Fwd: Ingenious Muslim rhetoric

This is a from a trusted friend. It's humorous and insightful. I hope it's enjoyed for the nuanced and eloquent manner in which a profound statement was made.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

As salam mu alaikum,

Thought you would like this one:

An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly and made the world community smile.

The Palestinian Representative's Speech at the UN

 
'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Moses. When he struck the rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath!'

He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water.
When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. An Israeli had stolen them. 

The Israeli representative jumped up furiously and shouted, 'What are you talking about?  The Israelis weren't there then.'

The Palestinian representative smiled and said:
'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech.'

$100 million donation to UN Pakistan from Saudi Arabia

I couldnt believe I received this news just hours after it was announced! You all must be thinking, "hours? these days we can get news seconds after an event happens!" The reality, my friends, is that news like this gets buried in back pages of newspapers, broadcast media rarely reports this news and people, quite frankly, just think it's a publicity ploy and view the announcement with cynicism.

I recall last year's $500 million landmark donation by the Saudis to the World Food Programme in response to their appeal for assistance to those most affected by the food crisis. WFP issued the appeal for around $700 million, and with the Saudi donation, their appeal was officially closed. How amazing is that. I dont think the US has ever thought of demonstrating their multilateralism like that. Instead, when the Southeast Asia tsunami happened, their initial donation was $35 million which resulted in a huge outcry from the public and the then Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs at the UN, Jan Egeland. In fact, Egeland went so far as to call the Americans "stingy". Go Europeans!

Anyway, I am excited to hear that the Saudis are opening up and truly making efforts to build bridges. In fact, King Abdullah expressed a similar sentiment when he inaugurated the newly established King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, one of the top 10 universities in the world according to financial endowment. That's quite an achievement for a university that just opened its doors!

The same article also mentions how the World Bank ranks Saudi Arabia 13th in terms of business friendliness in an annual review called "Doing Business". And not to forget - Saudi Arabia/King Abdullah has/have repeatedly opened their doors to interfaith and intercultural fora.

Seems like the Saudis are well on their way to shattering some stereotypes. We should pay close attention to those folks. Did anyone say Muslim renaissance?

Jump into the deep end - i'm finally back!

Knowledge is power, and I always hope to empower those who visit my blog in the hope of quenching their thirst for knowledge. I offer my apologies for not updating the blog as regularly as I can/should, since so much has happened that is dear to me, yet I still relegated my duty to empower and let it slip to a lower priority. I am sorry.

But, the good news is that I am back! And with a bang, I hope? My good friend from the UN, Dalai Fazio, a capable, accomplished young graduate of Rutgers and Seton Hall's Whitehead School, has started a great blog on diplomacy and power, titled, quite aptly, "Conversations on Diplomacy and Power Politics". He was awfully kind in asking me to engage in a dialogue for a podcast on the current scenario in India-Pakistan relations, with a focus on relations in the aftermath of the Mumbai attack. Please visit the blog and listen/download, comment, and feel free to spread the word, if you deem it worthy.

Meanwhile, I will update my blog more regularly. Should you come across issues, articles, thoughts that deserve a wider audience, please let me know. Some voices deserve - and need - the greater amplification, and I am happy to provide an alternative platform.

Young Changemakers in U.S.-Muslim Relations - 5/14

Americans for Informed Democracy at John Jay College invites you to:

Hope not Hate

The Role of Young People in Bridging the Divide
Between the U.S. and the Muslim World

A Panel of Speakers and Open Dialogue on the U.S. and the Muslim world

featuring remarks by:

Lucas Welch, President, Soliya

Miriam Asnes and Jake Hayman, OneVoice Movement

Josef Oberger, Research Officer, Alliance of Civilizations

Zeeshan Suhail, Board Member, Americans for Informed Democracy

Saad Amrani, IT Consultant, United Nations

6:00 to 7:30 p.m., May 14^th (Monday)
Lecture Hall Room 1311N
John Jay College of Criminal Justice - North Building (1st floor)
445 West 59th Street (Near Columbus Circle)
RSVP to www.globalscholar.org/johnjay

