INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AT OXFORD UNIVERSITY: "Challenges Facing Israel at 60" - Sunday 16th November from 9:30am-6:30pm, St Anne's College, Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HS.

The conference will address Israel's society, economy, security challenges and international relations.  Prominent speakers include:

• Stanley Fischer - Governor of the Bank of Israel
• Shlomo Avineri - Professor of Political Science, Hebrew University
• Yuli Tamir - Israeli Minister of Education
• Peter David - Foreign Editor, The Economist
• Dan Meridor - Israeli Minister of Justice (1992-96) and Finance (1996-97)

Open to students, faculty and the general public.  Free lunch, refreshments and drinks reception.  To register online, visit www.ihps-oxford.co.uk/conference .

Ahead of Israel concert, McCartney shares with 'Post' his optimistic view of life

David Horovitz , THE JERUSALEM POST

A full half century after The Beatles began to take shape, Paul McCartney still sounds awed, modest and appreciative when discussing the lasting resonance of their music. Ahead of his Tel Aviv concert on Thursday, McCartney talks here to The Jerusalem Post about his beliefs, about how he copes with near-universal fame, about the puzzling, even "magical" inspiration for some of his songs, and about his abiding, insistently optimistic outlook on life.

Paul McCartney, just turned 15, was introduced to John Lennon, all of 16, at a church fete in Woolton, Liverpool, at which Lennon's skiffle group, The Quarrymen, was playing. The older boy, so legend has it, was impressed by McCartney's familiarity with rock and roll music and his facility with a guitar. For one thing, he knew how to tune it properly. The year was 1957.

McCartney, who had already started penning his own songs (he still sometimes plays his first ever composition, "I Lost My Little Girl"), soon joined Lennon's band, and the two began writing music together. As other Quarrymen came and went, they recruited a skilled 15-year-old guitarist, George Harrison. It was 1958 - 50 years ago - and, though they had not yet found their name, The Beatles were on their way.

Variants on The Beatles moniker were introduced in 1960 by Stuart Sutcliffe, an artist who reluctantly became their bass player but who died, of a brain hemorrhage, in 1962. With Pete Best on drums, the band honed its live skills at endless gigs in Liverpool and Hamburg, failed an audition at Decca Records in London in January 1962, made a better impression on producer George Martin at Parlophone a few weeks later, drafted the adept Liverpool drummer Richard Starkey in place of Best that August, recorded their first single, "Love Me Do," in September, and set off to change the course of musical history.

Somehow managing to survive a ban by the State of Israel (which probably did not block their appearance here in 1965 because it feared they might corrupt our nation's youth, but more likely because of protekzia in the shape of pressure by one concert promoter who was jealous of the rival who had signed them), they went on to sell more than a billion records worldwide and so dominate global culture that when Lennon remarked in a 1966 interview that they were "more popular than Jesus now," he was being matter-of-fact as well as provocative.

And now, finally, with Lennon dead (murdered outside his Manhattan apartment block in 1980), Harrison dead too (from cancer, seven years ago) and Ringo "otherwise engaged," McCartney, 66, is bringing their music, and his own, to Israel. Some here have called it the greatest cultural event in our 60-year history. He blokily describes it as an opportunity to come to a region he's been interested in visiting, to "see what's what."

From the Zionist Federation:

Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been held captive in Gaza since June 2006.  The Zionist Federation is supporting efforts this month to raise awareness of his plight and to secure his release.

One idea is to send Rosh Hashanah cards to Gilad.  The Jewish New Year begins in late September and the Zionist Federation encourages you to send your wishes and prayers to Gilad.  Cards are being solicited from around the world and will be presented to Gilad's father for delivery to the Red Cross in Israel, with the hope that they can be delivered personally to Gilad in captivity.  We have also arranged a meeting with British Red Cross officials in London to raise the issue of Gilad's detention.

Website link: Send Gilad Your New Year Greeting

BICOM (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre) has produced a useful analysis of the current situation in Gaza.

