NY Observer > Jerusalem http://www.observer.com/taxonomy/term/27400/feed Articles from Observer.com en Real Charms of Bourgeoisie: Witty Parisian Trifle Is True Escape http://www.observer.com/node/36773 Danièle Thompson’s Avenue Montaigne (Fauteuils d’Orchestre), from a screenplay by  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36773#comments Arts & Culture Christopher Thompson Edward Ellis Hollywood Jerusalem Sun, 25 Feb 2007 19:00:00 -0500 Andrew Sarris 36773 at http://www.observer.com Events for Thursday, February 1, 2007 http://www.observer.com/node/31330 At 10 a.m. Mayor Bloomberg will tour parts of Sderot in Israel with a pool report to be filed by Michael Saul of the Daily News.

At 10:45 a.m. Bloomberg will announce renovation of Jerusalem's main ambulance center and blood bank, in Jerusalem.

At noon, Councilman Leroy Comrie will introduce a resolution at City Hall calling for a moratorium on the N-word.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly will give the keynote speech at a Harper's Bazaar anticounterfeiting summit at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

At 12:15 Elinor Tatum, editor in chief of New York Amsterdam News, will speak at Bronx Community College's Freshman Convocation.

At 1 p.m. Red Cross officials will release a report on the lessons learned from major urban disasters on West 49th Street.

At 1 p.m. the supervisor of North Hempstead will deliver the annual State of the Town address at George Washington Manor Restaurant in Roslyn.

Long Island AARP members will demand drug affordability outside the campaign office of Craig Johnson. At 1:30, the group will do the same outside the campaign office of Maureen O'Connell.

At 1:30 p.m. at City Hall, Councilman Eric Gioia will call for the city and state to divest pension funds invested in Sudan.

Starting at 2 p.m., the City Bar Justice Center will host a small business legal clinic at the Flushing Library.

At 3 p.m. Bloomberg will meet with the families of Israeli soldiers.

At 3:30 p.m. education advocates will call for the passage of a New York Bill of Rights for Adult Education on the City Hall steps.

At 4 p.m. Bloomberg will meet with acting Israeli President Dalia Itzik.

At 6 p.m. Bloomberg will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert

A documentary about the Atlantic Yards project will be shown at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

And First Lady Laura Bush will speak at the Woman's Day Red Dress Award near Columbus Circle.

At 6:30 p.m., "Bamako," a documentary about African development and the economy, will be shown at Columbia University.

At 7 p.m., Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz will give his State of the Borough speech at Steiner Studios.

The Public Service Commission will hold a public meeting on the proposed gas rate increase and the proposed merger of National Grid and KeySpan at The Petrides School on Staten Island.

Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum will speak on the work-family dilemma facing poor working mothers at Barnard Hall on West 117th Street.

And Amadou Diallo's mother and former mayor David Dinkins host the screening of the documentary, "Death of Two Sons," in honor of the eighth anniversary of the Diallo shooting, at the Riverside Church. -- Azi Paybarah]]> http://www.observer.com/node/31330#comments Politics Amadou Diallo Jerusalem Michael Bloomberg Sderot Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:00:03 -0500 Observer Staff 31330 at http://www.observer.com Remembering Teddy, Heart And Soul of Jerusalem http://www.observer.com/node/36552 A founding father and jet-setter, a kibbutznik and a bon vivant, a secular man in an Orthodox city,  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/36552#comments Style Israel Jerusalem Teddy Kollek Vienna Sun, 14 Jan 2007 19:00:00 -0500 Marilyn Berger 36552 at http://www.observer.com At a Brooklyn Temple, An Israeli Veteran Tells of His Sister's Murder by a Suicide Bomber http://www.observer.com/node/33643 Last night Brit Tzedek, a group that opposes the Israel lobby from within the Jewish community, staged a presentation by two members of Combatants for Peace, an organization of former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian resistance fighters working for a two-state solution. About 60 people turned out in the basement of Beth Elohim, a Reform temple in Brooklyn.

A table was set up on the dais. I recognized the Palestinian at once. He wore a pressed blue shirt and khakis, had a trimmed mustache. Sulaiman Al Hamri walked with a steel crutch. A smallish Jewish kid pulled out a chair for him, a mophead in his 20s with a string bracelet and jeans and old beaten shoes. Now I waited for the kid to bring in the Israeli. Then he sat down next to Al Hamri and I realized he was the Israeli. Just a kid. Elik Elhanan.

Elhanan introduced them. "We are not professors or experts. We did not come here to tell you the truth or what is absolutely right. We came here to tell you our stories and opinions."

Al Hamri told his story first, about spending 4-1/2 years in Israeli prisons. I'll blog about this in days to come, I want to tell Elhanan's story now.

