Gala opening of Jewish Agency Assembly at the southern side of the Western Wall
Photo credit: Joe Malcolm

Prime Minister Ehud Barak, expressed his hope that the summit in Washington would make it possible to reach a permanent agreement with the Palestinians. Barak said that he is determined to achieve peace while strengthening security and safeguarding Israel’s vital interests. «We have reached the point of truth with the Palestinians and I thank the US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright for efforts to convene a summit.» said Prime Minister Ehud Barak at a live TV telecast at the closing session of the annual Jewish Agency Assembly, which took place tonight in the Chagall Hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem.

Barak further stated that the tasks relating to strengthening the Jewish people and absorbing immigrants from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union have not yet been completed. He stressed that the Government was working in cooperation with the Jewish Agency to achieve these goals.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens MK (Likud), who spoke on behalf of the opposition felt that going to a summit would be a strategic mistake. He also felt that Netanyahu’s trip to the Wye summit had been a mistake because it led among other things to Clinton’s visit to Gaza, which caused damage to Israel’s advantage in its relationship with the USA in favor of the Palestinians, who are in conflict with Israel; «We are in a period where Jewish control over large parts of the Land of Israel are being weakened and if the Prime Minister will continue in this manner this trend will only become greater.»

The Minister for Regional Development and candidate for President, Shimon Peres said that the gaps in the negotiations with the Palestinians had been greatly narrowed and now it is a matter of percentages and not of principles. According to Peres, the world is going through a stage where territory is less important compared with man’s ability and that «in the world of the brain there are no borders.» In his opinion Israel must now concentrate on four major tasks: 1) setting borders, 2) excellence in education and science, 3) encouraging aliyah and strengthening the unity of the Jewish people and 4) making the Negev desert bloom.

The Chairman of the Jewish Agency Sallai Meridor said that at the top of the agenda of the Jewish people stands the mutual Jewish responsibility and partnership for the Jewish people. Meridor called on the delegates not to forget Israel’s missing soldiers among them the navigator Ron Arad and to work for the immediate release of the 13 Jewish prisoners in Iran whose verdict will be announced on Shabbat.

The Chairman of the United Jewish Communities / The Federations of North America, Charles Bronfman praised the new organization of the American Jewish community and expressed his hope that UJC become the most dominant voluntary organization in the world.

The delegates were also addressed by the Speaker of the Knesset Avraham Burg MK, who called for strengthening activities for the future of the Jewish people and the Minister for World Jewish Community, Rabbi Michael Melchior.

The Government of Israel, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Representatives of the United Jewish Communities / The Federations of North America, and Representatives of Keren Hayesod / United Israel Appeal today reached an agreement on bringing young Jews to Israel from all over the world within the framework of the «Birthright» program.

The agreement was reached between the Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Sallai Meridor; the Minister for World Jewish Community, Rabbi Michael Melchior; the Chairman of the Board of the United Jewish Communities, Charles Bronfman; the Chairman of the Executive Committee of UJC, Joel Tauber; the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Keren Hayesod, Daniel Liwerant, and was signed at a ceremony at the Knesset in Jerusalem during today’s closing plenary session of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

The budget of Birthright is $210 million dollars for five years, of which the Government of Israel will participate to the sum of $70 million dollars.

The Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel; Sallai Meridor, said at the ceremony that if «Birthright» should succeed in bringing more that 40,000 Jewish youth to Israel annually, the face of the next generation will be different and the Jewish people will be strengthened.

from left to right: Alex Grass, Chairman of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors; Sallai Meridor, Chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive; Chaim Chesler, Jewish Agency Treasurer; Minister Shimon Peres; Charles Bronfman, Chairman of UJC; Avraham Burg MK, Speaker of the Knesset; Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior.
Photo credit: Joe Malcolm

The Committee for the Unity of the Jewish People of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors, made up of representatives of all three streams of Judaism, decided this week that the Jewish Agency should initiate a program aimed at fostering unity among the Jewish people and intensifying Jewish identity in Israel, in addition to its support for on-going activities.

The resolutions were passed at a special meeting held by the Committee at the Ya’ar Ramot Conservative Synagogue in Jerusalem, which last weekend was the scene of attempted arson, during the course of which one of the windows in the synagogue was smashed and burning rags were thrown inside. Israeli Police believe that the synagogue was set alight against the background of antagonism between the different streams. During the arson attempt, several chairs in the synagogue burned and other damage was caused. This is the second attempt within a month to set fire to the synagogue.

Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, who heads the Committee together with Alex Grass, Chairman of the Agency’s Board of Governors, said at the beginning of the meeting that «anyone who wishes to ensure that this country does not become one ‘which devours its inhabitants’ must condemn this act and do everything possible to make sure that it does not recur.»

The Committee also decided to commission a study to map out all the organizations engaged in these areas among the various populations in Israel as well as to establish a center to provide information about the entire range of activities. Furthermore the Committee also decided to establish a global forum which will represent all the bodies, organizations and prominent people engaged in unity of the Jewish people and in fostering Jewish identity in Israel.

• 27,860 students studied at 329 ulpanim throughout the FSU between January – April 2000.

• 1350 olim were absorbed in 1999 at 90 kibbutzim and moshavim all over the country as part of the «First Home in Israel» program, run by the Jewish Agency, Ministry of Absorption and kibbutz movements.

• 20 olim arrived in Israel from India this week. In all 1142 olim arrived in Israel, 1001 from the FSU. The rest were from France, Belgium, Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Zimababwe, England, Holland, Germany, Australia, the USA and Ethiopia.

• $249,000 - is the budget for the current year for the Institute for Youth Leaders from abroad. The Institute trains counselors from Jewish youth movements in the Diaspora for youth leadership in their own countries.

• $550,000 - the Jewish Agency’s budget for the year 2000 , for the development of innovative programs in the Partnership 2000 areas focussing on community building, strengthening disadvantaged groups within the population, and bridging gaps in Israeli society.

• $23 million - the Jewish Agency’s budget for the year 2000 for operating 24 absorption centers all over the country, which are home to olim from all over the world.

«Anyone who has been in our hospitals will see for themselves that these accusations are false,» says Bonnie Lipton, National President of Haddassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. She was responding to charges that the organization was not «humanitarian» and was «politically motivated.» The charges were leveled against Hadassah by the representatives of Lebanon, Syria, Libya and the Palestinian Authority to the UN Economic and Social Council, following Hadassah’s application for consultative status with ECOSOC.

The attacks were made last week at the ECOSOC committee meeting on non-governmental organizations. Syria and the Palestinians demanded that Hadassah provide the names and treatment times of every Palestinian who was treated in its hospitals since 1967. The Palestinian representative, stating that all of Jerusalem was «occupied territory,» also implied that the Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem – within the Green Line --is a «settlement.»

The representative of Syria, speaking as an observor, charged that Hadassah was concealing its true activities. Noting that Hadassah’s representative had spoken of the centrality of Israel, he questioned how the organization expressed its support for the Arab people. The Lebanese representative also questioned what Hadassah’s relationship is to the Jewish Agency, the WZO and the Jewish National Fund and asked whether Hadassah subscribes to the Jerusalem Program. «We regard this as a direct attack on the Jewish people’s right to a national movement and to a Jewish state,» Lipton said.

«We were shocked and appalled that a humanitarian organization like Hadassah with such outstanding qualifications should be questioned due to our Zionist credentials,» Lipton added. «We have almost nine decades of expertise in health care, education, and child rescue -- precisely the field of competence of ECOSOC, and our record speaks for itself. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people in Israel, the Middle East, and around the world have been helped by Hadassah institutions and Hadassah trained health care professionals. Hadassah’s only goal is to continue our humanitarian work on an international level and to lend our expertise in the areas of health care medicine, education, and child rescue to international policy deliberation.»

Regarding the request for names of all Arab patients since 1967, Lipton expressed dismay «at being asked to breach patient doctor confidentiality in this manner, and stated that Hadassah has been providing Arabs with medical treatment since it began its services in pre-State Palestine, shortly after its birth in 1912.

The vote, which was to have taken place on June 21, was deferred till January.

Settlement movement leaders called upon the Jewish Agency to strengthen settlements in the Galilee and Negev. This emerged from a meeting this week between MKs Eli Goldschmidt, Avshalom Vilan and Shalom Simchon with leaders of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors headed by Alex Grass. Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, JAFI Treasurer Chaim Chesler, and JAFI Director General Aaron Abramovich also attended the meeting.

Prior to the meeting, the Board of Governors had approved a United Jewish Communities – Jewish Agency aid package for the Confrontation Line. The $83 million program will be spread over three years.

