From Israelnationalnews.com, 20 October, by Maayana Miskin:
A United States-based organization's conference on breast cancer awareness, to be hosted in Egypt, has been touted by international news networks as an example of “unprecedented cooperation” in the region. However ... Israeli doctors were told at the last minute that their invitations to participate had been rescinded.
The conference will be held in Alexandria, Egypt this week, under the auspices of the American group Susan G. Komen for the Cure – the world's largest breast cancer advocacy organization. It is to include meetings between leading researchers from the U.S. and several Mideast countries.
Israeli doctors were invited to the event as well, and several had planned to attend. However, on Sunday night, the doctors received brief notices telling them that they were no longer invited to the conference, by order of Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali.
The notices did not include an explanation of Gabali's decision.
Despite the cancellation of the Israeli presence at the event, Egyptian officials continued to praise the event as an example of regional cooperation. “The week's events are a demonstration of the cooperation between countries, governments, civil society, advocates, survivors, and the global community as a whole,” Dr. Mohammed Shaalan of Egypt's Breast Cancer Foundation told Reuters on Monday...
13 comments:
Rachel Merhav sent me a copy of the following letter to the US-based organiser of the conference [BCasey@komen.org]:
Dear Ms. Casey,
I received an e-mail from a friend informing me that Israeli doctors have been dis-invited to your medical conference in Egypt , by order of the Egyptian Health Minister. If this is true, this is more than an unfortunate political gesture. It is a disgrace that a Minister from a third-world country with a backward healthcare system would rescind an invitation to Israeli doctors from a country that, albeit tiny in geographic area, is rich in brainpower, and has contributed so much to medical science in the past 60+ ye! ars.
In truth, I am puzzled that the Komen foundation would hold a medical conference in Egypt, in the first place, given the backwardness of Egypt 's healthcare system and the lack of any contribution to scientific or medical knowledge by Egyptian scientists or physicians. In contrast, tiny Israel has produced thousands of medical scientists and physicians who have published numerous research articles that have advanced our knowledge in medical science (among other areas). I'm familiar with Israel 's introduction decades ago of Copaxone for the treatment of MS. I'm aware of the Israeli company, (stock symbol GIVN) that manufactures the pillcam, which allows, for the first time, the viewing of the entire gastrointestinal tract, for the assessment of GI troubles, a unique achievement in the world of medical evaluation. Israeli breakthr! oughs in the evaluation and treatment of breast cancer are well known in the medical field. For articles understandable by laypersons, I refer you to the website www.israel21c.org which you can search for relevant articles and reviews on this topic.
If it is the case that Egypt has barred Israeli participants from the Komen meeting in Egypt , I assume that you will be canceling the meeting, forthwith. If you do not cancel the meeting, I assume you can imagine what impact your cooperation with an Egyptian boycott of Israel will have in adversely affecting your fundraising and your reputation among those who have been heretofore amongst your strongest supporters.
I look forward to hearing from you. I shall circulate my letter and your response to my extensive e-mail list and will recommend that each recipient circulate same to everyone on his and her lists.
Yours [etc]
Kenneth P. Price, Ph.D. Clinical and Forensic Psychology, Dallas, Texas
It's unbelievable how many people are passing around this biased information, talking about being treated unfairly, and yet it doesn't exactly sound fair to continually call the Egyptian health system, "backwards". It sounds all biased to me. Don't they have a right to exclude people from a convention if they want, on the basis of not agreeing with the a particular government's politics? I am not saying I have the same beliefs, but, well, Egypt's minister of health has the choice.
Plus, the writers of the articles are always Jewish! In fact, I think that these watch dog groups are giving out info like this which is on par with Rush Limbaugh for Jewish people. The site JIW, or Jewish issues watchdog says just that; that it is extracting the essential for busy people. I think that the article above is slanted, and the coin "appropriate reply" regarding Ken price's email is inappropriate and biased in itself.
It sounds like the komen foundation didn't know until the last minute anyhow, and why would they cancel such an important conference when it's more important to have the conference afterall, then to concern themselves with the regional politics??? Breast cancer research is their number one concern. Get over yourselves people!!!
Dear creaturagirl
Thanks for your comment. But what exactly is "biased" about the posting?
