We feel that if the data here is accurate, Arab business is rather looking for new talent in the new world. We believe that most young recruits to businesses in North Africa and the Middle East are returning young talent and that this positions well these business companies for the changing global atmosphere. It is rather that then looking to hire on the cheap. The business slow down has just helped refresh the human capital of MENA (The Middle East – North Africa Arab region).

—————
 http://www.arabianbusiness.com/595422-me…

MENA firms hire new graduates to cut costs – poll

by

Elsa Baxter,  Sunday, 22 August 2010.

Almost 40 percent of Middle East and North African (MENA) employees said their company was more interested in hiring new university graduates since the global recession, according to the latest poll by Bayt.com.

The survey, which consulted 13,197 respondents from across the region, found that 37.6 percent of people said their employers preferred to hire fresh graduates, while 26.4 percent said they were less inclined to do so. A further 19.2 percent of respondents said things were unchanged.

More than half (51.7 percent) of participants said the number one motivation behind the hiring was financial because new graduates command lower salaries and fewer benefits, while 12.7 percent said it was because they would have more passion for the job.

A further 10.4 percent it was because new graduates would have more creativity, 8.4 percent said it was due to their fresh analytical thinking, and 5.1 percent cited better communication skills. {our math says this is 37.6% or that one out of 2,9 respondents was honest about the motives. The others belong to the commonly held  idea that age makes people wiser while we rather think that today ag makes most people more obsolete}

“The results of our most recent poll show that in times of economic strife employers are perceived as more likely to hire fresh graduates mostly due to the fact that they accept a lower salary and require fewer benefits,” said Amer Zureikat, vice president of sales, Bayt.com.

BARGEMUSIC REVISITED.

We posted the following two weeks ago, and said at the time that we will return to the Barge that is moored at Fulton Ferry Landing under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn, NY.

Our target was going to be “The HERE AND NOW Series in Celebration of Terry Riley’s 75th Birthday.

See also www.bargemusic.org

Our previous posting was:

UPDATED – With Climate Change and a local government that does not care, a decreasing quality of public transportation, scorched at 103 F (39.4 C), New York City has nevertheless BARGEMUSIC. The Innovative spirit of its people does not give up. Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on July 13th, 2010
by Pincas Jawetz ( PJ at SustainabiliTank.com)
Posted in Art Performance reviews, Eco Friendly Tourism, Future Events, New York, Reporting From the UN Headquarters in New York ?
 Meher Baba.

The performers where THE VOXARE QUARTET that included: Emily Ondracek-Peterson and Galina Zhdanova – violins,
Erik Peterson – viola, and Adrian Daurov – cello. The spirited young performers seemed to enjoy thoroughly the event and took turns in explaining the music’s background – something that in itself enhanced the audience’s understanding and enjoyment.

Legendary American composer, Terry Riley – DigiDan, 18 Mar 2010

Terrence Mitchell Riley, born June 24, 1935, in California, is an American composer associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music. He is usually mentioned together with Steve Reich and Philip Glass. However – His most influential teacher, however, was Pandit Pran Nath (1918–1996), a master of Indian classical voice, who also taught La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. Riley made numerous trips to India over the course of their association to study and to accompany him on tabla, tambura, and voice. Throughout the 1960s he traveled frequently around Europe as well, taking in musical influences and supporting himself by playing in piano bars, until he joined the Mills College faculty in 1971 to teach Indian classical music.
Riley was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Music at Chapman University in 2007.

The Voxare presenters took the stand that it is incorrect to call Terry Riley a minimalist and at times it seemed indeed that he simply expanded classic music by introducing new elements and being ready to experiments that when picked up later by other composers led to the revolutionary 1960s in American music.

The first piece on Friday -  “Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector,” was composed in 1980 for the Kronos Quartet, a result of a longtime collaboration of Mr. Riley’s and included improvisations based on North Indian raga instead of formal composition, but then we were told that at Kronos’s insistence he notated the score for “Sunrise.” Still, as Ms. Ondracek explained gaily, he wrote sections of the score on different sheets of paper so the performers could decide the order of performance. The Voxare Quartet offered a high-energy performance, vividly conveying the work’s beautiful angles. It started with something that sounded like American folklore fiddles and felt like a wakening up. The two Russian-background violinist ladies really tore into the music with gusto, followed by the cello and then the viola. I got the impression that the music was debating with itself and had a lot of internal life. Eventually we had a return to the opening notes. Was this the improvisation of Voxare?

The second piece on Friday was the 1960 String Quartet. That was pure minimalism – or I do not understand the term. It was about the San Francisco Harbor foghorns. The sound came mainly from the cello, and the whole piece, considering the Barge-location was the most appropriate thing you could imagine The barge was swaying as there was a bit of rain outside – and it was a foghorn – pure and simple.

The third piece on Friday was “The Wheel / Mythic Birds Waltz.” This piece is post-Indian period of Mr. Riley and it was a result of improvisation on a piano with Indian and Jazz references and I felt that at times moved over to sound like bells and a Bela Bartok  gypsy ending.

After Intermission, on Friday, the fourth piece was G-song that  in effect was the result of a commission he got for music for a French movie. It had sort of a melancholic feeling to it and I wonder what was that movie about.

The fifth Terry Riley piece we heard on Sunday – it was “Cortejo Funebre en el Monte Diablo” from his 1998 “Requiem for Adam” the son of David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet. Young Adam died of a heart ailment.

The music starts with bell sounds and a tape of trumpets moves in. It turns out that what we hear are electronically generated sounds – this is music of a different kind. The violins move in – then the quartet stops and the funeral proceeds. It was an all around fascinating piece.

David Harrington formed Kronos after hearing George Crumb’s Black Angels, a powerful piece about the Vietnam war; ever since he has sought to give voice to twentieth century composers all over the world. At this moment there are hundreds of pieces being commissioned by them.

The Kronos have performed pieces by Thelonious Monk, John Zorn, Philip Glass, Charles Ives, Dmitri Yanovsky, Scott Johnson, Terry Riley, and a slew of European and African composers. With a balance of fervid dedication, spirituality, and a liberal sense of humor, the Kronos Quartet have taken on the awesome responsibility of saving an entire musical universe.

They have released Howl U.S.A, a grim portrait of the dark side of America, in which the The Kronos passionately accompany the voices of J. Edgar Hoover, Harry Partch, I.F. Stone, and Allen Ginsberg.

For the past twenty years the Kronos Quartet have performed music that expresses the anxiety, tension, ferocious energy and mystic yearnings in the twentieth century.

Single-handed they have saved a genre (the string quartet) that was well on its path to extinction.

With a cover Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, spiffy outfits, and hip hairdos they have widened the audience of quartet music from those who were well schooled in public classrooms about classical music, to those who barely get the Bugs Bunny “Kill the Wabbit” reference to Wagner. Baby boomers and hip college students flock to the Kronos, craving music that is truly contemporary — a bracing change from dinosaur genres like classic rock. Terry Riley loved what they were doing.

The sixth Riley piece, or the second on Sunday, was “Cadenza on a Night Plain.” This is a masterpiece of early 1994 with Upper Mid-West and Native America influences. Each section is different – a different Cadenza. Mr. Peterson, the viola player, likened his section as “March of the Old-Timers.” He said that the directions say “Stoned Enthusiasm” then “Marching to more serious matters” – “which might mean smoking reef.”

————–

The add-ons were:

The Lou Harrison’s – 1917-2003 – striking “String Quartet Set” (1979), “Variations on Walter von der Vogelweide” revealed, we were told, Mr. Harrison’s joint interest with Terry Riley in nature and old music. The score had  five-movement piece ranges from the melancholy “Plaint” to the exuberant “Estampie,” which uses the cello as a percussive instrument. The performance was excellent, with distinctive contributions from each player. It ended with Usul – or a Turkish coda.

–

Steve Reich, the opening piece on Sunday, “Different Trains” of 1988 – for String Quartet and Tape – the Tape at times being just talk and at other times further sound.

Steve Reich, born in 1936, was recently called  “our greatest living composer” (The New York Times), “America’s greatest living composer.” (The Village VOICE), “…the most original musical thinker of our time” (The New
Yorker) and “…among the great composers of the century” (The New York Times)…  http://www.stevereich.com/

The particular piece we hear on Sunday has to do with his upbringing that involved commuting by train between New York and Los Angeles as his divorced parents, both of them, shared in custody over him – so – he was having this privilege of traveling often – coast to coast by train. That was until 1942 – eventually he learned about refugees from Europe arriving to New York and going also by train to the West Coast or wherever.

The piece has three parts – America before the war – Europe during the war – America after the war.

This is not just about a Jewish boy shuttling between his two parents – but about Holocaust and its effects – the fortunate ones traveling on the same train with him – here in the US.

It is a clearly difficult concept but he came up with some appropriate music. At times it sounded to me like Robert Wilson’s shows – whoever the composer – perhaps Philip Glass? There is a repetitiveness in the background that does not allow us to forget!

The second part – in what I heard – ended in Smoke. The instrumentation called for violins being stroked by the bows backwards – the resultant sounds quite unusual.

The third part – after the war – had happier sounds.

–

THE WHO -

The piece is based  on Graceland and Pete Townshend with a concept of a commune Rock farm in Ireland had it at 90 minutes length but Maher Baba reworked it and we had delightful 7 minutes. It was a real winner.

It started with Mr. and Mrs. Peterson fiddling with gusto the viola and violin and no joke – it seemed that as they went on with more force, the barge reacted and started to sway stronger – then a huge barge showed up and we realized that this was not from heaven. The piece was a clear winner and the applause laud.
 http://www.google.com/search?client=gmai…

“Baba O’Riley” is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by Pete Townshend. – Roger Daltrey sings most of the song, with Pete Townshend singing the middle eight: “Don’t cry/don’t raise your eye/it’s only teenage wasteland”. The title of the song is derived from this combination of the song’s philosophical and musical influences: Meher Baba and Terry Riley. –

Townshend originally wrote “Baba O’Riley” for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera that was to be the follow-up to The Who’s 1969 opera, Tommy. The song was derived from a nine minute demo, which the band reconstructed. “Baba O’Riley” was going to be used in the Lifehouse project as a song sung by Ray, the Scottish farmer at the beginning of the album as he gathers his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London. When Lifehouse was scrapped, many of the songs were released on The Who’s 1971 album Who’s Next. “Baba O’Riley” became the first track on Who’s Next. The song was released as a single in several European countries, but in the United States and the United Kingdom was only released as part of the album.

Baba O’Riley Lyrics
Artist(Band):The Who

Out here in the fields
I fight for my meals
I get my back into my living.

I don’t need to fight
To prove I’m right
I don’t need to be forgiven.
yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah,yeah

Don’t cry
Don’t raise your eye
It’s only teenage wasteland

Sally, take my hand
We’ll travel south cross land
Put out the fire
And don’t look past my shoulder.

The exodus is here
The happy ones are near
Let’s get together
Before we get much older.

Teenage wasteland
It’s only teenage wasteland.
Teenage wasteland
Oh, yeah
Its only teenage wasteland
They’re all wasted!

——————————————–

A trip to the lower levels of Brooklyn Heights is always a joy not to be missed. Slowly, the area is being reclaimed from the old port slips. Next to the barge there is the Ice Cream Factory, and on the other side the Bridge Cafe. You can get a bite and sip wine in the open – be it 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Further there is the Bridge Restaurant.

If you love Pizza – the best this side of the ocean is to be had at GRIMALDI’S – old country – real Coal-Brick Oven Pizzeria “Under the Brooklyn Bridge.” But know ye all – the lines to this pizzeria are a block long and you can rent a chair for two dollars if you prefer to sit rather then stand in line. But, trust me – it is worth the effort – once in your life-time. For me it was a Pizza pie with extra cheese and fresh garlic cloves and a Peroni beer for a total of $28.

If you really do not want to undergo the above – let me suggest the Tutt Cafe – as in King Tutt - www.tuttcafe.com, at 47 Hicks St. where I got an excellent Merguez Pitza (that must be the old Egyptian spelling of the pie, and the Merguez is Moroccan lamb sausage), and my wife got a spicy Falafel Wrap (not a pocket) – all of it for $16 total.

——————————————-

Richard Termine for The New York Times

Voxare Quartet: From left, Emily Ondracek, Galina Zhdanova, Adrian Daurov and Erik Peterson playing a Bargemusic concert in Brooklyn. The East River in the background. The picture was taken at the Friday night concert. During the Saturday afternoon concert – there was some rain and the visual effect grey.

From:   The Center on Capitalism and Society, Columbia University.

RICHARD ATTIAS APPOINTED CHAIR OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’s CENTER ON CAPITALISM AND SOCIETY ADVISORY BOARD.

New York, NY (July 8, 2010) – The Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University announced today that Richard Attias has been appointed Chair of its Advisory Board, effective immediately.

Richard Attias is Chairman and CEO of the Experience Corporation, a global event production and strategic communication firm and is the Founder of the New York Forum, which had its inaugural conference on June 22-23, 2010.

The Center on Capitalism and Society brings together leading scholars in economics, business, finance, and law to study capitalist institutions, their effectiveness and their weaknesses, in order to get some answers to such basic questions about capitalism—its working, its dynamism and the instability it may cause, its inclusiveness or lack of, and its role in a democracy. The goal is to turn capitalism from an article of faith, or an object of hate, into a reasonably well understood system of institutions and mechanisms whose social foundations can be evaluated in a rational, enlightened fashion.

“I am delighted that Richard has agreed to chair the Center’s Advisory Board,” said Edmund Phelps, Director of the Center, McVickar Professor of Political Economy at Columbia University and the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Economics. “Richard has the vision and the experience to help us combine the academic disciplines with top events, and give our findings greater visibility.  I look forward to working with Richard in the coming years.”

“I would like to thank Edmund Phelps and the members of the Center on Capitalism and Society  for this great honor,” said Richard Attias.  “The Center is unmatched in its expertise.  It looks to build a discipline of modern economics that’s based on today’s realities and society.  I look forward to working with the great minds of the Center to bring some of its findings to life and take it to the next level.”

—————

Attias was born in Fez, Morocco, and graduated from the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, an engineering school in France. He began his career as a sales executive at IBM France and in 1986 became the general manager of Econocom France and Econocom Japan, a computer leasing company.

In 2009, Richard founded the Experience Corporation, a live-experience production company based in New York, with offices in Paris, Dubai, and Jeddah. For fiteen years he was the producer of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Co-Founder of the Clinton Global Iniative and created the Nobel Laureates Conference. Two recent major productions are the celebration of the tenth anniversary of the accession to the throne of the King of Jordan and the launch of the Bahrain Education Project in Manama on October 10, 2009.