MKs Goldschmidt, Willan and Simchon praised the Jewish Agency’s campaign to assist the Confrontation Line residents. «There is an historic bond between the Jewish people and the land of Israel, which must be renewed,» said MK Vilan.

MK Simchon, head of the moshav movement and himself a resident of the northern border area, warned against the creation of territorial continuity between the Arabs in the Galilee and the Palestinian state. «There are more Arabs than Jews in this part of Israel. If the Jewish population is not strengthened here, extensive areas may be at risk,» he said.

Richard Pearlstone, chairman of the Jewish Agency’s Budget and Finance Committee, emphasized that the Jewish Agency must act in a financially responsible way. However now that Israel is on firmer ground economically, there is hope that it will be able to provide assistance and give the residents a sense that they are not alone.

Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler warned that Israel is losing the Galilee and the Negev: «In the past, settlement was one of the Jewish Agency’s key roles and today we must also assume a leadership role in order to guarantee that Israel remains a Jewish state.»

Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor called for the formation of a group from Israel and abroad to hold an on-going dialogue on the issue of settlements: «We must examine ways of reviving the public’s interest in these issues and act specifically in those areas where there is a Jewish minority living alongside an Arab majority.»

MK Roman Bronfman expressed his strong opposition to any change to the Law of Return. Bronfman noted however that the dispute on the subject of the Law of Return does not center on the question of who is a Jew but, rather on who will determine who is a Jew. In his opinion, the Knesset cannot debate this issue without the participation of representatives from the Diaspora. Bronfman spoke at a session organized by the Jewish Agency Assembly on global Jewish issues.

Other participants in the discussions were Ehud Olmert - Mayor of Jerusalem; MK Itzhak Gagula; Rabbi David Rosen and Professors Yehezkel Dror, Steven Cohen and Eliezer Jaffe.

Among the subjects which were discussed at the Assembly were the Law of Return, the restitution of Jewish property, racism and anti-Semitism, the Jewish people in a global world, Jewish identity, Jewish giving and women in Jewish life.

Bronfman also called for the separation of religion and state in order to turn Israel into a modern, enlightened country that advances pluralism and mutual tolerance among different communities and ethnic groups in Israeli society.

Prof. Eliezer Jaffe of the Hebrew University said that philanthropy should be channeled through non-profit organizations in the future. Donors from abroad would donate more to such organizations rather than to government/public bodies. In his view, the link would then be more professional, more personal and more directed to the target which interests the donors. According to Jaffe this requires a change in the existing organizational-institutional set-up, including that of the Jewish Agency.

Jerusalem’s Mayor Ehud Olmert added that today there are also Israeli donors: «Unlike the situation which existed in years gone by, when we only looked for money among Jews outside Israel, there are now affluent Israelis who are willing to give to the community.»

Rabbi David Rosen, director of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League’s Israel office, believes that anti-Semitism has greatly diminished in recent years, although there are still pockets of anti-Semitism particularly in Eastern Europe and Latin America. Rabbi Rosen noted that the revival of anti-Semitism in the Arab world can be attributed primarily to political reasons. He said that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the US has dropped although these have become more violent.

Members of the Assembly visited the Jewish Agency’s Kiryat Moriah educational campus in Jerusalem, during which they were shown the Agency’s Jewish educational activities as well as activities to strengthen Jewish identity in Israel and abroad. Assembly members also participated in «Israel Experience» workshops for youth from all over the world.

Immigrant children from Ethiopia, Cuba and Yugoslavia at Beit Canada Absorption Center in Ashkelon performing before Jewish Agency Assembly delegates
Photo credit: Joe Malcolm

«Recalling the Israeli Ambassador from Austria after Haider’s election was a serious error,» said Prof. Yehuda Bauer last weekend during a discussion on the role of the Zionist movement in the struggle against anti-Semitism which took place at the Zionist General Council. «The only way to fight anti-Semitism is by joining forces with those who have an interest in combating anti-Semitism and racism for reasons of their own,» he said.

Prof. Bauer warned against the rise in anti-Semitism particularly in the neighboring Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan. He suggested utilizing electronic media and the Internet in order to fight this. Prof. Bauer also suggested that the Lipstadt-Irving trial be used to counter anti-Semitism, in part by publishing the books which are due to appear on the trial.