While Egypt is "within its rights" to invite or exclude anyone from their country, it's not conducive to peaceful co-existence to "boycott" medical researchers as a political statement. In fact it just unnecessarily promotes acrimony and tension.
It's also right and proper for JIW and any commentator to express his opinion about it (as you have done), as long as it's done with courtesy.
And what exactly does "get over yourselves" mean? ...and to whom are you addressing that "advice"?
Hi. Well, it doesn't seem impartial to me. If you discuss peaceful coexistence, how peaceful could you call what's going on now in Israel? I believe that might be why the doctors were banned; as a statement to say enough is enough. I get my news from non secular sources, by the way. I suppose get over yourselves means, the cliquish attitude, and pride in belonging to a particular religion.
Dear creaturagirl
"what's going on now in Israel" is certainly not peaceful, but whose fault is that?
Why boycott Israel while ignoring horrific war-mongering and human-rights abuses of the Arab leaders?
If you're concerned about peaceful coexistence then you should be directing your attention to overhauling the failed Arab leadership that has impoverished and tormented the Arab refugees for decades.
Arab leaders persecuted their Jewish population from the 1920s, and launched a relentless campaign, against the interests of their own people, to obliterate the Jewish national revival ….before any “occupation” and even before the establishment of the State of Israel.
They flatly rejected the restoration of the Jewish homeland as mandated by the League of Nations. Even after Jordan was created from 80% of the British Mandate of Palestine, they rejected the 1937 Peel Commission proposal to partition the remaining 20%.
In 1947, the UN partition would have created an even larger Arab state. But for the Arabs' violent attempt to abort the partition there would have been no war and no dislocation in the first place
…and the rejection continues to this day… In 1949, Israel offered to return captured land as part of a formal peace agreement. Arab rulers refused.
From 1948 to 1967, Israel did not control the West Bank and Gaza. The refugees could have demanded an independent state from Jordan and Egypt, but did not. Had they sought peace and reconciliation, instead of rejection and global terrorism, a Palestinian state could have been established from the 1960’s.
They rejected the offer of Palestinian autonomy in the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace negotiations. They scuttled the Oslo process that began in 1993 leading toward the creation of a Palestinian state, by violating their commitments. In 2000, they also rejected the offer at Camp David to create a Palestinian state, and the even better offer by Olmert in 2008.
For sixty years since their self-inflicted, violent and catastrophic rejection of the UN partition, misguided, self-serving Arab leaders have kept the refugees of 1948 and their descendants in squalid camps as cannon fodder, fed on hatred and false hope, and squandered repeated opportunities for statehood and economic progress.
Yet here we are, six decades later, and they continue the futile policies of vilifying and de-legitimising Israel, like the stupid "boycott of Jewsih medical researchers by Egypt.
Similarly misguided westerners inadvertently support Arab despots and terrorists by vilifying Israel and agitating for its political isolation. Instead they should be clamouring for a new and fundamentally different Arab leadership, and stop spreading the conflict by vilifying Jews and Israel
Neither Israel, nor Jews are the enemies of the Arab refugees. Their own leaders are.
Oh, and I also don't see why I shouldn't be proud of being Jewish. It's a tradition that is part of the foundation of enlightened civilisation and ethics....
Thanks for such a lengthy reply. Well, I wouldn't know where to begin to address your points.
I have heard this over and over about the Arab leaders.
There is a movement I have heard of in Israel. Many people on the left are fed up with the aggression.
I must admit I am not highly informed of events, as I am busy working on my degree.
However, in order to know what's really going on, I need to hear about it from those who have an objective point of view. I can't get that by listening to people who have vested interest in keeping "their", and what's more, who would do or say anything to keep the upper hand. I am told that pre-emptive is a large practice over there.
Let's face it, the blame game gets old after a while. (These leaders did this, those people had the chance to speak up for a state but didn't, this group denied entry, etc. etc.)It's time people started learning to be accountable.
Pride can mean different things. I personally am proud of things that I have accomplished; not for being born into a culture which deems itself special or chosen. Let's face it, there is a rift growing amongst the aforementioned people. There is a reason for that. People are not standing for the opression. There is no way to see eye to eye on this, as the Bible to me is nothing more than mere mythology, to which I do not hold it to be true that certain people deserve certain land.