Most recently, Richard produced the inaugural New York Forum, an annual summit that brings together hundreds of international business leaders, entrepreneurs, sovereign fund managers, regulatory officials and academics for a series of results-oriented discussions, debates and dialogues, with a mission that is both bold and urgent: to reinvent business models, to stimulate job creation and restore faith in the international economy.  The suggestions derived from these discussions were submitted to the G20 Conference in Toronto. The over fifty speakers at The New York Forum included News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Citigroup’s Vikram Pandit, Nobel Laureate in Economics Edmund Phelps, Infosys Co-Founder S.D. Shibulal, Loews Corporation’s James Tisch, Carlos Slim Helu and French Minister of Finance Christine Lagarde

CAIRO, Apr 27, 2010 (IPS) – Europe’s appetite for renewable energy and a shifting tide in domestic energy policies could turn North Africa into major exporter of solar power by the end of the decade. “North Africa has all the right ingredients for producing the cheapest kilowatt hour of solar energy,” says Amr Mohsen, CEO of Lotus Solar Technologies, a Cairo-based solar technology firm. “We’re finally starting to see conditions align for harnessing this potential.” {We also wonder if a scientific cooperation between Egypt and Israel could help not only project energy but also project peace – this from SustainabiliTank editor} Small projects using photovoltaic (PV) panels are moving ahead rapidly, but work has been slow on large concentrated solar power (CSP) projects that experts say are needed to overcome the region’s dependence on fossil fuels. CSP projects use mirrors to concentrate the sun’s heat, and produce steam that drives electrical generators. The technology is scalable and without the high capital costs associated with large-scale PV deployment. The first CSP projects in North Africa are expected to begin operation by the end of the year. Algeria’s 150 MW power plant at Hassi R’Mel is scheduled to go online in October, followed by Egypt’s 140 MW plant at Kureimat and Morocco’s 450 MW plant at Ain Beni Mathar. The three integrated solar combined cycle (ISCC) power stations will feed steam generated by a solar field into the stream of a gas-fired plant to drive a turbine that produces electricity. The hybrid design was selected because the shared turbine and equipment lowers capital costs, while the gas-fired unit compensates for fluctuating power output from the solar arrays, which generate electricity only during daylight hours. Critics charge that the low solar fraction — between four and 15 percent — undermines the value of these projects as commercial models. Officials counter that successful operation will pave the way for larger, dedicated solar plants to follow. “Our (ISCC) plant at Kureimat is a pilot project,” says Khaled Fikry, head of research and development at Egypt’s National Renewable Energy Authority. “We will gain technical experience that we will use to build more power plants that utilise pure solar capacity.” Sunny skies and large tracts of underutilised desert land make North Africa an ideal location for low-cost power generation, a 2007 study by the German Aerospace Centre concluded. Harnessing the solar energy falling on just 6,000 square kilometres of desert in North Africa would “supply energy equivalent to the entire oil production of the Middle East of 9 billion barrels a year,” the report said. European investors have cued in to the region’s untapped potential. Two ambitious schemes envision the construction of a series of solar fields in the Sahara desert that would export surplus electricity to Europe via high voltage transmission lines. The Desertec project is a 400 billion euro private sector initiative that aims to tap renewable energy sources in North Africa to satisfy 15 percent of Europe’s electricity demand by 2050. Up to 80 percent of the electricity generated, mostly by CSP power stations, would be used by domestic consumers. The remaining 20 percent would be transported to buyers in Europe. The Mediterranean Solar Plan, a flagship project of the Union for the Mediterranean (a union of European countries with others that border the Mediterranean Sea) follows a similar model. The project will invest over 40 billion euros to build solar facilities and purchase their output to help Europe achieve its goal of 20 percent renewable energy use by 2020. “A lot of momentum has been added through the activities of these initiatives,” says Kilian Baelz, an expert in renewable energy finance. “They have really made North African governments think again about how to implement renewable energies.” —- Tunisia launched a 2.7 billion dollar scheme in October 2009 that is targeting a 22 percent reduction in the country’s demand for conventional energy sources by 2016. The Tunisian Solar Plan funds over 40 renewable energy projects and introduces subsidies on solar panels. —- Morocco, which imports 97 percent of its fossil fuel needs, recently unveiled a 9 billion dollar project to produce 2 GW of solar power by 2020. Five solar power stations will generate nearly 40 percent of the country’s total installed power. —- North African governments are also looking to dismantle oil and gas subsidies that have undermined the adoption of renewable energies. “Subsidising fossil fuels is putting a very high burden on the finances of these countries,” says Hani El-Nokraschy, vice-chairman of Desertec’s supervisory board. “Even if they are self-producers of oil or gas, they have the chance to generate the electricity they need from the sun and sell the fuel they would have burned on the world market for a higher profit.” —- He estimates that with subsidies removed, CSP has already achieved grid parity. While benchmark Brent crude oil stands at about 85 dollars a barrel and is expected to rise in the coming years, economies of scale are driving down the cost of solar power. “The price of electricity from CSP power stations is equal to the price of electricity of burning oil at 50 dollars per barrel,” El-Nokraschy tells IPS. “And by doubling production you would get a 10-20 percent cost reduction.” —- Governments cannot afford to wait. El-Nokraschy says North Africa must install at least 100 GW of exportable renewable energy capacity by 2050 to reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions. Failure to do so would — if predictions about global warming are correct — result in a plus 2.0 degree Celsius rise in global temperature, leading to severe weather and a rise in sea levels. “This would be catastrophic and would cost us much more than the price of building enough CSP to prevent it,” he adds.

Egypt completes restoration of Maimonides Synagogue of Cairo – Dignitaries from Israel and abroad fly in for Sunday’s rededication.

By Ron Friedman
jPost.com
Published: March 3, 2010

After a year-and-a-half of careful restoration work by the Egyptian authorities, the Maimonides Synagogue in Cairo is set to be rededicated on Sunday.

The 19th-century synagogue and adjacent yeshiva, which stand on the site where Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, the Rambam, worked and worshiped more than 800 years ago, was restored by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

According to the Egyptian press, the restoration of the synagogue is part of a plan by the SCA to restore all the major religious sites in Egypt, including 10 synagogues.

The rededication ceremony will be attended by members of the Cairo Jewish community, the Egyptian diplomatic corps, former Israeli ambassadors and representatives of the state. A group of Chabad Hassidim will also attend the ceremony and help in rededicating the synagogue.

Rabbi Andrew Baker, director of international Jewish affairs at the American Jewish Committee, is one of the people responsible for the renovation project. The initiative dates back five years, Baker told The Jerusalem Post.

“My initial reaction to the situation of the Jewish heritage sites in Egypt was not easy,” he said. “The authorities have protected the site from thieves and vandals by placing guards around them, but things were in a sorry condition.”

Baker said that over the past few years he went back and forth from the United States to Egypt and met with state officials to discuss the preservation and future of Egypt’s Jewish sites. Among the people he met were Culture Minister Farouk Hosny and SCA director Zahi Hawass. On other occasions he met with the foreign minister and some of the chief advisers to President Hosni Mubarak.

“The Egyptians were reluctant to form a formal partnership with us, but were willing to step forward themselves to do the restoration work,” Baker said. “They even endorsed our proposal that one of the restored synagogues should serve as a Museum of Egyptian Jewish Heritage.”

Upon taking on the task, the Egyptians proceeded to carefully renovate the Maimonides Synagogue, known to the community as Rav Moshe. Baker said that the Egyptians had transformed the structure from an earthquake-damaged, roofless and moldy wreck to a near picture-perfect replica of the synagogue that was built in the 19th century.

“I was there in December and it was remarkable,” he said. “They restored it expertly according to old photographs.

“They dug a cistern under the building to drain up excess water that had flooded the yeshiva. They reinforced the ceiling with steel beams. They made new marble columns to replace old ones that had fallen to rubble. They even built a new ark for the Torah scrolls and carefully restored intricate artwork on the walls,” Baker said.

The cost of the renovation is estimated at between $1.5 million and $2m.

Baker said the Egyptians were cautious about highlighting their work on Jewish sites.

“The authorities are tentatively embracing Maimonides as part of their own heritage, but as in most places in the Middle East, Jew and Israeli are often equated and the conflict has a way of entering any discussion,” he said.

Former ambassador to Egypt Zvi Mazel and his wife flew to Cairo on Thursday to attend the event.

“Many of Egypt’s Jewish institutions are in bad shape,” said Mazel who was stationed in Cairo between 1996 and 2001. “The Jewish community is very small and is not capable of preserving all the sites. Once there was a large Jewish population there but most people left in the 1950s.”

Mazel characterized the path to renovation as “entangled.”

“The Egyptians consider the synagogues and the ancient Torah scrolls as part of their heritage, but the fact of the matter is that they were built and purchased by the Jewish community. I think it’s good that they conducted the renovations, but sad that they won’t let Israel be a part of it.

“There is a real fear in Egypt of the appearance of normalized relations, which reflects the prevalent anti-Semitism in the Arab world. If there is no dialogue on an issue like this, I think it’s a bad sign,” Mazel said.

Rabbi Yosef Hecht will be leading 12 men from the Chabad community in Eilat to take part in the rededication. Hecht said he had been to Cairo more than 20 times to pray and to close the cycle of readings of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah.

“We were there when we prayed in a pile of rubble and it will be exciting to be there now that it’s restored,” Hecht said.

Some people believe that the synagogue and accompanying yeshiva have miraculous healing powers. The Rambam was a physician and it is believed that those who enter the synagogue may be cured of illness.

AP contributed to this report.

Originally published here: http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=170268.

« Rencontre Régionale: Adaptation aux changements climatiques au Maghreb: Bilan et Perspectives »

from: Prof. Dr. Med-Saïd KARROUK to African
Feb 14, 2010
from  KarroukSaid at yahoo.com

Le Comité National IGBP, et l’Université Hassan II, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca (Maroc) – Avec le soutien du programme ACCA du CRDI et du DFID

Organisent :

La « Rencontre Régionale: Adaptation aux changements climatiques au Maghreb:
Bilan et Perspectives »

Le 16 et 17 mars 2010, FLSH Ben M’Sick, Casablanca

Préambule :

En réponse aux défis environnementaux et socio-économiques majeurs liés aux changements climatiques, placés actuellement au cœur de l’ordre du jour des grandes réunions internationales, et dans la perspective d’une contribution à l’effort mondial de sensibilisation sur les enjeux du changement du climat, que cette rencontre sur l’adaptation aux changements climatiques au Maghreb est organisée, à laquelle seront invitées des personnalités de très haut niveau et d’éminents scientifiques et experts. D’autre part, un plan d’action concret sera proposé pour la mise en place de projets prioritaires d’adaptation pour les gouvernements, les entreprises et la société civile.

Ceci permettra en même temps d’imprimer une dynamique nouvelle aux actions jusqu’ici timides des pays maghrébins sur le plan international dans le domaine des changements climatiques.

La diffusion de l’information recueillie durant cette conférence sera effectuée par le réseau « ClimDev » qui desserve plus de 10 000 lecteurs francophones à travers le monde. A cela s’ajoutera la publication des actes de la conférence qui seront adressés aux différents acteurs visés par la conférence : les décideurs, les scientifiques, les ONG, …etc.

Objectifs de la rencontre :

Cette rencontre a trois objectifs :
Renforcer la capacité des scientifiques, des organisations, des décideurs et d’autres intervenants à contribuer à l’adaptation aux changements climatiques ;
Susciter une meilleure compréhension des conclusions des scientifiques et des organismes de recherche en ce qui concerne la variabilité du climat et les changements climatiques ;
Fournir aux concepteurs de politiques des données scientifiques de bonne qualité.

Les axes de cette rencontre sont les suivants :
·         L’adaptation de la sécurité environnementale au Maghreb (extrêmes thermiques, ressources en eau, sécheresse, inondations, désertification, feux de forêts, érosion littorale et continentale, santé, biodiversité)
·         L’adaptation de la sécurité alimentaire au Maghreb (agriculture : contraintes spatiales, des essences, la nouvelle distribution agricole régionale, etc),
·         L’adaptation de la sécurité énergétique au Maghreb (efficacité énergétique, énergie renouvelables, activités socio économiques, etc)
·         Réalité de l’adaptation aux pays du Maghreb ; états des lieux : contraintes et défis

Enjeux :

Gravement préoccupés par la vulnérabilité des systèmes socioéconomiques et de production du Maghreb au changement climatique et aux faibles capacités de riposte de la région, les décideurs politiques ont retenu le changement climatique comme l’une des préoccupations prioritaires et ont lancé un appel de coopérations aux partenaires pour appuyer leurs pays et les communautés économiques régionales afin qu’ils puissent intégrer de façon efficace la problématique du changement climatique dans leurs plans de développement.

Les négociations actuelles sur le changement climatique recherchent un nouvel élan pour l’après 2012 qui prendrait en compte les leçons du Protocole de Kyoto et la nécessaire convergence des priorités des diverses Parties. Dans cette perspective elles ont identifié quatre domaines-clés pour un dialogue de haut niveau, pour la coopération et l’action de long terme sur le changement climatique. Il s’agit :
du développement durable,
des technologies,
de l’adaptation et,
des opportunités de marché.

Le Maghreb se doit d’y inscrire sa spécificité et ses priorités et d’en saisir les opportunités pour son développement.

La Rencontre de Casablanca s’intègre dans cet élan et souhaite participer à l’aide à la décision pour une adaptation efficace par la recherche et le renforcement des capacités vis-à-vis de ce crucial problème, celui des Changements Climatiques au Maghreb.

Public cible :
Chercheurs
Décideurs politiques
ONG
Journalistes

Comité scientifique :

KARROUK Mohammed Saïd, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca
ALIFRIQUI Mohamed, Faculté des Sciences, Marrakech
BAHI Lahcen, Ecole Mohammadia d’Ingénieurs, Rabat
CHAKER Miloud, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Rabat
DAMNATI Brahim, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Tanger
EL ASSAAD Mohamed, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca
EL HAIBA Mahjoub, Faculté de Droit, Casablanca
EL HARRAK Ahmed, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca
EL HATTAB Ahmed, Ministère de l’Enseignement Supérieur, de la Formation des Cadres et de la Recherche Scientifique, Rabat
HEFNAOUI Ahmed, Faculté de Droit, Mohammedia
HENIA Latifa, FSHST, Université de Tunis
IRAQI Ahmed, Faculté de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Casablanca
LAOUINA Abdellah, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Rabat
MESSOULI Mohammed, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech
MOKSSIT Abdellah, Directeur de la Météorologie Nationale, Casablanca
MOUHIDDINE Mohamed, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca
ORBI Abdellatif, Institut National de la Recherche Halieutique, Casablanca
SALOUI Abdelmalik, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines, Mohammedia
YACOUBI-KHEBIZA Mohamed, Faculté des Sciences Semlalia, Marrakech

Comité d’organisation :

KARROUK Mohammed Saïd, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca
KADDOURI Abdelmajid, Doyen de la Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,
GONEGAI Abdelkader, Vice Doyen de la Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,
AIT KADIR Jamal, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
AKBLI Siham, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
ALLALI Asmaâ, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
BELOUARDA Youssef, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
CHAïR Majda, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
EL ALAMI Mohammad, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
EL ASSAAD Mohamed, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,
EL HARRAK Ahmed, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,
ELKHABBAZ Rachid, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
FATTAH Hind, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Doctorat ClimDev, Casablanca,
HABIL Kenza, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,
HAJJI Ilham, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
HAJJOUBI Mohamed, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Doctorat ClimDev, Casablanca,
KIRD Hanane, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master GAT, Casablanca,
LAKHAL Fouad, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
MOUHIDDINE Mohamed, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,
SAFARI Abdelati, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
SAHIB Zahra, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Master ClimDev, Casablanca,
SALLOK Amal, , Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Doctorat ClimDev, Casablanca,
SEFRI Youssef, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,
ZOUHADI Abdellah, Faculté des Lettres et des Sciences Humaines Ben M’Sick, Casablanca,

Date-limite et directives pour soumettre des résumés :

Nous voudrions inviter les participants à présenter des communications orales et des affiches basés sur les thèmes de la rencontre, liés à la région du Maghreb. Les résumés doivent être soumis avant le 31 janvier 2010 par courriel, en anglais, français ou arabe.
Ils ne doivent pas excéder 300 mots, ni contenir des abréviations ou citations inconnues.
Le résumé doit être soumis dans le format « word » de Microsoft. Aucun autre format ne sera accepté
Le résumé doit être en format papier A4. Le titre en “gras” en utilisant une police « Arial » de 12 points.
Le titre doit être court, précis et reflète le sujet de la présentation ou de l’affiche.
Inclure les noms et les adresses de l’auteur(s), l’adresse complète, et adresses courriel de l’auteur(s) et de l’affiliation institutionnelle.

Aide aux participants :

La rencontre fournira l’aide de voyage, d’hébergement et de restauration, partielle ou totale, à un nombre limité de participants qui sont dans le besoin d’aide financière. On s’attend à ce que les participants puissent financer leurs propres dépenses et ou recevoir l’appui d’une autre organisation pour couvrir les frais.
La demande de subvention est conditionnée par l’acceptation d’une participation abstraite.
La priorité sera accordée à:
Jeunes scientifiques,
Etudiants doctorants,
Avocats stagiaires,
Educateurs en environnement,
Et régulateurs praticiens des pays du Maghreb,

Conditions :
Une lettre d’application qui inclut:
Titre(s) du résumé(s) soumis;
Description claire des activités professionnelles principales;
Description des participations récentes dans  des activités relatives aux changements climatique (conduite d’activités communautaires, recherche, éducation, politique et prise de décision);
Description claire des besoins d’aide financière, comprenant une évaluation de fonds demandés (c.-à-d., voyages par avion, hôtel, repas, etc.), exprimant également par qui seront couvert les frais complémentaires ;
Un curriculum vitae de pas plus de deux pages (CV) :
Des présentateurs des pays développés ne seront pas soutenus quoiqu’ils puissent être à l’origine résidants ou citoyens des pays en voie de développement.

Frais de participation :
Aucun frais de participation n’est exigé, cependant, la fiche d’inscription doit être adressée aux organisateurs dans les délais prévus.

Conférences invitées :
Des conférenciers de très haut niveau ont confirmé leur participation, et nous attendons la réponse des autres.

Programme Prévisionnelle :

Programme :
Mardi 16 mars 2010
Mercredi 17 mars 2010
08:00 – 09:00
Enregistrement

09:00 – 09:30
Plénière d’ouverture
conférence magistrale plénière Sessions 3
09:30 – 10:00
Session 3 : présentations orales
10:00-10:30
Pause café / Session poster
10:30-11:00
conférence magistrale plénière
Session 1
Session 3 : présentations orales
11:00 – 12:00
Session 1: présentations orales
Session 3 : présentations orales
12:00 – 13:00
Session 1: présentations orales
Session 3 : discussion ouverte
13:00 – 14:00
Pause Déjeuner
14:00 – 14:30
conférence magistrale plénière Session 2
Session de conclusions, recommandations et de clôture
14:30 – 15:30
Session 2: Présentations orales
15:30 – 16:00
Pause café / Session poster
16:00 – 16:30
Session 2: Présentations orales
Assemblée Générale :
CN IGBP et AMERCE
16:30 – 18:00
Sessions 1 & 2:
discussion ouverte

***************
Dr. Mohammed-Saïd KARROUK ??????? ???? ???? ????
Professeur de Climatologie ????? ??? ??????

Directeur Exécutif du Comité National IGBP (Global Change)
Université Hassan II, FLSH Ben M’Sick
Centre de Recherche de Climatologie (CEREC)
Master & Doctorat “Climat & Développement” (ClimDev)
BP 8220 Oasis, MA-20103 Casablanca (Maroc)
Tél: +212 661 156 051 Fax. +212 522 705 100
E-Mail:  KarroukSaid at Yahoo.Com
ou:  ClimDev.Maroc at Gmail.Com
ou:  CEREC at UnivH2M.Ac.Ma
Skype: ClimDev.Maroc

Morocco, in bold moves shows the Islamic World That It Does Not Agree With The Ahmedi-Nejad Dictum That There Was No Holocaust – But Do  Arabs Note This, and can Morocco do it all by itself?

