Solidarity Mission with Kids in Gilo
from left to right
Ronald Lauder, Sallai Meridor, James Tisch, John Ruskay, Daniel Liwerant
photo credit: Joe Malcolm

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This is the consecutive fifth day where the scope of violent clashes in the territories and perimeters area between the Palestinian Authority and areas controlled by the Israeli Army has diminished. Yesterday a further drop was also registered in the scope of demonstrations apparently as a result of the stormy weather. Nevertheless, in the evening the exchange of fire resumed in certain places, especially in the Bethlehem area. During the skirmishes two Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded. Palestinian spokesmen reported that 26 people were injured.

In the evening shots were again fired from Beit Jalla on houses in the Jerusalem suburb of Gilo. There were no injuries and the IDF returned fire. The suburb of Gilo, which is included in the UJA Federation of New York and Jerusalem Partnership 2000 project, last week was visited by a solidarity mission of Jewish leaders worldwide which was hosted by the Jewish Agency. Among the delegation were UJA Federation of New York President James Tisch and the Executive Vice President Dr. John Ruskay.

The delegation was headed by Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Organizations, Ronald Lauder; and the Conference's Executive Vice Chairman, Malcolm Hoenlein; Chairman of the United Jewish Communities of North America's Campaign and FRD, Robert Schrayer; the UJC President and CEO Stephen Solender and World Chairman of Keren Hayesod Board of Trustees, Daniel Liwerant. The delegation was hosted by the Jewish Agency's Chairman Sallai Meridor and Treasurer Chaim Chesler.

The suburb of Gilo is at the center of the Palestinian attacks and many of the residents of the streets on the perimeter have been forced to leave their homes or sleep in inside rooms. The Social Services of the Jerusalem Municipality Council are giving the families psychological counseling and additional help in order for them to overcome their suffering.

The settlement of Pesagot near Ramallah is also continuously being fired upon. The Palestinians are concentrating their shooting especially during the night when they prefer to operate under the cover of darkness.

Yesterday the shooting also continued in the area of Rachel's Tomb near Bethlehem and on the Shdema Army camp to the East of Bethlehem. An IDF patrol was attacked north of Jenin and a border police patrol was fired at near Tulkarm. The two IDF soldiers were wounded at the Ayosh Junction north of Ramallah by molotov cocktails.

The throwing of stones and molotov cocktails also occurred in Hebron, El-Hader, the El-Arub refugee camp, the village of Dir Istia near Ariel, IDF positions in the Rafiah area, the Erez checkpost, the Katif Bloc and the Netzarim area in the Gaza strip.

Despite the continuing shooting and violence along the periphery between areas under Israeli control and those controlled by the Palestinian Authority, a new effort is underway to coordinate security issues. Contacts, under auspices the United States, were designed to pave the way for renewing the Peace Process after the US presidential elections. Clinton has invited Barak and Arafat to Washington separately for preliminary talks.

Arafat has responded positively. Barak is demanding that the understandings reached at Sharm El-Sheikh for a cease-fire must first be upheld. The Prime Minister is sending acting Foreign Minister, Shlomo Ben Ami to Washington next week. At the same time the possibility of holding a Clinton-Barak meeting at the time of the United Jewish Communities General Assembly in North America is being explored.

During the week, Arafat met with Israeli businessman Yossi Ginossar, who also does business in the PA-controlled areas and is considered one of the Israelis closest to Arafat. Ginossar was formerly a senior GSS official. He was sent to Gaza by Barak to warn Arafat that terror attacks against Israel would result in a sharp Israeli response.

At the same time, OC Central Command Major General Itzhak Eitan met yesterday evening with Haj Ismail, commander of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. At the same time OC Southern Command Yom Tov Samiya met with his Palestinian counterpart Abed el-Razak M'jaida. At the meetings, which took place under American auspices, the Palestinians pledged to end shooting at Israeli targets. However, shots were fired at the building in which the meeting was taking place, and shortly thereafter shots were fired at Israeli targets in various areas.

