Upcoming Events, Announcement & Obituaries

—Compiled by Matt Horton

Upcoming Events

The Coalition for Palestinian Rights is organizing a Palestine solidarity contingent as part of the Sept. 1 March on the Republican National Convention (RNC) to Stop the War. For more information on the St. Paul, MN march visit <www.marchonrnc.org>, and on the Palestine solidarity contingent, <http://coalitionforpalestinianrights.wordpress.com>.

The 9/11 Unity Walk: A Dramatic Display of All Faiths will take place Sept. 14 in Washington, DC. For more information, call Kyle Poole at (202) 262-2181 or visit <911unitywalk.org>

The Detroit/Ann Arbor Friends of Sabeel will host a Sept. 25-27 conference on “Peace, Palestine & U.S. Policy 1948-2008” at the First Presbyterian Church, 1669 W. Maple Road, Birmingham, MI. For more information, or to register, call (734) 741-1273, (248) 214-7588 or visit <www.fosna.org>.

Hands Along the Nile Development Services will host a fall Insight Trip to Egypt, featuring a Nile cruise to Luxor and Aswan, Oct. 9 to 19. For more information, or to register, call (703) 875-9370 or visit <www.handsalongthenile.org/program/InsightTrips>.

The 4th Annual Taybeh Oktoberfest will be held Oct. 11 and 12 in Taybeh, Palestine. For more information, visit <www.taybehmunicipality.org>.

The 12th Annual Arab Film Festival will be held Oct. 16 to 31 in California. For more information, call (415) 564-1100 or visit <www.aff.org>.

Falama: The Book of Omens will be on view Oct. 24 to Jan. 24 at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC. For more information, call (202) 633-4880 or visit <www.asia.si.edu>.

The Gaza Community Mental Health Program (GCMHP) & the World Health Organization (WHO) will host GCMHP’s 5th International Conference, entitled “Siege and Mental Health…Walls vs. Bridges” in Gaza City, Palestine, Oct. 27 to 29. For more information, call conference coordinator Mahmoud Abu Aisha at +972-59-944-8972 or visit <www.gcmhp.net>.

The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), Ittijah (Union of Arab Community-Based Associations), the Alternative Information Center (AIC) and the European Coordination Committee for Palestine (ECCP), supported by the Basque Middle East Without Wars and Opressions (MEWANDO) Network, will host the “Bilbao Initiative: Towards a Just Peace in Palestine,” Oct. 29 to 31. For more information call Alberto Arce at +34-94-479-2258, +34-65-565-0048, e-mail <mewando@gmail.org>, or visit <www.mewando.org>.

The National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations’ 17th Annual Arab-U.S. Policymakers Conference, entitled “Transitioning the White House: Challenges and Opportunities for Arab-U.S. Relations,” will take place Oct 30 and 31 at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC. For more information, or to register, call (202) 293-6466 or visit <www.ncusar.org>.

The Hala Salam Maksoud Foundation for Arab American Leadership will hold a five-day seminar Sept. 13 to 17 in Washington, DC. For more information, or to register, call (202) 438-7297 or visit <www.halafoundation.org>.

Announcement

The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) has launched a new online resource to provide support, coordination, information, updates and analysis for the global Boycott, Divestment and Sactions (BDS) campaign targeting Israel. For BDS news, campaign materials, and resources, visit <www.bdsmovement.net>.

Obituaries

Harold George Josif, 88, died June 19 of brain cancer in his Washington, DC home. Born in Moulmein, Burma to Baptist missionaries, he received his B.A. from the University of Chicago in 1941. After serving in the Army Air Forces during WWII, he received his M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 1947, then joined the foreign service. His initial postings were in Pakistan (1950-53), Portugal and India, and he headed the India desk in Washington from 1954 to 1957. As consul general in Tabriz, Iran from 1957 to 1959, Josif freed three U.S. soldiers who had crashed through an Iranian roadblock. He was a political officer in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, from 1959 to 1962, and also served as deputy chief of mission in Somalia (1966-79) and Libya (1969-72), and as chargé d’affaires in Libya (1972-73) before his retirement in 1974.

Donald ‘Don’ White, 71, died June 19 of a heart attack in his Los Angeles home. Born in Mount Vernon, WA, he received his B.A. in political science from the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Tacoma, WA, and attended graduate classes at American University in Washington, DC. In 1963 he moved to Los Angeles to begin a 30-year career as a history teacher at Washington Irving Middle School. Beginning with a month-long 1976 trip to Guatemala to help in the aftermath of an earthquake, he dedicated his life to solidarity with the people of Central America, particularly El Salvador. White was also active in countless other social justice organizations, and became involved in Palestine solidarity and the post-9/11 anti-War and civil liberties movements. As a charter and lifetime member of the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), he was a key supporter of a recent attempt to divest UTLA from Israel. He also coordinated the October 2003 Los Angeles campaign appearances of Schafik Handal, the Salvadorian FMLN candidate of Palestinian descent.

Khadijeh Abdel-Shafi, 85, died July 2 at her home in Corona, CA following a three-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Born in Gaza, Palestine, Abdel-Shafi married and immigrated with her husband to Kuwait in 1954, where he worked as an accountant for 34 years. The couple moved to the United States in 1988 to join their youngest son. She is survived by three sons, a daughter, nine grandchildren, and three brothers. Her brother, Palestinian Red Crescent Society founder Dr. Haider Abdel-Shafi, died Sept. 25, 2007.