Ariele Nahmias is a Jewish teacher in France and she organizes courses for French and Belgium teachers about Jewish issues. She also heads the French Desk at the International School for Holocaust Studies of the Yad Vashem.   http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/educatio…

Having looked up The Yad Vashem Jerusalem Quarterly Magazine of January 2010, I found on page 4 an article by Ariele Nahmias:

“From Morocco to Jerusalem: First-Ever Seminar for Moroccan Educators.”
 http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/pressroo…

The article tells about 18 teachers from Morocco that came to the Yad Vashem International School for Holocaust Studies to participate in a tailor-made seminar on Holocaust Education. This effort started when one of those teachers heard about the School’s Mario Sinai – the European Director – lecturing in Spain – and approached him to organize a special seminar for Moroccan teachers. Eventually – the group that came to Jerusalem included Berber community social activists. In Israel they met and listened among others to two Members of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) that originate from Morocco – Yaacov Edri of Kadima and Daniel Ben Simon from Labor – who also is a known Journalist. There are 600,000 Jews originating from Morocco living now in Israel. They came in the early 1950s – after the establishing of the State of Israel in 1948 – as there was a strong reaction against the Jewish State that was fueled by Arab Nationalists everywhere.

The Moroccan Group Leader that came to Israel December 2009, is Boubaker Outaadit who said that he got interested in the Holocaust while studying German History at the University of Casablanca. Others looked at it from sociology angles. Moroccan poet Ali Khadaoui – one of the participants – already expressed his sentiments in writing  and said he will continue to be involved in an effort by educators back home who “informally teach students the History of the Holocaust.

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Short History of Morocco:  Morocco´s location at the northwest corner of Africa, at the straights or the mouth of the Mediterranean opposite Spain, has attracted invading many forces and settlers. Phoenicians came to trade and settle, about that time arrived also the first Jews – that is 3,000 years ago. Then successive waves of Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, and Byzantine Greeks arrived to dominate and rule.

The Arabs began bringing their civilization in the 7th century, and the Alaouite dynasty, which claims descent from the Prophet Mohamed, is ruling  Morocco since 1649.

The Portuguese controlled the Atlantic coast in the 15th century and the French arrived in 1830.

In 1904 Morocco was divided into spheres of French and Spanish influence and a 1912 treaty established these zones as protectorates.

Morocco began to assert its independence after World War II with the formation of the Istiqlal (Independence) Party. Active opposition to foreign domination erupted in 1953 after France deposed the highly respected Sultan Muhammad V and replaced him with his unpopular uncle.

France allowed Muhammad V to return in 1955 and granted political independence on March 2, 1956. In 1956 and 1958, Morocco reach agreements to gain authority over the Spanish-controlled areas and Tangier, an international zone since 1923, was also reintegrated with Morocco.

Muhammad V was Sultan of Morocco from 1927 to 1953, exiled from 1953-55, where he was again recognized as Sultan upon his return, and was declared King from 1957 to 1961. His full name was Sidi Mohammad ben Yusef, or Son of (Sultan) Yusef, upon whose death he succeeded to the throne.

Muhammad VI is the current King. He was born in 1963  and became King of Morocco in 1999 upon the death of his father King Hassan II who was King of Morocco from 1961 to 1999.

Formerly Muhammad ben Al-Hassan, crown prince Sidi Muhammad, he studied at Muhammad V Univ., Rabat, where he received bachelor’s (1985) and master’s (1988) degrees in law, and at the Univ. of Nice, France, where he obtained his doctorate in law (1993). In the 1990s, as the health of his father King Hassan II declined, the crown price assumed a greater role in the government. In 1994 he was promoted to general and became coordinator of the Royal Armed Forces, and in 1998 he initiated a wide-ranging antipoverty program.  He has worked toward various social and economic improvements and has established a reputation as a generally moderate monarch.

In foreign policy, Morocco is officially non-aligned but generally sympathetic to the West. Its long-term goals are to strengthen its influence in the Arab world, Africa, and the Maghreb (Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco), while maintaining close ties to Europe and the United States.

Its major foreign-policy problem involves its absorption of Western Sahara when Spain relinquished its claim in 1976. This claim has entailed a long and costly war against the Algeria-based Polisario Front and for many years caused the rupture of diplomatic relations with Algeria. Diplomatic relations – as well as rail links, air links, and a gas pipeline deal – are back in place and agreements to negotiate a final solution have been reached.

In 1975, thousands of Moroccans crossed the border into Spanish Sahara to support Moroccan claims to the northern part of the territory. Mauritania then occupied the southern half of Spanish Sahara. After Spain pulled out, Algeria supported Spanish Saharan claims to self-determination and backed the Polisano Front guerrillas.

Mauritania made peace with the insurgents in 1979, but Polisano resistance to Moroccan occupation of the north and hostility between Algeria and Morocco continue.

Relations with other North African states improved significantly in the late 1980s. In May 1988 Algeria and Morocco agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations. (Diplomatic relations with Mauritania had been suspended in 1981 and resumed in April 1985).

In February 1989 North African Heads of State, meeting in Marrakesh, signed a treaty establishing the Union of the Arab Maghreb. The new body, which included Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Mauritania and Tunisia, aimed to promote trade by allowing the free movement of goods, services and workers.

—————

Regarding the topic of our present posting – the nature of relations the Moroccan Kings nurtured in regard to their Jewish citizens, World Jewry, and Israel let us start by noting that King Muhammad V, though bound to the Vichy French Rulers by the Protectorate agreement, made nevertheless efforts to mellow the impact of the Nazi anti-Jewish laws and now King Muhammad VI is trying to distance himself from the general anti-Israeli stands popular on the streets under most other Islamic ruling governments. In so far as the 2010 UN led International Holocaust Remembrance week, we noted the presence and good words, “Remember We Must” at the Saturday, January 23, 2010 Park East Synagogue event organized by Rabbi Arthur Schneier.  Present and speaking at the luncheon were both – the Moroccan Ambassador to the UN, Mohamed Louichki, as well as   Serge Berdugo who has the title of Itinerant Ambassador, and is actually also the Head of the Jewish Community and a former Minister of Tourism.

Later in the week, Thursday January 28, 2010, a second event with Moroccan participation, was arranged as a UN DPI briefing to the NGOs and the UN somehow managed to avoid the much more useful potential had they arranged to have this event also broadcasted to the UN community at large. After all, the fact that Morocco is more open to the Jewish people then any other Arab or Islamic State should be taken as an example to the rest of the UN membership – an act more important then just try to enhance the image of this State with the Civil Society as represented by the NGOs.

Whatever the case, our website has picked up the presentation by Itinerant Ambassador, or is it Ambassador to the Civil Society and World Jewry, with tourism implications, Mr. Serge Berdugo, at
 http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/01…

Here we will look at the second presenter – Mr. Andre Azoulay, Counsellor to His Majesty the King, who spoke via videoconference on an OECD screen, and answered questions.

There were two more speakers. – both from the Jerusalem-based program of KIVUNIM – New Directions – The Institute of Experimental Learning for Israel and World Jewish Communities Studies the head of the organization, Mr. Peter Geffen, a well known educator  who founded the Abraham Heschel School in New York City, and American Student Micha Stettin who dedicated himself to Middle East Studies, Hebrew and Arabic, now at Mc Gill after having spent a year in Israel with Kivunim. His presentation was dubbed as “Voices of Youth,” and this is correct in the sense that the grandchildren of the Holocaust can now start looking at the events of the 30s-40s of last century and start asking new questions. Micha’s question is – “Why did we not find anywhere in our studies what happened during the Holocaust to the Jews of Morocco?” He said that while learning about the good and the bad we must also learn about the collective identity as viewed in the Arab lands. What happened between Jews, Berbers, and Arabs in Morocco of that time – and King Muhammad V should be recognized as the right man he was.

Peter Geffen created first a project under the Shoa Foundation on memories from the Holocaust, and with King Muhammad VI embarked on the Morocco project. He did not make a presentation and left the Kivunim presentation to Micha, but read a special letter from the King:

“Praise be to God – May peace and blessings be upon His Prophets and Messengers.” “None of us can claim to have an understanding of the Holocaust that is-all-encompassing, absolute and without concession or compromise.” “Amnesia has no effect on my understanding of the Holocaust, or that of my people – in fact we perceive it as a wound to the collective memory, which we know is engraved in one of the most painful chapters in the collective history of mankind,” was the way the King started his message to the panel. Then he passe on to make a real complaint:

“In what history or civic education textbooks used in the West is it taught that Morocco had opened its doors, as early as in 1930s, to European Jewish communities who had seen the peril looming on the horizon?”

“In what institutes or intellectual forums, in Europe or the United States, is the exemplary and historic attitude of ny late grandfather – His Majesty King Muhammad V – blessed be his soul – discussed? Notwithstanding the implacable realities of the French protectorate., which severely constrained his power, His Majesty managed to oppose the enforcement of racist Vichy laws against Moroccans -  citizens of Jewish faith.”

The King continues beyond above admonition with an important call to reality – and asks us to look at the potential of what he is up to:

“Each of you will understand that when I call for exhaustive and faithful reading of the history of this period, I do not merely do justice to actual facts, ” he said and continues – “We live in a time that is not neutral. A time in which the collective imagination of all of our societies is also fueled by the prospect of exclusion and failure when it comes to the promises of dialogue between civilizations, our cultures and our religions,” and gets to the real point in the last lines: “in its depth as much as in its tragic specificity, this duty of remembrance strongly imposes ethical, moral and political standards which will, tomorrow, be true guarantors of this peace – based on equally shared justice and dignity – and for which most Palestinians and Israelis yearn.”

So, what we have here is a complaint that Europe oriented attention by the world, when dealing with the Holocaust, has forgotten (amnesia – he said) the fact that in an Arab country the Muslim ruler – at the time Sultan and later, upon full independence, King Muhammad V – his grandfather -  did what he could, under Vichy France “protectorate,” to save his Jewish citizens from the worst of Nazi treatment. Then he said that the recognition that there was a history of good relationship between Jews and Muslims in Morocco – this has to become the motor for a solution of the Palestinian – Israeli fight in the Middle East. This line was seconded via videoconference by his Jewish Councellor Andre Azoulay and these statements were then the base for a lively Q&A exchange with Mr. Azoulay answering from the screen.

Mr. Azoulay did not mince words when saying that while in Christian Europe barbarian Nazism was raging, it was a Muslim Sultan in Morocco who told his Vichy French “Protectors” that his Jews will not wear a yellow star – they are Moroccans like all other Moroccans. He said this was no accident nor coincidence – it was rather the recognition that the Jews were in the country had a 3,000 year history and they arrived 1,500 years before the arrival of Arab Islam. There were here many centuries of mutual respect and knowledge. He stated: “We are proud Jews and proud of Morocco being part of the Arab civilization, Muslim culture and related to Middle East cultures – we feel ourselves enriched by all these three dimensions and we feel having a special role and responsibilities – we are Jews in Morocco and as Moroccan citizens we have responsibility as Jewish activists in the Arab World. That is also why we want to emphasize the role Morocco played in the Shoa and we want to break through the amnesia on this topic.

Looking back at the duality of being Jews and Moroccans, and what was achieved there during the days of the Nazis in Europe, he feels that the coexistence in Morocco brings him to the Arab cause for a logic of coexistence of living in TWO STATES IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL – for the people there with all the measures of Human Rights and respect. WE REACT STRONGLY TO RESIST THE TRIVIALIZATION OF THE HOLOCAUST TRAGEDY – MOROCCO DOES NOT BELONG TO THE CLUB OF THE HOLOCAUST REJECTIONISTS – he said then followed up by saying that I am the only member of that Club that has Jews in an Arab country with all their rights – it is the Moroccan specificity in face of the Holocaust and this leads him to fight for the rights of the Palestinians and Israelis to live side by side.

The Chairman of the Panel was UN Director for Outreach – Mr. Eric Falt. It seems that his taking over by himself as moderator of the panel was a later decision as the first announcement that reached me mentioned the introducer, Maria-Louisa Chavez, Chief, NGO Relations, Department of Public Information (DPI) as Moderator, but seemingly there was some rethinking about this allowed at DPI. Mr. Falt was obviously a more appropriate choice for an event that should have been intended for a wider audience to include even the UN itself. This became obvious at the interesting Q&A time.

The background of this meeting was not presented in full by the panel. Indeed there was a history of peaceful coexistence in Morocco and high level of achievements during thousands of years, and colonial anti-Semitic policies imposed upon Moroccan Jews by the Vichy-regime of German-occupied France were opposed by the local leader of the country – the future King Muhammad V – but then, with the creation of the State of Israel, tensions  in the country arouse with riots against the Jews and Moroccan Jews fleeing to France and Israel as Arab – Israeli wars broke out in the Middle East. In spite of everything, and the inter-Arab solidarity, King Muhammad V and his son Hassan II still managed to protect the remaining Jews and tried to play intermediary roles in the Arab-Israeli peace process.

The present King – His Majesty King Muhammad VI faced by 2003 suicide bombing incidents against Jewish institutions in Casablanca,  did indeed step out  against Arab perpetrators of these crimes, and continued the historic mainly tolerant attitude towards Jews in Morocco.  I visited the place that included a Jewish social club close to after it happened, with 57 members of a family of Moroccan Jews living in Israel that went to see their place of origin. We were received royally even though it was clear that there was an implied reason for that visit – the question of real estate that the family left behind when fleeing the country. Even so – I witnessed friendly encounters that included even two visits with people living then in the former Levy family owned homes. One of the Levy brothers had a grocery store and a bakery – and these business were still functioning – we were honored with freshly backed bread by the new operator who was from a family of friends of the Levys. I did not follow what happened to the potential claim – but it was obvious to me that in the context of a settlement of claims former Palestinian  owners have over properties in Israel, these claims will be clearly part of the counter-claims in a balanced solution – and there is no rejection of this idea by Morocco – even though Morocco shows interest in helping find a solution for the Middle East conflict – that might mean its own financial loss of sort.

Thinking of the above – the importance of this Thursday, January 28, 2010, panel at the UN International Holocaust Remembrance week, at the UN Headquarters, takes an even higher level of importance and deserved maximum visibility and exposure.

Mr. Abdelkader Abbadi, originally from Tunisia, former UN official, and now a UN-DPI accredited correspondent, asked the first question, and it was about the position about Jews in the larger Arab context – the position of the Moroccan Jews in a larger reconciliation between the Muslim and Jewish Worlds. The answer was that Morocco is still playing a major role to give peace a chance. It was during the 60-80s they were the main place of contact. Mr. Azulay, from the screen, said: “We are still in total coherence in what can bring a feature of security for the State of Israel. By keeping alive the historical Moroccan legacy – the role played by the King and the message sent to the Nazi barbarity, and applying to the denial of the Holocaust in parts of the region, we are showing Morocco as it is. He added “Let me also say that when fighting for the above we also fight Islamophobia – the new anti-Semitism we see in Islamophobia. It is the same legacy that pushes us to say how Morocco can show the chance of coexistence between Muslims and Jews.

A question from Mauricio of the Brazilian Mission to the UN brought from Mr. Azoulay the following answer: When I went to Brazil I feel at home.  In Salvador, Bahia  I saw all three cultures celebrating in one – the logic gives us strength. Yes, we had also black pages. When we think of the Inquisition of the 15th century – it killed millions of Jews. In the Arab world of that time we stood together on the page of humanity. We had the mathematicians and the philosophers together – we held them for the rest of  humanity. Jews in the Arab & Muslim World is not just cosmetics. We feel enough confident, committed, powerful to share it with you first – because it is true today and centuries ago.

Serge Berdugo added to this:  In Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil, there is a large Jewish community from Morocco since 1882. Last year we had 500 people that came to Morocco to look for roots.

A question on books: Mr. Azulay said the answer is in education. We published about the Shoa in Arabic as there is enough inflammatory material in Arabic like The Protocols of Zion. In March 2009 we took the initiative to translate “The Diary of Anne Frank” and books like Hitler and the Jews. This was immediately effective. We have the books on our website and they can be freely downloaded. We find that they are printed out also in Iran. This is the first real effective answer to feed the ignorants. We have to do our best to inform the people. WE MUST GIVE A CHANCE TO THOSE THAT DO NOT KNOW – TO KNOW. It is a unique opportunity for the rest of the world and for the Muslim community to get the information. We have to mobilize NGOs, Universities, Academics, Governments, States to the realization of relations between Jews & Muslims.

