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Can Sarkozy’s Mediterranean union boost prospects for regional peace?
 | | French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, being greeted in Israel on June 22 by President Shimon Peres, says he wants the Mediterranean union to include great focus on bridging gaps between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Sarkozy’s wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is at the far left. |
By Devorah Lauter
PARIS (JTA)—Just days before his summit to launch the Union of the Mediterranean, French President Nicolas Sarkozy scored two key diplomatic victories for his initiative to bind some disparate nations around shared geopolitical, economic and security goals.
Sarkozy secured the participation of Algeria, which had expressed fears that the summit was a first step toward normalizing ties with Israel, and he managed to schedule a one-on-one meeting between the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The participation of every Mediterranean country except Libya has boosted prospects for the July 13 conference, which some skeptics have warned will be watered down in the face of criticism and avoid sensitive but critical political issues.
Sarkozy announced Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s attendance last Monday while at the G8 conference in Japan.
“President Bouteflika has the experience and authority which makes his presence around the table for the Union for the Mediterranean summit indispensable for the success of the summit,” Sarkozy told reporters.
Originally heralded by Sarkozy as a way to bring together the Mediterranean’s diverse nations in an institution modeled on the European Union, the Mediterranean project had been derided by some observers as a naive attempt to unite politically hostile nations and would serve only to highlight Sarkozy’s diplomatic ineptitude. Critics said that it would harm France’s credibility as a potential Middle East peace broker. [more] |
JFS will honor Kramer and Lefkowitz at gala
Jewish Family Services of Greater Orlando will recognize two outstanding community leaders at its annual fundraising event on Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Orlando Marriott Lake Mary hotel. This year, JFS is especially pleased to announce Hope Kramer and Joe Lefkowitz as the 2008 George Wolly Community Leadership Award recipients.
In announcing both Kramer and Lefkowitz as this year’s dual recipients, committee chairperson Madeline Wolly said, “Both individuals exemplify the conviction of George’s vision of community volunteerism and commitment. We are truly proud to present this award to Hope and Joe.”
Hope Kramer understands the significance of giving back to her community, on both a professional and volunteer level. Her high-energy passion for helping others spans the course of several decades. She joined BETA Center in 1998 and during her tenure brought significant growth to the agency. Prior to her work with BETA Center, she was executive director for the Foundation for Orange County Public Schools, and also served as the division director for March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.
On a volunteer level, Kramer also has been involved in community committees and boards including roles as a committee member of JFS’ Adoption Services of Central Florida, president of the Heart of Florida’s United Way Council of Agency Executives, and the first elected female president of the Jewish Community Center. She served with the Jewish Federation in the capacity of Women’s Division chairman and Super Sunday chairman. She was the recipient of the prestigious Martin Bell Scholarship, given by the Crummer School of Business at Rollins College, and she earned an executive MBA degree. [more]Israelis debate response to threat from attackers
 | | An onlooker peers into an overturned car at the scene of an Arab attack on downtown Jerusalem on July 2. |
By Roy Eitan
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The deadly tractor rampage in Jerusalem two weeks ago has prompted a furious public debate in Israel about what steps the government can and should take to protect Jerusalemites against Arab would-be terrorists.
The attack, in which a Palestinian from eastern Jerusalem used a tractor to kill three people and injure dozens on Jaffa Road, drew furious and sometimes confused responses from the Olmert government.
Several ministers called for the terrorist’s home, in an Arab village on Jerusalem’s outskirts, to be razed. Deputy Prime Minister Haim Ramon reiterated his proposal for that village, Sur Baher, and other outlying Arab neighborhoods to be cut out of Jerusalem.
Their residents would become West Bank Palestinians, ineligible for the rights afforded to Jerusalem’s Palestinians.
“These are Palestinian villages that were never part of Jerusalem,” Ramon told Army Radio. “They were annexed to it in 1967.”
The debate about how Israel should react to the threat from Arabs within its borders reflects the dilemma of a Jewish state proud of its ethnically mixed democracy, but also mindful of the pull of pro-Palestinian sympathies among the country’s large Muslim minority.
Husam Duwayat, the driver of the tractor, was one of some 200,000 Arabs in Jerusalem who identify as Palestinian but live within Israel’s borders.
Hailing from territory Israel captured during the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed to Jerusalem shortly thereafter, these Arabs are considered by Israeli law to be resident aliens. They bear Israeli identity cards and have all the rights of Israeli Arabs except the right to vote in national elections. [more] |
A coup for Hebrew University: Gates to accept award
 | | Bill Gates has decided to accept the inaugural Einstein Award from Hebrew University because of its research in sustainable agriculture. |
By Jacob Berkman
NEW YORK (JTA)—Usually a “mazel tov” would go to the person being honored, but last week the American Friends of the Hebrew University accepted congratulations for convincing one of the world’s richest men to accept an award.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates will receive the inaugural Einstein Award, the American fund-raising arm of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem announced last Monday.
The award, which will be presented to Gates in December at a gala dinner in New York, is named for Albert Einstein, who helped found the university. It will be given only rarely to those who have made a significant impact on humanity, according to the organization’s executive director, Peter Willner.
American Friends officials say this is the first time that Gates is accepting an award from a Jewish or Israeli organization.
“We have been talking for a long time about creating the award and giving the award,” Willner said. “But we recognized that if we gave the award, it would be given infrequently because it has to go to an individual that has not only changed the world in terms of what they have done in changing their own industry, but in changing humanity.”
Only Gates was considered to be the first recipient of the award, which has been in the works for six years, Willner told JTA. [more] |
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