Despite the efforts to calm the area, security officials believe that the danger of escalation has not yet been removed and that the violence and clashes between the sides may continue for some time. At this week's cabinet meeting, these officials predicted that if the peace process is not revived, attacks by Tanzim may continue for a year.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak and opposition leader MK Ariel Sharon began talks on the formation of an emergency-national unity government, despite objections from both camps.

According to information published in the Israeli press, Sharon would become the Minister of Finance and several Likud MKs would head senior government ministries such as the Interior and Infrastructure.

However, there is still considerable disagreement over Sharon's demand for equal representation between Likud and One Israel, and the right of veto in the political process.

Left-wing objections to the formation of a national-unity government come primarily from Minister of Justice Yossi Beilin, supported by Minister Shimon Peres and Meretz MKs, who are concerned that Sharon's participation in the government will put an end to the Oslo Accords.

Right-wing opposition is led by eleven Likud MK's, considered supporters of former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is planning a political comeback. Netanyahu has had a substantial lead over Barak in recent weeks in polls on who is the preferred prime ministerial candidate. In contrast, Barak leads Sharon.

Political commentators believe that these polls lie behind the attempt by Barak and Sharon to form a coalition, in an effort to push Netanyahu out of the race. Bolstered by these polls, Netanyahu's supporters, are pressuring Sharon not to join a national-unity government, demanding instead the formation of an emergency government for a limited period of several months, while announcing a date for new elections.

Barak, too, faces difficulties in pushing through an agreement on a national-unity government based on Sharon's conditions.

• 1139 olim arrived in Israel this week. 931 of them from the FSU and Eastern Europe. The rest came from France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, England, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, the US, Canada and Ethiopia.

• 32 youngsters from France made aliyah this week. They will study at institutions for higher education throughout Israel.

• $19,000 - Jewish Agency support in 2000 for the Eden Association's "Combined Tools" project. Eden promotes educational projects in the Negev. The project assists children and youngsters who suffer from learning disabilities and emotional problems through art, physiotherapy, speech therapy etc.

• $550,000 - the Jewish Agency budget for 2000 for renovating absorption centers, and building new classrooms and clubs for youngsters.

• $2.34 million - the Jewish Agency budget for 2000 to assisting in the rehabilitation of former Prisoners of Zion.

The Jewish Agency's Board of Governors, numbering 121 Jewish leaders from all over the world, will meet in Jerusalem next week for its fall session. In addition 750 representatives of many Jewish organizations, headed by the United Jewish Communities of North America, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the Jewish National Fund, UIA-Keren Hayesod, and a delegation of Canadian Jewry will be arriving in order to express solidarity with the State of Israel in light of the violent clashes with the Palestinians. The mission will visit the Western Wall and meet with President Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and other senior officials. They will demonstrate that even in times of tension, world Jewry is continuing to visit Israel and bring their business to hotels and tourist sites.

The three-day Board of Governors meeting will focus on the need for increased support by Jewish communities in the Diaspora for the State of Israel as a result of the recent events in the region. Similarly, the Board of Governors will focus on strengthening the bond between the State of Israel and Jewish communities as a result of the increased anti-Semitism worldwide.

Members of the Board of Governors will all visit Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood.

The Board of Governors is the Jewish Agency's supreme governing body. It supervises the organization's activities and is authorized to establish regular and ad hoc committees. The Board of Governors convenes three times a year, in February, June and October. It approves the Agency's budget and makes other key decisions pertaining to the organization's activities and policies.

Ronald Lauder, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, last week called for a Jewish summit meeting to be held in Jerusalem in the near future, as a response to the Arab summit. Lauder was speaking at the opening session of a World Jewish Solidarity mission which arrived in Israel for a two-day visit. More than 70 Jewish leaders from all over the world came to express their support for Israel on a mission organized by the Jewish Agency in conjunction with United Jewish Communities of North America , the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and Keren Hayesod.

According to Lauder, since the Presidents' Conference was founded 45 years ago, there has never been such an extensive display of solidarity for Israel by all Jewish organizations. Lauder added that a survey of American Jews showed 90% identified with Israel, compared with 30-50% in the past.