——

Eventually came the question I thought all the time that it will appear out there at any moment: What about Israel – why not live there Jews and Arabs as one community. Serge Berdugo answered without difficulty –

IN ISRAEL THESE ARE TWO SEPARATE COMMUNITIES – IN MOROCCO WE LIVE TOGETHER. IN ISRAEL – ISRAEL MUST GET SECURITY FIRST WITHOUT THAT NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!

Almost all bridges in the Middle East were made in Morocco. We have very good contacts with Palestinians & Israelis when they come to Morocco they speak to each other to find solutions. We are in the supermarket – security and realism – and we have the dreams.

——

Question from a former employee of Joint in Morocco: How do you transmit your experience to others?

Petter Geffen answered – About the Vichy – Morocco stands – I learned about this only 6 years ago – now I tell it to everyone. THE POWER OF MUTUAL RESPECT AND COEXISTENCE,

Some people have vested interests in keeping us separate – that does not lead to change.

He then told of Raphael David Almaleh who went to a village of Berbers that once had 400 Jews – Arazan – and asked children – Where was here a Synagogue? They did not know but said ask that old man at the top of the street. The 65 year old man knew – and more. He pulled out a key and took them to the Synagogue. “They left when we were children – the Rabbi gave me the key and said give it to the Jews when they come back” he said.

Geffen then continued saying that the amnesia was not on purpose  – it is rather a result of our Eurocentricity that caused us not to look at Africa. When we asked Mr. Azulay to get involved in our effort to bring some redress to the lost years, he had first to ask the King’s endorsement and given this endorsement helped bring it to the open. We should not go away without making this knowledge a way to lead to change.

Serge Berdugo added – “we feel we have a story for the rest of the world.” Our website feels he deffinitely has a story for the UN – actually this was the novelty in this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Week of the UN.

————–

Further, as our website is known for our interest in environmental issues such as the impact of burning fossil fuels on Global Warming, we could not resist to note here also that the Turkish head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference has called fot the first meeting of the OIC Executive Bureau on Environment and Climate Change for Rabat -  January 18-19, 2010.

This meeting was obviously not connected to the subject matter of above panel – but on a different level it surely is related nevertheless, and it is interesting  that  two non-oil exporters from among the Arab States, but the countries positioned at the two geographical ends of the Mediterranean divide between Europe and the main mass of the Islamic World, Morocco and Turkey – are involved in this growing -in-importance global issue.
 http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/01…

From sergeberdugo@yahoo.fr

The Statement by Morocco Itinerant Ambassador Serge Berdugo, a Jew of prominent standing in Morocco, to the UN International Holocaust 2010 Commemoration. The Importance of the Panel was more then anything else – towards the Islamic World of today.

January 28, 2010

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my privilege to be part of this ceremony on the history of the Jewish Community of Morocco during the Second World War and to tell you how the European policy on Holocaust impacted the lives of this community. This presentation will illustrate and I quote His Majesty Mohammed VI: “tell the rest of the world how Arab and Islamic countries, such as mine, resisted Nazism and said “No” to the barbarity of the Nazis and to the villainous laws of the Vichy government”.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

First, let me remind you that in 1939 Morocco was under the French and Spanish protectorate.

Following the defeat of France and the coming into power of the Vichy Government, the Jews were faced with a systematic ideological anti-Semitism that led to the implementation of the Vichy anti Jewish legislation in Morocco.
On October 31st 1941, the King was compelled to enact legislation called the statute of Jews but not without obtaining major concessions to limit the scope and the impact of such measures as applied in France.
The first concession was related to the very notion of “Jew”. In Morocco, the Jews would be identified by the practice of the Jewish religion and not with reference to race or affiliation as referred to in Nazis ideology. “A Jew is a person who practices the Jewish religion”.

According to the second concession, bans and quotas were not applied to the Jewish religious institutions. This concession allowed Jewish institutions including schools to function properly and to receive 80% of their funding from the State budget.

Furthermore, business and handicrafts activities remained open to Jews.
The implementation of the Jews’ Laws by Moroccan authorities was another major concession granted to the King. This allowed the King to monitor and delay as much as possible, the implementation of these laws.

These concessions obtained by the King had considerable and practical implications on the daily life of the great majority of the Jews: the 90% that maintained a traditional way of living in Mellah and enjoyed a lifestyle similar to that of their Muslim neighbors.

The anti Jewish laws had only a little impact on them. They continued to practice their religion and do business. Their children received a Jewish and secular education of good quality.

Nevertheless, the minority of Jews, who embraced modernity and the European lifestyle, suffered all types of discrimination, humiliation and exactions.   They were forced to live in overpopulated Mellah.

They were excluded from the civil service, from the private sector (no more than 2% of Jewish doctors and lawyers) and from French schools (a maximum of 10% of Jewish students in high schools and 3% in universities).
Finally, the real estates of all the Jews had to be identified and listed.

From 1940 to 1943, the life of the Jews was certainly difficult and precarious but not more than that of the Muslims, who were themselves victims of discrimination by the Europeans.

Discrimination against Jews as well as Muslims included access to swimming pools, public places, theaters and stadiums.

During this enduring period, no major tension existed between the Jews and Muslims. In fact, the war had a little impact on the relationship between the two communities.

The opposite was true of relations with the European which were enterable to the extent that the Jews lived in a permanent fear to be humiliated and sometimes beaten by European mobs.

This violence reached its climax with the French fascist group “S.O.C.” which planned a pogrom targeting Jews in Casablanca on November 15th, 1942. In these circumstances, the Jews could not rely on the French police to protect them.

Fortunately, on November 8th, 1942, the landing of American forces in Casablanca prevented the implantation of such hideous action.
Nevertheless, it took more than one year to revoke the “Jews statute”.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It was thanks to the courage and fairness of the young Moroccan Sultan that the discriminatory laws targeting those whom the King referred to as “his loyal Jewish subjects”, were never applied in an integral and uniform way.
Since the inception of the discriminatory laws, the Sultan consistently emphasized to his Jewish subjects that his door will always be open and that he will remain in a listening mood to their claims and complaints.
To illustrate this commitment, let me recall the testimony of my father Joseph BERDUGO, than President of the Jewish Committee of Meknes on the Census law of the Jewish assets that the French authorities intended to implement and which were viewed by the Jewish Community as a prelude to expropriation of their properties (as in France).

Indeed the Presidents of the 4 most important Jewish communities were taken secretly in a covered small van, walking then through the kitchens and the offices, to be received thereafter by the Monarch in his Apartment without any Protocol present.

The King said ‘I know your fears but I ask you to assure my Jewish subjects of my constant and full protection. Let them know that nothing will affect them that it did not affect first my family and myself’.

Informed that the French requested an inventory of the Jewish assets, while the law concerned only the real estate, the Sultan gave then his instructions to slow down the census and abstain from transmitting the files to the French authorities.

Following the landing of the US in November, 1942, and upon a request by the Sultan, my father was an eyewitness of the destruction of all the documents related to the census.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Beyond all these clear statements and positions, in favour of his Jewish subjects, the King of Morocco undertook courageous actions. He took brave initiatives that the recent disclosures of French and British archives illustrate eloquently.

Let me quote from a confidential report drawn in 1985 from the French MFA archives:
“Dissidence, 24 May 1941 – Telegram AF1 Change of Attitude of the Sultan of Morocco toward the French authorities, by René Touraine.

Credible sources informed us that the relations between the Sultan of Morocco and the French authorities became much tenser the day the Residence put into application the decree on the “measures” against the Jews despite the strict opposition of the Sultan. The Sultan refused to make differences amongst his loyal people and he was offended to see that his authority was overtaken by the French authorities. The Sultan waited for his crowning anniversary and publicly announced that he forbade the measures against the Jews. On this occasion, the Sultan generally offered a banquet attended by the French representatives and eminent Moroccan personalities. For the first time, the Sultan invited to the banquet the representatives of the Jewish community who sat next to the French officials. He declared to the French officials, who were surprised by the presence of Jews at this meeting: “I absolutely do not agree with the new anti-Semitic laws and I refuse to associate myself with a measure I disagree with; I reiterate as I did in the past that the Jews are under my protection and I reject any distinction that should be made amongst my people”. End of quote.

This sensational statement has been widely circulated among the French and Moroccan population”.
Obviously, in order to protect the subjects of Jewish confession, the Sultan took considerable risks in challenging the authority of the French Protectorate, which ended up discharging and exiling the king and His family in 1953.
Since then we understand why the Moroccan Jews venerate Mohammed V as the righteous among nations who saved them from the Shoa.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In assuming his spiritual role as “Commander of the faithful”, the King of Morocco, as descendant of the Prophet, is bound to protect Jews as much as he does Muslims.

The Sultan guarantees the security and the safety of the three components of the Kingdom: Arab, Berber and Jew, who for centuries lived in Morocco in harmony and brotherhood.

Today, “His Majesty the King Mohammed VI reiterated ‘His religious, historical and constitutional responsibility in the preservation of the persons, the rights and the sacred values of His subjects of Jewish confession”.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

We cannot address the issue of Holocaust in North Africa without referring to ‘forced labor camps’; these real ‘concentration camps’ created by Vichy to receive Gaullist, socialist, and communist opponents, Germans anti-Nazis, Spanish Republicans, Jewish refugees of Central Europe, Gypsies and even Muslim resistants.

These camps were under the total control of the French Army.

The prisoners who were at the mercy of their European Guardians experienced horrible conditions of detention. The 2000 Jews detainees representing 30% of the overall number of prisoners kept in over 30 camps. The camp of Berguent received exclusively 400 Jewish prisoners.

According to testimonies made by former prisoners in these camps, collected by British Foreign Office.

‘The only signs of humanity came from Muslim guards who took risks to relieve our sufferings’.

I draw your attention to the fact that as long as Moroccan Jews were enjoying the protection of the Sultan, no one was in custody in any of these camps.

This dramatic episode of the war was forgotten rather than hidden.
The existence of Camps in North Africa was revisited in 2007, in Robert Satloff’s book entitled: ‘Among the Righteous’.

Since the publication of this book, which tackles the Holocaust in the Arab countries, the Moroccan media published long surveys and articles on this ‘Forgotten story’, thus demonstrating that in an Arab and Muslim country, such as Morocco, one could speak about the Holocaust without taboos or any temptations of delayed .

This attitude of the Moroccan populations is in perfect symbiosis with the message of support addressed by King Mohammed VI to the ‘Aladin Project on the Holocaust’.

In this message read by the Moroccan Minister of Religious Affairs in UNESCO in March 2009, the Monarch stated:

‘My reading and that of my people are not one of amnesia. Our reading is the one of a memorial wound which we recorded in one of the most painful chapters in the Pantheon of the World history’.

The King invited also the participants: ‘to think differently about one of the most tragic and the most terrible stigmas of the Contemporary History, while nobody can pretend to make a total reading of the Holocaust, that is irrefragable and without concession nor dishonest compromise’.
In this perspective, Morocco cooperated with several NGO’s, to undertake exhaustive studies on the Holocaust in Morocco.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen,

One has to draw one lesson it is the importance of a Head of State in setting the tone for recognition, respect and treatment of minority faiths within its territory.

We can only hope that other Heads of State, seeking the enduring affections of their people, will come to realize that the way forward lies not in fanning the expedient fires of the moment, but in setting, as the King of Morocco does, a tone for tolerance and peaceful coexistence that will endure forever.

In conclusion, I would like to stress that although life for the Jews in Morocco was not always one of “wine and roses”, it was better than what other Jews experienced in most parts of the world, particularly in Europe.
Thank you for your attention.

.

The Best at the UN ends up reflecting also on the worst: The UN Headquarters have many people of value – of compassion and of hope for a better future – this besides of some in the bureaucracy that might be innocents with no vision, others might be plants from Member States that want no part of human rights, dignity, or even of plain truth – so be it.

The good people under the leadership of Eric Falt and Kimberly Mann came up with a very interesting program that we posted earlier so people from outside the UN could know how to find their way in order to participate at these events. The list is in our following link:
 http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/01…

Later we found out that the information about these events was sent to parties outside the UN, was made available to the Press accredited to the UN, but as it turned out – from the 6 events listed by UN Outreach – only two events were printed in the Daily Journal of the UN. That journal is not made available now to NGOs – only to the diplomats – but then NGOs get their information from reading the Journal on the internet – so you can say that the UN Department of Information – the source of the Journal – even though it can contend that it made the information available to the PRESS – can in no way justify why it did not make available the information to the in-house members of the UN – except may-be say that some of those were not interested in the Holocaust as more pressing issues are at hand. But what about the educational aspects that were so important to the good people of the UN Outreach Division?

The day after the main event of Wednesday, a head of an NGO Committee that is daily at the UN, asked me – how did you know about the concert? I did not see it listed anywhere. And trust me – that was neither a question of space nor of security. Then what?

The UN In-House events numbered six, and participation was being granted by various sources – some of them outside the UN.

Let us start with the two events that appeared continuously in the Journal announcements:

These were the Wednesday January 27, 2010 event organized by the Jewish B’nai Brith International NGO in cooperation with the UN Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic. It dealt with the “Inter religious responses to the Holocaust – 65 years after liberation.” Tickets to this event were sent out by the B’nai Brith organization. There was no problem obtaining them after the appropriate phone call.

The other event was on Thursday January 28, 2010 – titled “The Moroccan Jews and Their legacy of survival.” The Journal does not mention that it was organized by the Moroccan Government but directed those interested to contact the DPI/NGO section as it was booked as a regular, weekly, DPI briefing to the NGOs. When approached – the appropriate UN officials said – send us a letter on NGO letterhead. So – this event was being treated as a regular NGO event – not as the important message that the Moroccan Government intended to put forward before members of the UN, and others who actually had no knowledge that during the terrible days of the Holocaust – there was indeed one Arab King – H.M. King Muhammad V of Morocco – who told the Nazis – the Jews of Morocco are my subjects and I do not discriminate between Jews and other Moroccans. Now that was a powerful message that deserved to be heard at the UN – and if not – the organization does not deserve the funds the world sends its way. I had no doubt that I had to take a stand on this issue – and I did.

———

The other four events of the week, none of them listed in the Journal, included two quentesential exhibits organized by Non-Governmental factors outside the UN.

On Monday, January 25, 2010,  there was a show of hope – it was actually called “Generations: Survival and Legacy of Hope,” for which entrance was obtained from the Shoa Foundation Institute in Los Angeles. This organization, funded initially by Mr. Steven Spielberg from Schindler’s list funds, has documented on video the stories of survivors and their descendants. Two families were present at the showing of material. Despite the terrible material it is the hope that shows through in the success of having picked up their lives again – this is what gives a reason for having hope in institutions that were established under the “Never Again” logo. This event – paired up with the following day opening – together form the raison d’etre for the UN institution – but you would not know this from the way the UN kept these two events of its Journal.

On Tuesday. January 26, 2010, the Exhibit – “Architecture of Murder: Auschwitz-Birkenau,” for which entrance was obtained from the Yad Vashem – Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority. At this event participated also the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, The Israeli Minister for Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, and US Ambassador Rick Barton.

——–

The other two events that were not listed in the Journal are:

- The main Holocaust Memorial Ceremony and Concert in the General Assembly Hall for which one needed special tickets – so it was clearly a more controlled participation, and that was the event that the lady I mentioned earlier asked me about as she would have wanted to come had she known about it.

- The Thursday January 28, 2010 screening of the film “Defiance” that was co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the US and had present the lady that wrote the book, Nehama Tec, and her son who made the movie. The great thing about this movie is that it depicts the true story of the Bielski brothers – a story of Jewish fighters in the forests of Belarus – as the UN release says correctly – it depicts  “the struggle of a group of brave Jews who fought against overwhelming odds thus providing a sharp contrast to the countless WWII movies that portray Jews just as victims.” The two Bielski Brigades – the one under one brother that fought with the Russian partisans, and the other – under another brother that guarded the Jewish families in the forest. When the two groups fought together – they turned around the Nazi effort to clear the forest. 1200 people survived thanks to the Bielskis’ leadership. Two of the three Bielskis survived and eventually owned a small trucking business in the US.

On November 1, 2005, SIXTY YEARS SINCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II, THE LIBERATION OF THE AUSCHWITZ EXTERMINATION CAMP BY THE SOVIET ARMY, AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE UN, finally, the UN that in major part came about because of the fact that the world realized that walking in the ashes caused by anti-Semitism and other isms, is not the will of the human race; the UN was created to learn from that experience – but did it? It took 60 years, the creation of the State of Israel, the travails of Zionism is Racism abomination, and one strong Ambassador of humanity to the organization – US Professor/ Senator/Ambassador Moynihan, to start to beat the anti-Semitic UN steel into compliance.

—————

UN Designates International Holocaust day
November 1, 2005, release:

The UN General Assembly has decided by acclaim to designate January 27 as international Holocaust Day.