Introduction

Last week, Egypt discovered 20 underground tunnels in the weapons smuggling infrastructure upon which Hamas (the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement) relies, as well as an 800 metre fuel pipeline, running under its border with Gaza.  The fortnight before that witnessed the most violent sectarianism to have damaged prospects for Palestinian national reconciliation since Hamas seized control of Gaza just over a year ago.  Indeed the split between Hamas and the Palestinian authority has arguably deepened. Meanwhile, despite Hamas's focus on military rearmament, Israel is abiding by its commitment to increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

This brief focuses on these contrasting events and trends as the most significant developments occurring since the Cairo-brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire, or tahdiyeh (the more accurate Arabic term used to describe the temporary lull in fighting), in June.  In no small measure due to Egypt's integral and ongoing role, the lull continues to endure, albeit precariously, almost two months after being agreed.  The natural inclination for a casual observer might be to conclude that upon successful implementation of any ceasefire agreement between warring parties, they are on the path to some form of reconciliation.  The reality in the case of Israel and Hamas, however, is that the present interest each side has in the lull partially obscures the growing complexity of the situation and propensity for conflict to re-emerge.

Read more on BICOM's site >>

Brussels, 6 August 2008 (ITUC OnLine ): The Israeli national trade union centre Histadrut and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), both of which are affiliated to the ITUC, have reached a landmark agreement to protect the rights of Palestinian workers employed by Israeli employers, and to base future relations on negotiations, dialogue and joint initiatives to advance “fraternity and coexistence between the two peoples.” The current agreement draws on the terms of an initial 1995 agreement, which it had not been possible to fully implement in the intervening years.

The key features of the agreement include the reimbursement by Histadrut to the PGFTU of the outstanding balance of union and legal representation fees paid since 1993 by Palestinians working for Israeli employers. The reimbursement is based on a detailed year-by-year analysis of the fees paid by Palestinian workers, taking into account funds previously transferred to the PGFTU. The PGFTU will have sole discretion as to how the funds will be spent, in line with its Constitution.

In the future, at least 50% of the representation fees paid by Palestinians working for Israeli employers will be transferred to the PGFTU, to enable both organizations to provide representation, legal and other trade union services to the workers.

By Avi Issacharof, Haaretz

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates.

It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says at the outset.

Forthcoming Event

Join the party at SIMCHA ON THE SQUARE 2008
Sunday 14 September  1pm - 7pm
Trafalgar Square, London WC1

"Makes you feel proud to be Jewish in London"

Join the fun at London's biggest Jewish cultural event with music, song and dance, exhibitions, food, children's activities market stalls featuring books, music, jewellery and contemporary Jewish arts.

In one afternoon you will hear melodies from Bessarabia to Britain and from the Balkans to the Bronx in a non-stop extravaganza of Jewish music on stage and screen with superb professional and community artists.

The Klezmatics, the Grammy-Award winning mega band from New York starring Frank London, Matt Darrieu, Lorin Sklamberg and co will fly in specially to join our local stars including Joglarisa perfroming music of medieval Spain; Gregori Schechter's Klezmer Festival Band; Three Chazans and a 'Cousin'; STYLE, the great new wedding band headed by Steven Leas, as well as the Jewish Youth Singers; the fanfare of shofars and much more.

This is the third annual 'Simcha on the Square' is produced by the Jewish Music Institute for JewishCulture UK and supported by the London Jewish Forum and the Mayor of London.

If you would like to blow the shofar - or take a stall and for more information visit the 'Simcha on the Square' website : www.simcha.org.uk  

From israel matzav , via Jerusalem Posts:

Could it be that the world's largest recipient of foreign aid per capita with the expert suit-and-tie-clad businessman at its helm is going bankrupt? That's what the 'Palestinian Authority ' is telling the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday morning. The reason for the 'bankruptcy'? No, of course it's not that they spent more than they took in. It's that they didn't take in enough. You see, many of the 'donor countries' - especially the Arab ones - haven't been ponying up their money now that a barrel of oil 'only' costs $126 instead of $147....

The officials told The Jerusalem Post that the PA wouldn't be able to pay July salaries to more than 150,000 public servants and may be forced to close down several government institutions as a result of the deepening crisis.

I know one place they could cut back - they could stop paying 'salaries ' for all their 'employees ' in Gaza who haven't come to work in over a year. At least 40% of the 'Palestinian Authority's 'budget' is spent in Gaza, which they do not even control.