Conference Circuit

Upper Galilee farmers will hold an emergency conference in Afula to determine how to deal with migrating birds.

By GREER FAY CASHMAN
many birds lake 298.88 (photo credit: AP)
many birds lake 298.88
(photo credit: AP)
Monday, August 4
  • THE INCREASING restrictions imposed by Israel on entry and exit of money, goods, services and persons via the Gaza Strip and the closure of the Rafah crossing into Egypt since June 2007 have led to a sharp decline in the ability of Gaza's health-care system to provide services to patients. The result has been a sharp increase in the number of patients referred to external medical centers in Israel proper, the West Bank and Jordan via the Erez crossing. There has also been a much sharper increase in the proportion of patients denied exit permits: from 10 percent in the first half of 2007 to 35% in the first quarter of 2008. Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) is launching a publication on the recent policy of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), whereby patients from the Gaza Strip who are in need of medical care outside Gaza are interrogated at the Erez crossing and pressured to provide intelligence information as a condition for entry. PHR-Israel says the Shin Bet and IDF are placing increasing limitations on the number of patients granted permits to exit Gaza for medical care that is not available inside Gaza. Eleven testimonies of patients who were subjected to interrogation and pressure are included in the report. PHR-Israel will present the contents of the report during a press conference at Jerusalem's Ambassador Hotel at 10:30 a.m. Video interviews with three of the alleged victims will be screened. For more information and registration call Libby Friedlander at (054)245-7682.
  • THE INAUGURATION of Slil (film reel) - an Internet journal for history, cinema and television - on the Web site of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, being supported by the Koebner-Minerva Center for German History, will take place at 9 p.m. at the Jerusalem Cinematheque. Its aim, in cooperation with the Jerusalem Cinematheque, is to present the diverse approaches to the study of history, cinema and television, and to demonstrate how using these media can enrich historic research. For more details: ofer.ashkenazi@mail.huji.ac.il or http://www.hum.huji.ac.il/site/slil. Tuesday, August 5
  • A WORKSHOP in Hebrew on "Globalization in Latin America in a Comparative Perspective: Identities, Politics and Economics" will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at HU's Mount Scopus campus, Abba Eban Conference Room, Truman Institute, under the auspices of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace. For more details: (02)588-2329 or http://truman.huji.ac.il.
  • UPPER GALILEE farmers will hold an emergency conference at 5 p.m. in Afula to determine how to deal with migrating birds, particularly cranes that are returning from Europe and the anticipated damage they will do to fields and orchards. According to Zamir Carmi, the coordinator of the Association of Field Crop Farmers in the Hula Valley, the relevant authorities in the government ministries and agencies are indifferent to the problem of how to feed the birds to keep them away from the crops, although the various authorities had agreed to participate in a project aimed at resolving the problem. For more details call Zamir Carmi at (057)727-7401. Thursday, August 7
  • TO MARK the third anniversary of implementation of the disengagement plan and the expulsion of Jewish residents from Gush Katif and northern Samaria, the Council of Young Israel Rabbis, in Israel in conjunction with the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, is organizing an evening of commemoration, inspiration and solidarity at the Jerusalem Great Synagogue, 55 King George Street, at 8 p.m. Speakers include Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon, founder of JobKatif and recipient of the President's Prize for Volunteerism; Anita Tucker, who lived for 30 years at Netzer Hazani and was known as the celery lady; Rabbi Sholom Gold, rabbi emeritus of Young Israel of Har Nof and founder and dean of Avrom Silver College; and Aviva Pinchuk, who has been actively answering the needs of Gush Katif evacuees. The Poor Man's Prayer written by Rabbi Yosef Einekave, who was chief rabbi of Gush Katif, will receive its international launch. It should be noted that the overwhelming majority of evacuees have not yet been given permanent housing; the value of anything they received by way of compensation is nowhere near the value of what they left behind; few of them have been able to secure jobs; many of the youth, who were once the pride and joy of the nation, have become demoralized to the extent that they don't want to serve in the army, and some have become drug addicts. The symbolic entrance fee of NIS 20 will be used for projects designed to help Gush Katif evacuees. For more information: (02)625-4983 ext. 111
  • FORMER LIKUD Knesset member Dr. Ze'ev Binyamin Begin, who during his period of service as an MK eschewed many of the privileges to which he was entitled, continued to travel via public transport and was often cited as a public servant who was totally free of corruption. He will participate in the Menachem Begin Heritage Center's special Parashat Hashavua program that will be held at 7 p.m. to coincide with the nine-day period of introspection prior to Tisha Be'av. He will lecture on the Lachish Letters. The evening will be conducted by popular lecturer Dr. Micha Goodman, who inaugurated the center's Parashat Hashavua program.
  • MK ARYE ELDAD (National Union/National Religious Party) will give a lecture on "The Destruction of the Temple" at Jerusalem's Zvi Yisrael congregation, Rehov Hovevei Zion 14, starting at 8 p.m.