani said, ended that practice after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which took place in the final weeks of Giuliani's term. Giuliani also said the Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), had flip-flopped on Israel's security barrier. Democrats say Bush also has shown inconsistency on the fence.
(JTA) - Pentagon probe broadens
An FBI probe into the alleged leaking of classified Pentagon material to pro-Israel lobbyists focuses on more than one man, media reports said. Larry Franklin, an Iran analyst at the U.S. Defense Department, was the original focus of the probe, allegedly for handing classified material on Iran to two officials with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Knight Ridder News reported that the probe is focused on other civilians in the office of Douglas Feith, the undersecretary for policy. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the FBI has interviewed senior officials at the Pentagon, including Feith, to determine whether Franklin's alleged leaking was authorized by superiors. The probe, under way for over a year, was first reported last week. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Israeli government have denied any wrongdoing.
(JTA) - Israeli army foils suicide attack
Israeli soldiers prevented a suicide bombing after identifying a Palestinian man carrying an explosive device in his pants. The man aroused suspicion Tuesday as he tried to pass through the Erez border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel with false identification papers. When he was searched, soldiers found he was wearing an explosive belt that had been "sewn to resemble a pair of underpants," the army said. In January, a female Palestinian suicide bomber killed four Israelis when she blew herself up at the same crossing.
(JTA) - Israeli troops kill Palestinian teen
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli army troops killed a 14-year-old Palestinian during a raid in Gaza. The raid, which took place early Tuesday in the Rafah refugee camp, was intended to demolish an abandoned structure used by Palestinian gunmen for cover when they fire on Israeli soldiers, army sources said. When a Palestinian was seen moving near a bulldozer, shots were fired at him, the army sources said.
(JTA) - Rabbis beaten in Odessa
Two rabbis were assaulted in the middle of the day on one of the central streets in Odessa, Ukraine. Fishel Chichelnitzky and David Feldman, who work at an Odessa yeshiva, and three yeshiva students were attacked by five middle-aged men on Aug. 20. They fought back, helped by some passers-by. Local police arrested one of the attackers, who threatened at a police station to "find and shoot the kikes," according to witnesses. According to Rabbi Avraham Wolf, the chief rabbi of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, this was not the first time rabbis were attacked this year in the city. There also has been vandalism against a synagogue in the Ukrainian port city. "This is a result of the helplessness of local law enforcement agencies," Wolf told JTA.
(JTA) - Palestinian official threatened
A Palestinian group threatened to kill the Palestinian Authority foreign minister for meeting with his Israeli counterpart. A statement signed by the Jenin Martyrs Brigade called Nabil Sha'ath a traitor and accused him of corruption, warning him not to return to the Gaza Strip. The group said Sha'ath's meeting last week with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Italy was the reason for the threat on his life. In the statement, faxed to news agencies in Jerusalem, the group said it was inappropriate for Sha'ath to hold such a meeting at a time when over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners were on a hunger strike in Israeli prisons, demanding better conditions. In recent weeks unrest has swept the Gaza Strip as the number of armed gangs increases and dissatisfaction with P.A. President Yasser Arafat's rule grows.
(JTA) - Cipel drops lawsuit against New Jersey governor
The former aide to New Jersey's governor said he would not file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the governor. Golan Cipel, an Israeli who was briefly employed as New Jersey's top homeland security official, said he no longer sees a reason to sue his former boss since Gov. James McGreevey resigned after announcing he had a consensual relationship with a man government sources identified as Cipel. Cipel has said he is not gay. McGreevey aides, who say the governor had a consensual affair with Cipel, said Cipel has no case. McGreevey met Cipel while on a Jewish federation-sponsored trip to Israel in 2001.
(JTA) - Sharon presents timetable for leaving Gaza
Ariel Sharon presented Likud Party lawmakers with a timetable for the approval of his Gaza withdrawal plan. The timetable would begin on Sept. 14 with members of the Security Cabinet asked to approve a bill outlining how evacuated settlers would be compensated and explaining the principles of the evacuation. By Nov. 3, a bill on disengagement would be presented on the Knesset floor for the first time. "The disengagement is going to happen. Period," the Israeli prime minister said in presenting the timetable. Sharon has faced intense opposition to the plan within his Likud Party. The Security Cabinet, which met Monday to discuss the plan, decided that the army would be in charge of implementing the plan, but that police would be responsible for evacuating settlers.
(JTA) - 'Jenin, Jenin' can be shown
An Israeli judge ruled that a controversial film about Israel's April 2002 military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin can be shown. High Court Justice Eliahu Mazza ruled Monday that Mohammed Bakri's film, "Jenin Jenin" may be shown, effectively canceling the temporary injunction issued 10 months ago that banned the movie, Ha'aretz reported. The ruling comes after Mazza failed in efforts to have Bakri, an Israeli Arab, edit some offensive scenes to conform with demands of soldiers who fought in the Jenin battle, and superimpose a disclaimer on scenes that falsify what happened in the battle. The documentary hews to Palestinian versions of events in the refugee camp. Fifty-four Palestinians, most of them gunmen, were killed in the Jenin camp during almost two weeks of fighting; Palestinians claimed Israel massacred hundreds of innocent civilians, despite all evidence to the contrary. During the fighting, 23 Israeli soldiers were killed.
(JTA) - Germany may postpone Rosh Hashanah soccer game
Germany's foreign minister said he'll try to change the date of a soccer game scheduled for Rosh Hashanah between an Israeli club and a German team. Joschka Fischer, who was on a one-day trip to Israel on Monday, was slated to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, Ha'aretz reported. Maccabi Tel Aviv said it had asked the European soccer governing body UEFA to change the Sept. 15 date, but UEFA said the club had missed a deadline for filing a change request. Maccabi denied that it had missed the deadline, according to the newspaper.
(JTA) - Olympic award to anti-Semite
A Greek composer who said that "Jews are at the root of all evil" is being awarded the Olympiart Prize by the International Olympic Committee. Known for his score for "Zorba the Greek," Mikis Theodorakis has explained his remarks by saying of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. Jews: "I am totally opposed to Sharon's policy and I have stressed this repeatedly, just as I have repeatedly condemned the role of prominent American Jewish politicians, intellectuals and theorists in the shaping of today's aggressive Bush policy." The Anti-Defamation League condemned the award to Theodorakis, whom the group called "an unrepentant anti-Semite."
(JTA) - New Money for blood center
U.S. donors are giving $10 million to Israel's national blood center. The National Blood Services Center of Magen David Adom is responsible for collecting, processing, testing and distributing blood units and blood products throughout the country. Magen David Adom is the equivalent of a Red Cross society. The donation by American Red Magen David for Israel will help fund the blood center's expansion plans. The center currently collects over 270,000 blood units a year from volunteers. The proposed plans would nearly double the amount of testing and blood storage possible for Israel.
(JTA) - Settler rabbi charged with rape
The chief rabbi of a major West Bank settlement was arrested Tuesday for allegedly raping a woman. According to the woman who pressed charges against Shlomo Nagar, the rabbi raped her during a counseling session, and sexually harassed her afterward.
(JTA) - More security prisoners end hunger strike
About 750 Palestinian security prisoners broke their hunger strike, bringing the number of striking security prisoners down to 1,500. The prisoners are demanding improved conditions, though Israel says they're really after improved communications with the outside so they can plan terrorist attacks. The strike began Aug. 15, with prisoners refusing to eat until wardens put an end to strip searches, allowed more frequent family visits, improved sanitation and installed public telephones. Also Tuesday, the High Court denied a petition demanding that the Prison Service provide salt for the hunger strikers.
(JTA) - Jewish fiddling in Kiev
Five dozen musicians from across the former Soviet Union took part in the fifth annual KlezFest. The Aug. 15-20 event in Kiev included workshops, Yiddish classes, jam sessions and classes on using traditional Jewish musical heritage in movie soundtracks. The five-day event culminated in an Aug. 20 concert in Kiev. Most music professionals in the field credit the KlezFests in Kiev and St. Petersburg for the revival of klezmer in the former Soviet Union. "KlezFest for us is a meeting with wonderful musicians who have become not only students of ours, but also our colleagues," said Adrienne Cooper, one of the world's most acclaimed singers of Yiddish vocal music from the United States and a veteran teacher at Ukrainian and Russian KlezFests.
