Page 12-The Canadian Jewish iNews, Thursday, December"'?, 1989
- M-T
UN vote is delayed
By . PAUL LUNGEN
NEW YORK^
Ofliaals at Canada's United Nations mission spearheaded an effort to derail a vote on a motion seeking to elevate the status of the iPalestine Liberation Organization to that of an observer state.
The vote, which was originally scheduied for last Friday^ was. delayed until Monday afternoon, after. The CJN went tiV press.
■ It w:as widel) -expeeted that the vote in the General Assembly .would be deferred . indefinitel-y-i-thanks to the widespread opposition of UN member states. Canada took a leading role in cotirdinating a group of like-ininded stales to oppose the. proposed resolution, an officer at the UN mission told The CJN.
Canada felt the resolution should not be put to a vote because it is "ill-timed ^and destructive of the peace process" currently underway, the
officer, who did hot wish to be identified, told The
:cjN.^
■"Canada deserves full credit for the role it has played in organizing international opposition to the PLQ's attempt to gain state status at the UN," said David Weinberg, director-of research and education for the Canada-Israel Com-
mittee, the J e w^i sh com mu -nity's pro-Israel lobby ' group.
He said the Canadian mission was instrumental • in .organizing . member states^from all continents to back a procedural motion that would defer indefinitely the pro-PLO resolution
— a process similar to the one taken by Nordic countries to oppose the annual UN vote that seeks to deny .Israel's credentials. ,
At The CJN's press" tinie. it was unclear .whether Canada would have to introduce the motion or whether the presi-
dent of the General Assembly would announce he was shelving the resolution due.to a lack of consensus oh its introduction.
News reports froiri the UN indicated that the Israeli mission lobbied heavily against the resolution, introduced during the assem-"
JERUSALEM (JTA)
The fight of Jewish wom-
• en in Israel to pray' where and how they choose received one setback aind one small advance this
week.:
The Women of the Wall failed to persuade the Jerusalem .'Magistrates
• Court to force Jerusplem's Laromme Hotel to allow it to conduct a Torah scroll dedication ceremony at the hotel.: :
But the same cc)urt ruled that the hotel hiid to allow, the women.to=conductprater services inside the hotel
: lastSaturdav: .
The Jerusalem Religious Council ,.h.ad...lj]i.r.eate..n^
. revoke the hotel's kashruth licence if if allowed the. Torah .dedication to take
•place. It intervened at the last momentralthough- the ceremony had been scheduled months .in advance.
Lam plane project results in device to deU^^^
TEL AVIV (JTA)-
"The abandoned Lav i fighter plane project is" , helping .ah Israeli company produce a new device-for the early detection "'W!" cancer.
The machine, called the cytoscan; .was developed at acQst of S9 million (U.S.) by the" Tamam Precision.; Instruments company .a subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries' electronics division. . J~
The company-expects to" sell abput 20 worldwide in the coming year. The,, device is expected to sell for $175 to. : ^ ^
lAI sources said the manufacturing principles, employing lasers, are a' spinoff from the Lavi, Israel's second-generation jet fi'ghter-bbmber, which reached the prototype stage before it was cancelled in 1987 because of excessive ' costs. ■ •
" The cyt'oscanwas deve-. loped by Israeli scientists
^ on the basis of prj^nciples devised by a: British-born husband-and-wife medical team; ■. / r
The couple.' w^htrTiow -.live in the United States, had .difficulty raising"
jjioneyt-tb, advarice thei^^^
. ideas and turned to' Israel i for capital and manufacturing know-how. The cytoscan cian diag-
nose a cancerous growth within 60 minutes, iisihg a blood sample, and can
'also determine the kind of cancer and its location in
: the body, acording^ to a report in Ma'arjv on Friday.
, It can detect and locate lung cancer, breast and skin cancer and caincer of the large ititestines, It can^" not spot: cancers where there is no solid turriori
"^gjchr^blood cancer. -
-Experis^-say-rthe'equipment will be-used initially in follow-uptests on women who have had surgery for breast cancer.jt will be soine time before it is used in pre-cancer detection in presumably ''healthy persons:
-The Israeli scientists credited with developing the cytoscah are Mordechai .
. Deutsch and his instructor at Bar.-Ilan University's physics department. Prof. Aryeh Weinfeb. and Dr. Reuven Tirosh. ■
News _of the break-, through was published "without any coordination with25r permission ^troiT] either IAI oi" the uniyersi-.
■ ty." acvordijig to officials in . the tw-o ihsiitinipns.
-They .!aid that publicTty; was premature"Jirid that they lw{Lplanned an order-
. ly . pres^erffatipn. of. jjhej device at a later date.-
. The hotel management, ^fearing it would lose ■its '.: kosher certificatidti, cancelled the event. The dedication ceremony was held instead in the gymnasium of a nearby.school.
The Women.of the Wall group, organized a year ago ; during the First Intematioh-al Jewish Feminist Confer--ence. also held a w'omehT: Rosh Chodesh (New Moon) prayer service at the Western-Wall.-;, . . TheTorah scroll wasdo-nated by. the International Commitreeibr "Women at the KotcL-a-support grpup ; of some 5()0 Jewish vvom: eri from the Diaspora, many of them religiously ob-■ .servant. ; '
A delegation of 30 women came to Israel under the .,auspices of the American ■Jewish Congress to present the Torah to the Israeli group. ;
The Torah will be housed with the liberal Orthodox Yediap-congregation, in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem; and will be used in the women's: monthly Rosh Chodesh services. ,
AJCongress reacted angrily to the actions of the Orthodpx religioUsauthor-. i.ties in Jerusalem.
