Issues about Israel and the Middle East peace process are being taken from outdoor protests in Malcolm X Plaza and into classrooms on Thursday and Monday.
In two separate lectures on campus, Israel will be the topic of discussion from both political and spiritual perspectives by Professor David Menashri and Rabbi Avi Weiss.
The first lecture by Menashri is being sponsored by The Israel Project and the International Relations Student Association.
Menashri, a senior fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and a professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel, said he plans to discuss Israel in a "new" Middle East and the peace process' challenges and prospects.
In an interview Wednesday, he repeatedly discussed his hope that the healing between Israelis and Palestinians will continue, despite the obstacles of Israel Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination last year and the re-opening of a tunnel near Al-Aqsa. Protests over the tunnel near the third holiest site in Islam resulted in a fight that killed 85 people.
"For so long we have been seeing the light at the end of the tunnel," Menashri explained of the anger around the recent outbreak of violence. "For some reason now everyone is seeing the tunnel at the end of the light."
The lecture, "Israel in the Middle East," is planned for Thursday in room 369 of the HSS building from noon to 1:15 p.m. and is open to the public.
Israel will also be a main topic in a lecture by Weiss, which is sponsored by the department of Jewish studies, The Israel Project, San Francisco Hillel and the Zionist Action Committee.
Jewish studies Professor Fred Astren said he invited Weiss to his class, "Spirituality and Jewish Tradition," to get a different perspective on spirituality and the ways it can be used.
Weiss is the founder of AMCHA, an American-Jewish organization for the security and well-being of Israel, but he is also well-known on the East Coast for his activism against anti-Semitism.
In a lecture called, "Spirituality, Israel and Activism," Weiss will speak on Monday in the humanities building. The discussion was originally scheduled for room 579 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., but Astren said it will be moved to room 213. For more information call 333-4922 ext. 3.
[ Golden Gater - November 7, 1996 ]
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