Three Views: Obama's Visit to Israel
President Barack Obama shakes hands with Palestinian children during a visit to the Church of the Nativity in the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem, March 22, 2013. (ATEF SAFADI-POOL/GETTY IMAGES)
Grave Threats to the Middle East
Lebanese Kurds wave the Kurdish flag and a flag picturing Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan during Persian New Year, or Noruz, celebrations in Beirut, March 21, 2013. (JOSEPH EID/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
To the Victor, the Spoils
Israeli Finance Minister Yair Lipid (c) with former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who resigned his position after being indicted on charges of fraud and breach of trust, at the Feb. 5 swearing in of the 19th Knesset. (URIEL SINAI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Getting the Words Right: Israel Isn’t Occupying Palestine—It’s Conquered It
Israeli soldiers take pictures of each other in front of Israel’s illegal apartheid wall near the Qalandia checkpoint outside Ramallah, March 30, 2013. Israeli troops earlier had clashed with Palestinian demonstrators commemorating the 37th anniversary of “Land Day.” (ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
The Cyrus Cylinder—Often Referred to as The “First Bill of Human Rights”
Clay, Babylon, Mesopotamia, after 539 BCE D x H: 7.8-10 x 21.9-22.8 cm British Museum, London, ME 90920 Photo: ©The Trustees of the British Museum
Two Views: King Pyrrhus and the War on Iraq
Prosthetic legs for wounded American soldiers at the Center for Intrepid rehabilitation gym at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, TX, Aug. 7, 2012. (JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August/September 1997, pg. 119
Bulletin Board
Compiled by Janet McMahon
Convenings
Hundreds of children from schools, churches, mosques and day-care centers in New York will lead a July 1 march on the United Nations to present petitions prepared in 100 cities worldwide urging an end to the sanctions against Iraq. The demonstration is being supported by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), the Arab Women's Solidarity Association and other national organizations. For further information, contact the International Action Center, tel. (212) 633-6646, fax (212) 633-2889.
Partners for Peace will hold a Round Table Strategy Session, for which there is no charge, to map out a model public relations program, with the assistance of Syracuse, NY public relations consultant Peter Wirth. Guests from the media will discuss what they look for in press releases and other media contacts. On July 26, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Partners for Peace also will hold a Media Training Program for activists in peace and justice issues, led by Peter Wirth. The $20 fee covers lunch and workshop materials, including the San Francisco Media Alliance's Media How-to Guidebook. For registration for both events at the New York Ave. Presbyterian Church, Room 511, 1313 New York Ave. NW, in Washington, DC, phone Jerri Bird at (202) 628-6962 or fax her at (202) 628-6958.
AWAIR and the Middle East Policy Council will conduct a week-long seminar on "Understanding Islam" Aug. 11-18 at the Presbyterian Conference Center, Ghost Ranch, in Abiquiu, NM. For information about registration and accommodations, contact Ghost Ranch at (505) 685-4333; for information about course content contact AWAIR, 1865 Euclid Ave., Suite 4, Berkeley, CA 94709, (510) 704-0517. Space is limited.
Exhibitions
In honor of India's 50 years of independence from British colonial rule, the Smithsonian Institution's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery presents an exhibition of 44 paintings and 2 illuminations from the illustrated manuscript Padshahnama, or Chronicle of the King of the World, assembled by Emperor Shah Jahan, builder of the Taj Mahal. The works, which are normally housed at Windsor Castle's Royal Library and have been lent by Queen Elizabeth, will remain on view through Oct. 13.
"Magic Carpets: A Special Installation of Islamic Rugs" is on view through fall 1998 at The Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY, (718) 638-5000.
Deaths
Fadhel al-Jamali, a former Iraqi prime minister, died May 24 in exile in Tunisia of heart ailments at the age of 94. Born the son of a sheikh and Shi'i leader in the religious center of Kadhimain outside Baghdad, he graduated from the American University of Beirut and received his master's and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. He served in Iraq's Ministry of Education, developing the country's first modern school system, until joining the Foreign Ministry in 1942. As foreign minister in 1945, he was Iraq's representative for the founding of the Arab League and the signing of the United Nations Charter. Under the monarchy of King Faisal II, he served two terms as prime minister. Following the 1958 military coup, he was sentenced to death on charges of collaborating with the West, but his life was spared when Morocco intervened on his behalf. He subsequently moved to Tunisia, where he became an adviser to President Habib Bourguiba and was granted Tunisian citizenship. Jamali was a lifelong critic of Zionism, accusing the U.N. of causing the displacement of a milliion people from their homes with its Palestine partition plan, and advising the U.S. to admit European Jews rather than "merely shed tears" while passing the problem on to the Middle East.