Jewish Agency Chairman, Sallai Meridor noted that in recent weeks, there have been more than 200 anti-Semitic incidents throughout the world. He stated that this was the first mission of heads of Jewish organizations and that in coming weeks, thousands of Jews from all over the world would follow.

Mendel Kaplan, honorary president of Keren Hayesod, said that the implications of solidarity between Israel and world Jewry are that when Israel is attacked and faces a threat, Jews all over the world are attacked. "We are one people under attack", said Kaplan.

Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of the Presidents Conference, said that 94 US senators had signed a petition supporting Israel and that 72 communities throughout the US were currently organizing solidarity demonstration supporting Israel, with the participation of hundreds of thousands of Jews: "We have not seen such expressions of solidarity for many years", said Hoenlein.

Stephen Solender, President of the United Jewish Communities, said, "We are aware that Israelis feel strong but vulnerable these days. You should know that we, your brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, stand at your side. We are one people and we stand together, no one can divide us." According to Solender, Jews in the 182 Jewish federations in North America perceive the situation as a war against the Jewish people.

During their visit to Israel, members of the mission visited the areas of conflict in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood and at the Western Wall, and visited Jewish communities supported by the Jewish Agency in the Iron region. The mission met with Israeli President, Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, acting Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami MK, Ariel Sharon MK, Natan Sharansky MK, US Ambassador in Israel Martin Indyk, Deputy Chief of Staff Moshe (Bugi) Yaalon, and senior IDF officers as well as Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert.

After we received the news about Vadim's murder, we decided to push up our aliyah to Israel in order to join the rest of the family and to provide support at a time that is so difficult for all of us," said family members of IDF soldier Vadim Norzhich who was lynched two weeks ago by a Palestinian mob in Ramallah.

Vadim's uncle and aunt Yosef and Natalia Norzhich who immigrated to Israel last week from Irkutsk, Siberia, with the help of the Jewish Agency together with their daugher Lena and her Mark. Another one of Vadim's aunts, Rachel Chibonina, also came to Israel on a condolence visit.

The Jewish Agency funded Chibonina's trip following the family's personal appeal to Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, during a condolence visit to the family at their home in Or Akiva.

Jewish Agency Chairman Chaim Chesler received the family at the Ben Gurion airport.

To enable the new immigrants to be near their family in Or Akiva, the Jewish Agency has provided the Norzhich family with an apartment an the near-by Hadera Absorption Center for the next two months.

Yosef and Natalia Norzhich have joined their two younger daughters already living in Israel, who came as participants in Jewish Agency programs for youth. Katya, the middle daughter, made aliyah in 1996, as a participant in JAFI's Na'aleh high school boarding program for teens who come to Israel without their parents Genia, their younger daughter, is a participant in JAFI's Yachad program. Genia arrived in Israel one month ago - on her cousin Vadim's wedding day.

Before coming to Israel, the couple told the head of the Jewish Agency delegation in Russia, Karol Ungar, who personally accompanied them on their trip to Israel, that they hope that their grandson Mark will be a good IDF soldier.

Following recent riots in the in Carmiel-Misgav, forty American Jewish youngsters, members of the Young Judea youth movement, are currently launching a public campaign "to increase dialogue and prevent violence" in the area. Ziona Eisenstein, director of the Carmiel Absorption Center, where the youngsters are residing, reports that a Hadassah Womens mission headed by president Bonnie Lipton, that visited Carmiel this week, has made a commitment to join the efforts to increase dialogue in the area.

The youngsters arrived in Israel this past September for a year-long educational program, supported by the Jewish Agency's Education Department and Hadassah. During the program the youngsters reside at the Jewish Agency's Carmiel absorption center and do voluntary work in the community. This includes help in the absorption process of new olim, work with special needs populations, and teaching English in the schools.

On Yom Kippur eve, the American youngsters witnessed acts of violence by Jewish youngsters in Carmiel against Arab-owned stores and businesses near the absorption center. The Young Judeans immediately volunteered to help the owners repair the damages to the buildings. In addition, they decided to launch a public campaign to increase dialogue and prevent violence in the area.