This is the first time ever that a resolution introduced by Israel has been adopted by the UN General Assembly. Some not inconsiderable distance has been traveled from the infamous “Zionism is Racism” resolution to this resolution. At least, the world can be united in condemning genocide, even if “Zionists” propose the initiative. The vision of Austria and Germany co-sponsoring and approving of such a resolution is certainly heartening to the surviving victims of Nazi persecution, to the Jews, gypsies and others whose families died in the Holocaust and to the state of Israel.

Unfortunately, it is not at all certain how some countries will mark this day. Some of the rhetoric of the UN discussion is ominous: Several Muslim and Arab governments expressed “reservations.” Some countries believe that the Holocaust, in which a state turned against noncombatant civilians, was the same as bombing the cities of enemy countries at war. In many of the countries that approved of this resolution and even among those whose representatives spoke kind words about humanitarianism, Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are best sellers. Some of those countries have been accessories after the fact to genocide, or committed it themselves. In those countries, every day is Holocaust day. From the remarks of the Ukrainian representative, you would not know that the Jews of the Ukraine were rounded up by Ukrainian SS, or that the gas chambers at Auschwitz were run by a Ukrainian nicknamed “Ivan the terrible.”

What public activities will mark Holocaust day in Iran, where President Ahmedinejad has called for a world without Zionism and America? In Syria, a book about the Blood Libel (the accusation that Jews kill Christian children in order to use their blood for baking Matzot) was written by the former minister of Defense. Syria also made notable contributions to the history of racial persecution in its treatment of the Kurds. Will Syria mark this day in sympathy with the victims, or will they celebrate it by showing, perhaps, a screening of Lenni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will? Will this day become an occasion for so-called “anti-Zionists” to trot out Holocaust denial and accusations that Israel is committing a Holocaust against the Palestinians, or that the Zionists collaborated with the Nazis?

Will the world again stand aside at the next genocide, as it did in Rwanda, and as it did for a very long time in Darfur, and as it continues to do in Tibet? In the discussion, each state was quick to accuse others of genocide, but unwilling to accept responsibility for crimes of their own states and governments. The Venezuelans spoke about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Chinese alluded to Japanese crimes. The Ukrainians alluded to Soviet crimes. The discussion would have more meaning if the Americans had spoken about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Chinese had spoken about their activities in Tibet, the Japanese had spoken the rape of Mongolia and the Turks had spoken of the Armenian genocide.

The implementation of the resolution will be of more consequence than the paper or the words themselves,  and the reality of the actions of states will be more important than either.

The proliferation of vile Web sites and articles about the “Holocaust Myth,” claiming the Holocaust never happened and is yet another Jewish plot, points up the urgent need for this day of remembrance.

Alert readers of what was said that say will note some bitter ironies in the remarks of representatives of some states, whose people and governments were active collaborators or passive accessories in the crime of the Holocaust.

The date – January 27 – was picked as that was the date the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination machine was closed by the Soviet army. http://www.zionism-israel.com/news/holocaust_day.htm

The first commemoration was held at the UN in 2006 and this year we have thus the fifth such event – or actually a series of events, that traditionally start on the Saturday before the actual date with a ceremony at the Park East Synagogue located on Manhattan’s East Side – Midtown.

The list of this year’s events at the UN, as provided to parties outside the UN – and published on our website is:
 http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/01…

But besides the UN itself, the fact that the UN has thrown the light upon the Holocaust atrocities, and the world’s need to remember these atrocities by having an International day of Remembrance, it is now that even in unexpected places in the civilized world, we find events being organized for the purpose of remembering and of learning from that experience. We thought thus to mention here one such event in a place we hardly expected to find it – the main Carnival city of the North-East of Brazil – Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.
 http://www.sustainabilitank.info/2010/01…

We will be reporting on this year’s week-long series in several postings that will involve also other related events – for now we will put up the clear Jewish angle to the comemoration – as it reflected in the Park East Sybagogue events and in the political official presentation at the UN main event of January 27, 2010

REMARKS AT PARK EAST SYNAGOGUE IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS OF THE HOLOCAUST

by H.E. Srgjan Kerim President of the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Park East Synagogue
New York, 26 January 2008

Rabbi Schneier,
Excellencies,
Members of Park East Synagogue,
Dear Friends,

I am very grateful to Rabbi Schneier for inviting me to the Park East
Synagogue – a historic architectural treasure in the heart of
Manhattan.

I am sure that you are all very proud of Rabbi Schneier for his
commitment and spiritual leadership that has brought this synagogue
international recognition.

It was only five years ago that I had my first opportunity to attend
and participate in a Jewish ceremony, here at the Park East Synagogue.
The experience inspired me to write a poem entitled ‘Temple’. I would
like to share a short extract with you today. I hope you will
appreciate it;

Nowhere in the world is it possible
To find such a grandiose temple
That would keep for ages
The layers of human sin
And all our shame.

I’ve always believed
There’s nothing greater in a temple
Than the final sounds melting
In the concluding Amin
Until I heard the word
Of a great friend of mine
Who walked in the steps of Moses
And is called a Rabbin.

Park East Beit Knesset,

I wish there would not have been such an occasion for me to address
you today. However, as we all know the Holocaust happened. It is
definitely one of the darkest pages in the history of mankind.

Unfortunately, we are still facing some lonely, desperate attempts to
blur the horrifying dimensions of the Holocaust.

We gather here today to remember and pay homage to those who lost
their lives in the Holocaust; the atrocities that they were subjected
to can never be forgotten.
The perpetrators of the Holocaust fed man’s ego with delusions of
supremacy and tried to erase the bonds that all human beings share.

The liberation of the Nazi concentration camps over 60 years ago
revealed one of the most evil crimes against humanity. The
consequences still reverberate in the present.

Elie Wiesel – Nobel Laureate, a Holocaust survivor and champion of
moral responsibility – has best put this into perspective:

“Let us remember, let us remember the heroes of Warsaw, the martyrs of
Treblinka, the children of Auschwitz. They fought alone, they suffered
alone, they lived alone, but they did not die alone, for something in
all of us died with them.”

We must also remember to pay tribute to those who survived and bravely
carried on with their lives – and in doing so inspired others. I would
like to salute the strength and perseverance of all Holocaust
survivors and their families.

I know that some of you are with us today.

Not only have you survived, but you have rebuilt communities all over
the world, become stronger, and enabled future generations to thrive.
You just have to look around at all the people gathered here today to
recognize this fact.

The recognition of this day of Holocaust remembrance by the
international community heralded a change of tide at the United
Nations; and, a step forward in the collective memory and conscience
of our world.

Dear Friends,
Remembrance of the Holocaust is more than the recognition of a tragic
past – or the darker side of human nature.

Remembering is an ethical act; it has ethical value in itself.

Remembrance is also a means through which we can understand ourselves:
an engine for change that should enable us to create and sustain a
better, more just future.

I am reminded of my father and his family. During the Second World War
he bravely helped to save and protect the family of Isac Sion – his
school friend – amidst the terror of occupation.

At the age of twenty my father and Isac subsequently joined the
National Liberation Movement of Macedonia to fight for freedom,
against the Nazi dictatorship, alongside the Allies.

Isac Sion subsequently went on to become Vice-governor of the Central
Bank of the Former Yugoslavia and following this was appointed as
Yugoslavia’s trade representative to the United Kingdom.

My father and many others like him served the Jewish people in their
hour of need. Their actions epitomize the practical meaning of
something profound that the famous Irish politician and philosopher
Edmund Burke once said, and I quote;

“All that is needed for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

When I had my first opportunity, in some small way, to redress the
atrocities committed during the Holocaust – as foreign Minister of
Macedonia – in 2000, I appointed Elie Wiesel as our first Special
Envoy and Goodwill Ambassador. He then became the United Nations
Messenger of Peace for Human Rights and the Holocaust.

And, in honour of the Jewish community, my country will soon complete
the construction of a Holocaust Memorial Centre. This is a symbolic
gesture to bring back the memory of the victims from Treblinka to
Skopje.

Looking back at the turbulent history of the Balkan region there are
some bitter lessons that we must learn: war begins when the perception
of the pain of others ends. We can also turn this around to say that
when the perception of the pain of others begins there is no room for
war.

We must remember that every religion and culture must be tolerant of
the legitimate right for others to assert their difference in freedom.

Furthermore, intolerance of other religions or cultures is often a
sign of the degree of intolerance within a particular religion or
culture.

Dear Friends and members of Park East Beit Knesset,

The United Nations was founded on the ashes of the Holocaust, when the
world was in need of hope for a better future.
It was created to embody that hope as a promise to humanity. However,
most disturbingly, since the Holocaust there have been genocides and
serious crimes against humanity in Cambodia, Rwanda, and Yugoslavia.

That these atrocities occurred is not necessarily the failure of the
United Nations as an organization; but rather, represents the lack of
collective will of its Member States to take the decision to act or
intervene.

Even while we gather here, there are places – like Darfur – where
people suffer from the very crimes, which, time and time again, we
have vowed would never again happen.

For the dignity of all humanity, we must strengthen our ability – our
collective resolve – to prevent such atrocities, whenever and wherever
they might occur.

Indeed, terrorism, violence, rape, murder, poverty and discrimination
on the grounds of race or religion continue to be part of the everyday
lives of many people. This fact alone should jar us with indignation.

Despite the tragic failures of the international community to prevent
crimes against humanity since the founding of the United Nations,
there is hope – failure is not an option.

In 2005, the General Assembly passed a resolution that included the
‘Responsibility to Protect’. In doing so, all nations signaled their
commitment to take action – to hold themselves accountable – to
recognize that with sovereign rights come responsibilities to their
peoples.

In fact all of us here today can add our voice, with the United
Nations, to ensure that this new paradigm within international
relations comes to life.

Rabbi Schneier offers us an example of what we can do. He has been a
great advocate for human rights, and the promotion of religious and
ethnic tolerance. He has worked tirelessly to strengthen ties with
communities from different faiths and backgrounds through his good
works and publications.

In 2003 we jointly organized the first ever South East European
regional conference on ‘Dialogue among Civilizations’, at Lake Ohrid
in Macedonia.

In this spirit, and as we have just celebrated the life of the great
Martin Luther King Jr., I think it is fitting that I should recount
something he once said. It captures the same call to action that needs
to be instilled in the world today if we are to prevent a repeat of
the Holocaust;

“injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere….. Whatever
affects one directly, affects all directly.”

Dear Friends,

On the occasion of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of
the victims of the Holocaust, as well as of the 60th Anniversary of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, let us embrace our
diversity, and honor our interdependence, as the only path to peace
and justice.

Together, it is our common challenge to eliminate all distorted
notions that deepen barriers and widen divides: for they all originate
in the discriminatory practices of the mind.

We can achieve this by promoting intercultural dialogue and
cooperation for peace as a means to replace misunderstanding with
mutual respect and acceptance.

But we must also move from words to action, from principled intentions
to deeds that promote human security, human rights, the responsibility
to protect and sustainable development. For herein lies the hope of a
new culture of international relations with the United Nations as its
centerpiece.

Members of Park East Beit Knesset,
And, all those gathered here today,

Let me wish all of you and the wider community peace, health and prosperity.

Let all our thoughts honour the victims of the Holocaust, and let us
spare no effort to ensure that we never again witness such evil. We
may not be able to change the past, but we must have the courage and
vision to change the future.

In order to do so, it is not enough to reiterate solemn gestures; we
must do everything possible to transform our attitudes to have full
regard for the dignity of all individuals, communities and nations.

Thank you. Shalom.

————–

But that was the last President of the UN General Assembly to be welcome

to speak before a Jewish Audience – in those 5 years. Before him were: Mr. Jan Eliasson of Sweden #60,

and Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of  Bahrain #61.

Now it is UNGA’s 64th session: On 10 June 2009, Ali Abdussalam Treki

of Libya was elected by acclamation at a plenary meeting of the

192-member body of the United Nations General Assembly.

Treki assumed office as president of the 64th session on 15 September 2009,
succeeding General Assembly president, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of
Nicaragua who was 63rd President of the UNGA. Both these gentlemen
have made anti-Israeli statements and were also mentioned in this
context as plain anti-Semites, thus making it impossible to listen to
their linguistic expressions when it comes to the commemoration of the
liberation of Auschwitz. Thus, these last two years, the presentations
at the UN, it was Vice Presidents of the UNGA that spoke in their
place, and the UN General Assembly as such was not represented at the
Saturday pre-commemoration service at the Park East Synagogue.

But in 2009, The Park East Congregation had the honor to host the UN
Secretary General.

—————-
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
24 January 2009

Remarks at Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony at the Park East Synagogue:

Thank you very much, Rabbi [Arthur] Schneier, for that kind introduction.

I especially appreciate you for calling me a mensch. With apologies to
those of you who do not speak Yiddish, I have to say: thank goodness
he didn’t call me meshugenah.

To all, I wish you Shabat Shalom.

Excellencies, distinguished Ambassadors to the United Nations,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today we mark the International Day of Commemoration honoring victims
of the Holocaust. This is a most important and solemn occasion.

As you know, my friend, the late Tom Lantos, died shortly after last
year’s observance. Some of you may have met him when he came to this
Synagogue. He was dear to me, as he was to you. He made an
extraordinary journey from a Nazi labor camp to the halls of Congress.
He became a leading champion of truth and justice. Like those of you
who also lived through the Holocaust, he was never defeated by the
unspeakable horrors that he survived.

I can only imagine what he endured. Yet I, too, have witnessed man’s
inhumanity to man. I have seen it as Secretary-General, traveling in
places torn by war. And I saw it as a six-year old boy fleeing to the
mountains to escape fighting in my own country.

The UN helped South Korea to recover. Like Tom Lantos, like many of
you, I came to believe in the transformative power of the United
Nations.

Today, the UN is on the cusp of a great transition. Never have global
challenges been so large. Climate change, terrorism, the global
financial crisis – these troubles transcend borders. They affect all
countries, rich and poor. They will be overcome only when all
countries come together in response. That’s why we have a United
Nations.

Yes, the UN has its imperfections. It’s not perfect. Because of this,
from day one since I took office, I have pushed to change it. I have
insisted on a new culture of transparency and accountability. I have
worked to make the UN more efficient, effective, modern. In short, we
have tried to make it a better instrument to serve mankind.

We are here to mark the Holocaust. Like you, the United Nations is
determined to tell its timeless lessons.

Precisely two years ago, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution
condemning, without reservation, any denial of the Holocaust. I quote:
“Ignoring the historical fact of those terrible events increases the
risk they will be repeated.”

With you, I stand in saying: never again. Never. When I paid tribute
to Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem, I wrote in the book there, “Never
again. Never.”

Memory speaks. That is why it must be preserved and passed to future
generations.

Our Holocaust Outreach Program sponsors exhibits, workshops and panel
discussions. The aim: to confront deniers, or those who would minimize
the importance of the Holocaust.

When President Ahmadinejad of Iran declared that Israel should
“disappear,” or be “wiped off the map,” I strongly condemned his
remarks – twice.

We at the United Nations stand for human rights.

We stand for democracy and the rule of law. By working for economic
and social development, we build the foundations for peace.

We have a new instrument in our hands. It is called the Responsibility
to Protect – the idea that every nation has a legal obligation to
protect its people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and
crimes against humanity. Where nations fall short, the international
community has the right to take collective action.

Yes, it is difficult in practice. But I assure you. This is a major
advance in safeguarding mankind from crimes against humanity.

My friends,

Today is not simply a time for remembering. The Holocaust has lessons
for us, here and now. Let us heed them.

My job can sometimes be terribly painful. I see unbelievable hardship,
the worst human suffering. You are familiar with the grim catalogue of
names and places: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Darfur,
Somalia and, of course, the Middle East.

I am just back from the region. I went to push for a cease-fire. More,
I went in search of a lasting peace.

The recurring violence between Palestinians and Israelis is a mark of
collective political failure – by both sides and by the international
community.

I saw first-hand what most people saw on television. I met a child and
his parents in Sderot, southern Israel, traumatized by falling
rockets. Never for one moment have I forgotten that a million people
in southern Israel live in a daily state of terror and fear.

In Gaza, I saw the most appalling devastation. I saw the UN compound,
still burning.

I said to all I met, on both sides: This must stop.

I left the region more determined than ever to work toward a world
where two States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace and
security. War can never be an answer. We need to strengthen the forces
of peaceful coexistence and dialogue.

No one sees this more clearly than your own Rabbi Schneier. He has
devoted his life to overcoming hatred and intolerance.

You all know him as the founder and president of the Appeal for
Conscience Foundation. What you may not know, and what I am very
grateful to him for, is his pioneering work for the UN’s Alliance of
Civilizations.

He knows first-hand that no one man or nation has all the answers. He
knows the sacred value of tolerance. He has survived the greatest
trials that life can hurl at a man or a woman and emerged not only
with his humanity and spirit intact but stronger. He survived the
Holocaust. Like others among you, he never lost sight of man’s
essential humanity, our capacity for good, our inherent dignity.

