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Newsletter : 9fax1102.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Nov. 2, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 203
Arab Flight Attendant to Begin Working for El Al
By IsraelWire
El Al spokesman Nachman Klieman said law student Assad Joubran would be the first Arab flight attendant employed by the national carrier. El Al earlier in the year denied allegations of discriminating against Arabs because of security considerations, insisting that anyone passing the required training program was eligible to work for the airline. Despite El Al claims, it does not have any Arabs among the company's over 3,000 employees.
Two-Day Oslo Summit Concludes Tuesday
By David Gollust & Laurie Kassman (VOA-Oslo)
President Clinton meets Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat in Oslo today to climax a two-day summit aimed at energizing the Middle East peace process, as the parties prepare to open negotiations on final-status issues November eighth.
Norway called the summit to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. And at a state dinner hosted by Norway's King Harald, the participants heard an emotional appeal from the late Prime Minister's widow Leah Rabin to carry the peace process forward:
"I'm now turning to you, Chairman Arafat, and to you Prime Minister Barak. It is your commitment to now find the right formula to finish what my husband started and had to pay the highest price for - his life."
Israel and the Palestinians have set a mid-February deadline for reaching a framework accord for a final agreement and are already suggesting that a Camp David-style negotiating summit might be needed early next year to complete the preliminary deal.
Arafat will also be meeting privately with Clinton and Barak. Arafat says he will raise the issue of Jewish settlements in his talks with Clinton. Palestinians see the Israeli policy as an obstacle to peace.
"I think it's the position of Norway, of the European Union, the position of the US and the United Nations that settlement activities are illegal and destructive to (the) peace process and these activities must stop. And we urge the Israeli government to stop any activities that will pre-empt or prejudge the issues reserved for the permanent-status negotiations, in order to give the negotiations meaning it needs." Arafat also complains about what he calls the siege of Bethlehem and confiscation of land as the city prepares to celebrate the millennium. Arafat complains about what he calls the fait accompli in Jerusalem, where Jewish settlements are changing the demography of the city. The status of Jerusalem is to be decided in the final phase of negotiations. Israel says the undivided city is its capital, but Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.
Seeds of Peace
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Jerusalem)
A United States-based organization called "Seeds of Peace," which promotes peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews, has opened a new center in Jerusalem designed to give young people in the Middle East the opportunity to gather together and talk about their differences. So far more than 1,000 Jewish and Arab teenagers are involved in the "Seeds of Peace" program, which has been endorsed by many top leaders in the Middle East and the United States.
The seven-year-old program brings together hundreds of Jewish and Arab teenagers at a summer camp in Maine. At the camp, young people live, work and play together in an environment promoting peaceful coexistence among groups that traditionally have been enemies in the Middle East.
The program has been endorsed by such leaders as President Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Palestinian President Yasir Arafat and the late King Hussein of Jordan.
According to the organization, the goal of the Seeds of Peace program is to turn children of war into ambassadors of peace.
The programs' Founder and President is John Wallach. "These youngsters are the leaders of tomorrow. They have learned how to listen to each other, to hear what the other side is saying, to respect one another and, as a result, they have laid a solid basis for negotiating with each other in the future and cooperation in the future."
Until now, most of the graduates of the Seeds of Peace program have not been able to see each other after returning home because of the traditional segregation of Jews and Arabs here in the Middle East.
That is why the organization decided to open what it calls a Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem, where young people of any religion or background will be welcome. The center will -- as one student put it "allow the seeds of peace to grow into trees."
The Seeds of Peace program has been so successful in the Middle East that countries in other troubled regions have asked to send their teenagers to camp for similar conflict resolution training. Soon, teenagers from the Balkans, India and Pakistan will also have the opportunity to become seeds of peace.
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