This week the youngsters were joined in this effort by Hadassah Women, who came to Israel on a solidarity visit to Israel following the spate of recent violence. The mission, escorted by Carmiel Mayor Adi Eldar, encouraged the youngsters to remain in Israel and continue their voluntary work in the community, despite the growing tension in the region. The women also made a contribution to the youngsters' campaign to prevent violence.

At the initiative of the Jewish Agency / Partnership 2000 program, an information center on the prevention of violence in the area will open in the coming weeks. The center will be set up with the assistance of the Baltimore and Pittsburgh Jewish communities, together with the Carmiel municipality and Misgav regional council. According to Nirit Michaeli, director of the Jewish Agency's Carmiel Misgav region, the center will develop programs for the prevention of violence in all walks of life.

In addition, in mid-December, a conference on the prevention of violence will be held in the Carmiel, with the participation of representatives from the Baltimore and Pittsburgh Jewish communities.

Shira Saiger was back home in California during Succot for her brother's barmitzvah when it became clear that the peace process was breaking down. One of 350 North American students on the Hebrew University's Overseas Program, she decided to return to Jerusalem despite the situation.

"It's scary and it was unexpected," said Saiger, 20, from West Los Angeles, who returns to the U.S. in January after one semester. "But I can handle it. I take cabs instead of buses and I don't go to the Old City. The University has provided a lot of help and advice."

According to Ronny Perlman, academic advisor at the Hebrew University's Rothberg School for Overseas Students, only 15 of the 350 North American students have gone home and none of the students from Europe and elsewhere in the world have left.

"Those that did go home were forced to by their parents," explained Saiger, a third year English major at Yale University. "My parents have both spent long periods in Israel. My father lived here from 1969 to 1973. They're worried but they left the decision to come back up to me."

In Israel for the fourth time, Saiger follows events by reading the Internet edition of the New York Times. "The coverage is not very sympathetic of Israel," she said. "But I feel Israel is acting correctly and that the Palestinians are only victimizing themselves."

Deena Bar Selah, 20 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a Psychology major at Penn State was touring Turkey and Greece during the Succot vacation. "I felt frustrated and confused and scared," she recalled. "But I knew I would be coming back."

The present problems have deepened Bar Selah's bond with Israel. "I was actually born in Israel but was taken to America when I was a baby," she said. "My parents left the decision up to me."

Jason Fruithandler, 18, from Mount Kisco, Westchester, New York, who is on a one year pre-college program with Nativ and the Conservative Movement, said that it never crossed his mind to go home. "On a day to day basis you can't tell there's any problems," he insisted. "I haven't change any of my habits. None of our group of 41 teenagers went home."

from left to right
Alex Shmidt, Jordan Raiss, Shira Saiger, Deena Barselah
photo credit: Douglas Guthrie

A "Hagshama Day" which was held last weekend in Buenos Aires, and was attended by 1,000 Jewish students from all over Latin America, turned into a show of support and solidarity with Israel. The event was organized by the World Zionist Organization's Hagshama Department in conjunction with the Jewish Agency's Education and Aliyah Departments, the Jewish National Fund, and FACH, the Fund for Hebrew Culture in Argentina.

Kito Hasson, head of the Jewish Agency's Latin America delegation, said that the Hagshama Day was attended by students and graduates of Zionist youth movements from Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Venezuela, Brazil, including youngsters who will be making aliyah in the near future.

The Hagshama Day took place at the end of a two-day seminar for students in Argentina that focused on anti-Semitism and racism, strengthening Jewish identity and developing Zionist leadership. The students also explored aliyah opportunities including higher education.

Haim Hayet, member of the Zionist Executive and head of the Hagshama Department, Kito Hasson, head of the Jewish Agency's Latin America delegation, representative of the Israeli consulate Dori Goren, and leaders of Zionist organizations and Jewish communities in South America, took part in the Hagshama Day.