Henry Siegman. the organization's executive director, issued a statement --in-New York'saying. "It is sad that-the-fabbinate in Israel ..should, notlhesitate to ~ resort to such ugly tactics to deny Jews the privil^^e of
dedicating a Torah scroll.'' The failureof the hotel to ■ permit the dedication ceremony did not prevent "the group from cpnducting
an evening torah procession through the streets of ; Jerusalem.
': ' About i 00 women and a handful of men marched from the hotel to thq Yemen Moshe'quarter, where the women recited evening prayers under a balmy autumn sky.scape within sight of Mount Zion. . -Tacah processions are a faihiliar sight In Jerusalem; But in this' case...-,it was women who were carrying the scroll and female voices singing the traditipnal Hebrew hymns. .
The morning service at the Kotel went off smoothly, despite rabbinical and judicial restraints pending a decision by the High Court of Justice pn whethefthe women may conduct organized prayer services at .the KoteL :■:
The religious authorities object especially to women reading from a Torah scroll and chanting prayers in public.
Violence has erupted d u r i n g ■: ■ s iiri il a r '^'■HTo slT Chodesh services in the past, as iiltra-Orthodox men
and some women cursed the women worshipers and tried forcibly to wrest the Torahs from them. .
The women are now ban--ned from reading the Torah at the Wall, pending a cotirt hearing hext month Pf conflicting petitions from the women and the Religious Affairs Ministry.
The.prayers at'both sites passed without incident. A group of male guards hired by AJCongress was on hand to protect the women.
biy's annual debate on the "question of Palestine."
The U.S. government ia.st week threatened to cut off funds to the UN headquarters budget if the assembly adopted a resolution that-" in effect jecognizes a Palestinian state. '
Weinberg, who was in New York for 10 .days to monitor the situation and ..lobby for the CIC, said he was concerned about another resolution, expected to be intrtxluced later in the week, ihat-calls. for an international peace conference on the Arab-Israeli confiict and which affirms a Palestinian right to self-deierminatipn.
. The resolution'is universally interpreted as one caUing for Palestinian, statehcxxl. hesa;id! Canada
. has for the past two years abstained on the vote.
...thoush.prior ip that it had joined Israel and the United-States in opposing it.
In explaining .the Cana-. diah position. External Af-
UN Ambassador Vves Fortier
fairs Minister Joe Clark ha.s said it merely affirms the Pale.stinian.s' right to partic-ipa{e in talks about theTf. pv/n future: . ' The CIC is lobbying the mission on that issue. Weinberg added..
Meanwhile. ; a spokes-• man for the Department of External Affairs said relar tions between Canada;and Israel remain .strong despite news reports-thai Israeli officials were concerned over a perceived deteriora- . tion of bilateral.ties.
Robert Peck said recent
hieetings in Israel by Andrew Robinson, head Pf the Middle East septlon'bf-Ex-temal Affairs, underscored the "positive" nature of the strong Canadian-Israeli ties.
But the Jerusalem Post reported last week that during recelit meetings between Robinson and Israeli .Foreign Ministry officials, concern w as ex-pr^ised over "a perceived deterioration in relations.".
Robinson's:Israeli counterparts tPld him 'Ihere is a perceptipn in Israel pf a negative trend in relations between the two cpun-tries." The Post reported.
Canada's- upgrading of contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization and recent voting record at the United Nations (sec . CJN Nov. 9) were sources .of concern. The Post staled.
Peck said the strength of bilateral lies was underscored, by the summer visit of IsraeliPresident Chaim Herzoc to Canada..
HABONIM bROR
CAMPGESHER
; In its 28th year
A camping adventure inspired by Kibbutz life
^ : full session 6]^ weeks,
: 3 & '3% weeks half sessions
■ Activities: ■ Basket,bjJJ,. baseball, " volleyball) soccer skiing,^canoeing, ■ instructional i swim, scouting, "J arts ■'& crafts and more
Programs: ; ^ Israeli songs & dances, . informar Hebrew conversation, Jewish identity emphasized. ^ /\/so; Theme days, ^ avodah: projects, : interest group, trips
A limifed numbe^r6i spaces still available.
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The Jewish Quiz
QUESTIONS:
L Which former President of Israel received his basi^c military training in Windsor, N.S. in' 191'8?--'2V"\VTiM-Jewish library in Canada- was first called the Jewish People's Library and People's University;
3. Who was a lead- _ ing spirit in Canadian : , B'nai Brith and served as its earlier executive vice-president?
ANSWERS: 1-r-Itzhafc Ben-Zvi._ _Edm<md V, Lipsitz
Israel-s second'president.-1 — -__2. The Jewish: Public Library..;,of Mpnlreal fpunded'in. May 1914. -i" : . . 3. ^aulS. Berlin who served until his death in
''968,- ■ ■. y ;■..
>;The.se_questions and answers came from the book 6400 Questions About Judaism and the Jewish People by EdmondY.Lipsitz, recently published by JESL Educational Products.^
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