More information: Hope not Hate seeks to inspire broad, inclusive dialogue about how the U.S. and the Muslim world can work together to reduce growing mutual tensions. Over the last three years, Americans for Informed Democracy has coordinated more than one hundred and fifty Hope not Hate town hall meetings from Macon, Georgia, to Vermillion, South Dakota. Speakers participating in the 2006 series included South Asian rock star Salman Ahmad, former U.S. Senator and 9-11 Commissioner Slade Gorton (R-WA), Ambassador Karl Inderfurth, Islam scholar Shibley Telhami, former Pakistani High Commissioner to Great Britain Akbar Ahmed, MTV News correspondent Gideon Y ago, and many others. We’re excited to be bringing this series to John Jay College!

Bios of the speakers:

Lucas Welch is the founder and president of Soliya –- a non-profit organization that works to build intercultural understanding between the US and the Muslim World and to galvanize young people to act as agents of change. Lucas was recently named one of “the world’s Best Emerging Social Entrepreneurs” by the Echoing Green Foundation for his work. Lucas has worked in a variety of capacities related to media, new technologies and intercultural communication, specifically in the Middle East. He was the Series Associate Producer on the Shape of the Future documentary series for Common Ground Productions -– a portrayal of potential solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to be broadcast in both Israel and the Palestinian Territories. He also served as the Director of Communications for America Abroad Media, where he was coordinating a videoconferencing initiative between high schools in Pakistan and the US. Prior to that, Mr. Welch was a producer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, where he designed new media features integrating the programming of ABC News television and abcnews.com. He has extensive experience abroad, producing video and multimedia features on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for ABC News, and teaching video and multimedia at Birzeit University in the Palestinian Territories.

Miriam Asnes is the International Education Program Manager and Jake Hayman is the International Program Coordinator for the OneVoice Movement. OneVoice aims to amplify the voice of the overwhelming but heretofore silent majority of moderates who wish for peace and prosperity, empowering them to demand accountability from elected representatives and ensure that the agenda is not hijacked by forces of militant absolutism. Together, Jake and Miriam have spoken at over 50 campuses and communities worldwide about their work. Jake spent time in both 2005 and 2006 with the OneVoice offices in Ramallah and Tel Aviv.

Josef Oberger is a research officer with the Alliance of Civilizations. The Secretary-General of the United Nations launched the Alliance, co-sponsored by the Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey. The Alliance responds to a broad consensus across nations, cultures and religions that all societies are interdependent, bound together in their development and security, and in their environmental, economic and financial well-being. The Alliance seeks to forge collective political will and to mobilize concerted action at the institutional and civil s ociety levels to overcome the prejudice, misperceptions and polarization that militate against such a consensus. And it hopes to contribute to a coalescing global movement which, reflecting the will of the vast majority of people, rejects extremism in any society.

Zeeshan Suhail is a Board Member for Americans for Informed Democracy, a non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization working to raise global awareness on more than 1,000 U.S. university campuses and in over 10 countries. Zeeshan has hosted a TV show which introduced New York City to South Asian audiences all over the world, and currently writes a column for a Pakistani newspaper detailing Pakistani-American life in New York (among other things) to a Pakistani audience. His work has been published in Q-News (Britain), The World Scholar (New York), Pakistan Post (New York) and The Nation (Pakistan). While at Queens College, Zeeshan also founded the South Asian Students Association (SASA), whose aim is to promote South Asian culture through panel discussions, film screenings and other cultural events. He was the Secretary for a political party called United People and the Society of Success and Leadership.

Saad Amrani is an IT Consultant for the United Nations. He has set up a User-Friendly Content Management Systems that will help managing websites and data within the NGO section of the U.N. This IT infrastructure optimization has resulted in better outcomes and a more efficient work of the NGO Section. During the committee session of January 2007, some member states have noticed many improvements on the organizational and technical sides. He is interested in how technology can be used to bridge the U.S. and the Muslim world.

