THE THIRD E-SYMPOSIUM ON CONFLICT PREVENTION ***

 You are invited to participate in the upcoming online e-Symposium on Conflict Prevention, sponsored by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and the Japan Times, with the support of the Tokyo Club.
Theme: “Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?  How Can Peace Be Achieved in Palestine, Chechnya and Other Conflict Zones?”

Dates: Thursday 22nd May to Friday 30th May

Times: 24 hours a day for nine days at the end of May

Place: Entirely on the Internet at http://www.dwcw.org/3rd_e-symposium/

All 22 of the panelists have been confirmed, and include conflict prevention experts from academia, government, the United Nations and Non-Governmental Organizations, representing a total of sixteen different countries on four continents.

The Presentations cover a wide range of topics and include:

Dr I William Zartman (USA), Director, Conflict Management Program, Paul H Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University: `Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Peacemaking in the Middle East`

Mr Ioan Mircea Pascu (Romania), Minister of Defense of Romania

Conflict In The International System: A Short Overview

Reverend Terasawa Junsei (Japan), Consultant to the International Peace Bureau:

From Chechen Genocide Towards a Vision of New Global Non-Violence

Professor Paul Eidelberg (Israel), President, Foundation for Constitutional Democracy

Solving the Arab-Israel Conflict

 

Ms Hannah Reich (Germany), Associate Researcher, The Berghof Research Center for Constructive Conflict Management

Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Representing an Asymmetrical Conflict

We are also honoured to have the participation of H.E. Mr Hoj-Ahmed Noukhaev, the Former First Deputy Prime Minister of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and Dr Eid Bassem, Director of the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group will also join the e-Symposium.   Registration details as well as more information on Presentations, Comments and Panelists are available online at http://www.dwcw.org/3rd_e-symposium/. 

The Presentations will be available for viewing on the opening day of the e-Symposium, Thursday May 22nd. Contributions from the public will be accepted from this day, but will only be available for viewing when the Open Public Discussions Session (III) starts on the third day of the e-Symposium - Saturday 24th May.  From this day until the end of Wednesday 28th May (midnight Japanese time), contributions and comments will be accepted from the general public in order to facilitate full-scale, round-the-clock global discussions online concerning the theme and ideas raised by Panelists.

We invite you to register at http://www.dwcw.org/3rd_e-symposium/

 

Inquiries can be directed to Deborah Sharp at the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention (tokyo@jccp.gr.jp).

Please forward this information to all colleagues, friends and mailing lists that might find this event of interest.

The more people that participate, the greater the success will be for conflict prevention.

Comrades, tree-huggers, peaceniks and Fascism-fighters: The second public awareness event concerning the Patriot Act(s) assault on civil liberty and human dignity will be held this coming Saturday, May 17, at 1:00 in the afternoon, at the Internet Temple Cafe in Hixson (Chattanooga).  The cafe is located at 4121 Hixson Pike in front of the old K-Mart. The big event will be on the following Saturday, May 24, at 2:00 PM in Miller Park (and possibly on the steps of the Federal courthouse in view from Miller Park) in downtown Chattanooga.  We hope that every one who can will make a special effort to support this event.  Word is that some folks from the Atlanta peace movement will be coming up (I understand Janx has been in touch with Chattanooga for Peace.)  Also, the corporate media is likely to be there. The first event was filmed, and  I'm told it was shown on Chattanooga's channel 12. For a full report on the first event, see http://www.tnimc.org/feature/display/140/index.php in solidarity, don jennings   Dear Editor,   Do you think it would be possible for you to announce a peace rally to be held in Atlanta on June 7th at 2:00 PM ? For more info go to www.june7.org The ChattanoogaAreaGreenParty, Chattanoogans for Peace, and the Atlanta Palestine Society, as well as many others, will be cosponsoring. Many thanks. Sincerely, Penny Gharanfoli ChattanoogaAreaGreenParty PLLG60@aol.com

Palestinian Children under Siege Several reports released in recent weeks highlight how Palestinian children are increasingly suffering from a prolonged state of siege.  An entire generation of Palestinians is being denied their right to a secure future.   ACT NOW! 1.      On October 2, UNICEF announced that "more than 226,000 children and over 9,300 teachers are unable to reach their regular classrooms and at least 580 schools have been closed due to Israeli military curfews, closures and home confinement." <http://www.unicef.org/                     media/newsnotes/02nn34opt.htm> 2.      In an October 9, 2002 op-ed in the International Herald Tribune Peter Hansen, Commissioner General of UNRWA, noted that UNWRA schools "lost an average of 29 working days because staff or pupils could not get to their classes.  Last year, in total 72,000 teacher workdays were lost."  Also, 200 schools have been damaged by gunfire and more than 170 students arrested.  <http://www.iht.com/articles/ 73112.html> 3.      The conditions for Palestinian children are worst in Nablus where the Israeli army has imposed a strict 24-hour curfew for over 100 days, lifting it only for a few hours every 10 days so the residents can buy supplies.  However, the residents decided this week to reopen the schools in defiance of the curfew.   Israeli soldiers shot and killed one 15-year-old youth.  A 12-year-old was also critically wounded in the head when Israeli soldiers fired on a taxi cab to enforce the curfew.  <http://www.independent.co.uk/ story.jsp?story=339652> 4.      In addition to curfew and checkpoints, Palestinian children have continued to face extreme dangers.  According to a September 30 Amnesty International Report, more than 250 Palestinian children have been killed.  The report notes that the majority of these children were killed when participating in demonstrations and stone-throwing when the IDF responded with "unlawful and excessive use of lethal force."             <http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/MDE           151452002?OpenDocument&of=          REGIONS\MIDDLE+EAST+AND+          NORTH+AFRICA> Contact your local congressman to encourage action on the siege facing Palestinian children, through www.aaiusa.org, then click on "Action Alerts" and go to "Elected Officials." Contact Lorne W. Craner, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at: (202) 647-2570.   Please write letters to your local newspapers to encourage coverage of the conditions facing Palestinian children, through www.aaiusa.org, then click on "Action Alerts" and go to "Media Guide."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), in the US started a project  called "Bring Islam to your local library" a campaign to put quality materials about Islam in every public library in North America. To do this, they are asking that each interested person/organization/mosque  pay $150 for CAIR to send their material to the library of choice. The website is below and the number is 1-800-392-7876 extension 20. Ask about "CAIR's Sponsor your Library Program."   http://www.cair-net.org/ libraryproject/ Muslims in other continents may do the same to provide the truth about Islam, instead of leaving it to busy journalists or writers with anti-Islamic agenda to do so.