So, let us be frank. We must recognize the limits of power and
goodwill. We here know that we can never entirely rid the world of its
tyrants and its intolerance. We cannot turn all extremists to the path
of reason and light. We can only stand against them and raise our
voices in the name of our common humanity.

Tom Lantos was fond of saying that even the littlest actions, the
smallest of our daily deeds, can do much to leave this earth better,
less evil, less selfish, less monstrous than we found it. And he
stressed that doing these things, even in a modest way, gives you the
energy to keep moving forward. On this day of days, that seems to me
to be good advice.

As we remember the victims of the Holocaust, let us reaffirm our faith
in the dignity of humankind and our extraordinary resilience – our
moral strength – even amid history’s darkest chapters.

Thank you very much.

—————–

On January 23, 2010, before a full house at Park East Synagogue, the
main speaker for Saturday Pre-Commemoration of the International
Holocaust Remembrance Day was  Ambassador Susan Rice of the USA, and
at the actual ceremony at the UN General Assembly Hall was German
Ambassador to the UN H.E. Peter Wittig.

The remarks were:
 http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statement…

 http://www.newyorkun.diplo.de/Vertretung…

At the Park East Service this year, a further Honored Guest was Rabbi Ricardo Di Segni, the Chief Rabbi of Rome, who has been visited at his Synagogue by the Pope, also as part of this year’s Holocaust Remembrance.

Also present were Ambassador Thomas Mayr-Harting of Austria, Ambassador Peter Wittig of Germany, Ambassador Gerard Araud of France, Ambassador Anastassis Mitsialis of Greece, Ambassador Marta Horvathne Fekzi of Hungary, H.E. Most Reverend Celestino Migliore the Permanent Representative of the Vatican, Ambassador Yukio Takasu of Japan, Ambassador Cesare Maria Ragaglini of Italy, Ambassador Mohamed Loulichki of Morocco, Ambassador Jim McLay of New Zealand, Ambassador Andrzey Towpik of Poland, Ambassador Juan Antonio Yanez-Barnuevo of Spain, Ambassador Rayko S. Raytchev of Bulgaria, Ambassador Kim Won-soo, from the UN Secretary General’s Office, and about further twenty top Diplomatic Representatives. But I must remark that from all the Islamic and African Countries only Morocco was present – and from the newly emerging States only Brazil and China were present.

From: Shehnaz <peaceingardens@comcast.net>
Date: Fri, Jan 29, 2010
Subject: [Cmes-events] Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers Presents: Moroccan Born Artist Lalla Essaydi.

Exhibition Opening Jan. 30 Sat through June 6 2010!

The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers will be showcasing its first Arab artist on January 30, 2010. We are proud to be
promoters of this extraordinary event. CMES encourages students, faculty and the community to show their support by
visiting the exhibit at Rutgers. In order to encourage future exhibits at the Zimmerli, from the Middle East, there must be
support from the Rutgers and extended community.

Lalla Essaydi is a talented photographer, who deconstructs the Oriental European paintings from the 19th century and
covers them in Arabic calligraphic script. The photographs are stunning, large scale photos which will surely give people
of all walks of life, a new consideration of stereotypes that continue to define the Middle East and North Africa.

*****************************************************************************************************************************

ZIMMERLI ART MUSEUM AT RUTGERS PRESENTS LARGE-SCALE

COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE MOROCCAN-BORN ARTIST LALLA ESSAYDI

New Brunswick, NJ — The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers features the latest body of work by the New York-based, Moroccan-born artist Lalla Essaydi in Les Femmes du Maroc from January 30 to June 6, 2010. Seventeen large-format color photographs will portray Moroccan women in tableaux based on famous examples of 19th-century European and American Orientalist paintings and covered in Arabic calligraphic script. A selection of Orientalist works from the museum’s extensive collections of European graphic art will also be on display to provide a cultural context for Essaydi’s work.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

The photographer, painter, and installation artist Lalla Essaydi was raised in Morocco and lived in Saudi Arabia before studying at the L’Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and completing her MFA at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/TUFTS University, in Boston, MA (2003). Her work is represented in private and public collections around the world, including the Louvre Museum, Paris; the British National Museum, London; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Art Institute of Chicago.  Lalla Essaydi is represented by Edwynn Houk Gallery in New York City, and Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston.

Each photograph is the culmination of careful staging. Essaydi arranged the models, all female friends and acquaintances, in poses based on Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’s The  Grand Odalisque (1814), Jean-Léon Gérôme’s The Slave Market (1867), Eugene Delacroix’s Women of Algiers (1834) and other well-known paintings.  She removed the male figures and all color and decorative details, draping the women in white. She then painstakingly inscribed every surface (animate and inanimate) with text lifted straight from her diary, rendered in formal Arabic calligraphy and applied with henna. The combination of calligraphy and henna is provocative.  (Until very recently in the Middle East, calligraphy was an art form practiced exclusively by men for the transcription of sacred texts, while henna is traditionally a woman’s art that marks ritual moments in female life.) The resulting chromogenic prints are nearly life-sized, in dimensions as large as 6 by 7.8 feet.

Zimmerli Art Museum:
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, one of the largest and most distinguished university-based museums in the nation, is located on the New Brunswick campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Established in 1766, Rutgers is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities.  Zimmerli Art Museum houses more than 60,000 works, including the Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Nonconformist Art from the Soviet Union and rich holdings of 19th-century French prints and drawings and American art.

The Zimmerli is midway between New York City and Philadelphia and a short walk from the New Jersey Transit station in New Brunswick. For directions, please follow this link:   http://search.rutgers.edu/buildings.html…

Link to the Zimmerli exhibition page:  http://www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu//e…

Shehnaz Abdeljaber
Outreach Coordinator
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Rutgers, State University of NJ
Lucy Stone Hall, Room B323
54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue
Piscataway, NJ 08854
p (732)445-8444 x 25
 peaceingardens at comcast.net

_______________________________________________
 CMES-Events at lists.sas.rutgers.edu
 https://lists.sas.rutgers.edu/mailman/li…

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Turkish Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called for an Islamic Executive Bureau of Environment and a common OIC position on climate change, and led the organization to a meeting in Rabat, Morocco, Jamuary 18-19, 2010, chaired by Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki.

The First Meeting of the Islamic Executive Bureau of Environment was held at the ISESCO Headquarters in Rabat on 18-19 January 2010. The meeting was chaired by H.R.H. Prince Turki bin Nasser bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, General President of Meteorology and Environment Protection, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In his message to the Meeting, the OIC Secretary General Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu stated that the climate change posed an existential threat for some of the OIC Member States. Following the impasse witnessed during the Copenhagen Meeting, securing a fair and equitable agreement on climate change within the framework of existing instruments remains a priority for the OIC countries.

The Secretary General called upon the Member States to evolve a common OIC position on the climate change to safeguard their interests in the multilateral negotiations in the lead up to Mexico round. In the area of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Secretary General also proposed to establish a carbon dioxide exchange scheme to contribute to the reduction of carbon emission.

The Executive Bureau endorsed the proposal of the Secretary General to establish ‘H.R.H Turki bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz Special Chair for Environmental Studies’ in universities of the most vulnerable OIC countries exposed to the adverse impacts of climate change. The meeting entrusted ISESCO and the Presidency of Metrology and Environment Protection, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in Coordination with the OIC General Secretariat to follow up the implementation of this project.

The OIC Secretary General assured the Islamic Executive Bureau for Environment, its Chair and the Secretariat of his resolve to work in unison to combat environmental challenges and securing the planet for the future generations.

www.SustainabiliTank.info has backed this concept from its start. We
also believe that joint activities at this scale could help bring
about peace on the circumference of the Mediterranean, and show how
intelligent interdependency based on reliably renewable sustainable
resources could help people live friendlier to each other. This was
not the case when the relationship is based on selling and buying
depletable oil that only fuels corruption in the home of the seller.

————

Solar Maghreb

Developing large scale North African solar markets

Algiers, Algeria:  11—12, May 2010

The conference will be simultaneously translated in English and French

Introduction:

This event will bring together key players from the region – with particular focus on Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania – with global industry experts.  This event forms part of the Solar Global Series which is now in its 3rd year and has been attended by over 1200 high calibre delegates to date.

The Maghreb region contains vast solar energy resources and the exploitation of these will be a critical factor in helping accelerate the region’s economic development. The Maghreb countries have realized that tremendous opportunities exist and are beginning to diversify their energy markets away from an over reliance on oil and gas.

The recent announcement of the DESERTEC Industrial Initiative to develop a reliable, sustainable and climate friendly energy supply from the deserts in the Middle East and North Africa highlights the potential of the region.  Solar in North Africa can become both a clean domestic energy source and also a new clean energy export product.

With high solar generation potential Algeria is a key driver for the region in the development of solar markets.  The Energy Minister, Dr. Chakib Khelil has bolstered the sector with the introduction of a solar thermal plant feed in tariff and signed a series of MoUs and bilateral agreements aimed at expanding the country’s solar energy production and export capabilities.  In Morocco, the Energy Minister Amina Benkhadra has launched a $9 bn scheme to produce 38% of their electricity needs from solar by 2020.  In Libya a newly designated authority, REAOL has been tasked with developing the Libyan sustainable energy strategy.  In Tunisia international companies are carrying out feasibility studies for large scale CSP plants and the Ministry of Industry has set a target of 500,000sqm of panels installed by 2010.

Despite all these developments the region still faces many challenges in order to fully realize extensive domestic solar industries and the necessary infrastructure for clean electricity exports. Attend Solar Maghreb 10 to understand the many issues and network with the key players as the region develops its renewable energy strategies and develops profitable partnerships with leading innovators from the international solar market place.

Confirmed speakers include:

Silvia Pariente-David, Senior Energy Specialist, World Bank, Tunisia

Dr. Pedro Banda, Director General,
ISFOC, Spain

Dr Mahieddine Emziane, Faculty Member,
Masdar Institute of Science and Technology,
Abu Dhabi, UAE

Prof. Ibrahim Mohamed Saleh,
Electrical Engineering Department, Al-Fateh University, Libya

Key reasons to attend:

• Gain an in depth understanding of the potential scale of the solar market in this region
• Understand the policy support and stage of development in each country
• Identify investment opportunities in the region
• Participate in a series of interactive panel discussions and help shape this fast moving market
• Benefit from first class networking opportunities though our online networking tool prior to, during and after the event

Who will you meet?

Agenda outline:

Day One – 11 May 2010:

Solar Energy for Sustainable Economic Development

Keynote Session – Building the Solar Energy Future in the Maghreb Region

The keynote session will review how solar markets are developing across the world, how the market can develop in the region and what forms of solar – thermal, PV and at what scale – residential, industrial and utility will evolve.   Key visionaries will also share their views and thoughts on how solar energy will produce sustainable development and act as a key driver for economic development.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Regulation and Government Support
This session will review what governments are currently doing to stimulate the development of solar markets in the region and what they are planning moving forward.  It will also discuss key learning’s from other markets and look at the role of feed in tariffs and other incentives.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Solar Finance, Investment & Economics
This session will look at the challenges of raising finance in the current economic conditions and what new forms of financing are emerging.  Different finance models are required for large scale solar projects and these will also be reviewed.  The speakers will also look at the economics surrounding solar power, looking at the true costs of solar and the levelised costs of solar energy.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Panel Discussion – Solar & Hydrocarbons Panel
- How can leading regional oil and gas companies harness solar?
- How can hybrid solar and gas power stations be developed?

Solar Business Models

Solar technologies work from small scale residential through to larger scale industrial units and utility scale projects. This session will review which innovative business models and applications are suitable for the Maghreb region.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Close of day one & networking drinks

Day Two – 12 May 2010:

Solar Energy Technologies & Innovation

Technology & Innovation – CSP, Silicon PV, Thin Film PV & CPV

In this session a series of key speakers will provide the latest updates on their rapidly developing technologies and innovation paths.  What have they learnt from previous implementations and what needs to be applied to the development of the solar market in this region.  Matching the correct technology with each project, a combination of solutions will apply across the region.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Large Scale Project Case Studies
This session will showcase a series of practical and real life deployments from early adopters in the region as well as showcasing some key learning’s from previous deployments in other regions.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Developing Solar Supply Chains and Domestic Solar Industries
This session will discuss how a domestic solar industry could be developed.  It will review the key success factors for developing solar manufacturing plants and also the prospects for the local supply of components.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Key Solar Building Blocks
The final session will review the additional building blocks that are needed to drive the market forward in the region such as testing and applicability issues for different solar technologies, the role of local research and development resources and how local expertise can be developed.

Interactive discussion session with speakers

Close of conference

Speaking opportunities:

If you are interested in speaking at this event please submit a speaking proposal (presentation title, 4-5 bullet points and brief synopsis) to Rebecca Jackson
Email:
rebecca.jackson@greenpowerconferences.com

Sponsorship & exhibition opportunities:

Sponsor Solar Maghreb and benefit from:

• 1st class lead generation: meet companies actively working in the solar industry
• Enhanced brand profile: pre-event promotional campaign plus extensive on site branding
• Excellent publicity: gain an incredible amount of presence from on site promotion
• A cost effective marketing solution: our development team will be happy to customize a package and develop a cost effective marketing channel to generate new sales leads

Sponsorship options offering varying levels of branding and exposure are available to suit budgets and marketing aims.

Contact
William Todd for further details:
Office: +9714 813 5211 l Fax: +44 207 900 1853
E-mail:

william.t@greenpowerconferences.com

Partners:

Official Offset Partner:

---

Green Power Conferences consistently work in strategic partnership with industry leading organisations and trade publications. Our international and targeted marketing campaigns ensure excellent marketing exposure for our partners.

If you would like to partner with us, please contact Ryan Winchester ,

ryan.winchester@greenpowerconferences.com

Venue:

TBC

Date: 27-Aug-09
Country: MOROCCO as per Reuters
Author: Erik Kirschbaum, Christoph Steitz, Jonathan Gould and Hamid Ould Ahmed.

Workers build a thermo-solar power plant in Beni Mathar August 20, 2009.
Photo: Rafael Marchante

RABAT – A 400 billion euro ($774 billion) plan to power Europe with Sahara sunlight is gaining momentum, even as critics see high risks in a large corporate project using young technology in north African countries with weak rule of law.

Desertec, as the initiative is called, would be the world’s most ambitious solar power project. Fields of mirrors in the desert would gather solar rays to boil water, turning turbines to electrify a new carbon-free network linking Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Its supporters, a dozen finance and industrial firms mostly from Germany, say it will keep Europe at the forefront of the fight against climate change and help North African and European economies to grow within greenhouse gas emission limits.

Others warn of numerous pitfalls, including Maghreb politics, Saharan sandstorms and the risk to desert populations if their water is diverted to clean dust off solar mirrors.

They say the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology behind Desertec involves greater costs and risks than the fast-growing patchwork of smaller-scale photovoltaic cell installations that generate most of Europe’s solar energy today.

Desertec’s founders are lured by the fact that more energy falls on the world’s deserts in six hours than the world consumes in a year.

“The Sahara offers every advantage you want — proximity to Europe, virtually no population and more intense sunlight,” said George Joffe, a research fellow and Maghreb expert at Cambridge University, who is not affiliated to the plan.

“It would be mad to pass up this opportunity.”

Proposed by the Club of Rome, an international group of experts that suggests solutions to global problems, Desertec became an industrial project last month when reinsurer Munich Re hosted its launch at its headquarters in the Bavarian capital.

“We have a special relationship with climate change: it affects our core business, the insurance of weather-related natural catastrophes, which count among the most expensive losses we have to bear,” said Peter Hoeppe, Head of Munich Re’s Geo Risk Research department.

EMISSIONS GOALS

Many European governments aim to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Desertec’s backers say it would also be a positive gesture from the developed world to countries of the Middle East and North Africa, which stand to suffer most from the more frequent droughts and desertification blamed on global warming.

They have yet to draw up a business plan or specify how it will be funded but hope to recruit shareholders and partner companies from a variety of countries.

Desertec officials say the Sahara could one day deliver 15 percent of Europe’s electricity, but expect the plan to advance in small stages with completion not before 2050.

Supporters of more established solar energy technology, such as photovoltaic cells, argue decentralized generation will prove more popular as falling prices make the heavy infrastructure needed for CSP unviable.

They also think European governments, which already accept the risk of importing energy from north African countries such as Algeria, would given the choice opt for the security of producing renewable energy within their own borders.

“Sahara power for northern Europe is a mirage,” said Hermann Scheer, a member of Germany’s parliament and head of the European Association for Renewable Energy.

“Those behind the project know themselves that nothing will ever come out of this,” said Scheer, an architect of renewable energy policy in Germany, which included a strong emphasis on photovoltaic technology.

Scheer said the costs of Desertec were being downplayed artificially and its technical capabilities over-estimated.

“EVERYONE LOVES IT”

Desertec would need 20 or more efficient, direct-current cables each costing up to $1 billion to transmit electricity north beneath the Mediterranean.

CSP installations placed in the Sahara generate around 30 percent more power per area than in southern Spain, according to Morocco’s renewable energy agency CDER.