NY Event: Sheikha Haya on Arab Women - 5/7

H.E. Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa

President of the 61^st Session of the UN General Assembly

who will give opening remarks on:

Towards the Rise of Women

in the Arab World

presented by

Amat Al Alim Alsoswa

Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP

Discussant

Christa Salamandra

Anthropology, Lehman College, CUNY

The Arab Human Development Report 2005: toward the rise of women in the Arab world, released in December 2006, argues that women in the Arab world still lack equal opportunity and consequently are not able to realize their full potential. This situation constitutes a problem not just for women, but for progress and prosperity in Arab societies as a whole. The region should now assure that all Arab women be afforded full opportunities across the social spectrum, particularly to access basic health services, to generate and acquire knowledge on an equal footing with men, and to engage in activities outside the home.

Monday, May 7, 2007, 6:00 –8:00 p.m.

Room 9205-9207

Persons wishing to attend please email: nnolutshungu@gc.cuny.edu

Sponsored by the Ralph Bunche Institute and the Middle Eastern and Middle Eastern American Center at the CUNY Graduate Center

UN Internship - Wesbite Intern for Millenniun Development Goals - deadline: 3/30

United Nations Millennium Campaign

Web Site Intern

1. Background

In the year 2000, all 189 governments of the world agreed to meet 8 goals that will end extreme poverty by 2015 – The Millennium Development Goals. The Goals are a unique international agreement being time-bound, measurable and having the public promise of every Head of State in the world. All eight Goals are achievable by 2015, but only if governments live up to their promises. The Millennium Campaign is a UN agency formed to mobilise citizens around the world to pressure their governments to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Working in more than 30 rich and poor nations, the Campaign partners with nonprofits from the international to local level to inspire grassroots movements toward the achievement of the Goals.

The Millennium Campaign web site (www.millenniumcampaign.org) is going through a process of complete redesign. The Online Intern will work closely with the communications team with the following tasks:

2. Key Responsibilities

Millennium Campaign Web Site

· Assist with the development of online marketing strategies

· Conduct testing of the new site and report bugs

· Ensure web site posts meet online guidelines

· Scan and sort daily news on the MDGs

· Write and post news articles as necessary

· Assist with the development of a filing library, develop appropriate filing structure and classify current campaign resources

· Check and reply to web site email as necessary

Social Networking Web Sites

· Draft and post blog entries across Millennium Campaign page on social networking sites

· Adapt sites to become more visually appealing with recent tools and appropriate html coding

3. Required Criteria

· Have an interest in development issues or past experience working on related issues

· Able to receive course credit for internship

· Able to commit 2 days per week for a minimum of 3 months

· Previous work experience in an online environment

· Excellent communications skills – verbal and written – in English

· Proficient in Microsoft Office

· Basic understanding of HTML

· Working knowledge of second language preferred (strong preference for Spanish/French)

4. Applications

Please e-mail their resumes to amil.husain@undp.org with “Web Site Intern” in the subject line.

Instead of a cover letter, please submit a blog entry (your feelings/reactions) to any of the latest news entries on the Millennium Campaign homepage by 30 March 2007. Please limit entry to 500 words.

Only short listed candidates will be contacted. This internship is based in New York, NY

UNU-ONY Internship Opportunity

UNU-ONY Internship Opportunity


The United Nations University Office at the United Nations in New York (UNU-ONY) is recruiting an intern for the session running from March 19, 2007 to July 31, 2007. Interns whose term with the UN Internship Programme will expire in mid-March are encouraged to apply. The deadline for receiving applications has been extended to March 12, 2007.


Description:

The internship is a full-time commitment and is not paid.

UNU-ONY liaises with the UN Secretariat, the Permanent Missions, American academia and foundations in five areas of activities:
* Dissemination/communication: Showcasing the work of UNU, particularly through public events organized in the UN Secretariat.
* Political and diplomatic linking: Helping to make UNU a stakeholder and full-fledged partner of the UN system, i.e., its agendas, processes and results.
* Academic interplay between UNU, the UN system, diplomatic missions to the UN and US academia: Helping to secure the intellectual and institutional voice of UNU in the UN system, with the diplomatic missions to the UN and academia in North America.
* Fundraising: Given its geographic proximity to numerous foundations in the New York-Washington D.C. areas, UNU-NY plays a role in fundraising. This role can be played at three levels: project level, programme (RTC/Ps) level, and the overall UNU system level.
* Administrative: UNU-NY plays an important role in administrative support and coordination (travel, personnel, procurement, finance) between the UNU System and the UN.

Intern responsibilities will range widely, encompassing aspects of all of UNU-ONY's work in New York. Specific tasks may include:
* Facilitating public seminars and invitation-only forums, including dealing with content, logistics, and marketing.
* Arranging for dissemination of UNU publications.
* Updating and improving UNU-ONY's website.
* Recruiting interns for the Fall session (August 2007-January 2008).


How to Apply:

Submit the following in a single email to lamis@ony.unu.edu (subject line: Spring07 Internship):
* Cover letter
* Resume/CV
* 1 - 3 page writing sample in English and another language of your choice (French preferable)
* Internship application form (Download from http://www.ony.unu.edu/Documents/Sp07internapp.doc )

The deadline for receiving applications is March 12, 2007.


Consult UNU-ONY's website http://www.ony.unu.edu or contact us directly if you have any questions.


Good luck,

Lamis Abdel-Aty

United Nations University , Office in New York
2 UN Plaza, Room DC2-2060, New York, NY 10017
Tel.: 212-963-6387
Fax: 212-371-9454
http://www.ony.unu.edu/

Angelina Jolie's on a roll - Justice for Darfur

Angelina Jolie has done yet another amazing job at highlighting the plight of those who are less fortunate than her. She already donates one-third of her earnings to charity on an annual basis, but writing about these issues raises the awareness exponentially.

The only way she can do better is if she made a video diary, as she has done in the past, and aired it on MTV perhaps?

On a side note, the article implicitly gives two huge thumbs up to the work of the UN - its refugee agency and its new judicial mechanisms (ICC and ICJ) in particular.

Now if only we could get mainstream America on track as well. The liberals are already on board - where are the conservatives? I wish they realized that like climate change and environmental issues, this one is also not political; it's moral - just like Al Gore said at the Academy Awards.

It's about time we acted.

The Washington Post article is here.

Israel, an apartheid state?

Old habits die hard! It's been a while since i've blogged and for that, I am forever apologetic. Some friends informed me that they actually visit my blog frequently, and I thank them, and all my readers profusely. As you can imagine, not posting for a while is both embarassing in some ways and also lets hopes down.

So, again, my apologies!

The author, John Dugard, works in some capacity at the United Nations, and so this writing has special meaning. It's not written on behalf of the UN, but gives an interesting perspective to the issue of Israel and Palestine from a global, as opposed to Middle Eastern, perspective. Moreover, Dugard and former US President Jimmy Carter are riding on a wave of harsh criticism directed at Israel in recent months, first after the Israel Lobby report was published by two prominent American political scientists, and now after Carter's book was published.

I should have posted this article when I first read it, but at the time, did not, and am now repenting like a perpetual sinner because I can't seem to find the article in its entirety. Instead, I will post for you the first half, which I found buried deep within my email inbox. As always, comments - constructive and destructive! - more than welcome...

APARTHEID: ISRAELIS ADOPT WHAT SOUTH AFRICA DROPPED
John Dugard, Atlanta Journal Constitution, 11/29/06

Former President Jimmy Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," is igniting controversy for its allegation that Israel practices a form of apartheid.

As a South African and former anti-apartheid advocate who visits the Palestinian territories regularly to assess the human rights situation for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the comparison to South African apartheid is of special interest to me.

On the face of it, the two regimes are very different. Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial discrimination that the white minority in South Africa employed to maintain power over the black majority. It was characterized by the denial of political rights to blacks, the fragmentation of the country into white areas and black areas (called Bantustans) and by the imposition on blacks of restrictive measures designed to achieve white superiority, racial separation and white security.

The "pass system," which sought to prevent the free movement of blacks and to restrict their entry to the cities, was rigorously enforced. Blacks were forcibly "relocated," and they were denied access to most public amenities and to many forms of employment. The system was enforced by a brutal security apparatus in which torture played a significant role.

The Palestinian territories - East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza - have been under Israeli military occupation since 1967. Although military occupation is tolerated and regulated by international law, it is considered an undesirable regime that should be ended as soon as possible. The United Nations for nearly 40 years has condemned Israel's military occupation, together with colonialism and apartheid, as contrary to the international public order.