(JTA) - Rosh Hashanah made easy
A new Web site is designed to make it easier to find an inspirational and understandable High Holiday service. NoMembershipRequired.com lists High Holiday services in 50 cities across the United States, many of which don't require seating fees or knowledge of Hebrew. "We try to show people the joy of the High Holidays the joy, the meaning and depth," said Rabbi Zvi Holland, dean of the Phoenix Community Kollel, a Jewish educational organization. "NoMembershipRequired gives people an entry door into organized Judaism without the challenges that organized Judaism represents." The site bills itself as the first nationwide High Holiday portal.
(JTA) - Gandhi urges Palestinian march
Arun Gandhi urged Palestinians in Jordan to march into Israel, saying a confrontation with Israelis would be good publicity. Gandhi, grandson of the famous Mahatma, said a massive peaceful march of Palestinians to the locations of their ancestors' homes in Israel would shock the world into taking notice if Israel ended up killing a couple hundred marchers, Reuters reported. "Maybe the Israeli army would shoot and kill several. They may kill 100. They may kill 200 men, women and children. And that would shock the world. The world will get up and say, 'What is going on?' " Gandhi said in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "That is the kind of electrifying action that needs to be taken." Gandhi is on a solidarity visit to Palestinian-populated areas. A Palestinian legislator called Gandhi's idea interesting but said Israel's Arab neighbors are unhelpful in carrying out such undertakings.
(JTA) - Likud group to visit South Africa
A Likud Party delegation will visit South Africa for the first time in the post-apartheid era. The delegation will depart Tuesday. The African National Congress, which came to power in 1994, historically has maintained close ties with the PLO and backs the Palestinians in international arenas. The Israeli delegation's leader, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Michael Ratzon, said the trip reflects South Africa's desire to initiate a dialogue with Israel's government. The director general of South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs said on a recent visit to Israel that "Israel has misunderstood our engagement. Any support for Palestinians they perceive as anti-Israel." He said the visit should "open up lines of communication" with Jerusalem. Over the last several years, only left-wing politicians and peace activists from Israel have been guests of the South African government.
(JTA) - Rare find in Reform archives
Archivists at Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College have found old minutes from Reform movement meetings in the 1870s. "This is the kind of find that is rare and thoroughly exhilarating," said Gary Zola, executive director of the Marcus Center, part of the American Jewish Archives. The archives, which document the early years of the Reform institution, were found earlier this month amid old files in the basement of HUC's administrative building. The first entry in the 500-page volume is dated July 16, 1874.
(JTA) - Duke urged to deny space to pro-Palestinian group
Activists are urging Duke University to deny the Palestinian Solidarity Movement meeting space for an October conference. Duke officials have said they will not cancel the event, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Pro- Israel activists say the Palestinian group supports terrorism, and are circulating an online petition to get the university to cancel the event. Last year, the controversial group was forced to move its annual conference to Ohio State University from Rutgers University, in New Jersey, after Rutgers canceled the conference following widespread protests. As of early last week, the online petition had garnered more than 12,000 signatures, the Chronicle reported. JTA END
(JTA) - 15 killed in Israel
At least 15 people were killed in twin suicide bus bombings in Beersheba. Nearly 100 people were wounded Tuesday when explosions ripped apart two buses in the southern Israeli city. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attacks, the first suicide bombings inside Israel in five months.
(JTA) - Bush defends Sharon
President Bush defended Ariel Sharon at a campaign rally in New Hampshire. Bush was asked Monday by a woman at a campaign rally in Nashua how he could describe the Israeli prime minister as a man of peace "if he causes death and torture among innocent Palestinians." Bush answered, "First of all, Ariel Sharon is defending his country against terrorist attacks, just like we will." That got applause in this battleground state. Bush said Sharon wanted a Palestinian state, but one with a reliable leadership that could pursue peace. "Ariel Sharon is a duly-elected official in a democracy. In other words, Israel is a democracy. We would hope that the Palestinians would have that same kind of democracy which would lead to a more peaceful world."
