Cyprus opens new crossing in boost to peace talks

Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders opened a new crossing on Thursday through the UN-patrolled ceasefire line that divides the island in a confidence boost for UN-brokered reunification talks.

The crossing provides the first road link between the Greek-Cypriot resort of Kato Pyrgos on the island’s northwest coast and the adjacent Turkish-Cypriot village of Limnitis (Yesilirmak in Turkish) since communal disturbances erupted in the winter of 1963-4, prompting the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops.

Its opening has long been a priority for the island’s internationally recognised Greek-Cypriot government as it will cut travel times between Kato Pyrgos and the capital Nicosia from more than three hours to less than one and a half. The crossing will provide easier access for residents to medical and educational facilities in the capital and a much needed fillip to the resort’s tourism trade.

A new 6.5 kilometre (four mile) road has since been built between the two villages, with the help of EU and US financing.

It is the seventh crossing to open for the two communities since the breakaway Turkish Cypriot leadership relaxed travel restrictions in April 2003.

Cyprus President Demetris Christofias joined Turkish-Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, UN representative Alexander Downer and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule at the opening.

“Since 2003, when the first crossing points were opened, we saw the collapse of the propaganda of well-known nationalist circles that mixing between the two communities is impossible,” Christofias said.

“It was proven beyond doubt that ordinary Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots can and want to live together peacefully in a common homeland,” he said.

More talks on the opening of new crossings will be held in the coming days, Eroğlu added.

Vehit Nekibzade, from northern Cyprus, was upbeat, saying “every time we open a gate is a step towards peace.”

“For us, it’s a miracle. The village is reborn; it’s alive again,” said 63-year-old Maria Georgiou, one of dozens of Kato Pyrgos village residents on the southern, Greek-Cypriot side of the divide celebrating the opening.

“Today’s opening is an encouraging signal… We are witnessing another example of this pursuit of peace and another difficult barrier has gone,” said EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule at a brief opening ceremony. “We will spare no effort to see a settlement happen.”

Rinderpest virus has been wiped out

(excerpted from BBC News)

Scientists working for the UN say that they have eradicated a virus which can be deadly to cattle. If confirmed, rinderpest would become only the second viral disease – after smallpox – to have been eliminated by humans.

Rinderpest was once prevalent in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. When the disease arrived in Africa at the end of the nineteenth century between 80% and 90% of cattle and buffalo on the continent were killed.

The eradication of the virus has been described as the biggest achievement in veterinary history and one which will save the lives and livelihoods of millions of the poorest people in the world.

Dr John Anderson from the Institute for Animal Health (IAH) at Pirbright, UK, who has been involved with the eradication programme, said: “For too long people have been involved in controlling diseases and not actually dreaming that it is possible to eradicate a disease from the world. And with Rinderpest we did.”

The latest FAO progress report on the rinderpest eradication programme said: “As of mid 2010, FAO is confident that the rinderpest virus has been eliminated from Europe, Asia, Middle East, Arabian Peninsula, and Africa.”

A formal announcement on the eradication of rinderpest is expected to be made by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) next year.

Dr Anderson and his colleagues at the IAH helped develop a simple way to test cattle to see if they had the disease. The test, which was developed with the support of the UK’s Department for International Development, was designed to be used by local people in the field and to give reliable results within minutes. It proved highly effective and the technology has been rolled out across Africa. This was particularly important in the later stages of the programme when pockets of the virus remained in war-torn areas of southern Sudan and Somalia.

Dr Mike Baron of the IAH told BBC News that it had been too dangerous for outsiders to enter those areas. Experts, he said, would train locals – so called ‘barefoot vets’ – to recognise the disease and administer vaccines. They would work with nomadic tribesmen in the regions and vaccinate herds “on the move”.

Progress was only made once large unified projects were established to tackle the disease.

“It’s an enormously important achievement because it highlights what can be done by people working together,” Dr Baron told BBC News. “It has also taken a disease which has been a huge threat to the livelihood of people and removed it.”

 

New country’s first Prime Minister is a woman

(from Caribbean360)

PHILIPSBURG, St Maarten – Women who rise to the level of Prime Minister often make history by becoming the first female to do so. But Sarah Westcot-Williams of the Democratic Party (DP) in St Maarten is not just that country’s first prime minister, she’s the first ever prime minister in the Dutch territory.

Her DP and the United People’s (UP) party have formally agreed on a coalition government that she will lead when the country’s new governing structure – under a new constitution – takes effect on October 10th. From that date, the island will become a separate country and will have its own parliament and prime minister when the Netherlands Antilles is dismantled.

 

Jewish life revived in Poland

(from The Christian Science Monitor)

Jewish life in Krakow was vibrant before World War II, but the Holocaust and years of Communist rule wiped it out almost entirely. Today, Krakow is reviving its Jewish heritage.

On a recent saint’s day in Krakow, Poland, many apartment windows were adorned with icons of Jesus – makeshift shrines on display. In the same city, on the square of the restored Old Synagogue, a group of tourists pored over a map of Kazimierz, the Jewish quarter.

Kazimierz long ago was a separate Jewish city, a rival of its neighbor Krakow. The cities eventually joined, and Krakow had nearly 65,000 Jewish citizens before the Holocaust. Afterward, the number was 2,000, and it fell during communism.

Today Kazimierz has revived and boasts dozens of Jewish cafes and hotels, millions of Jewish tourists annually, a Jewish community center, a Jewish cultural center, and several yearly Jewish festivals. Yarmulkes fill kiosks in Kazimierz.

“We may have a small community here, but it’s vibrant,” says Jonathan Ornstein, director of the Krakow Jewish Community Center. “We have a new generation discovering their Jewish ancestry,” he says, referring to the thousands of Jews who cloaked themselves in Roman Catholicism to escape the Nazis.

 

Basketball program unites Arab and Jewish Israeli youth

(from Jerusalem Post)

If Halid and David had not joined the PeacePlayers basketball program in 2005, they probably wouldn’t have met – at least, not under good circumstances.

David, a Jewish teen, immigrated alone to Israel from Ethiopia at age 12. Halid comes from a poor Arab village where people are mistrustful of Jews. But they got to know each other when their teams came together for activities, and later they both joined an integrated league team. Now completing a coaching certification program together, the boys volunteer with younger players and in social action projects in their communities.

“They help each other,” says Karen Doubilet, managing director of PeacePlayers International – Middle East (PPI-ME). “Halid is an amazing role model for his community. And David, who was at first shy and suffered from low self-esteem, is a young leader now.”

This year, PPI-ME will enter four integrated teams in the Israel National Basketball League – two in Jaffa and two in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem teams will be the first to feature players from both east and west Jerusalem. “We are so proud of this precedent-setting accomplishment,” Doubilet reports.

PeacePlayers International was founded in 2001 by Sean Tuohey and his brother Brendan on the premise that “children who play together can learn to live together.” The global nonprofit organization uses basketball to unite children and develop leaders in conflict and post-conflict regions. PPI runs programs in Northern Ireland, Cyprus, South Africa and New Orleans, where its initiative was recently handed over to a local partner.

In Israel, the locally led charity aims to unite and educate Jewish and Arab youth and their communities through basketball. Its curriculum, developed in partnership with the Arbinger Institute, a US-based consulting firm, combines on-court experiential learning with open dialogue.

More than 300 children were registered in PPI-ME programs last year. “In our new year we should have about 750 kids,” says Doubilet. The children come primarily from Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh and environs (in the Jerusalem district) and Jaffa. “We work with schools, community centers and sports clubs to recruit children, and in smaller villages we use word of mouth.”

The program targets ethnically and religiously diverse populations, including Ethiopian, Russian and American immigrants, and works toward gender equality through sports in both Jewish and Arab communities. A single-identity, capacitybuilding program in the West Bank provides another outlet for underprivileged children and an additional training opportunity for Arab coaches.

“PPI is a long-term program for ages 10 to 15, so you see them developing as teammates and friends,” says Doubilet, a Toronto native with a background in conflict resolution and experience with the Peres Center for Peace. “At the start it’s awkward and there’s a language barrier, and some kids have never met the ‘other side’ before. As they become better players and a more integrated team, they become better friends, and many friend each other on Facebook.”

Later on, she continues, the kids are eager to meet with the ‘other side’ and tour communities they’ve never ventured into previously. “At one point, you see that a ‘color blindness’ has developed. There is quite a difference from beginning to end.”

When the organization runs a fun day to introduce the free program, usually more children want to register than there are places to accommodate them.

Children are required to participate at least twice a week and may go as often as five times per week. Some kids are involved in more than one PPI initiative. There are twinned basketball clubs for Arab and Jewish children ages six to 15, which offer joint peace education and life skills activities and also afford them the opportunity to compete on integrated teams of the Jerusalem Peace League and the Jerusalem Girls Basketball League.

Another project is a leadership development program for outstanding 16-year-old participants. There is also professional development and conflict management training for future basketball coaches, intergroup facilitators, educators. and leaders such as Halid and David.