During the event, the head of the Jewish Agency delegation called upon Jewish youth to participate in a demonstration of support to be held in the streets of Buenos Aires. Hasson emphasized the support of the Jewish communities for the State of Israel at these difficult moments when is Israel is under attack by international public opinion.

A new wing at the Center for Progressive Judaism, "Merkaz Shimshon", was dedicated yesterday in Jerusalem in the presence of Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor and Minister of Health Ronni Milo. The center will serve as a bridge between the worldwide Reform, Liberal, and Reconstructionist movements and Israel.

The center's activity will focus on promoting religious pluralism, equality, Jewish education and renewing Jewish tradition in a creative manner. The center will also focus on current social issues in Israel, increasing understanding among all Jews, encouraging Jewish-Arab coexistence, and structuring a Jewish life that is consistent with modern times.

The Merkaz Shimshon will complement the cultural activity of its neighbor - Beit Shmuel. The two centers will run a variety of program for the study of Jewish sources, seminars, plays, concerts and exhibitions for enriching the religious and cultural experiences of the Jews in Israel and abroad.

The center was established at the initiative of the Chairman of the Jewish Agency's Committee for the FSU, Rabbi Asher (Dick) Hirsch, who serves as honorary president of the World Union of Progressive Judaism, with the help of a contribution by Charles and Lynn Schusterman from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mrs. Schusterman is president of the Tulsa Jewish Federation. The center is named for Charles' father, Sam

The new building includes a hall overlooking David's Citadel, a 400-seat theater, six meeting rooms and residential wing. The two centers, Merkaz Shimshon and Beit Shmuel, house the internationl headquarters of Reform Judaism and the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism.

from left to right
Chaim Chesler, Rabbi Richard Hirsch, Sallai Meridor, Charles Schusterman
photo credit: Joe Malcolm

Revivim, a new program designed to train outstanding teachers in Jewish studies for Israeli secular high schools is being launched this month at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The program, known as Revivim, is also designed to further understanding and respect among the religious streams.

Revivim is a four-year, interdisciplinary university program which includes intensive Jewish studies along with pedagogic training and internship in schools, beginning with the first year. Students accepted to the program were chosen on the basis of high scholastic achievements and personal evaluation. The students have been awarded scholarship funding in addition to full tuition grants. Upon completion of the four-year program, they will be awarded an M.A. degree in teaching Bible and Jewish thought. In return, the participants are obligated to teach for at least five years in non-religious public high schools.

The students, who are both secular and religious are anxious to further the causes of tolerance and the closing of the secular-religious gap in society. They are motivated towards changing and strengthening Jewish education among all sectors of today's youth and enhancing the connection between Jewish culture and the secular world.

The Revivim program was created at the Hebrew University as a response to the 1994 Shenhar report commissioned by the Israel Ministry of Education to assess the status of Jewish curriculum and identity in Israel's schools. That report concluded that there is a general failure to teach Bible, Jewish thought and history and Talmud in the schools in an integrated, coherent and comprehensive manner. In particular, the report highlighted the alarming decline in the recruitment and training of Jewish studies teachers.

Last month, three Jewish education centers opened in the Republic of Georgia. The centers, located in the towns of Gori, Kutaisi, and Batumi, provide nine weekly hours of instruction for young adults in Jewish history and tradition, the Hebrew language, computers, and English. Graduates of the 44-week program will receive a certificate from the Education Union of the Jewish communities of Georgia, and a professional certificate from a Georgian computer education center. In addition to strengthening Jewish identity and knowledge, the program will enhances employment opportunities for participants -- in Israel as well as in Georgia. .

The centers, which are run by the Educational Union of the Jewish Communities of Georgia, and supported by the L.A. Pincus Fund for Jewish Education in the Diaspora, replicate a highly successful pilot project launched in Tbilisi in 1998. The Tbilisi center is also sponsored by Educational Union of the Jewish Communities of Georgia with the help of the Pincus Fund. In early September, teachers from the Tbilisi Educational Center provided an in-service seminar for the teaching staff of the three new centers..