(JTA) - Giuliani cites Israel in selling Bush
Rudy Giuliani twice cited Israel in making the case for President Bush at the Republican Party convention. In a major speech Monday night, the former New York City mayor said terrorists were strengthened by the release of Palestinian terrorists involved in murderous attacks at the 1972 Munich Olympics and on the Achille Lauro ocean liner in 1985. "Terrorist acts became like a ticket to the negotiating table," Giuliani said in his keynote speech. "How else to explain Yasser Arafat winning the Nobel Peace Prize while he was supporting a plague of terrorism in the Middle East?" Bush, Giuliani said, ended that practice after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which took place in the final weeks of Giuliani's term. Giuliani also said the Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), had flip-flopped on Israel's security barrier. Democrats say Bush also has shown inconsistency on the fence.
(JTA) - Pentagon probe broadens
An FBI probe into the alleged leaking of classified Pentagon material to pro-Israel lobbyists focuses on more than one man, media reports said. Larry Franklin, an Iran analyst at the U.S. Defense Department, was the original focus of the probe, allegedly for handing classified material on Iran to two officials with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Knight Ridder News reported that the probe is focused on other civilians in the office of Douglas Feith, the undersecretary for policy. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the FBI has interviewed senior officials at the Pentagon, including Feith, to determine whether Franklin's alleged leaking was authorized by superiors. The probe, under way for over a year, was first reported last week. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee and the Israeli government have denied any wrongdoing.
(JTA) - Israeli army foils suicide attack
Israeli soldiers prevented a suicide bombing after identifying a Palestinian man carrying an explosive device in his pants. The man aroused suspicion Tuesday as he tried to pass through the Erez border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel with false identification papers. When he was searched, soldiers found he was wearing an explosive belt that had been "sewn to resemble a pair of underpants," the army said. In January, a female Palestinian suicide bomber killed four Israelis when she blew herself up at the same crossing.
(JTA) - Israeli troops kill Palestinian teen
Palestinian witnesses said Israeli army troops killed a 14-year-old Palestinian during a raid in Gaza. The raid, which took place early Tuesday in the Rafah refugee camp, was intended to demolish an abandoned structure used by Palestinian gunmen for cover when they fire on Israeli soldiers, army sources said. When a Palestinian was seen moving near a bulldozer, shots were fired at him, the army sources said.
(JTA) - Rabbis beaten in Odessa
Two rabbis were assaulted in the middle of the day on one of the central streets in Odessa, Ukraine. Fishel Chichelnitzky and David Feldman, who work at an Odessa yeshiva, and three yeshiva students were attacked by five middle-aged men on Aug. 20. They fought back, helped by some passers-by. Local police arrested one of the attackers, who threatened at a police station to "find and shoot the kikes," according to witnesses. According to Rabbi Avraham Wolf, the chief rabbi of Odessa and Southern Ukraine, this was not the first time rabbis were attacked this year in the city. There also has been vandalism against a synagogue in the Ukrainian port city. "This is a result of the helplessness of local law enforcement agencies," Wolf told JTA.
(JTA) - Palestinian official threatened
A Palestinian group threatened to kill the Palestinian Authority foreign minister for meeting with his Israeli counterpart. A statement signed by the Jenin Martyrs Brigade called Nabil Sha'ath a traitor and accused him of corruption, warning him not to return to the Gaza Strip. The group said Sha'ath's meeting last week with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Italy was the reason for the threat on his life. In the statement, faxed to news agencies in Jerusalem, the group said it was inappropriate for Sha'ath to hold such a meeting at a time when over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners were on a hunger strike in Israeli prisons, demanding better conditions. In recent weeks unrest has swept the Gaza Strip as the number of armed gangs increases and dissatisfaction with P.A. President Yasser Arafat's rule grows.
