Sunday, March 22

LESSONS LEARNED from Operation Cast Lead with regard to protecting civilians will be discussed by the Institute for National Security Studies at 4.30 p.m at INSS headquarters in Ramat Aviv, 40 Haim Levanon Street.

THE PACE of the erosion of the Earth, a lecture in Hebrew by Dr. Ari Matmon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, will be presented at 5 p.m. at the Wise Auditorium, Edmond J. Safra campus at Givat Ram, as part of the "Heavens Above!" series of lectures sponsored by the HU Authority for Community and Youth. Admission is free. For more details, call: (02) 658-6256.

Monday, March 23

IF ALL the world's a stage, distinctions between theater and reality and reality and theater become increasingly blurred. This is one of the topics to be discussed at a symposium on Playing Demons and Playing Kings. It will be held from 10 a.m. in the Mexico Building of the Tel Aviv University campus. The symposium will be headed by Prof. Ram Levi, who has produced and directed some of Israel's greatest large- and small-screen productions. One of the sessions will deal with politics, society and history.

Tuesday, March 24

DEAN OF Humanities and chairman of Islamic Studies, Christian-Albrencts-Universitat Kiel, Germany, Prof. Pistor-Hatam will lecture in English on The Meaning of History: Twentieth Century Perceptions of the Mongol Invasions of Iran, at 4.15 p.m., Room 5318, Faculty of Humanities, HU's Mount Scopus campus. The lecture is under the auspices of the Institute of Asian and African Studies. For more details, call: (02) 588-3516, or e-mail: r-amitai@mscc.huji.ac.il.

TO LAUNCH the book The Story of Agadir, the City and its Fall, by Orna Baziz, a seminar will be held in Hebrew at 7 p.m. in Jerusalem's Yad Ben-Tzvi Hall, 12 Abarbanel St, Rehavia. It is under the auspices of HU and the Yad Ben-Tzvi Institute. For more details, call: (02) 539-8844.

A WORKSHOP in English on Perspectives on Pains will be held from 9 a.m. in Room 2001, Rabin Building, HU Mount Scopus campus. It is under the auspices of the Scholion Interdisciplinary Research Center in Jewish Studies and the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies. For more details, call: (02) 588-1279, or e-mail: scholion@savion.huji.ac.il.

Wednesday, March 25

THE MONTHLY lecture in Hebrew of HU's Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment in Rehovot will be presented by Prof. Ben-Ami Shillony of the Department of East Asian Studies. He will speak on Japan - Lights and shadows. The lecture will take place at 4 p.m. in the Faculty Club, Faculty of Agriculture, Rehovot campus.

TO MARK 30 years since the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, HU will host a conference in English. Speakers will include whoever happens to be Israel's foreign minister on that date, US Ambassador to Israel James B. Cunningham, Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Yasser Reda A. Aly Said, Israel Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen, media advisor to prime minister Menachem Begin and member of Israel's negotiating team, Dan Patir, along with HU scholars. The conference will begin at 10 a.m. and will conclude at 1.30 p.m. in the Handler Auditorium, Truman Institute, Mount Scopus campus. It is under the auspices of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry. For more details, call: (02) 588-2329, or e-mail: trumanevents@huji.ac.il.

PRIME MINISTER-designate Binyamin Netanyahu will open the STEP Jerusalem Wealth Management Conference by outlining the incoming government's commitment to economic stability in the region. Organizers anticipate that he will use the event to launch his economic peace program.

The Jerusalem Wealth Management Conference will discuss many of the issues related to potential investment opportunities and challenges in the Israeli and Palestinian economies, including joint Israeli-Palestinian ventures that could help to create new facts on the ground. Among the speakers will be representatives of the Bank of Israel, the Trade and Industry Ministry, the International Monetary Fund, the Association of Banks in Palestine, the US Embassy, the recently inaugurated Israel-Palestine Chamber of Commerce and the PalTel Group. The conference will be conducted in English at the David Citadel Hotel, Jerusalem. Among those attending will be investors with a high net worth, representatives of international institutions along with their Israel-based financial and legal advisors. The conference will include three panel discussions on Israel as a secure place for investment, specific sectors of investment and prospects for investment in the Palestinian economy. In addition, there will be sessions on wealth management, philanthropy and trusts. There will also be ample opportunities for networking. The conference is hosted by STEP and organized by Fortress Capital Management.

KIBBUTZIM, MOSHAVIM and private farms are moving increasingly into the tourism market, enabling people from urban backgrounds to experience life on the land or simply to experience life in a rural environment. The upshot is that agricultural tourism is big business. The development of villages with a view to attracting more tourists will be discussed at a conference in which participants will include Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon (if he is still in office), plus representatives from the Tourism Ministry, the hotel industry, academia, municipalities in the Galilee and agricultural organizations. The conference will be held at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Tiberias.

Thursday, March 26

LOOKING BACK 30 Years since the signing of the Peace Treaty with Egypt, the Institute for National Security Studies will host a symposium to examine relations between Israel and Egypt over the past three decades. The symposium begins at 9 a.m. at INSS headquarters in Ramat Aviv, 40 Haim Levanon Street.

THE FALL of Communism and the Jewish Question 1989-2009 is the subject of a symposium in which Prof. Robert Wistrich, Academic Advisor of Yad Vashem Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Romanian Ambassador to Israel Edward Iosiper and Dr. Leon Volovici will discuss different aspects of Jews and attitudes to Jews in a post-Communist era. The symposium, under the auspices of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism, will take place at 6 p.m. in the Maiersdorf Faculty Club, Mount Scopus campus. It is in honor of Dr. Leon Volovici to mark his retirement. For more details, call: (02) 588-2492, (02) 588-2991, or e-mail: sicsa@mscc.huji.ac.il.

NOTES ON Local architecture in Israel will be shared by Prof. Gilead Duvshani, guest lecturer at the School of Architecture at Ariel University. He will discuss the dangers of losing the creative spark in an era of globalization, in which buildings all over the world are beginning to look alike instead of maintaining unique traditional features. The lecture will take place at 3 p.m. in the Raab Auditorium in Building 52 on the Ariel University campus.

Conference Circuit

To mark 30 years since the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, Hebrew University will host a conference in English.