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SOLIDARITY RALLIES: 500-STRONG "U.J.C. - ISRAEL NOW" SOLIDARITY MISSION ARRIVES
 Members of Solidarity Mission at Western Wall (photo: Joe Malkolm) A 500-strong "Israel Now and Forever" solidarity mission of the United Jewish Communities of North America arrived in Israel on December 3rd in a show of strength and support with Israel in the wake of the wave of terrorist bombings and attacks that took the lives of 26 Israelis and wounded hundreds. The mission represented 37 different communities from across the United States with special emphasis on western and central USA. The largest contingents arrived from St. Paul and Minneapolis, Cincinnati and Detroit. The UJC is the Jewish Agency's partnership and fundraising link with Jewish communities of North America. Jewish communities from abroad are linked with Israeli communities through the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 program. Some 550 Diaspora communities participate in this program. The first stop for the group was the Western Wall, for a nighttime ceremony. Mission members also toured the Yad Sarah rehabilitation center, where the UJC donates funds through the Jewish Agency. UJC volunteers assembled walkers at the Yad Sarah facility. Members of the group visited the Gilo neighborhood, which has repeatedly come under terrorist fire. With UJC funding, the Jewish Agency supports kindergartens and cultural institutions in the neighborhood and has installed air-conditioners and built playgrounds for kindergartens. The Jewish Agency is also involved in building a music center in the area with the assistance of Keren Hayesod. The group members spoke with Gilo residents and saw their reinforced apartments. They also saw the Gilo-Beit Jalla-Bethlehem Intersection and learned first hand about its strategic implications. The group later met with Minister Natan Sharansky and held a candle-lighting memorial ceremony at the Ben-Yehuda Jerusalem pedestrian mall where two suicide bombers murdered ten youngsters on Saturday night, December 2nd. Nineteen buses transported contingents to Partnership 2000 projects, run jointly by members of American and Israeli partner communities. In Netanya, Mayor Miriam Frestone conducted a ceremony together with Jewish Agency officials at the city's Hashron Mall, where a suicide bomber blew himself up. The security guard who had stopped the terrorist attended the ceremony and described the incident vividly. The Partnership 2000 program partners Cinncinati and Netanya, raising funds annually for projects in the city. Among the projects is the funding of a volunteer community patrol, at the cost of $65,000. Cincinnati had the second largest contingent of the present mission, comprised of 65 members. Joel Alperson, Chairman of the UJC - Israel Now Solidarity Mission and a Nebraska native, said "Israelis are more heartened by our visit today than they were in the past. Today, it is our duty to get the message out and tell our people back home to visit Israel and support Israel now." DEMAND BALANCED CANADIAN MID-EAST POLICY IN RESPONSE TO RECENT TERROR, DELEGATION ARRIVING FOR VISIT TO ISRAEL Community representatives will travel to Jerusalem within days for strategy talks with Israeli government ministers In Toronto, B'nai Birth Canada has responded to the latest terrorist outrages in Jerusalem and Haifa by announcing plans to leave within days for meetings with Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau. The organization says that the community's overall response should include visits to Israel to express solidarity with its citizens, meet with victims of terror, and keep lines of communication open between Israelis and Canadians. The solidarity mission will be coordinated by the B'nai B'rith World Center in Jerusalem, B'nai B'rith International's public policy arm in Israel's capital. However, B'nai Brith stressed that the response to terrorist attacks must go further than expressing sympathy and condemning perpetrators. National President of B'nai Brith Canada Rochelle Wilner urged the Canadian Government to reconsider its voting positions at the United Nations General Assembly to reflect the constant danger Israel faces: "This week, voting begins on 19 separate resolutions condemning Israel", she said. "The only addition to the yearly agenda is a resolution condemning Israel for carrying out security checks on UNWRA vehicles crossing into Israel. This resolution shows a total disregard for Israel's vulnerability in the face of the unremitting terrorist attacks against it, and it completely ignores the Comay-Michelmore Agreement, which governs relations with UNRWA in areas administered by Israel, expressly and unequivocally allowing for measures based on security requirements", said Wilner. Executive Vice President Frank Dimant noted that countries worldwide are increasing security measures to protect their citizens, and that diplomats visiting the UN had no problems cooperating with increased security checks in the building: "It is unconscionable to demand that Israel give blanket immunity to entities operating in the area", he stated, "however impressive their credentials. The Canadian Government can no longer pay lip service to the struggle against terrorism when it affects Israel. We urge Foreign Minister Manley to intervene personally to ensure that Canada does not vote for biased anti-Israel resolutions of this nature. We should stand with our ally, the United States, rather than be seen as a voting partner of states that support and harbor terrorists." Forty members of the World Council of the Hashomer Hatzair movement convened in Israel this week to participate in the meetings, held in conjunction with the Jewish Agency's Hagshama and Education departments and the World Zionist Organization. The members of the movement came from 20 countries worldwide. The Council takes place in Israel this year as a sign of solidarity. The forty youth, members of the movement's branches in their home countries, represent the movement's world membership. They came to express solidarity with the State of Israel and support its current struggle. Some recently completed a yearlong educational program in Israel (hachsharah) and have participated in Jewish Agency educational programs. The youngsters are from: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Brazil, Bulgaria, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Israel, Canada, Chile, France, Mexico, Switzerland, the Ukraine, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. The Council's program includes a meeting with MK's, visits to movement kibbutzim in southern Israel that are involved in aliyah absorption, discussions on the movement's positions and ties with Israel, the Jewish world and the Diaspora as well as tours in Israel. The Council opened this on the evening of December 12th with a special ceremony at Kibbutz Ramat Rachel in Jerusalem. Discussions will close on December 10th.
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