"It's very impressive that they were able to open three centers at once," says Susan Bass of the Pincus Fund. "Rabbi Levin advises us that there is even a waiting list."

The program has generated great interest and excitement both among participants and the Jewish leadership of the three communities. According to Rabbi Ariel Levin, Chief Rabbi of Georgia, the centers will have a marked impact on strengthening Jewish life in their cities.

Gori is best known as the birthplace of Joseph Stalin. It is difficult to ignore the historic irony of a revival of Judaism in the hometown of the person responsible for the brutal eradication of Jewish life in the former Soviet Union.

Approximately 13,000 Jews currently live in Georgia, 8,000 of them in the capital city of Tbilisi. There are 1,500 Jewish residents in Kutaisi, 1,000 in Gori, and 700 in Batumi.

The Pincus Fund was established in 1977 through the joint efforts of the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization, and the Government of Israel

Georgian Jews learning about their heritage

This week, forty three young adults from Israel's south were awarded diplomas at a festive ceremony marking the completion of an academic preparatory program designed to give them a second chance at higher education. Participants in the innovative three-month program at Sapir College in the Negev, which was developed and supported by the Jewish Agency in conjunction with Sapir and local authorities, included residents of moshavim in five regions of the Negev: Eshkol, Merchavim, Bnei Shimon, Azata, and the Ashkelon Coast.

According to Tzippi Eisenmann, director of the Planning and Development Division at the Jewish Agency's Southern Region, the program targeted young adults age 26 to 40 who were unable to pursue academic studies earlier. The curriculum, designed to provide the tools and skills needed for higher education, included instruction in English, mathematics, computers, and civics, as well as an empowerment workshop aimed at helping each person develop his or her individual potential.

Participants in the ceremony included: Moshe Almoznino, Director of the Jewish Agency's Southern Region; Dr. Yigal Dunitz, Director of the Planning Division of the Jewish Agency's Israel Department; Prof. Ze'ev Tsachor, President of the Sapir College, Avner Mori, and head of the Merchavim Regional Council.

IDF Navy commando fighters overtook Bat-Yam. The fall storm surprised Israelis. Unprecedented rain for the month of October fell in most areas of Israel. Navy commando fighters were called in from their posts along the Gaza shoreline in their 'dingies' to evacuate entire families whose homes were flooded. The joy of the first rain was spoiled by a terrible tragedy - a four-year-old toddler, David Hadad, broke away from his mother, fell into the water that flooded their apartment and drowned.

Jerusalem was pleased with the American decision to condemn Arafat for the violence in the territories. 365 congressman voted for the decision to condemn and 30 voted against.

The preliminary report of the committee established by the Vatican to investigate the accusations against Pope Pius XII at the time of the Holocaust, demands that the archives at the Vatican be opened to historians. The report raises touchy questions regarding the Vatican's behavior during the Holocaust.

As we go to press we have learned that a Synagogue in the town of Efrat in Gush Etzion has been vandalized, apparently by Palestinians from the vicinity.

The recent events in Israel prove the importance of strengthen the Jewish communities in the periphery, while simultaneously maintaining programs to strengthen Jewish-Arab relations. The Jewish Agency furthers such programs through its Allocations Unit and the Partnership 2000 program, conducted in partnership with the United Jewish Communities.

The Jewish Agency has allotted an overall amount of $404,000 for the year 2000 for programs aimed at strengthening cooperation and co-existence between Jews and Arabs. These include drama groups for teenagers at the Neve Shalom experimental school, a music enrichment program for Jewish and Arab youngsters via the Manor Educational Institute, science and nature study groups for high-school students in the northern Negev and at an Arab school in the north of Israel. The programs also include a program for the promotion of leadership among Jewish and Arab youngsters in Acre and a "face to face meeting" - a framework of meetings for dialog between Jewish and Arab students which take place at Givat Haviva.