(JTA) - Cipel drops lawsuit against New Jersey governor
The former aide to New Jersey's governor said he would not file a sexual harassment lawsuit against the governor. Golan Cipel, an Israeli who was briefly employed as New Jersey's top homeland security official, said he no longer sees a reason to sue his former boss since Gov. James McGreevey resigned after announcing he had a consensual relationship with a man government sources identified as Cipel. Cipel has said he is not gay. McGreevey aides, who say the governor had a consensual affair with Cipel, said Cipel has no case. McGreevey met Cipel while on a Jewish federation-sponsored trip to Israel in 2001.
(JTA) - Sharon presents timetable for leaving Gaza
Ariel Sharon presented Likud Party lawmakers with a timetable for the approval of his Gaza withdrawal plan. The timetable would begin on Sept. 14 with members of the Security Cabinet asked to approve a bill outlining how evacuated settlers would be compensated and explaining the principles of the evacuation. By Nov. 3, a bill on disengagement would be presented on the Knesset floor for the first time. "The disengagement is going to happen. Period," the Israeli prime minister said in presenting the timetable. Sharon has faced intense opposition to the plan within his Likud Party. The Security Cabinet, which met Monday to discuss the plan, decided that the army would be in charge of implementing the plan, but that police would be responsible for evacuating settlers.
(JTA) - 'Jenin, Jenin' can be shown
An Israeli judge ruled that a controversial film about Israel's April 2002 military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin can be shown. High Court Justice Eliahu Mazza ruled Monday that Mohammed Bakri's film, "Jenin Jenin" may be shown, effectively canceling the temporary injunction issued 10 months ago that banned the movie, Ha'aretz reported. The ruling comes after Mazza failed in efforts to have Bakri, an Israeli Arab, edit some offensive scenes to conform with demands of soldiers who fought in the Jenin battle, and superimpose a disclaimer on scenes that falsify what happened in the battle. The documentary hews to Palestinian versions of events in the refugee camp. Fifty-four Palestinians, most of them gunmen, were killed in the Jenin camp during almost two weeks of fighting; Palestinians claimed Israel massacred hundreds of innocent civilians, despite all evidence to the contrary. During the fighting, 23 Israeli soldiers were killed.
(JTA) - Germany may postpone Rosh Hashanah soccer game
Germany's foreign minister said he'll try to change the date of a soccer game scheduled for Rosh Hashanah between an Israeli club and a German team. Joschka Fischer, who was on a one-day trip to Israel on Monday, was slated to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, Ha'aretz reported. Maccabi Tel Aviv said it had asked the European soccer governing body UEFA to change the Sept. 15 date, but UEFA said the club had missed a deadline for filing a change request. Maccabi denied that it had missed the deadline, according to the newspaper.
(JTA) - Olympic award to anti-Semite
A Greek composer who said that "Jews are at the root of all evil" is being awarded the Olympiart Prize by the International Olympic Committee. Known for his score for "Zorba the Greek," Mikis Theodorakis has explained his remarks by saying of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. Jews: "I am totally opposed to Sharon's policy and I have stressed this repeatedly, just as I have repeatedly condemned the role of prominent American Jewish politicians, intellectuals and theorists in the shaping of today's aggressive Bush policy." The Anti-Defamation League condemned the award to Theodorakis, whom the group called "an unrepentant anti-Semite."
(JTA) - New Money for blood center
U.S. donors are giving $10 million to Israel's national blood center. The National Blood Services Center of Magen David Adom is responsible for collecting, processing, testing and distributing blood units and blood products throughout the country. Magen David Adom is the equivalent of a Red Cross society. The donation by American Red Magen David for Israel will help fund the blood center's expansion plans. The center currently collects over 270,000 blood units a year from volunteers. The proposed plans would nearly double the amount of testing and blood storage possible for Israel.
(JTA) - Settler rabbi charged with rape
The chief rabbi of a major West Bank settlement was arrested Tuesday for allegedly raping a woman. According to the woman who pressed charges against Shlomo Nagar, the rabbi raped her during a counseling session, and sexually harassed her afterward.
(JTA) - More security prisoners end hunger strike
About 750 Palestinian security prisoners broke their hunger strike, bringing the number of striking security prisoners down to 1,500. The prisoners are demanding improved conditions, though Israel says they're really after improved communications with the outside so they can plan terrorist attacks. The strike began Aug. 15, with prisoners refusing to eat until wardens put an end to strip searches, allowed more frequent family visits, improved sanitation and installed public telephones. Also Tuesday, the High Court denied a petition demanding that the Prison Service provide salt for the hunger strikers.
