Op-Ed: Hezbollah gains a toehold inside U.N. Security Council
As part of the coalition government of Lebanon, a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the next two years, the terrorist group and Iranian proxy Hezbollah is represented inside the world body's most prestigious room, the American Jewish Committee's communications director writes. Read more »
Op-Ed: Holocaust denial in Israel needs urgent attention
With a recent survey showing that 40 percent of Israeli Arabs deny the Holocaust, Arabs and Jews must work in their own communities and together to shoot down the mighty myth, writes the American Jewish Committee's Kenneth Bandler. Read more »
FOCUS ON ISSUES Israeli Arabs open lodgings, restaurants to serve tourists
SAKHNIN, Israel, Nov. 18 (JTA) – Omar Ayadi believes that the path to Jewish-Arab coexistence in Israel is paved with good food. On most weekends, his Peace Tent restaurant is filled to capacity – more than 200 Arabs and Jews, and often some foreign tourists as well, reclining, Bedouin- style, on colorful cushions while feasting on a wide variety of Middle Eastern dishes. Perched on a hill in Arrabe, overlooking the neighboring Arab town of Sakhnin and several hilltop Jewish communities in northern Israel, the Peace Tent is situated in an idyllic location – conducive to ``the spirituality of relaxing," as Ayadi puts it. Business has been so brisk since Ayadi opened his restaurant three years ago – some 30,000 people, he says, have dined in his tent – that he is expanding. Next to the tent, Ayadi is constructing a building that will house an expanded kitchen for the restaurant, and a bed-and-breakfast so he can accommodate overnight guests. In a country renowned for its tourism industry, Arab communities have been virtually ignored on travel itineraries. But in recent years, Israeli Arabs have begun developing facilities that cater to tourists. For the time being, the effort is being carried out by individual entrepreneurs who have recognized the economic potential of tourism, especially here in the Galilee, a mountainous region rich in nature and archaeological sites that has become a weekend escape destination for Israelis from the overcrowded Tel Aviv area. ``The Arabs are very suitable for bed-and-breakfasts because it is in their nature," says Philip Kaldawi, of the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, referring to the traditional Arab hospitality of opening one's home to visitors. Some 100 bed-and-breakfast rooms have opened in Arab communities since 1992, according to the center. Fathi Haleilah opened the Brotherhood Bed and Breakfast – one of six bed-and- breakfasts in Sakhnin – in March 1997, after using a business loan to build two guest rooms with private bathrooms in the lower level of his home. Haleilah, who has cut back his teaching load in a local school to part time, is now considering retiring and devoting all of his energies to his business. He charges about $70 for two on a weekend night, including a full Arab breakfast of breads, cheeses, fruit and homemade jams. While he recommends restaurants in the area, including the Peace Tent where an average meal costs about $20, his wife will, upon request, prepare dinner. Both Ayadi and Haleilah say they would not have been able to launch these ventures without the assistance of the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development, a 10-year old nonprofit organization that has pioneered grass- roots economic initiatives in Israeli Arab communities. The center was founded by Sarah Kreimer, who immigrated to Israel from the United States in 1984, after spending two years in the Arab town of Tamra as part of a Jewish-Arab coexistence program called Interns for Peace. Observing the economic disparities between Jews and Arabs, Kreimer decided to do what she could to help Arab businesses. For Arab entrepreneurs, the center's arrangement with an Israeli bank to provide small business loans has been critical. Haleilah received a $15,000 loan from the Mercantile Discount Bank and Ayadi obtained about $20,000. Kreimer's center guarantees one-third of each loan. An Arab who lives in Haifa, Kaldawi is constantly on the road, encouraging Israeli Arabs to start business ventures, especially in the tourism sector. There is a lot of potential for establishing businesses, Kaldawi says, but it often is difficult to overcome cultural obstacles. Kaldawi cites, for example, the Bedouin town of Tuba-Zangria, located near Kiryat Shmona, an area in northern Israel that because of nature attractions receives some 1 million visitors a year – 250,000 come to Tuba itself, he says. But there has been resistance to establish any bed-and-breakfasts there because, according to Bedouin culture, a