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Sharon to Bring Road Map to Cabinet Vote
At a White House meeting on Wednesday, Sharon's bureau chief, Dov Weisglass, and U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice agreed to a formula whereby the U.S would officially announce that Israel's comments on the road map will be taken into account in its implementation. Sharon's office believes that once the U.S. announces its acceptance of Israel's reservations, it will be possible to muster a cabinet majority for the road map. Israel submitted numerous reservations to the plan. It wanted to stiffen the security demands on the Palestinians, delay a settlement freeze until the Palestinians start fighting terror, and ensure that implementation would be monitored just by the U.S. rather than all the members of the Quartet. Washington acceded to most of Israel's requests, but rejected two: that the Palestinians immediately waive their demand for a "right of return," and that the Saudi Arabian initiative, which calls for peace with Israel in exchange for a full withdrawal to the 1967 borders, be removed from the list of the plan's sources of authority. (Ha'aretz)

Israeli VJ Named by MTV
Israel's newest, and perhaps biggest, musical export is a lithe, 25-year old American immigrant named Becky Griffin. Eric Kearly, manager of MTV Europe, said that Griffin was the natural choice for the channel, which selected her after intense auditions in London last month. "She has a very professional attitude and the camera just loves her," he said. (Israel 21C)

Israeli-Palestinian 'Peace Team' a Winning Combination
At the close of the 2003 Israeli professional indoor soccer winter league championship the winning team was comprised both of Israelis and Palestinians. When an Israeli professional indoor soccer league was created - the team signed up. The Israeli participants are all students or former students at Ben-Gurion University, the Palestinians come from Ramallah or East Jerusalem. They are all in their early 20s. On their weekly practice day, they spend together, eat together, and have become close friends. (Israel21C)

Hebrew U. Launches Einstein Web Site
A Web site presenting some 43,000 never-before-published documents, articles, photographs and scientific papers taken from the Einstein Archives at Hebrew University, Jerusalem, was launched Monday by Hebrew University and the California Institute of Technology. The site can be found at www.alberteinstein.info.

Issues on Campus:

Oregon: Speaker Presents Plans for Peace
Ron Young, the director of the Seattle-based U.S. Interreligious Committee for Peace in the Middle East, was the keynote speaker at panel discussion called "In Search of a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine." About 60 people attended the discussion, and the University Muslim Student Association and Jewish Student Union were among the sponsors. "For all you Bush supporters, he has proven he can lead in war - now he has to prove he can lead in peace," Young said. "For all the opponents of Bush, they need to take him more seriously." According to Young, the road map plan is a document calling for the formation of two separate Israeli and Palestinian countries. Some aspects of the plan include an equal amount of effort from both groups to create a new independent state for Palestinians by 2005, which is the plan's timetable. (Oregon Daily Emerald)

Voices from the Campus:

Ohio State: Columnist Off Base on Israeli Conflict by Laura Michele Diener
Vijay Ramanavarapu's recent column argued that Jewish people have no right to their own country as "Jews can live in numerous countries around the world where they will be safer and have a more stable environment." I wondered exactly which countries he had in mind when writing this article. Certainly he could not have meant the former Soviet Union, because Russian Jewish refugees have flooded the United States and Israel since the mid '80s in an effort to escape an undying legacy of anti-Semitism. The current state of Western Europe is neither stable nor secure for Jews. In France alone, 500 anti-Semitic incidents were reported just from Sept. 9, 2000, through early April 2002. I want to address the most disturbing of Ramanavarapu's claims - that "Israel and her army is imposing the same grief and sanctions on Palestinians that Hitler imposed on Jews in the 1930s and '40s." This irresponsible statement insults not only every Israeli, every supporter of Israel and every victim of the Holocaust, but also everyone with a proper respect for history. (The Lantern)

UC San Diego: Pro-Israel Campus Condom Giveaway Raises Eyebrows
As the highlight of an on-campus campaign entitled "Got Israel?" pro-Israel students at UCSD recently handed out condoms and T-shirts emblazoned with an anthropomorphic condom cartoon and the catchphrase, "Israel: It's still safe to come." The condoms came equipped with a card discussing "sexual freedoms and women's rights in different Mideastern countries and Israel. It showed the literacy rates of women, the percentage of women employed, whether homosexuality is legal. On that basis, people could make their own decisions on how free and democratic Israel is," said co-organizer Eddie Cohen. But not everyone got the joke, or cared to. After photos and an article about the late April giveaway appeared in the San Diego Jewish Heritage newspaper, the campus Hillel began receiving some angry phone calls. Co-organizer Neta Retter said the giveaway was wildly popular with students and faculty on campus, adding that she is still getting calls and e-mails asking for pro-Israel condoms or T-shirts. (Jewish Times)

Israeli Students in the U.S.:

Texas Longhorns Swimmer Selected for NCAA Leadership Conference
Tomer Feingold of Haifa, Israel, a senior on The University of Texas men's swimming and diving team, has been selected by the NCAA to participate at the Seventh Annual NCAA Foundation Leadership Conference. Feingold was chosen from a pool of 1,172 nominations from 302 institutions. The NCAA ultimately identified 273 student-athletes as current or future leaders on their campuses and in their communities. Besides being a member of two national championship teams at The University of Texas and earning academic honors in his majors of Finance and Hebrew, Feingold was also selected for his accomplishments outside of campus. From 1997 to 2000, Feingold served as Staff Sergeant for the Navy Seals in his native country of Israel. He has also served as vice president for Students of the World, a group manager assistant in cancer research as well as being a participant in Habitat for Humanity and Aid to Terror Victims. (TexasSports)

Observations:

Israel Advances On Campus by Lynn Schusterman

• Last year, I wrote an article about the difficulties facing pro-Israel students on college campuses and the urgent need for the Jewish community to join forces to ensure that students had the educational opportunities, resources and training they needed to feel comfortable voicing support for Israel on campus.
• Twelve months later, it is clear that our community has moved beyond hand wringing and adopted a much more cooperative and strategic approach, one that already is showing signs of having positively transformed the way Israel is presented and perceived on campus.
• One year ago, many students I spoke with felt besieged, conflicted and alone. Now, the students I encounter are confident, focused and energized.
• One year ago, Israel education, engagement and advocacy for college students was not a high priority on our communal agenda. Today, many national agencies are devoting more time and money than ever before to help students promote a pro-Israel agenda on campus.
• Today, under the aegis of the Israel on Campus Coalition, nearly 30 organizations are working together at the national level to promote Israel education and advocacy on campus. In addition to serving as a clearinghouse of pro-Israel activity and resources, the ICC is providing a weekly forum for ongoing communication, coordination and cooperation between the agencies, regularly informed by the voices of students and campus professionals.

Lynn Schusterman is president of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation.