Monday 17 March, 08 Distribution 

1.  US Elections

John McCain Wins Enough Delegates To Become Republican Nominee
Democratic race continues as Clinton wins popular vote in three of four states

After Americans in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont voted in primaries March 4, Arizona Senator John McCain earned enough delegates to become the presumptive Republican nominee for president.  Cain received the majority of the votes in all four states and now has more than the 1,191 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination. He does not officially become the party’s nominee until delegates cast their votes at the Republican National Convention in September. (Read more)

2.  US Assistance and Policy

U.S. Pledges $148 Million to U.N. Fund for Palestine Refugees
Funds focus on emergency appeals for Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza

The United States Government’s Contribution to UNRWA’s 2008 General Fund and Emergency Appeal

The U.S. government pledge to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has reached $148 million for 2008.  This amount includes a total of $91 million ($40 million of which was announced in January) to UNRWA’s General Fund supporting Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria; and $57 million to UNRWA’s 2008 West Bank and Gaza emergency appeal. (Read more)

US Department of State Releases 2007 Annual Report on Human Rights

Secretary Rice (Mar. 11): "I am pleased today ...in announcing the publication of the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007. In every region of the world, men and women are working peacefully, and often at great risk to themselves and their families, to secure human rights and fundamental freedoms, to follow their consciences and speak their minds without fear, to choose those who would govern them and to hold their leaders accountable and to achieve equal justice under the law." (Full text) (Israel and the Occupied Territories Report)

 

 

Secretary Rice Salutes a Palestinian International Women of Courage

International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony 2008

Secretary Rice (Mar. 10): "From Somalia and Fiji, to Iraq and Afghanistan, from Pakistan and Paraguay to Kosovo and the Palestinian Territories, these women of courage are transforming their societies from the bottom up, and in doing so, they are inspiring us all. Our eight honorees are among 95 exceptional women who were nominated by American Embassies worldwide. Despite differences of language, ethnicity and background, these eight women share a commitment to the non-negotiable demands of human dignity – the conviction that no culture, no religion, and no tradition of any nation provides license for treating women as objects or instruments to be commanded by another." (More)

Rice, Palestinian Authority President Abbas Press Availability
Officials discuss violence in West Bank, Gaza

March 4, 2008
PRESIDENT ABBAS: (Via interpreter) We welcome Dr. Rice who (inaudible) at time when our region is undergoing serious developments. And this is something that occurs often, that we have these dangerous developments. We’ve conducted today very important discussions, but we addressed the current conditions and what we can do to overcome these conditions and how to improve the situation at all levels. What is happening is not our pleasure at all. We are saddened by what is happening. (Full transcript)

3. Comment:

Let's Help The Good Guys In The West Bank
By Walter Isaacson

The rocket attacks on Israel launched by Hamas militants in Gaza, coupled with Israel's retaliation, have disrupted peace talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. This is a great victory for the radicals in Hamas, who never wanted such talks. While visiting the region this week, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is trying to remind everyone that the real goal is to weaken Hamas.  One way to do that is to strengthen its moderate Palestinian opponents. Fortunately, there is a smart and honest leader of these forces: Salam Fayyad, an apolitical economist (with a doctorate from the University of Texas) who is prime minister of the Palestinian Authority. (Read article) (باللغة العربية). 

4. Culture

Arab Festival Highlights Kennedy Center's New Season

By Anne Midgette
Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, March 11, 2008; 4:43 PM
The Arab world will be united. Artistic anniversaries will be duly feted. And "Ragtime" will be exhumed twice over, once as the musical and once as a Balanchine ballet. Those were the highlights from today's announcement of the Kennedy Center's 2008-09 season.
Next year, the center's annual package-tour festival takes on, rather than a single country, the 22 nations of the Arab League, from Egypt to Somalia. The three-week festival (Feb. 25-March 15) is called "Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World," and represents one of the center's most ambitious projects to date. It has a $10 million budget (well over the approximately $6 million for this year's Japan festival) and calls for construction of a souk on the Kennedy Center premises.  (Read more)

New Encyclopedia Celebrates Arab-American Artists, Painters, sculptors, photographers profiled by California artist

Fayeq Oweis, noted artist and professor of Arabic language and culture at Santa Clara University in California, has published a unique volume entitled Encyclopedia of Arab American Artists, which highlights 85 individuals and groups working in painting, sculpture, photography, film, cartooning, calligraphy, mixed media, architecture and theater design.  In his introduction, Oweis writes, "The profiles in this book are not just biographical; they also highlight the many issues that influenced, inspired, and informed the artists' work. These include politics, language, culture, identity, economics ... and provide a portal into the rich culture of the Arab world.  (Read more)