Conference circuit

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Keren Moshe, a Swiss scholarship fund with a symposium on Leadership in the Peripheral Communities.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
Tuesday, November 28 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Keren Moshe, a Swiss scholarship fund with a symposium on Leadership in the Peripheral Communities. The symposium in the presence of Michel Halperin, president of the Swiss Friends of BGU, and his wife Esther, will be held within the framework of Ben-Gurion Day. For further details call (08) 646-1750. The BGU Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research together with the Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research will host an international conference under the banner From Invention and Development to Product, From Research Institutes to the Water Industry. The conference will be held at the George Evens Family Auditorium on the Sde Boker campus. Topics will relate to water systems, sewage treatment, irrigation, polluted water and investments in water projects. The conference Web site for registration and updated information is: www.ziwr.co.il. Wednesday, November 29 The S. Daniel Abraham Center for International and Regional Studies at Tel Aviv University will host Prof. Jeffrey Lesser, Fulbright distinguished chair of the Humanities Dept. of History, Emory University, who will speak on Latin American Jewry: A View from the Multi-Ethnic Brazil. The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. in the Drachlis Conference Hall of the Gilman Building on the TAU campus. MERHAV, the Movement for Israel Urbanism in cooperation with the Haifa Municipality will host a three-day conference on New Urbanism in Israel with participants from Israel and abroad who will discuss the ways in which New Urban principles can be applied in Israel. Participants will include urban planning and building professionals - developers, community and social workers, architects, landscape architects, traffic engineers, infrastructure engineers, economists, geographers, lawyers, residents of Haifa and members of the general public who are interested in improving urban lifestyle and city design, mayors, city planners, government officials, planners in government and public agencies and representatives of volunteer and civic organizations and NGO's working in Haifa and the Galilee. Among the participants will be Enrique Pe alosa, the former mayor of Bogot , Columbia, who revolutionized public space in his city. For more information and registration contact: Dror Gershon - dror@miu.org.il, Irit Solzi - irit@miu.org.il, Dr. Yodan Rofe - yodan@miu.org.il. Thursday, November 30 A discussion in English on free loan societies will be led by Rivka Rapaport and Yehezkel Mink of the Old City Free Loan Association. The event, under the auspices of Root and Branch Association will be held at the Israel Center, 22 Keren Hayesod, Jerusalem at 7:30 p.m. Israel Center nonmembers NIS 25, Israel Center members NIS 20, students NIS 10, journalists free, Israel Center life members free. Tuesday December 5 Johan Galtung, the founder and director of Transcend: A Global Peace and Development Network for Conflict Transformation will be among the speakers at a dialogue on whether peace between Israel and the Palestinians is possible. The dialogue, which will initially involve Israeli and Palestinian discussants, will be opened up to audience participation. The event will take place at 5:45 p.m. in auditorium 0003 of the Naftali Building on the Tel Aviv University campus. The annual Jewish-Arab Business Conference under the auspices of the Center for Jewish-Arab Economic Development will take place from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., at the Dan Accadia Hotel in Herzliya. Wednesday, December 6 Prof. Jan Wolenski of the Philosophy Department of the University of Cracow will be the guest of the Faculty of Humanities at Tel Aviv University and will speak on Todeswell: A Contribution to the Philosophical Understanding of the Holocaust in room 449 of the Gilman Building on the TAU campus. The lecture, in English, will begin at 4:15 p.m. Saturday, December 9 For over a decade, the Globes financial daily has been hosting the Israel Business Conference, which is attended by more than 3,000 participants. The three-day event is recognized as the country's most prominent business forum, attracting politicians and top business people from Israel and around the world to come and learn more about recent developments in the local and global economy. The conference sets the stage for a direct dialogue between the business and economic community and local decision makers together with important figures from around the world. The prime minister, finance minister, industry, trade and labor minister, the leader of the parliamentary opposition, governor of the Bank of Israel and other senior officials traditionally participate, with the prime minister delivering the closing address. Key speakers will include: Nikish Arora, vice president of European Operations Google; David Bradford, dean Stanford Executive Program on Leadership; Philippe Davy, vice president Strategic Alliances Lenovo; Thomas Glacer, CEO Reuters Group; David Arkless, senior vice president Manpower; Ali Faramawy, vice president Microsoft; Richard Quest, CNN correspondent; Robert Friedman, business editor Fortune Magazine; and Augusto Lopez-Clarlos, chief economist Global Competitiveness Program at World Economic Forum. Monday, December 11 The English-speaking group of macular degeneration victims will hold its inaugural meeting at 10 a.m. at Beit Tami in Shenkin on the Park, Tel Aviv near Allenby Street. The venue is on the 3rd floor of an elevator building. Guest speaker will be Dr. Gideon Naor, who will provide an overview of this debilitating condition, which is a major eye problem of people over the age of 60. For additional information, call: Michal 052-233-4272 or Shirley 03-571-8749 (not on Shabbat). The Third International Conference on Health Policy to be hosted by the Israel National Institute for Health Policy and Health Services Research will be held at the Jerusalem International Convention Center (Binyenei Ha'uma). The conference will examine reforms in public health policy under the title "Health Systems: Are We in a Reform Era?" The three-day conference will also feature an exhibition including information booths, state-of-the-art products and services geared to public health and health policy professionals. Thursday, December 14 The second two-day KEDEM conference on Interreligious Reconciliation will take place at the Konrad Adenauer Conference Center at Mishkenot Sha'ananim in Jerusalem on the theme "Cooperation between Religious and Political Leaders in Promoting Reconciliation between Arabs and Jews in Israel." The conference - which will be cosponsored by ICCI, Religions for Peace, USAID (the Conflict Mitigation and Management Division) and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Israel - will bring together grassroots religious and political leaders from all over Israel for an intensive set of discussions in Jerusalem. Parts of the conference will be open to the public, including a special symposium on the theme of the gathering. SAVE THE DATE Thursday, January 11 he Jerusalem Friends of the Hebrew University will hold a seminar on Magic, Mystery and Witchcraft at the Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem.