-Caveat Lector- -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [southnews] YMCA launches campaign against Israel Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 14:27:27 -0600 (CST) From: David Muller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: South Movement To: undisclosed-recipients:; ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~> eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups Click here for more details http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/1/_/_/_/982302974/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> ---------- International YMCA launches campaign against Israel By Elli Wohlgelernter, The Jerusalem Post Friday, February 16 2001 JERUSALEM (February 16) - The World Alliance of YMCAs, based in Geneva, is injecting itself into Middle East politics by launching an anti-Israel crusade, which is causing a rift between YMCAs in the US and Canada and the worldwide organization. The international group has posted on its Web site a 3,000-word report based on a five-day visit to "Palestine" in November by its representatives, concluding that "the one-sided nature of the conflict demands that the YMCA take the side of the oppressed Palestinian people." The Simon Wiesenthal Center has criticized the report as "a virtual rubber stamp for continued Palestinian violence," and has initiated an international campaign to have YMCAs around the world stop funding the world center. Kenneth Gladish, national executive director of YMCA of the USA, has written a letter to Geneva distancing his group from the World Alliance report. "The language, tone, and characterizations included in [the report] do nothing to aid the true cause of peace and stability, nor do they position the YMCA for effective service across the boundaries of dispute," he wrote in the letter dated February 1. "These documents are inappropriate and can serve only to inflame the long-standing tensions in the region." The chairman of YMCA Canada has also expressed reservations about the report, stating in a February 8 letter to the Wiesenthal Center "that some of the statements are one-sided and biased and do not reflect the violence that has been committed by all parties concerned. We will be addressing our concerns to the World Alliance with the hope that a more balanced and moderated perspective can be presented to our collective constituency." Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center, said the report "is a total shift, a step out of character and a very dangerous one" for the international organization, and that he is very concerned that this can be the beginning of a domino effect of other non-governmental organizations "ganging up" on Israel to justify the behavior of the Palestinian Authority. "From our point of view, the bottom line is either send a team and tell the other side of the story or, better yet, go back to what you do best," Cooper said last night from Los Angeles. "This is not an area they should be involved in. And if they don't, we will formally call on the international YMCA community to defund Geneva." Cooper said that the Wiesenthal Center has contacted YMCAs in over 20 countries urging them to demand that the biased report be dropped. The World Alliance report can be read on its Web site, http://www.ymca.int/programs/Declarations/Palestine-ReportNov2000.htm. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based activist group, in its American Muslim News Briefs e-mail on Tuesday included a message urging everyone to write to the YMCA in support of its position. "I'm afraid also that whatever the results of this particular controversy, we might be seeing this replayed in the NGO playing field, from humanitarian and maybe environmental NGOs, suddenly getting involved in this area," Cooper said. The YMCA in Geneva responded on its Web site to criticism of its report for being one-sided by saying, "The recent report was based on the visit of an international team who for reasons of time and circumstances did not also visit Israel." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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