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Prepared for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in association with the Fairness Project by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs
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To contact the Presidents Conference: [email protected]
In-Depth Issue:
Know Your Koran
Israel Security Services (Shabak) interrogators who have dealt with hundreds of Palestinian suspects speak about their work:
In October 2000, Colonel (res.) Elhanan Tannenbaum flew out of Tel Aviv Airport on a plane to Brussels for a meeting in Europe and vanished without a trace. Ten days later he was a captive of Hizballah.
In addition to allegations that UN-run camps in Gaza are centers for bomb-making, indoctrination, recruiting, and dispatching of suicide bombers, UN officials also tolerate profiteering on food supplies that are supposed to be free.
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News Resources - USA and Europe:
After 21 months of open conflict, many Palestinians are rethinking two key elements of their struggle against Israel: their leader and the use of violence against Israeli civilians. Decades of backing Yasser Arafat and years of fighting Israel with suicide bombers have not produced any positive gains, a growing number of Palestinians now say. (Christian Science Monitor) Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham (D-FL) told "Meet the Press" that the training camps in Syria and Lebanon "where the next generation of terrorists are being prepared" pose a much more immediate threat to the security of the United States than Saddam Hussein. (NBC News) Worldwide protests have erupted in the wake of the suspension of two scholars from international journals because they are Israeli. Prof. Stephen Greenblatt of Harvard, president of the Modern Language Association of America, said that singling out a particular group "for collective punishment violates the essential spirit of scholarly freedom and the pursuit of truth." Francis Robinson, a professor of history at London University, said: "This sounds dreadful. It runs counter to the very principles of academic freedom." (Daily Telegraph - UK) See also Call for EU Boycott of Israeli Institutions The petition was organized by Prof. Steven Rose of the Open University. (Daily Telegraph - UK) The June 2002 issue of the Foreign Service Journal, the publication of the American Foreign Service Association and closely linked to the U.S. State Department, contains a highly imbalanced account of how Israel has "repeatedly detained, tortured, and incarcerated Americans of Arab origin." (Foreign Service Journal) At a conference of conservative heavyweights in Beaver Creek, Colo., last month, one-time Soviet dissident and now Israeli cabinet minister Natan Sharansky again reminded Bush administration officials of the necessity to dump the region�s dictators and make democracy a precondition for peace. (Newsweek) Efrat Ravid, 21, was at the trendy Moment Cafe in Jerusalem on March 9 when a suicide bomber exploded, sending three screws into her right leg, and a fourth screw near her heart. (New York Times) Campuses across the nation are hiring specialists in Islam and the Middle East. Yet, according to Martin Kramer, editor of Middle East Quarterly, "Student interest in the Middle East, like general public interest, is crisis-driven and always has been. It peaked last fall; by spring it was down; and enrollments will drop still further." (San Francisco Chronicle) The military reoccupation of the West Bank has dramatically reduced the level of violence inside Israel. (Newsweek) Arguments broke out between passengers and crew on an Air France flight from Paris to Tel Aviv after a pilot described the final destination as Israel-Palestine. (BBC) The IDF's General Staff believes Arafat's prestige has been so damaged that there is no need for action on Israel's part to expel him. "Bush's speech caused a drastic drop in Arafat's stature. The Arab states and European Union supported the Bush speech. That means the world is behind Bush's delegitimization of Arafat," one source said. In less than three weeks of Operation Determined Path, 600 Palestinians, including 15 wanted men and nearly a dozen who were planning suicide attacks, have been arrested. (Ha'aretz) Eight large patrol boats and smaller rubber boats belonging to the PA Naval Police have been destroyed in joint operations of the Israeli Navy and Air Force in order to prevent sea-based terrorist attacks, a senior officer reported. (Maariv) Omar Karsou, a Palestinian from Ramallah who lives in New York, has found favor with U.S. government leaders. He is convinced that the Oslo Accords were a mistake, that Israel encouraged a corrupt and murderous regime headed by a dictator, and that compromise is unavoidable. (Ha'aretz)
Global Commentary and Think-Tank Analysis
(Best of U.S., UK, and Israel):
The shooting attack at Los Angeles International Airport restored Israel's security image in the United States. U.S. law enforcement authorities, the FBI, and local politicians use the expression "heroism" again and again when describing the actions of the El Al guards. (Ha'aretz) The general assumption of "ripeness" in the Palestinian-Israeli relationship under the Oslo process was incorrect. Critical conditions such as mutual understanding and confidence were absent. Many of the core factors behind the conflict, including religious and identity issues, were largely ignored in the formal peace process. (Bar-Ilan University) This Is a War for Our Homes - IDF Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz (Maariv) Three years ago, Israeli Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz thought he would be known as the "peace chief of staff." In a pre-retirement interview, the Iranian-born Mofaz sums up 36 years of IDF service:
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