Elhanan is a student in Tel Aviv, 29. He grew up in Jerusalem and as a boy, he did not realize there was a conflict in the Middle East. For he never thought about it, and when the time came that he did, he didn't see that he had any part of it. "I have no problem with the Palestinians, no fight with them." At 18, he joined the Army for the usual reasons. Out of a sense of duty, and privilege, and wanting to be part of something bigger than himself.

His consciousness changed. Over the next three years, he realized, "I am part of this conflict, I can't escape it."

Several events had taken place that had "obliged" him to see the larger issues. In some, he had found himself "an aggressor." He didn't want to go into these events, he said dismissively. They had made him aware of the "discrepancies between the very lofty discourse describing what we are doing and the reality on the ground.

"But the most influential event, I found myself all of a sudden, a victim. On the 4th of September 1997 two suicide bombers left Nablus and killed five people in Jerusalem. 180 people were injured. Among those killed was my sister Smadari and her friend. They were going to school." A third friend was so critically injured she is still not the same.  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/node/33643#comments Brooklyn Israel Jerusalem Sulaiman Al Hamri Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:04:47 -0500 Observer Staff 33643 at http://www.observer.com 'The Israelis Should Return the Golan Heights' http://www.observer.com/node/33591 What an irony, that a war advanced by many as an alternative to forging a peace in Jerusalem—indeed who saw it as a clean break from such negotiations—has had the opposite effect.

And how revealing, that in seizing on the Golan provision of the report as one of its greatest challenges, Tim Russert and Andrea Mitchell just now on MS-NBC both described the return of these high, watered lands as something "we" were being asked to do: Americans, American politicians. As though we might snap our fingers and this ally in the Middle East would respond. The Baker report was also forthright on this point. "No American Administration—Democrat or Republican—will ever abandon Israel."

]]> http://www.observer.com/node/33591#comments Andrea Mitchell Jerusalem NBC Universal Inc. Tim Russert Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:29:07 -0500 Observer Staff 33591 at http://www.observer.com The Afternoon Wrap: Thursday http://www.observer.com/node/35419
  • The world doesn't need another "wellness community" real estate article, but luckily Forbes' entry into the genre includes the following: "[W]hat is happening is the boomers have spent the whole time in the office, and they somewhat forgot themselves," and "It's not just about going to a gym. It's not about working on your mind a little bit." [Forbes]
  • From the Lights of Dyker Heights to the 'Burg and Bergen Beach, Gowanus Lounge has the full guide to Brooklyn's glowing holiday cheer. Prospect Park, lord bless them, has 600,000 lightbulbs alone. [G.L.]
  • Here's a grossly Manhattanized version of the news above: Sachs Fifth Avenue's yearly yuletide celebration will only consume "the energy equivalent of three toaster ovens." Green Design is officially chic. [Interior Design]
  • Jonathan Miller has a must-read analysis of real estate bubble blogging, written (in part) as a response to a recent PBS piece. Mr. Miller's conclusion? "Lord help us." [Matrix]
  • Jewish Condo News of the Year: A press release we got on Thursday brags that Riverdale's "Kosher-smart" condominium has "secured the approval of the community." Architect David Mandl admits that the community "was weary of the project," but apparently the golden Jerusalem Stone at the base won them over. More gold, after the jump.
    • - Max Abelson  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/35419#comments Real Estate Arlington David Mandl Jerusalem Riverdale Thu, 30 Nov 2006 10:59:07 -0500 Observer Staff 35419 at http://www.observer.com Israelis, Arabs Agree— U.S. Waging a Proxy War http://www.observer.com/node/39280 JERUSALEM, Israel, Aug.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/39280#comments Politics Hezbollah Israel Jerusalem Lebanon Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400 Katherine Zoepf 39280 at http://www.observer.com Luftmensch Reporter Watches the Rockets at Lebanese Border http://www.observer.com/node/52562 JERUSALEM, Israel—I’ve never been a war correspondent, and this failing has sometimes gnawed at  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/52562#comments Politics Cable News Network LP LLLP Hannah Arendt Israel Jerusalem Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400 Philip Weiss 52562 at http://www.observer.com Israelis, Arabs Agree- U.S. Waging a Proxy War http://www.observer.com/node/52567 JERUSALEM, Israel, Aug.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/52567#comments Politics Damascus Hezbollah Israel Jerusalem Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400 Katherine Zoepf 52567 at http://www.observer.com Luftmensch Reporter Watches the Rockets at Lebanese Border http://www.observer.com/node/39273 JERUSALEM, Israel—I’ve never been a war correspondent, and this failing has sometimes gn  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/39273#comments Politics Cable News Network LP LLLP Hannah Arendt Israel Jerusalem Sun, 13 Aug 2006 20:00:00 -0400 Philip Weiss 39273 at http://www.observer.com