guest is welcome to stay for free. Ayadi, who is of Bedouin descent, had no such qualms. Using skills honed as a teen-ager working in a Jewish restaurant in the resort city of Tiberias, and later as a stone-cutter in a quarry, Ayadi built the Peace Tent next to his own home in Arrabe by himself. The structure actually is built of stone, with arches on three sides – the fourth side is completely open, offering diners a breathtaking panoramic view. The roof is made of black canvas, similar to a traditional Bedouin tent. Although Haleilah knew little about the tourism business when he got started, he had few inhibitions. While he was motivated, in part, by a desire to make money, he also believes that Sakhnin has much to offer visitors and the town's lodgings can be used as a basis for exploring this picturesque region of the Galilee. Sakhnin boasts the Museum of Palestinian Folk Heritage which was first opened in 1990 and, according to its director, Amin Abu Raia, is the only museum of its kind in an Israeli Arab community. Housed in what was his grandfather's home, the museum has expanded from two to seven exhibit rooms, with some 1,500 Arab artifacts, such as clothing and cooking implements, on display. The museum receives some 10,000 visitors a year, of which 55 percent are Jewish, 40 percent Arab and the remainder foreign tourists, according to Abu Raia. And, Sakhnin is home to the studio of one of Israel's leading Arab artists, Mahmoud Bardarny, who returned to his hometown in 1995 after spending 24 years in Holland. Bardarny wants to turn part of his studio into a museum. ``It will be the first art museum in the Arab sector. It will attract a lot of people," he says. Mustafa Abu Raia, a former mayor of Sakhnin who is returning to that post after an election victory this month, feels strongly that the municipality should back such entrepreneurs – if not with money then at least in publicizing the town's attractions. ``We need to support every ambition," he says. ``With this painter we can make Sakhnin famous.'' Read more »
BEHIND THE HEADLINES Israelis oppose conversion bill after eye-opening sojourn to U.S.
NEW YORK, Sept. 30 (JTA) – A key Likud legislator is ready to risk losing his Knesset seat in the name of Jewish unity. Ze'ev Boim says he will vote against conversion legislation even if he cannot convince his Likud colleagues to oppose the measure that has become a central source of friction between Israel and a majority of American Jews. But he intends to use all his skills of persuasion to get Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud Knesset faction to drop their support of the controversial bill, which would codify Orthodox control over conversions performed in Israel. The sudden reversal by the Likud Party whip came after a weeklong whirlwind visit to American Jewish communities sponsored by the United Jewish Appeal and the Council of Jewish Federations. Boim was joined by three other coalition Knesset members from the Yisrael Ba'Aliyah and Tsomet parties as well as four legislators from the opposition Labor Party. The eight Knesset members, three of whom had voted for the legislation in a preliminary vote, jointly pledged at the conclusion of their trip last Friday to lobby their colleagues to stop the bill. ``Passing the law would cause a serious split in the Jewish world,'' they said in a statement. ``Action should be taken to prevent the legislative process and instead find a just and fair compromise that the Jewish world would accept.'' They said they plan to meet with Netanyahu soon to convey their findings about the American Jewish community. The visit came amid a deepening crisis between American Jews and Israel over the issue of religious pluralism in the Jewish state. American Jews, most of whom are not Orthodox, have voiced outrage over the conversion bill as well as assaults on non-Orthodox men and women praying together near the Western Wall on Tisha B'Av and Shavuot. The issue has heightened concerns amid a backlash against the annual fund-raising campaign run by local federations in concert with UJA. While contributions to the annual campaign are up this year, the campaign has fallen behind its projected goal because of ``the divisive issues that have confronted us over the past months relating to the treatment of Reform and Conservative Jews in Israel,'' Richard Wexler, national chairman of UJA, said in a telephone interview. The 1997 campaign is expected to finish at about $730 million, which would be $20 million less than had been projected for the year, said Bernie Moscovitz, UJA vice president and chief operating officer. But, he added, the campaign will still result in a 2 percent increase – some $15 million to $16 million – over last