Professor Bauer’s criticism of Israel’s role in the struggle against anti-Semitism followed comments made by Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler, who reported to the members of the Zionist General Council on the activities against Haider taken in March, in which thousands of youth participated.

Prof. Bauer, one of the world’s leading experts on the Holocaust, sharply criticized the Israeli government’s response to Haider’s joining the government of Austria. In his view, Haider is mainly concerned with Albanians, Bosnians and other ethnic groups living in Austria and not with the Jews. «If I were the Israeli Foreign Minister, I would not have recalled our ambassador from Vienna. On the contrary, I would have strengthened the Embassy and intensified the information campaign. This was a political mistake of the first order,» said Bauer. In his view, the European Community will soon remove the sanctions imposed on Austria and Israel will then remain isolated.

Prof. Dinah Porat of Tel Aviv University cited three events that had repercussions on the development of anti-Semitism around the world: the Pope’s visit to Israel, which although successful, has been characterized by premature over-enthusiasm, as there are still many Catholic groups that strongly oppose Pope John Paul II’s rapid gestures towards the Jewish people; The Lipstadt-Irving trial, which is likely to re-awaken anti-Semitic rumblings in Europe and the world over; and the struggle to restore Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust, which may ignite the flame of anti-Semitism in Eastern Europe.

The important contribution the media can make towards strengthening the relationship between Israel and world Jewry was recognized this week when eight prominent Israeli journalists received the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism in Memory of Wolf and Hilda Matsdorf. An awards ceremony was held in Jerusalem with the participation of Rabbi Michael Melchior, Minister of Israeli Society and the World Jewish Community, internationally renowned author Aharon Appelfeld and a crowd that included leading media and public personalities.

Founded in 1991, the B’nai B’rith World Center Award for Journalism recognizes excellence in reporting on the Diaspora and Israel-Diaspora relations in the Israeli print and electronic media. The Award carries a NIS 5,000 cash prize and certificate.

Jury member Eli Eyal, a journalist and member of the Zionist Executive, presided over the award presentations. He noted that although Jewish topics were once relegated to the sidelines of Israeli journalism, the gradual increase over the years in the number of entries presented to the jury indicates that there is now recognition that these topics too - like defense, politics and diplomacy - are also essential for the State of Israel.

Among the 1999 winners were Mark Siminovics (editor and producer) and Zoltan Terner (director) - a team of documentary film makers from Israel Educational Television – whose three films on the Jewish community of Buchovina before and following the Holocaust contributed significantly to the understanding of young and adult Israelis alike about what befell the Jewish people just two generations ago.

Esther Hecht, former Head of Desk at the Jerusalem Post, received the award in recognition of three diverse articles: «True Believers» about the Karaite community in Israel and the former Soviet Union; «Cry for Them Argentina» on the Argentinean Jewish community in the shadow of disappearances and terrorist bombings; and «Heartbreak Hotel» about the hardships faced by disadvantaged immigrants.

Honorable Mention was presented to Gideon Remez (editor and presenter) and the staff of Israel Radio’s «International Hour» - Jacqueline Elkayam (producer) and Miri Scharf (reporter) - for their breaking story on the immigration of Jews from Cuba to Israel. Honorable Mention was also presented to Chaim Hausman, producer and director at Israel Television, for his two-part program «Vilna and the Gaon, and to Amotz Asa-El, Business Editor at the Jerusalem Post, for his opinion piece «Man of the Year» about the life and death of Pt. Nikolai Rappaport.

This year children attending summer camps in eastern Russia will be joined by their parents. The Jewish Agency has initiated the first joint summer camp for parents and their children, which will take place next month in Novosibirsk; two other camps will be opened at the end of July in Omsk and Krasnoyarsk.

Boris Wolovik, the Jewish Agency’s youth and student emissary in Novosibirsk, says that this initiative is aimed at including the children’s families in Jewish identity programs conducted at the summer camp. It is also designed to create a supportive environment for the children after they return home.

In the past, when children returned home, with a stronger Jewish identity after attending the camp, they frequently encountered resistance on the part of their parents, who had long been cut off from Jewish life. Now both parents and children will be able to enjoy a variety of cultural activities at the camps and benefit from a joint educational program aimed at strengthening their Jewish identity, said Wolovik.

Over the last two years 2,000 children and youth have participated in Jewish Agency summer and winter camps in eastern Russia. So far, the parents have only been invited to parents’ day at the camps. From this summer on, the parents will be able to join their children for the entire period, which lasts from a week to ten days.