“Desertec can help reduce emissions in Europe and foster economic and social development in northern Africa, so everyone loves this project,” said Santiago Siage, head of Desertec consortium member Abengoa Solar.

Abengoa is developing installations combining CSP with combined-cycle gas power generation in Morocco and Algeria.

Southern countries that import most of their energy like Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan would also benefit from Desertec.

Morocco buys in 96 percent of its energy and subsidizes fuel to make it more affordable for the poor, a massive drain on state resources that could be used to fight poverty and bring services to isolated rural areas.

The Moroccan government says Desertec could solve Morocco’s energy dependency and leave plenty of power for Europe.

“Morocco doesn’t have even 1 percent of Europe’s energy consumption, so let’s be realistic,” said Said Mouline, the head of Morocco’s renewable energy agency. “We would be generating enough power for us, and for export, for the next 100 years.”

EXPLOITATION?

Among hazards facing the scheme are the fact that Desertec would need tight coordination between governments to succeed, yet Maghreb states have tried and failed for two decades to integrate their economies and deepen political ties.

The border between Morocco and Algeria is shut and relations are poisoned by a disagreement over the Western Sahara.

Morocco says it has already identified sites to place the curved solar mirrors, not deep in the Sahara but in populated areas just north of the desert to ensure a supply of water to clean mirrors and cool turbines.

Algeria has the biggest chunk of desert and private Algerian firm Cevital has signed up for Desertec, but Africa’s second-largest country is isolated and struggling to reform a Soviet-style economy after a brutal civil conflict in the 1990s.

The government has tightened terms on inward investment and says it will only work with Desertec if it allows partnerships between Algerian and foreign firms and a transfer of technology.

“If these conditions are not met, we are not interested,” said Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil. “We don’t want foreign companies exploiting solar energy from our land.”

Analysts play down the risk to Desertec’s infrastructure posed by Al Qaeda-aligned rebels based in Algeria, saying investment risks pose a far bigger problem.

“There is the risk of expropriation of assets, reneging on license agreements, corruption and bureaucratic red tape which could stop things getting off the ground,” said Henry Wilkinson of Janusian Security Risk Management.

Wolfram Lacher of Control Risks consultancy agreed: security risks can be managed, but the project could become entangled in broader talks between the EU and north Africa on energy, investment and trade.

Date: 27-Aug-09
Country: MOROCCO as per Reuters
Author: Erik Kirschbaum, Christoph Steitz, Jonathan Gould and Hamid Ould Ahmed.

Workers build a thermo-solar power plant in Beni Mathar August 20, 2009.
Photo: Rafael Marchante

RABAT – A 400 billion euro ($774 billion) plan to power Europe with Sahara sunlight is gaining momentum, even as critics see high risks in a large corporate project using young technology in north African countries with weak rule of law.

Desertec, as the initiative is called, would be the world’s most ambitious solar power project. Fields of mirrors in the desert would gather solar rays to boil water, turning turbines to electrify a new carbon-free network linking Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Its supporters, a dozen finance and industrial firms mostly from Germany, say it will keep Europe at the forefront of the fight against climate change and help North African and European economies to grow within greenhouse gas emission limits.

Others warn of numerous pitfalls, including Maghreb politics, Saharan sandstorms and the risk to desert populations if their water is diverted to clean dust off solar mirrors.

They say the concentrated solar power (CSP) technology behind Desertec involves greater costs and risks than the fast-growing patchwork of smaller-scale photovoltaic cell installations that generate most of Europe’s solar energy today.

Desertec’s founders are lured by the fact that more energy falls on the world’s deserts in six hours than the world consumes in a year.

“The Sahara offers every advantage you want — proximity to Europe, virtually no population and more intense sunlight,” said George Joffe, a research fellow and Maghreb expert at Cambridge University, who is not affiliated to the plan.

“It would be mad to pass up this opportunity.”

Proposed by the Club of Rome, an international group of experts that suggests solutions to global problems, Desertec became an industrial project last month when reinsurer Munich Re hosted its launch at its headquarters in the Bavarian capital.

“We have a special relationship with climate change: it affects our core business, the insurance of weather-related natural catastrophes, which count among the most expensive losses we have to bear,” said Peter Hoeppe, Head of Munich Re’s Geo Risk Research department.

EMISSIONS GOALS

Many European governments aim to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Desertec’s backers say it would also be a positive gesture from the developed world to countries of the Middle East and North Africa, which stand to suffer most from the more frequent droughts and desertification blamed on global warming.

They have yet to draw up a business plan or specify how it will be funded but hope to recruit shareholders and partner companies from a variety of countries.

Desertec officials say the Sahara could one day deliver 15 percent of Europe’s electricity, but expect the plan to advance in small stages with completion not before 2050.

Supporters of more established solar energy technology, such as photovoltaic cells, argue decentralized generation will prove more popular as falling prices make the heavy infrastructure needed for CSP unviable.

They also think European governments, which already accept the risk of importing energy from north African countries such as Algeria, would given the choice opt for the security of producing renewable energy within their own borders.

“Sahara power for northern Europe is a mirage,” said Hermann Scheer, a member of Germany’s parliament and head of the European Association for Renewable Energy.

“Those behind the project know themselves that nothing will ever come out of this,” said Scheer, an architect of renewable energy policy in Germany, which included a strong emphasis on photovoltaic technology.

Scheer said the costs of Desertec were being downplayed artificially and its technical capabilities over-estimated.

“EVERYONE LOVES IT”

Desertec would need 20 or more efficient, direct-current cables each costing up to $1 billion to transmit electricity north beneath the Mediterranean.

CSP installations placed in the Sahara generate around 30 percent more power per area than in southern Spain, according to Morocco’s renewable energy agency CDER.

“Desertec can help reduce emissions in Europe and foster economic and social development in northern Africa, so everyone loves this project,” said Santiago Siage, head of Desertec consortium member Abengoa Solar.

Abengoa is developing installations combining CSP with combined-cycle gas power generation in Morocco and Algeria.

Southern countries that import most of their energy like Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan would also benefit from Desertec.

Morocco buys in 96 percent of its energy and subsidizes fuel to make it more affordable for the poor, a massive drain on state resources that could be used to fight poverty and bring services to isolated rural areas.

The Moroccan government says Desertec could solve Morocco’s energy dependency and leave plenty of power for Europe.

“Morocco doesn’t have even 1 percent of Europe’s energy consumption, so let’s be realistic,” said Said Mouline, the head of Morocco’s renewable energy agency. “We would be generating enough power for us, and for export, for the next 100 years.”

EXPLOITATION?

Among hazards facing the scheme are the fact that Desertec would need tight coordination between governments to succeed, yet Maghreb states have tried and failed for two decades to integrate their economies and deepen political ties.

The border between Morocco and Algeria is shut and relations are poisoned by a disagreement over the Western Sahara.

Morocco says it has already identified sites to place the curved solar mirrors, not deep in the Sahara but in populated areas just north of the desert to ensure a supply of water to clean mirrors and cool turbines.

Algeria has the biggest chunk of desert and private Algerian firm Cevital has signed up for Desertec, but Africa’s second-largest country is isolated and struggling to reform a Soviet-style economy after a brutal civil conflict in the 1990s.

The government has tightened terms on inward investment and says it will only work with Desertec if it allows partnerships between Algerian and foreign firms and a transfer of technology.

“If these conditions are not met, we are not interested,” said Algerian Energy and Mines Minister Chakib Khelil. “We don’t want foreign companies exploiting solar energy from our land.”

Analysts play down the risk to Desertec’s infrastructure posed by Al Qaeda-aligned rebels based in Algeria, saying investment risks pose a far bigger problem.

“There is the risk of expropriation of assets, reneging on license agreements, corruption and bureaucratic red tape which could stop things getting off the ground,” said Henry Wilkinson of Janusian Security Risk Management.

Wolfram Lacher of Control Risks consultancy agreed: security risks can be managed, but the project could become entangled in broader talks between the EU and north Africa on energy, investment and trade.

OBAMA BEGINS PRESSURING ARAB LEADERS ON DEAL WITH ISRAEL
The San Francisco Sentinel, 28 July 2009

BY NATHAN GUTTMAN

Freezing the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank was once seen as a unilateral Israeli obligation. But the Obama administration is now treating this as part of a package that will require concessions from Arab states as well.

An intensified and more public focus on this idea appears to be one of the byproducts of U.S. President Barack Obama’s July 13 pledge to American Jewish communal representatives to address perceptions that he is pressuring only Israel.

So far, the Arabs have been resistant. Still, in the wake of Obama’s White House meeting with the Jewish delegation, Israeli, American and Arab leaders have, to varying degrees, shifted their rhetoric in ways that reflect acceptance of a new principle of reciprocity.

“The Americans now understand that if they get anything from us on the settlement issue, it will only be in the broader context of some kind of Arab return,” said an Israeli diplomat, echoing other similar comments from Israeli officials recently. The official added that talks between U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have focused on components of a two-sided deal that will include both a settlement freeze and reciprocal steps by Arab countries.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared to confirm this in a policy speech two days after Obama’s White House meeting with the Jewish representatives.

“Progress toward peace cannot be the responsibility of the United States – or Israel – alone,” Clinton told the Council on Foreign Relations. “Arab states have a responsibility to support the Palestinian Authority with words and deeds, to take steps to improve relations with Israel and to prepare their publics to embrace peace and accept Israel’s place in the region.”

A U.S. State Department official told the Forward that steps by the Arab parties were fundamental to Mitchell’s mission.

“Special envoy Mitchell continues to engage in constructive conversations with all parties, including Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab states, on steps they could take to help create a climate in which to re-launch negotiations,” he said.

At least some Arab parties to the peace process also now appear to accept this.

“The price we pay will depend on what kind of a deal we get on the settlement issue,” said an Arab diplomat in response to questions about Israel’s stand. “In return for a symbolic compromise on the settlements, some Arab states will be willing to pay with some symbolic gestures.”

But so far, the Obama administration appears stymied in its efforts to obtain a commitment to new concessions toward Israel by Arab states, even in the event of an Israeli commitment – nonexistent up to now, even conditionally – to a settlement freeze.

The administration has been frustrated in particular in its quest for flexibility from Saudi Arabia. According to experts and diplomats, tensions between Washington and Riyadh were building even prior to Obama’s meeting with Jewish leaders, as a result of a June 3 meeting between Obama and King Abdullah in the Saudi capital. The meeting ended with a clear disagreement over the issue of Israel.

“Why should the king of Saudi Arabia, who is the leader of the Muslim world and the imam of his Muslim community, give something of this nature to the Israelis for free?” asked Jamal Khashoggi, editor-in-chief of the Saudi daily newspaper Al-Watan. “This is a new idea that was probably developed by Israel’s friends in Washington.”

Khashoggi said the Saudi monarch believes his 2002 peace initiative, supported by the entire Arab League, already offered concessions and showed the kingdom’s wish for peace.

Israel never responded to the Saudi initiative. But in her speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Clinton said that embracing the 2002 Arab peace plan is not enough, and that concrete initial steps are needed now.

The initiative, which Obama has cited as a helpful basis for discussion, commits the Arab world to an official peace agreement with Israel and normalized relations with it if Israel withdraws to its pre-1967 borders, accepts the establishment of a Palestinian state and resolves the issue of Palestinian refugees in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

Those U.N. resolutions, however, appear to require the refugees’ return to homes in present-day Israel, constituting one of Israel’s principal objections to the proposal.

No handshakes or visas

America’s request for signs of normalization with Israel is now focused on symbolic steps. According to Arab and American diplomatic sources, Washington is now asking for the reopening of commercial interest offices of Oman, Qatar and Morocco in Israel and for permission for Israeli commercial airliners to fly over Gulf states, shortening flights from Israel to East Asia by several hours. Public overtures, such as a handshake with Israeli leaders, or providing tourist visas to Israelis seeking to visit Arab countries, are not on the table now, said an Arab diplomat with close knowledge of the talks. The diplomat stressed that such public gestures are viewed as being at the top of the scale of normalization and therefore will be kept for the final phase of the peace process.

“The Arab consensus is that normalization is the last card they have to play,” the diplomat said.

Prior to the emerging emphasis on reciprocity, Israel’s obligation to freeze the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank was understood to be an independent requirement of the so-called road map for Middle East peace. The 2002 road map, forged by the Bush administration with international partners, required Israel to “immediately” dismantle settlement outposts that even Israel classifies as unauthorized, and to freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth.

The road map also requires the Palestinians to take concrete steps to halt terrorism and violence. But this, too, appears as an independent obligation, untied to any action by Israel.

The new Sadat:

The most significant sign thus far of Arab willingness to adopt America’s call for normalization has come from the small Gulf kingdom of Bahrain. In a July 16 op-ed published in The Washington Post, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the Bahraini crown prince, called on Arab countries to reach out and communicate with Israel.

“Essentially, we have not done a good enough job demonstrating to Israelis how our initiative can form part of a peace between equals in a troubled land holy to three great faiths,” Khalifa wrote.

He went on to criticize Arabs who wish to perpetuate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so that Palestinian victims “can be manipulated as proxies.” The Bahraini leader also urged Arabs not to waste more time in waiting for Israelis to take the first step, calling this approach “small-minded.”

Samuel Lewis, a former American ambassador to Israel who was directly involved in the Israeli-Egyptian peace talks in the late 1970s, equated Khalifa’s article to peace gestures made by Egyptian president Anwar Sadat before signing the treaty with Israel 30 years ago.

“This is exactly the kind of message that an Arab leader gives both to the United States while at the same time aiming at other Arab leaders,” Lewis said in a July 17 conference call organized by Israel Policy Forum.

But Bahrain is still a lone voice among Arab countries. Letters that Obama sent out in June to Arab leaders calling on them to be forthcoming in the peace process have remained largely unanswered. This prompted the president to reportedly state, in his meeting with Jewish leaders, that “there is not much courage” within the Arab leadership.

Experts argue that the roots of the disagreement with Saudi Arabia, considered a linchpin for progress, go deeper.

Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the Saudis are disappointed with many aspects of Obama’s policy: His drive for ending America’s dependency on foreign oil, the decision not to appoint a close confidant as ambassador to Saudi Arabia and choosing the route of diplomatic engagement with Iran.

“There is a Saudi feeling that this administration does not recognize the importance of Saudi Arabia and does not appreciate them,” Alterman said.

—————

further, Daniel Levy, Director, Middle East Task Force, New America Foundation and Senior Fellow, Prospects for Peace Initiative, The Century Foundation, informs us of a recent debate on the Economist’s website. The motion in question was:

“This house believes that Barak Obama’s America is now an honest broker between Israel and the Arabs.”

The content can be found at: http://www.economist.com/debate/overview…

From:      messouli at gmail.com
Subject: workshop CC
Date: September 14, 2008

The University of Marrakech and its partners (DMN, CDRT, START, OSS), with the support of the Climate Change and Adaptation in Africa program (CCAA), announce a two day international workshop to be held on 25 and 26 of November 2008 in Marrakech. The title of the conference is ” Climate change in the Maghreb: thresholds and limits to adaptation

The overall objective of this conference is to consider strategies for adapting to climate change, in particular to explore the potential barriers to adaptation that may limit the ability of societies in the Maghreb countries to adapt to climate change and to identify opportunities for overcoming these barriers

Deadline for Submission of Abstracts is 10 October 2008.

to register, please go to this link at your soonest convenience and discover other information on the workshop:
 http://www.ucam.ac.ma/ccam/ccamaccueil.h…

Sunday, Sept. 14, 2008, The Japan Times online.

Regarding The Trips to Libya – “Oily Moves to Compensate” by Gwynne Dyer from London.

Libya was the diplomatic crossroads of the planet last weekend: Condoleezza Rice made the first visit by a U.S. secretary of State in 55 years (to discuss a murky deal involving payments to American victims of terrorist attacks allegedly sponsored by Libya); radical Bolivian President Evo Morales showed up (to beg for money or cheap oil); and Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi arrived to promise Libya $5 billion in compensation for the brutalities of Italian colonial rule.

The U.S. Congress was not impressed. Last Monday the Senate Foreign Relations Committee postponed hearings on the confirmation of Gene Cretz as the first U.S. ambassador to Libya since 1972.
What bothered the senators was Libya’s delay in paying a promised $1.8 billion in compensation to the families of 180 Americans who died when Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down by a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, and of the American soldiers targeted in a 1986 attack on the West Berlin nightclub La Belle (one killed, scores injured).
Western intelligence services blamed both those attacks on Libya’s leader, Colonel Moammar Gadhafi. U.S. aircraft bombed Libya after the 1986 attack, killing some 30 Libyans including Gadhafi’s adopted daughter. Yet the evidence for Libyan involvement is distinctly shaky, and Libya never officially admitted its responsibility. Instead, Libya finally signed a “humanitarian” deal that gives the American families $1.8 billion, but also includes an unstated amount for the Libyan victims of the American air attacks. How very curious.

Details of the deal have been left vague, and nobody will say where the money for the Libyan victims of U.S. airstrikes is coming from. If it is coming from the U.S. government, that would be an interesting precedent. But everybody knows what is really at play here.