year. In an effort to educate Israeli lawmakers, in whose hands legislation relating to religious pluralism may rest, UJA and CJF decided to sponsor a tour of Jewish communities around the country. ``I've never seen the people I represent so sad and demoralized,'' Martin Kraar, CJF executive vice president, told the Knesset members last Friday at a meeting at UJA recapping their visit. ``We invited you to see it for yourself.'' What the Israeli lawmakers saw and heard in meetings with Jewish communities in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore and Richmond, Va., proved to be an education not only on American Jewish attitudes toward pluralism but also on the vibrancy of Jewish life in the United States. ``We got such a strong impression of an enormous effort you are putting in Jewish education, in Hebrew and in bringing your youth to Israel,'' said Yuri Stern of Yisrael Ba'Aliyah. ``It made us committed to help you'' on religious pluralism issues, said Stern. Boim recounted with passion his visit to a Jewish day school in Chicago, where he was surprised at the sight of students discussing the Bible in Hebrew. Prior to his election to the Knesset last year, Boim had ties to several American Jewish communities as the mayor of Kiryat Gat. Despite that experience, Boim said last week's visit gave him a ``better understanding of the Jewish community in the United States.'' The Knesset members admitted that Israelis are generally unaware of American Jewish life and concerns. Stern said he had not previously considered the conversion legislation's impact on American Jews because it would not change the status quo of recognizing non-Orthodox conversions performed outside Israel. Conservative and Reform leaders have maintained that passage of the conversion bill would delegitimize their movements in Israel. ``We did not take into account those feelings when discussing the law,'' Stern said. After touring U.S. communities, he said he realized that ``it's so painful that we should do our best to avoid it.'' Although Kiryat Gat has a large Orthodox constituency, Boim said he would cast his vote on the conversion bill ``according to my Jewish conscience, not according to daily politics.'' The Orthodox parties made conversion legislation a condition for joining the Netanyahu government last year and the coalition backed the measure on a preliminary vote in April. After that vote, Netanyahu appointed a committee made up of Orthodox, Conservative and Reform representatives to find a solution to the crisis. But the committee missed its Aug. 15 deadline, and despite confidence exuded by its chairman, Finance Minister Ya'acov Ne'eman, that a solution would be found, it remains doubtful whether the disparate interests of the three religious streams can be satisfied before the Knesset reconvenes in November. ``I am not sure we can find a compromise,'' Labor Knesset member Ophir Pines-Paz said at last Friday's meeting. The Orthodox parties have threatened to bolt from the coalition if the legislation is not brought to a vote and adopted. If they carry out their threat, it could force new parliamentary elections. ``This question is so important that it is worth even to lose a chair in the Knesset,'' Boim said in an interview, explaining that he could lose his seat if new elections were called. Wexler of UJA said the visit of the Knesset members should help give a boost to the annual campaign. ``Our fund raising will always be impacted when our people are disunited,'' he said. ``To the extent that the Knesset members build bridges toward Jewish unity, our campaign will be affected positively.'' Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 02/09/12 @ 05:54PM EST
- A poll showed that nearly half of likely voters believed the United States should use military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
- Rabbi Gunther Plaut, a major figure in Reform Judaism, died in Toronto.
- The application for a proposed Hebrew-language charter school was accepted by the District of Columbia Public Charter School board.
- A truck driving calves from Eilat to the Golan Heights was hijacked into the West Bank.
- U.S. Rep. Howard Berman introduced legislation that would allow eligible Israeli nationals to receive non-immigrant investor visas in the United States.
- Poll: Half of U.S. voters back strike on nuclear Iran
- Reform leader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies
- D.C. Hebrew-language charter school accepted for review
- Op-Ed: Kick the reaction addiction on campus
- Berman moves to grant investor visas to Israelis
- Holy cow! Calves hijacked into Palestinian territory
- Report: Israeli journalist also works for prime minister
- Larry Greenfield tapped to lead JINSA
