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Saturday, October 21, 2006
Some headlines and summaries from JTA
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Air Force dilutes ‘pluralism’
A U.S. Air Force directive to chaplains watered down references to pluralism.
The Oct. 2 directive, issued just days after Congress removed language from a bill that would have permitted military chaplains to refer to Jesus in multifaith settings, says chaplains must show “sensitivity” to a “pluralistic environment.” The 1999 directive it supercedes used stronger language, saying services must be “executed within a pluralistic environment” and defining that as “the condition in which all Air Force members and their families from diverse religious backgrounds are able to participate in their traditional beliefs within the confines of a common Air Force environment.” The new directive omits the definition.
Evangelicals supported legislation that would have allowed chaplains to name Jesus in multifaith prayers but Jewish groups, spurred by reports of coercive evangelism in the military, led lobbying that killed the legislation. Mikey Weinstein, a former USAF officer who led activism against the evangelism, accused the Air Force of “issuing these guidelines in a subversive manner, without engaging in an open dialogue about the proper role of religion and chaplains within the Air Force."
Israelis coming to D.C.
Top Israeli officials are visiting Washington ahead of a meeting between the U.S. and Israeli leaders.
Israeli Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz will meet Monday with Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state. Also meeting with officials next week is Ze’ev Boim, Israel’s immigration minister, and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik. Israeli Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter met this week with Stephen Hadley, the White House’s national security adviser.
President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meet Nov. 13; the Bush administration hopes to announce by then an advance in efforts to revive Israel-Palestinian talks.
Palestinian majority wants elections
A majority of Palestinians favors early parliamentary elections and opposes Hamas’ rejection of Israel’s existence, a poll found.
The poll of Palestinians living in the West Bank, eastern Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, conducted Oct. 8-15, found that 57.5 percent of respondents favored early parliamentary elections. Only 42.5 percent favored early presidential elections. Hamas, a terrorist group, has a majority in Parliament, while Mahmoud Abbas, a relative moderate from Fatah, is president.
More than 65 percent of respondents favor dissolving the police force set up by Hamas after it assumed power in March. Close to 53 percent opposed Hamas for rejecting the international community’s conditions for a resumption of aid: recognition of Israel, renunciation of terrorism and acceptance of past Israeli-Palestinian agreements. Close to 42 percent of respondents backed Hamas’ rejectionism.
The Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, fared slightly worse in approval ratings than Abbas: Abbas scored 46 percent and Haniyeh 40 percent.
Menendez backs Lieberman, for a few hours
U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) withdrew an endorsement of Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) hours after he made it to a Jewish audience.
Speaking at a synagogue in Livingston. N.J. on Wednesday night, Menendez said he backed Lieberman in his race against Ned Lamont, who bested Lieberman in the Democratic primary, the New York Times reported. Lieberman, the first Jewish candidate on a realistic presidential ticket in 2000, is now running for re-election as an independent, though he has pledged to join the Democratic caucus if re-elected.
“I wish him well and hope he returns,” Menendez told the audience, and even predicted that his opponent, Tom Kean Jr., would attempt to link him with Lamont when Kean addressed the synagogue later in the evening. Kean, who also endorsed Lieberman, in fact did so.
The next morning, Menendez’s campaign withdrew the endorsement of Lieberman, saying only that Menendez “looks forward to serving with him should he be re-elected,” but that he formally backed Lamont.
Palestinian Christians meet in D.C.
Top Palestinian Christians met in Washington to discuss peace in the Holy Land.
The eighth annual conference of the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation hosted, among others, Archbishop Elias Chacour of the Melkite Catholic Church; Hanan Ashrawi, a Palestinian Authority lawmaker; and Archbishop Fouad Twal, a senior official of the Latin Patriarchate, the body overseeing Roman Catholics in Israel, the Palestinian Areas and Jordan.
Topics included the prospects of renewing the peace process and a debate on Christian Zionism. Participants were to join in an “ecumenical prayer for peace” at the National Presbyterian Church on Sunday.
http://www.jta.org/
posted by Somebody @ 12:41 AM Permanent Link
 
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