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Thursday, May 04, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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UNRWA bill introduced in House
Congress will consider legislation to tie U.S. contributions to UNRWA to outside auditing of the agency.
The bill introduced Wednesday by Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the International Relations Committee, and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a member of the House appropriations subcommittee that deals with UNRWA, would require the president to certify that the U.N. agency that administers relief to Palestinian refugees is subject to comprehensive, independent audits and “does not knowingly provide employment, refuge, assistance or support of any kind to members of foreign terrorist organizations.”
The bill will be attached as an amendment to two other bills due for consideration as early as next week, and is likely to pass.
“If I was UNRWA, I’d start interviewing accountants right now,” Kirk told JTA.
UNRWA spokesman Andrew Whitley said he was baffled by a claim by Kirk and Lantos that $40 million of agency money was unaccounted for, adding that the South African government’s auditor was completing an independent audit of UNRWA.
The United States contributed $108 million to UNRWA in 2005.
The Bush administration says it will increase its contributions to the agency as a means of bypassing the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority
Brandeis removes pro-Palestinian art
Brandeis University pulled a pro-Palestinian art exhibit from its campus.
Among the images at the “Voices from Palestine” exhibit were Palestinian children dripping with blood, a bulldozer threatening a girl, and a boy with an amputated leg walking on crutches.
The pieces were painted by Palestinian teenagers in a Bethlehem refugee camp, at the request of an Israeli Jewish student at Brandeis.
The Zionist Organization of America condemned the exhibit, and several students lodged complaints with the school.
A university spokesman said the panel was yanked four days into its two-week run because “it was completely from one side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Bipartisan support for AJCommitee energy bid
Democrats and Republicans committed to greater energy independence for the United States at an American Jewish Committee conference.
Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), as well as Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, addressed a session on energy independence at the AJCommitee’s 100th anniversary celebrations in Washington this week.
The AJCommitee leads the “Set America Free” coalition, which seeks to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
“We are committed to ending our reliance on oil from the Middle East,” Dean said to applause.
http://www.jta.org/
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