The United States worries about the security of its oil supplies and Libya produces oil, so Washington has been seeking a way to end its quarrel with Colonel Gadhafi for a long time. Gadhafi wanted that too, because the U.N. sanctions imposed at Washington’s request were hurting his regime. But since neither government ever apologizes, it took a while.

Gadhafi’s key move was to dismantle his fantasy “nuclear weapons program” — he never really had more than bits and pieces — in 2003. This let President George W. Bush claim that his “war on terror” was scaring the bad guys into behaving better, so the mood music improved immediately. Even before that, Libya sent a couple of low-level intelligence agents to face an international court over the Lockerbie bombing (one was acquitted, one was convicted, and the Libyan regime was scarcely mentioned).

The final compensation deal was signed last month. Condoleezza Rice was in Libya this month partly to show that Gadhafi was no longer in the doghouse — and partly to ask where the money was. That is bothering the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, too, but they shouldn’t worry. Libyan banks take more than a month to transfer even thousands of dollars abroad, let alone billions.

The history behind Silvio Berlusconi’s deal with Gadhafi is much clearer, and so are the motives behind it. Italy conquered Libya, formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, in 1911, and ruled it until 1943. Tens of thousands of Libyans who resisted were killed, many more had their land confiscated and given to Italian settlers, and the country was run for Italy’s benefit, not that of its own people. Italy owes — but why is it paying now, half a century later?

The answer is partly oil — a quarter of Italy’s oil and a third of its gas come from Libya — but also illegal immigrants. Italy is the destination for a growing stream of economic migrants from Africa who use Libya as a jumping-off place for their trip across the Mediterranean, and Berlusconi needs Gadhafi’s cooperation to stem the flow. So Libya gets $5 billion of Italian money to compensate for all the wrongs of the colonial era (and Italy’s compensation will come later, in apparently unrelated deals).

“It is my duty . . . to express to you in the name of the Italian people our regret and apologies for the deep wounds that we have caused you,” Berlusconi said in Benghazi, bowing symbolically before the son of the hero of the Libyan resistance, Omar Mukhtar.

It’s a generous apology, too: $200 million a year on infrastructure projects for 25 years, and if Berlusconi’s cronies in the Italian construction business get the contracts, what’s the harm in that? But we will probably not see him making a similar apology in Mogadishu or Addis Ababa anytime soon.

Libya got off lightly. Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea, Italy’s other African colonies, suffered far more from its rule, and are owed far more in compensation. But they have no oil, they are not close to Italy, and they are not going to get it.

If you calculate the amount owed by other former colonial powers at the same per capita rate as Italy did for Libya — around $1,000 per head of the ex-colony’s current population — then France owes Algeria $30 billion, the U.S. owes the Philippines $75 billion, and Britain owes India $1.1 trillion.

But the victims’ heirs shouldn’t spend their money until they actually have it in their hands, and they shouldn’t hold their breaths while waiting.

From:  liasieghart at hotmail.com
Subject: Yemen, cogeneration and the CDM an outline of opportunity
Date: September 4, 2008

The Clean Development Mechanism has been instrumental in the development of a number of cogeneration projects around the world, but none yet in Yemen, where the scope for projects is certainly present. Lia Carol Sieghart looks at the role that cogeneration could play as part of efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the country. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, at the 3rd Conference of the Parties (COP 3) to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Kyoto, Japan. This treaty significantly bolstered the Convention by committing parties from developed countries, known as Annex 1 Parties, to legally binding limits on GHG emissions. They may also acquire emission reduction credits by taking advantage of the three ‘flexibility mechanisms’ defined under the Protocol.These mechanisms are:

• International Emissions Trading (IET)
• Joint Implementation (JI)
• Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The latter is the only mechanism that involves developing countries. The CDM allows Annex 1 Parties (or entities from those Parties) to invest in project activities that reduce GHG emissions and contribute to sustainable development in non-Annex 1 countries.The CDM has seen an exponential growth since the Kyoto Protocol came into effect in 2005. The end of 2007 provided a milestone with the 100-millionth certified emission reduction credit being issued. In April 2008 the 1000th project, an energy efficiency project, was registered with the Executive Board. At present there are more 3000 projects in the UNFCCC pipeline.Nevertheless, the number of host countries playing a vital role is still very limited. The geographic dispersion of registered projects remains imbalanced. So far the main share of projects is with Asia and Latin America. Most projects are registered with India as a host country, followed by China, Brazil, Mexico, Malaysia and Chile. India and China in particular have been early movers and have grasped the investment opportunities provided by the CDM. The vast majority of projects registered are in the energy sector. Taking into consideration the projects under validation and those requesting registration, it seems that this distribution pattern will not change significantly during the first commitment period.

  There are many reasons why the CDM has so far fallen short of its full potential, many of which are country-specific while others are repeatedly reported from various countries. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region 18 countries have ratified the Kyoto Protocol, but to date only 20 projects have been registered (Table 1). This amounts to ~2 % of the total of registered project activities.

  Click here to enlarge image

  The MENA Region population comprises about 6% of the total world population, almost equivalent to the population of the European Union. Most MENA countries are experiencing a rapid population growth. The region is economically diverse – the spectrum ranges from oil-rich economies to countries that are resource-scarce in relation to population.

  By 2050, the MENA countries will reach an electricity demand of the same magnitude as Europe (3500 TWh/y). In some of the countries, electricity demand is expected to triple from almost 1500 TWh/y at present to 4100 TWh/y in 2050. Correspondingly, the effects of climate change will become more severe. The fossil fuel-based power sector offers enormous potential for CO₂ emission reductions, both through energy efficiency improvements in existing applications as well as utilization of state-of-the-art technology for new capacity additions.

  Given the surging growth in energy demand, the region needs to develop sustainable energy patterns, increase energy accessibility – particularly for marginalized populations in rural areas – and encourage efficient use of energy. Countries need to embark on a less carbon-intensive development path. Utilizing the CDM can provide a vital trigger in this process.

  CHP has a clear opportunity to expand quickly. CHP installations, by combining electricity production with a heat recovery system, provide reliable and cost-effective opportunities for GHG emissions reduction and an important contribution to meeting heat and electricity demand. Cogeneration projects also have the potential to bring energy efficiency measures to large industries in the region, while the MENA oil industry and refinery capacity offers further significant cost-effective potential for heat recovery and cogeneration.

  THE REPUBLIC OF YEMEN

  The Republic of Yemen lies to the south of Saudi Arabia, bounded by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The 2004 census recorded a population of 19.72 million, with an average annual population growth rate of 3.2 % and one of the highest birth rates in the MENA Region. Yemen remains one of the poorest countries in the world, and currently ranks 49 on the UN’s list of the 50 Least Developed Countries. Yemen’s GNI per capita is US$760, compared to, for example, US$12,510 in Saudi Arabia, US$23,990 in the United Arab Emirates and US$9070 in Oman². According to the Country Social Analysis (2006) by the World Bank the GDP growth rate has been falling steadily in recent years. Inflation has been averaging at almost 12% since 2002, rapidly increasing the cost of living.

  The country, a non-OPEC member, is the smallest oil producer in the Middle East³. Nevertheless, the economy is highly dependent on the oil sector, with the country’s oil exports accounting for approximately 85% of export revenues and 33% of gross domestic product (GDP). Yemen’s energy use relies heavily on fossil fuels. Thus, there is potential to reduce GHG emissions in the energy sector, the oil and refinery industry and in the industrial sector.

  GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN YEMEN

  The 2001 First National Communication to the UNFCCC used 1995 as a reference year for Yemen’s GHG emissions inventory due to the high uncertainty of 1994′s information as a result of the April–July 1994 civil war. The total GHG emissions (CO₂, CH⁴, N²O) of the country, in 1995, amounted to 18.7 million tonnes CO₂eq, (CO₂=11.4 million tonnes, CH⁴=128,000 and NO₂=15,000). Taking CO₂ removal into account, the total net emission of CO₂ is 845,000 tonnes. These figures are exclusive of the emission from the international bunker (114,350 tonnes CO₂) and from combustion of biomass (353,290 tonnes CO₂).

  Yemen’s emission profile by gas type for 1995 shows that CO₂ accounts for 61% of the total national GHG emissions (113,580 tonnes CO₂), N²O 25% (465,700 tonnes CO₂eq) and CH⁴ 14% (269,400 tonnes CO₂eq). Table 2 shows gas emissions by various sectors.

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  If we look at the industrial processes, there are many that create GHG emissions as a by-product of the process itself. Cement production generated the most emissions (99.3%). Other production processes with minor emissions are lime production, limestone use and soda use (food & beverages). The total GHG generated by these processes was estimated at 547,000 tonnes CO₂eq, which accounted for 2.92% of the country’s total GHG emissions. The production of cement in Yemen in 1995 was 1,089,000 tonnes that resulted in CO₂ emission of 543,000 tonnes CO₂eq representing 4.8% of the country’s total CO₂ emissions (energy sector, industrial processes etc), while it represents around 2.9% of the total GHGs.

  The CO₂ emission from cement production was calculated by multiplying 1995 cement production (1,089,000 tonnes) by the emission factor (0.4985 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of cement produced). The SO₂ emitted from cement production was obtained by using an emission factor of 0.3 kg SO₂/tonne cement, thus leading to 330 tonnes SO₂ in 1995.

  THE YEMENI ENERGY SECTOR

  Yemen’s 100% state-owned Public Electricity Corporation (PEC) formed in 1991, under the Ministry of Electricity, is the sole public utility with the mandate for generation, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity in the country. The entity operates approximately 80% of the country’s generating capacity as part of the national grid. The remainder is generated by small off-grid suppliers and privately owned generators, predominantly in rural areas⁴. In urban areas diesel generators are also used as back-up systems. The efficiency of diesel generators can be up to 40%. Electricity demand amounted to 3294 GWh in 2005, an increase of 9.6% annually since 2000.

  The Yemeni population has the lowest access to electricity in the region, with only 53%⁵ of the total population having access. Of the 72% of the Yemeni population living in rural areas, only 23% have any access to electricity, which compares unfavourably with 85% of the urban population that have access to electricity. Out of this 23%, about 10%–14% is connected to the national grid system while the remainder is estimated to have some access from other sources, typically a diesel generator that operates only a few hours in the evening. Even for those connected to the grid, electricity supply is intermittent, with regular rolling blackouts in most cities.

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  Yemen has been experiencing a chronic power supply shortage. An estimate for the electric power deficit in 2006 was 220 MW, a figure that is expected to increase to 250 MW in 2008. With the 2005 increase in diesel prices, the cost of diesel generation has become economically unsustainable thereby significantly increasing the demand for a lower-carbon, more-efficient, lower-cost and reliable energy future.

  The Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP, 2003–2005) states the following: ‘Indicators show the failure of electric power in Yemen in keeping pace with demand [is] due to the ageing of the power stations and the distribution networks, which is reflected in the high losses that are currently estimated at about 38%, well above the internationally prevailing levels. This situation prevents the full utilization of machinery and equipment in the different productive and service units, or burdens the private sector facilities with the cost of setting up their own generating plants, not to mention the inability to systematically fulfil domestic lighting requirements. This situation is expected to continue over the medium term due to the increase of demand at high rates, and thus increases the adverse aspects on investment opportunities and the growth of output, income and employment, clearly showing the importance of strategic investment by the private sector in this field.’

  In the industrial sector, power is purchased either from the national grid or off-grid from privately owned diesel generators with poor electrical efficiency ranging from 25% up to 35% especially in light industry. Heavy industry, e.g. the cement sector – the most energy intensive of any industry⁶, covers its heat needs using boilers fired either by heavy fuel oil or diesel, again with an overall poor fuel efficiency. The main electricity consuming sections in a cement plant are the mills (finish grinding and raw grinding) and the exhaust fans (kiln/raw mill and cement mill) which together account for more than 80% of the total electrical energy usage.⁷ The separate production of heat and power is an obvious waste of energy. Change is needed by using a range of existing and emerging technologies, particularly in relation to the production and consumption both of heat and electricity.

  The cement industry is considered as one of the main players in the industrial sector. Commercial production started back in 1973 with the launching of the first production line of the Bajil Cement Factory. Cement production is highly competitive, both locally and internationally, so any improvements in production efficiency can result in important increases in competitiveness.⁸

  Despite 16.9 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of proven natural gas reserves, a cleaner source of non-renewable energy, heavy fuel oil or diesel-fuelled power generation remains the energy source. Use of natural gas is hampered by the absence of a domestic natural gas infrastructure. On the downstream side there is a crude refining capacity of 130,000 barrels/day from two ageing refineries. The Aden refinery has a capacity of 90,000 to 120,000 barrels/day, while the capacity at the Marib refinery, is 10,000 barrels/day.

  So the challenge for the government is to meet the energy needs of the country in an economic and environmentally sustainable manner. To address this challenge, one approach is to integrate the use of CHP as part of a larger portfolio of low-carbon energy technology solutions. Also the First National Communication under the UNFCCC suggests CHP as a viable measure to reduce GHG emissions and to cope with climate change.

  COGENERATION – AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YEMEN

  The Yemeni electricity sector driven by fossil-fuelled power generation is characterized by a loss of waste heat and a deficient transmission and distribution system resulting in poor net generation. Energy use and efficiency are important factors for economic development and environmental integrity.

  Click here to enlarge image

  CHP applications could be viable and cost-effective in the Yemeni setting because they:

  • reduce energy-related carbon dioxide emissions
  • provide a decentralized energy source which results in reduced investment in energy system infrastructure
  • reduce transmission and distribution losses.

  Energy-intensive industrial sites such as oil refining, heavy processing (food and textiles) and the cement industry with its simultaneous demand for heat and power, could all benefit. Also the commercial and institutional/residential sectors could match their thermal and electrical needs. CHP application in the commercial/institutional sector could address light manufacturing, hotels, hospitals and large office complexes.

  Despite good potential for CHP, to date no systems are operating in Yemen. The main barriers are: technical, financial, lack of maintenance capacity and awareness, the heavy subsidy of petroleum products and the absence of a domestic natural gas infrastructure – the fuel of choice for most new industrial CHP systems. However, access to reasonably priced and reliable electricity supply systems are an obvious prerequisite for economic stability and development. The development of a strategy for CHP would assist in kick-starting the momentum in Yemen and should include the following elements:

  • identification of projects that could be initially implemented by the public sector and identify pipeline of projects that can be promoted for private sector development
  • formulation of CHP-enabling market
  • elaboration of incentives that attract private investors and lower the costs of electricity generation from CHP applications.

  Coupling GHG emissions abatement with CHP installation would help guide the country’s economic growth to a less carbon-intensive development path. The emission reduction potential makes CHP applications, in principal, eligible for the CDM. In order to qualify for Certified Emission Reductions under the CDM, one needs to address ‘additionality’, ‘permanence’, and ‘leakage’ requirements as well as satisfy sustainable development criteria defined by the country. By gaining CDM support for projects, Yemen could gain access to significant additional flows of technology and finance to assist in achieving a more sustainable, less greenhouse-intensive pathway of development. Also the National Adaptation Programme of Action⁹ is suggesting CHP systems as an efficient method of power generation and a suitable measure to reduce GHG emissions. Considering a cogeneration project as a CDM project activity would assist in generating emission credits and thereby make the project more feasible.

  RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION

  The CDM is a key model fostering broad engagement in climate change mitigation, and can be used as a means of promoting sustainable development by providing access to improved energy services. The energy sector is a major source of GHG emissions and a critical area for socio-economic development of the country. Yemen has a good potential for cogeneration projects in the industrial, commercial and institutional/residential sectors.

  In keeping with the dual aim of climate protection and sustainable development, the CDM can trigger the installation of CHP systems by removing barriers to implementation of state-of-the art technology in this area. Despite the strong potential of cogeneration for GHG reduction to date there is no installed capacity – project developers often lack the technical and financial capacity to identify projects within their operational activities. Mainstreaming carbon finance into business operations would have a catalytic impact on facilitating CDM project development and consequently assist in the feasibility of cogeneration in Yemen.

  Lia Carol Sieghart is with the Ministry of Water and Environment, DNA Secretariat, Republic of Yemen.
  e-mail: sieghart@yemen.net.ye

  References

  1. Status: 29.03.2008

  2. World Development Indicators database, World Bank, 1 July 2007

  3. Report No.: 34008-YE – Republic of Yemen – Country Social Analysis – January 11, 2006 – Water, Environment, Social and Rural Development Department, Middle East and North Africa Region

  4. Energy Information Administration  www.eia.doe.gov): Yemen – Country Analysis Brief (October 2007)

  5. World Bank and UNDP (2005): Household Energy Supply and Use in Yemen: Volume I, Main Report

  6. WADE (2007): Concrete Energy Savings – Onsite Power in the Cement Industry

  7. IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control). 2001. Reference document on best available techniques in the cement and lime manufacturing industries, European Union.

  8. WADE (2007): Concrete Energy Savings – Onsite Power in the Cement Industry

  9. 2001 First National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

  Cogeneration and On-Site Power Production July, 2008

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