Best.
oh, right, and, enlightened civilisations and ethics...
to me it just smacks of elitism. I am not interested in the statistics, frankly. Just like any other group, it has its share of fanatics, murderers, cheats, liars, as well as great people.
I think it better to be proud, as I said before, of your own accomplishments.
Dear creaturagirl
So you question the Jewish people's right to the land of Israel (that "that certain people deserve certain land"). However no nation on earth has a stronger claim to its land than the Jewish people has to Israel.
Jewish nationhood in Israel preceded the emergence of most modern nations by thousands of years. The Jewish people had sovereignty there for 1500 years until 2,000 years ago, when the Roman conquerors renamed it “Provincia Palaistina” in an attempt to obliterate its Jewish character. Since then, until last century, most Jews lived outside Israel; however Jews worldwide have always dreamt of restoring the Jewish homeland, and there was always a Jewish presence there, especially in the study centres of Tiberius, Tsfat, Hebron and of course beloved Jerusalem. Israel has permeated Jewish prayers, literature, music and art for thousands of years.
Note that modern Israel today is inhabited by the same people, practising the same religion, with the same culture and language, that it had over 3,000 years ago.
Modern Zionism, the movement for Jewish self-determination and restoration of the national homeland, gained momentum in the late 1800s. My wife’s great-grandparents were part of that wave of returning Jews. They called themselves "Palestinians" using the Roman name for the region. No Arab inhabitants claimed then to be “Palestinians”.
In 1922, the League of Nations, referring to western Palestine (between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea), unanimously declared: “… recognition has been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country.” At the same time, the League similarly established Jordan (from the eastern 80% of Palestine), Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. All these nations were created from Turkish land captured by Britain and France in World War 1. (Do you question their national legitimacy?)
At that time there were two quite different reactions from the Arabs of the region.
On the one hand leaders like Hussein, Sharif of Mecca, who was the King of Syria and later King of Iraq, called on the Arab population to welcome the Jews as brothers. His son, the Emir Faisal, signed a treaty with the Zionist movement acknowledging western Palestine as a Jewish state. He wrote: "We Arabs … look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. ...we will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome home…"
Today over 1.5 million Arabs following that benign advice reside peacefully in Israel. They have full citizenship, representatives in the parliament, and judges on the high court. They enjoy a better life than most Arabs in Arab nations.
On the other hand the British-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem opposed Jewish restoration, engineered bloody anti-Jewish riots in 1921, 1929 and 1936, and suicide bombing of Arabs who refused to support his violent rejectionist campaign.
In World War 2 the Mufti collaborated with Hitler. If the ANZACs hadn’t held the Nazi forces off in North Africa, Palestinian Jews would have become victims of the Nazi genocide at the hands of the Mufti. After the war, he spent the rest of his life fomenting anti-Jewish violence. In 1948 he declared a Holy War: “…My Muslim Brothers! Murder the Jews! Murder them all!"
His relative Yasir Arafat continued that war, as do many in the Arab world today, keeping their impoverished brethren as eternal refugees for cannon fodder. They aren’t concerned with borders or what “kind of co-existence” is on offer. Fatah leader Sakher Habash explained the real agenda in 1998: “…the refugee issue is the winning card which means the end of the Israeli state…”
Surely it’s time for Arab leaders, and their western enlightened supporters, to abandon violent rejection, and instead follow enlightened leadership to peaceful co-existence.
creaturagirl ...are you still there?
Yes, wherever "there" is.
What for?
Hi creaturagirl
Someone reminded me of the exchange of comments we'd had that many months ago, and when I re-read it, I realised that it had just ended without any response from you to my last comment: that the Arab leaders aren't really interested in territory, or another Arab state, but that they just continue to seek to destroy Israel... How will peace ever be achieved until they change that objective?
hi steve. i think the discussion ended because basically i think that discussing it here is pointless, as we have no control whether or not there is peace in the middle east. of course, as a person who does not believe in violent acts toward others, well, i can only hope for peace reigning on the entire planet. however, i am well aware just how greedy and petty human beings can sometimes be, and this i believe is what will block peace every single time. nice talking to you. take care.
Yes, creaturagirl, we as individuals can't absolutely determine the outcome of global affairs, but on the other hand each of us has some small influence through our friends and even by talking to strangers.
Thanks for your comments.
All the best....
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