«Beyond intensifying Jewish identity, we wish to expose the parents to the activities in which their children participate and emphasize the difference between an Israeli summer camp and a local one,» said Motti Klimer, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in eastern Russia. «From now on the parents will be able to learn first hand about Jewish-Zionist activities organized by Jewish Agency and make the right choice between a local summer camp and the Jewish Agency’s Israeli camp,» adds Klimer.

Novosibirsk is the main city in western Siberia and has a population of 3 million. According to Jewish Agency estimates, there are some 11,000 Jews in Novosibirsk, with twice that number in the surrounding areas. The Jewish Agency runs several aliyah clubs with different professional and social focuses in Novosibirsk attended by more than 450 people each year. The city also boasts Jewish youth clubs and two Hebrew ulpanim run by the Jewish Agency in which more than 1,000 people are enrolled.

Sarah and Henry will celebrate their marriage next month at Rome’s Great Synagogue. After Rosh Hashanah they will make aliyah. The two met in Israel last summer during a pilot trip for singles, organized by the Jewish Agency’s Aliyah Movement, in an effort to bring together Jewish singles from France and Italy between the ages of 25-40 and to introduce them to absorption possibilities in Israel with regard to employment, education and housing. The pilot trip for singles is also a way to introduce Jewish singles from all parts of the world to each other. Thirty-year old Sarah participated in the pilot trip from Rome and 34-year old Henry hailed from Paris.

This week the two met with Tamar Milo, the Jewish Agency representative in Rome, who had organized the singles group. The happy couple told Milo that originally each of them was to have participated in a different program and only joined the singles pilot trip at the last minute. «It must have been fate,» they said.

During their two-week visit to Israel last August, between their trip to Mitzpe Ramon, the tour of Mt. Herzl and the lecture on the job market in Israel, the two fell in love and a month later decided to get married.

The wedding is due to take place in the middle of next month, at the Great Synagogue in Rome. The couple, who have already opened an aliyah file at the Jewish Agency offices in Paris, will initially live in Rome and Paris, and then make aliyah immediately after the holidays.

Until the couple make their home in Israel and learn Hebrew, they will communicate in Italian. The couple say that their current Hebrew vocabulary is usually used as a secret code when they don’t want anyone else to understand them.

Next week a conference will be held at Cleveland House in Beit Shean to promote industrial and commercial ties between the Beit Shean region and companies and economic organizations throughout the US. Cleveland House coordinates all the activity aimed at strengthening the ties between the Jewish community in Cleveland and the Beit Shean region within the context of the Jewish Agency - UJC Partnership 2000 program.

Sagi Melamed, director of the Jewish Agency’s Beit Shean region, reports that the conference, which is being organized together with the Beit Shean Small Business Development Authority, and the Ohio-Israel Chamber of Commerce, will be attended by 40 leading hi-tech, food, metal and plastics companies from the Beit Shean area.

Three representatives from the Cleveland community - Alan Shonberg - chairman of the Chambers of Commerce in North America, Howard Gold - Chairman of the Ohio-Israel Chamber of Commerce, and Vick Cohen - Chairman of the Partnership 2000 Economic Development Committee - will present the company directors with the possibilities for strengthening business ties between the Beit Shean area and North America, through investments by American companies in plants in the area as well as the development of export markets in the US. Pini Kabalo, mayor of Beit Shean, and Yael Shealtieli, head of the Beit Shean Valley Regional Council, will also participate in the conference.

Following the conference, representatives of the Cleveland community will hold individual meetings with a series of companies and plants to present them with the possibilities for advancing business ties. In addition, Beit Shean will host an economic mission from the US in November in order to examine investment possibilities in the region.

Nizan Aviran, director of the Small Business Development Authority in Beit Shean, said that companies in the Beit Shean Valley export some $100 million annually to the US. According to Aviran, all the companies due to meet with Cleveland representatives next week already export their goods overseas, mostly to the US.

Two groups from the US are currently taking part in a Multicultural Summer Seminar held at the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters’ Museum, located on Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot in the North of Israel. A group of Jewish and non-Jewish teachers from the Midwest, together with eight Afro-American educators and religious leaders from the Washington DC area, sent by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), are participating in the ten-day seminar.