Residents of Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood hesitated this week over the best way to restore peace with their neighbors in adjacent Beit Jalla, without being injured by the exchange of fire in the area. In the letter written in three languages, Hebrew, Arabic and English, residents of Gilo called upon their Arab neighbors to continue the good relations they had until now, and not to be drawn into war:

"For more than 20 years we having been living next to you and enjoying neighborly relations. Some of you would visit our neighborhood, and even come to our swimming pool, and some of us would visit your beautiful village to walk and make purchases from the wide selection of goods you have to offer. There was never any enmity toward each other. We know that the shots fired at our homes and our neighborhood come from your village, but we also realize that the shots that endanger women and children in Gilo are not being fired by your peaceful residents, and certainly not at your initiative. There are certain elements among your people that wish to bring the Christian Arabs into this messy war in order to pressure us into tough reprisals that will agitate the entire Christian world. Please -- don't let those elements ruin your lives and ours. Help us to help you for the sake of ongoing neighborly relations. Hoping for peace - Residents of Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood."

Due to apprehension over the exchange of fire in the area, Gilo residents are considering various ways of transmitting the letter, written on leaflets, to the residents of the Arab village among them launching a hot-air balloon bearing the dove of peace. Another idea to drop leaflets over the village from a Piper light aircraft was nixed, due to concern that the Fatah Tanzim would shoot the plane down.

The kibbutz movements and the Jewish Agency held an official ceremony at Degania Aleph, marking 90 years since founding of the kibbutz and of kibbutz movement. Participants included Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Jewish Agency treasurer Chaim Chesler.

During the ceremony, the merger of the two kibbutz movements, the United Kibbutz Movement and the Kibbutz Haartzi, into a new kibbutz movement was announced.

The official ceremony, which was organized in conjunction with the Jordan Valley Regional Council, the Ministry of Culture, and the Jewish National Fund, was attended by JNF Chairman Yehiel Leket, United Kibbutz Movement secretary Natan Tal, and head of the Jordan Valley Regional Council Zeev Shor.

Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler stated that settlement is essential to Israel's security and development: "Over the last ten years the Israeli government has not established a single rural settlement, kibbutz, moshav or lookout post. In the near future we must establish 20 new settlements. The Jewish Agency and the Jewish people have a decisive role in this task," said Chesler.

The Jewish Agency has recently undertaken various measures to assist settlers including: wiping out the debts totaling some $40 million of Confrontation Line settlements, developing a three-year program to strengthen these settlements following the IDF's withdrawal from Lebanon; waiving compensation for expanding settlements in top national priority areas, and support for educational and cultural events in these areas.

Another event which took place in Degania in the presence of President Moshe Katsav, saluted aliyah and the "First Home in the Homeland" program. This program is run by the Jewish Agency together with the kibbutz movement and the Ministry of Absorption deals with the absorption of new olim in kibbutzim.

The event was attended by Absorption Minister Yuli Tamir, and Chairman of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Committee, Arieh Azoulay, and some 2,500 olim. These included individuals living on kibbutzim as part of the First Home in the Homeland program, olim living at Jewish Agency absorption centers and Selah and Chalom students.

Arieh Azoulay noted that that since it was founded in 1929, the Jewish Agency has helped realize the Zionist vision through the illustrious settlement movement and by bringing Jews from throughout the world to Israel and absorbing them here: "Recent events illustrate the importance of the Jewish Agency's role in continued settlement activity and aliyah in order to strengthen and building up the nation," said Azoulay.

(5-7 servings)

Ingredients:

1 large onion
5 stems of parsley
3 mangold leaves
1 small celery root
4 stalks of dill
3 large zucchini
3 medium tomatoes
2 green peppers
5-6 quarters of chicken
1/2 - 3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. cardamon
1 cup rice

Preparation:

• Wash and finely chop the onion, parsley, mangold, celery and dill. Dice the zucchini, tomatoes and peppers.

• Place all the vegetables in a deep saucepan, add the chicken and flavor with salt, black pepper and cardamom. Mix and cover with water until the pot is 3/4 full (4-8 cups). Cook until the chicken is soft - approx. 45 minutes.

• Wash the rice and add to the pot. Continue to cook until the rice is soft. Taste, and if necessary add salt.

B'Te'avon! Bon Appetit!