Conference Circuit

Former US Ambassadors to Israel Samuel W. Lewis and William A. Brown will speak on "The Obama Administration and the Middle East."

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Obama good 88 224 (photo credit: )
Obama good 88 224
(photo credit: )
Sunday, January 25 "MIGRANT BIRDS know no borders" is the subject of a lecture in Hebrew by Dr. Yossi Leshem of Tel Aviv University. The lecture begins at 5 p.m. at the Wise Auditorium, Edmond J. Safra campus at Givat Ram; and is part of the "Heavens Above!" series of lectures sponsored by the Hebrew University Authority for Community and Youth. Admission is free of charge. For further details, call: 02-6586256. Monday, January 26 FORMER IDF Chief of Staff Moshe "Bogey" Ya'alon will deliver the opening address at an exclusive reception marking the start of the sixth annual three-day Jerusalem Conference to be held at the Regency Hotel Jerusalem under the central theme of New Leadership and New Directions. The reception will be followed by a panel session with leading figures from the Kadima, Labor, Likud, and National Union parties regarding the ramifications of the changing of the guard both in Israel and the United States and the newly brokered truce with Hamas. In addition to regional challenges the conference will address economic, technological and social issue. Dr. Isaac Berzin- founder of GreenFuel Technologies Corporation and recently named one of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World- will participate in a panel on Israel's potential role in the clean energy market; and a session devoted to cracking down on the international financing of terrorism will include US Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Brad Sherman (D-CA) of the Foreign Affairs Committee and Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, Director of the American Center for Democracy and author of Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed. Special attention will also be paid to the role of the UN and the international media in setting the international agenda toward conflict zones. Among other speakers on a variety of subjects are Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni and Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu; former MKs Dr. Uzi Landau and Danny Yatom who is also the former head of Mossad; Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat; Nobel Prize Laureate Professor Israel Aumann; Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund; and distinguished scholars Anne Bayefsky, Professor Eitan Gilboa, Dr. Eilat Mazar, and Professor Bernard Lewis. THE 13th Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress (WJC), will take place over a two-day period in Jerusalem under the motto "We stand by Israel". More than 400 representatives from around the globe are expected to attend to discuss the military conflict in Gaza and other threats against Israel, as well as the repercussions for Jewish communities around the world, specifically the resurgence of violent anti-Semitism. Debates on other international developments, such as the recent Mumbai terror attacks, efforts to delegitimize Israel in international bodies, and the situation in Venezuela, also feature prominently on the agenda. On Tuesday, delegates will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day at a special ceremony at Yad Vashem. President Shimon Peres will address the conference at 9.30 a.m. on Monday at the Inbal Hotel. At 7.30 p.m. on the same date Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will address the conference at the David Citadel Hotel. Most of the conference meetings will be at the Inbal Hotel. Other speakers will include Foreign Minister and Deputy PM Tzipi Livni; Diaspora Affairs Minister Yitzhak Herzog; Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. AN EVENING in honor of Raoul Wallenberg will be held at the Jerusalem Cinematheque with live and recorded addresses by a diplomatic representative, Wallenberg's niece Louise von Dardel and others concerned with perpetuating Wallenberg's memory and ascertaining the truth about his fate. The event which begins at 9 p.m. will include a documentary film "The Case of Raoul Wallenberg - Saviour and Victim." Tuesday, January 27 A BRIEFING for the media on the Feb. 10 Knesset elections will be held in English under the auspices of the Media Relations Department of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem at 11:30 a.m. in the Maiersdorf Faculty Club on the Mount Scopus campus of the university. Veteran HU faculty members who are experts on Israeli politics and elections will provide an analysis of the parties, the various voting blocs among the electorate, and the main factors which are likely to influence voters in this balloting. The analysis will include comparisons with past elections to the Knesset. Journalists should register with Noa Erez of the Media Relations Department at 02-588-2811 no later than noon on Monday, Jan. 26. Faculty members speaking at the briefing will include: Prof. Reuven Hazan, Prof. Menachem Hofnung and Dr. Yitzhak Brudny who are all lecturers in the Political Science Department of the university and Dr. Bashir Bashir is a research fellow in the Gilo Center for Citizenship, Democracy and Civic Education at the HU. For further information call: Jerry Barach, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, 02-588-2904 or. Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, Tel: 054-8820016. Wednesday, January 28 ALGERIAN BORN Colette Aboulker Muscat was among the most colorful and beloved personalities in Jerusalem with a salon that was open to countless admirers of her intellect, her charismatic personality and her ability to interpret dreams. During the Second World War, she and members of her family were in the French resistance movement and helped American naval forces to land in Algiers. After the war she studied at the Sorbonne and became an artist and a leading developer and practitioner of imagery based therapy. She told fascinating stories and wrote several books. She lived in Jerusalem for many years and was honored by the municipality. She died in November, 2005 at age 96. The 100th anniversary of her birth is being commemorated by Root and Branch with films and discussions related to her life. The event at the Israel Center, 22 Keren Hayesod Street, Jerusalem, begins at 7.30 p.m. For further information call: 02-560-9100. A CONFERENCE in English on 'American Mediation in the Arab-Israeli Conflict' will include an Ambassadors Round Table discussion on 'Washington and Jerusalem - How They Perceive American Mediation' with former Israeli ambassadors to the United States Zalman Shoval, Itamar Rabinovich, Daniel Ayalon, Moshe Arad and Moshe Arens and former United States ambassadors to Israel Samuel Lewis, William Brown and Daniel Kurtzer. Other sessions will look at Arab perspectives, US mediation and the regional strategic environment and non-traditional diplomacy; The event from 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. will be held at the Maiersdorf Faculty Club, Mount Scopus campus; under the auspices of the United States-Israel Education Foundation, the United States Institute of Peace, the Swiss Center for Conflict Research, Management and Resolution of the Hebrew University. For further details, call: 02-588 3056 Thursday, January 29 FORMER US Ambassadors to Israel Samuel W. Lewis and William A. Brown will speak on 'The Obama Administration and the Middle East' at 11 a.m., in the large conference room, Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace.To register, e-mail: trumanevents@huji.ac.il For further details, call: 02-588 2300 Friday, January 30 AN ANTHOPOLOGICAL perspective on illness in Japan with specific focus on the 'culture of cancer' will be given by Naama Levin-Dagan of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. The lecture co-sponsored by the Israel-Japan Friendship Society and the Chamber of Commerce is part of Shishagrirut Friday lecture series. Levin-Dagan will also discuss changes occurring under globalization processes in the field of cancer in Japan today and present a study case of a Japanese domestication of an American psychosocial therapeutic model of coping with the disease. The event will be held at the Japanese Embassy,19th Floor, Museum Tower, 4 Berkowitz Street, Tel Aviv.