(JTA) - Jewish fiddling in Kiev
Five dozen musicians from across the former Soviet Union took part in the fifth annual KlezFest. The Aug. 15-20 event in Kiev included workshops, Yiddish classes, jam sessions and classes on using traditional Jewish musical heritage in movie soundtracks. The five-day event culminated in an Aug. 20 concert in Kiev. Most music professionals in the field credit the KlezFests in Kiev and St. Petersburg for the revival of klezmer in the former Soviet Union. "KlezFest for us is a meeting with wonderful musicians who have become not only students of ours, but also our colleagues," said Adrienne Cooper, one of the world's most acclaimed singers of Yiddish vocal music from the United States and a veteran teacher at Ukrainian and Russian KlezFests.
(JTA) - Rosh Hashanah made easy
A new Web site is designed to make it easier to find an inspirational and understandable High Holiday service. NoMembershipRequired.com lists High Holiday services in 50 cities across the United States, many of which don't require seating fees or knowledge of Hebrew. "We try to show people the joy of the High Holidays the joy, the meaning and depth," said Rabbi Zvi Holland, dean of the Phoenix Community Kollel, a Jewish educational organization. "NoMembershipRequired gives people an entry door into organized Judaism without the challenges that organized Judaism represents." The site bills itself as the first nationwide High Holiday portal.
(JTA) - Gandhi urges Palestinian march
Arun Gandhi urged Palestinians in Jordan to march into Israel, saying a confrontation with Israelis would be good publicity. Gandhi, grandson of the famous Mahatma, said a massive peaceful march of Palestinians to the locations of their ancestors' homes in Israel would shock the world into taking notice if Israel ended up killing a couple hundred marchers, Reuters reported. "Maybe the Israeli army would shoot and kill several. They may kill 100. They may kill 200 men, women and children. And that would shock the world. The world will get up and say, 'What is going on?' " Gandhi said in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "That is the kind of electrifying action that needs to be taken." Gandhi is on a solidarity visit to Palestinian-populated areas. A Palestinian legislator called Gandhi's idea interesting but said Israel's Arab neighbors are unhelpful in carrying out such undertakings.
(JTA) - Likud group to visit South Africa
A Likud Party delegation will visit South Africa for the first time in the post-apartheid era. The delegation will depart Tuesday. The African National Congress, which came to power in 1994, historically has maintained close ties with the PLO and backs the Palestinians in international arenas. The Israeli delegation's leader, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Michael Ratzon, said the trip reflects South Africa's desire to initiate a dialogue with Israel's government. The director general of South Africa's Department of Foreign Affairs said on a recent visit to Israel that "Israel has misunderstood our engagement. Any support for Palestinians they perceive as anti-Israel." He said the visit should "open up lines of communication" with Jerusalem. Over the last several years, only left-wing politicians and peace activists from Israel have been guests of the South African government.
(JTA) - Rare find in Reform archives
Archivists at Cincinnati's Hebrew Union College have found old minutes from Reform movement meetings in the 1870s. "This is the kind of find that is rare and thoroughly exhilarating," said Gary Zola, executive director of the Marcus Center, part of the American Jewish Archives. The archives, which document the early years of the Reform institution, were found earlier this month amid old files in the basement of HUC's administrative building. The first entry in the 500-page volume is dated July 16, 1874.
(JTA) - Duke urged to deny space to pro-Palestinian group
Activists are urging Duke University to deny the Palestinian Solidarity Movement meeting space for an October conference. Duke officials have said they will not cancel the event, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Pro- Israel activists say the Palestinian group supports terrorism, and are circulating an online petition to get the university to cancel the event. Last year, the controversial group was forced to move its annual conference to Ohio State University from Rutgers University, in New Jersey, after Rutgers canceled the conference following widespread protests. As of early last week, the online petition had garnered more than 12,000 signatures, the Chronicle reported. JTA END
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