In addition to dealing with multicultural education, the program will also include meetings with Jewish, Arab and Druse graduates of the Center for Humanistic Education, in which all parties will engage in in-depth discussions focusing on the connection between the Holocaust and contemporary problems, as well as coping with another culture and its pain. The aim is to pave the way for mutual understanding and reconciliation.

The center runs ongoing programs for Jewish and Arab high school students, in 15 schools in the Galilee including the high school in the Druse village of Daliat el Carmel, the Arab Italian School in Haifa, and the Leo Baeck School in Haifa. The teenagers, who come voluntarily, spend 30 hours learning about the Holocaust. At the culmination of the program, they guide their parents around the museum.

«Until now, the subject of the Holocaust was taboo in the Jewish-Arab dialogue,» says Raya Kalisman, who founded the Center four years ago and serves as its Director. It is a very important experience. We present the pain and the suffering in a humanistic way, and people identity with it. Learning about the Holocaust teaches that indifference to the suffering or infringement of human rights of another person endangers the existence of all in society.»

One month ago the Center for Humanistic Education was awarded the Knesset Speaker’s Prize for Dialogue.

Earlier this week, the Maaleh Yosef Regional Council held a dedication ceremony at which the local elementary school, attended by 200 pupils, was named the «Kerner School», in honor of Brian Kerner, President of the United Jewish Israel Appeal of Great Britain and Ireland (UJIA). Kerner was honored in appreciation for his continuous involvement in the Galilee, and in recognition of his contribution to the development of the education and welfare of the residents of the region.

Nearly 150 leaders of the UJIA, together with leadership of Keren Hayesod-UIA, and local leaders, attended the ceremony. Participants included members of Kerner’s immediate family -- his wife, Sylvia, his son Stefan, who is co-chair of the Partnership 2000 region together with Aharon Ma’atouk, mayor of Merom Hagalil. Also present were World Chairman of Keren Hayesod, Avi Pazner; Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Keren Hayesod, Daniel Liwerant; Jonathan Kestenbaum, CEO of UJIA; Eldrid Kraines, Financial Director of UJIA; Avi Karampa, Mayor of the Maaleh Yosef Regional Council.

«This is one in a network of projects that we’ve established along the Confrontation Line, from Nahariya to Metulla,» notes Michael Mohnblatt, the Campaign Director of UJIA Israel. «Since 1968 we’ve supported social projects throughout the Confrontation Line region. This climaxes a recent thrust launched by a telethon that started May 21, in which we raised $400,000 above and beyond our regular commitment.»

It may be possible to hold the Washington summit at the end of July as part of the American effort to bring about an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians before September 13th - the date on which Arafat is due to declare the formation an independent state. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has said that the gap between the two parties is still wide. President Clinton believes that the time is ripe for the leaders to make decisions.

«Israel BeAliyah» leader Interior Minister Natan Sharanksy, and NRP Chairman and Housing Minister Yitzchak Levy have announced that they will resign from the coalition when the summit convenes.

Musical chairs in the Center Party: Minister of Tourism Amnon Lipkin-Shahak will also serve as Minister of Transportation, instead of Yitzchak Mordechai. MK Dan Meridor will be a Minister without Portfolio, responsible for the country’s secret services. MK Roni Milo will be appointed Deputy Minister of Tourism.

This week Shas voted with the government against the opposition’s bill to disband the Knesset.

Weizman comes full circle in Egypt. Before giving up office, the President this week had a nostalgic meeting with his Egyptian counterpart - Hosni Mubarak.

At the beginning of next week the third annual seminar on the Yiddish language and Jewish literature will convene in Vilna, the capital of Lithuania. The seminar, which will last four weeks, is being organized by the Lithuanian Jewish community, the University of Vilna and the Jerusalem «Young Yiddish» movement. Ephraim Meidan, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in the Baltic states reports that 70 people will attend the seminar from the US, Australia, New Zealand, France, England, Germany, Ukraine and other countries around the world.

Classes at the seminar will be held on four levels - from beginners to advanced. In order to participate in the seminar and teach Yiddish and Jewish literature, experts in the field have arrived in Vilna. Among them are Prof. Gerald Pricks from the University of South Carolina; Dr. Dov-Ber Karler of Oxford University, Andrei Bradstein of Moscow University, Prof. David Katz of the University of Vilna and others.

In addition to the classes, participants in the seminar can look forward to a wide-ranging cultural program which includes tours of Jewish sites in Vilna, Kovno, Ponevezh, Veterki, visits to the theater, Jewish performances, movies in Yiddish and even studying the secrets of the Jewish kitchen.

Alla Sivashova was so moved by her recent visit to Israel, that upon her return to Moscow, the musician composed a «Song of Jerusalem» as well as other songs about Israel. She had visited Israel together with several other members of the Jewish Agency’s Women’s Club in Israel. One of the women, an artist, was so inspired by her visit that she did a series of paintings depicting Jerusalem and other locations.

The Women’s Club was organized close to two years ago by Marina Ben Arieh, a JAFI emissary in Moscow. According to Ben Arieh, who wasn’t sure that the local population would find such a group appealing, it has succeeded far beyond anyone’s expectations, serving as an immediate link with Israel and Judaism for many who had had only minimal contact with their Jewish heritage.

About 40 women attend the monthly meetings, including many highly successful professionals. Newcomers constantly join the group to replace those who make aliyah.

«We started with family and childraising issues,» says Ben Arieh, «and then expanded to other topics.» Before each holiday, the women learn the relevant traditions, as well as how to prepare the special delicacies – jelly doughnouts for Chanukah, blintzes for Shavuot, hamantaschen for Purim. Lectures include visitors from Israel who lecture on different fields.

The Women’s Leadership Forum of the Lake Kinneret Region will be organizing a song-fest next week to further peace called «Singing for Peace on the Island of Peace». The event will take place at Naharayim, where seven teenage girls from Beit Shemesh on a school trip were killed in 1997 when a Jordanian soldier opened fire.

The Women’s Leadership Forum of the Lake Kinneret region was founded two years ago as part of the Jewish Agency - UJC Partnership 2000 program, in an effort to promote women’s status in Israel and encourage women from the area to assume leadership roles in their communities. The Lake Kinneret region includes the city of Tiberias, the Jordan Valley and Lower Galilee Regional Councils, and the moshavot of Menahemiya, Yavne’el, Migdal, Kfar Tavor and Ilaniya.

Semadar Sinai, coordinator of the Forum said that it deals with four key issues: formation of a women’s organization for personal growth, study and development in Tiberias; building channels of dialogue with Palestinian and Jordanian women as a way of promoting joint projects; establishing a center for workshops and exhibitions for artistically talented women; and producing cultural and social events for women

In addition to the Forum in Israel, a similar forum has been set up in the Jewish communities of Tulsa, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Milwaukee in the US, the four communities which are partnered with the Lake Kinneret region in the Partnership 2000 program. The Forum is headed by Sarah Sanditen of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The event will take place on July 4^th, marking American Independence Day, together with representatives of the four Jewish communities which partner the Lake Kinneret region. Women from all over the country will also attend the event. The evening’s artistic program will include a performance by singers Gali Atari and Lubneh Salameh, dancer Ayelet Gabai, the Shiran duo and the Shirei Kinneret singing group.

Thanks to international cooperation as well as local teamwork, the Kiryat Yam Absorption Center near Haifa has begun its own football team -- made up of young Ethiopian immigrants.

Over 50 young Ethiopian immigrants, age six to 18 -- comprising four groups -- meet twice a week to learn and practice football. Teachers and trainers in the program, conducted in conjunction with the Kiryat Yam Community Center, are also new immigrants, from various locations in the former Soviet Union. The program, which was initiated several weeks ago, was made possible by a donation from the West London Committee through the United Jewish Israel Appeal, to purchase uniforms and other necessary equipment.

«This program will help the youngsters develop their athletic talent in a constructive way, and also foster a feeling of unity among Jews of different cultures, while easing their absorption in Israel,» says Naomi Malhi, Director of the Kiryat Yam Absorption Center.

Ingredients:
6 small, whole fish (dennis, marlen or bakala)
2 sliced tomatoes
2 sliced potatoes
2 sliced onions
4 fresh hot peppers, sliced

For gravy:
6 cloves of minced garlic
2 tablespoons, ground hot pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cardimon
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water

Preparation

• Place the potatoes, onion, tomatoes and hot peppers in a pan and place the fish on top of them. Mix the ingredients for the gravy and pour on top of the fish.
• Bake at 360 degrees Fahrenheit for half an hour.

B'Te'avon! Bon Appetit!