EVENTS IN THE UK

Update 07 March 2008 - We are happy to include your events, please send us the details by email.

Annual Eid Dinner, Liberal Democrats Muslims Forum (Click here for details) 

7pm - CAABU, SOAS Palestinian Society and Arab Media Watch in association with Pluto Books invite you to the launch of HAMAS: A BEGINNER'S GUIDE by Khaled Hroub, Room V111, Vernon Square Campus, Penton Rise, Islington London, WC1X 9EL (Nearest Tube-Kings Cross) - (Click here for details on the book and author).Click here for details on the book and author).

The Gift of Sight fair, the Great Hall, Kensington Town Hall , Hornton St. off Kensington High Street , London W8. An annual fair in aid of St. John's Eye Hospital, Jerusalem.

Reporter Frank Gardner – BBC security correspondent since 2002,  was injured in Saudi Arabia and is confined to a wheel chair as a result on his outlook of the Middle East on Friday 15^th September at 7pm at the Brunei – Khalili Theatre at SOAS, Russell Square. (Organised by The Egyptian, Arab & British Cultural Forum (Al Multaka). Admission free.

Top of the Page

Middle-East Institute at SOAS

Monthly London Events (Courtesy of Mrs Muna Al-Nashashibi)
Dec 2005 to Jan 2005

Top of the Page

DETAILS

6.30 pm - PALESTINIAN COSTUMES and EMBROIDERY, by Shelagh Weir and Bella Freud.
Venue: Leighton House, 12 Holland Park Road, London W14 8LZ, Admission free
(Click here for details)

Places are limited and must be booked by e-mail or telephone (An Arab-British Centre Event).
For further information  phone: 020 78321310   e-mail:info@arabbritishcentre.org.uk     
The talk will explore traditional women's costumes and embroidery, their cultural meaning and the potential of the craft for contemporary design.  Bella Freud is a fashion designer. She is also a Trustee and Co-founder
of the Hoping Foundation which supports Palestinian refugee children. (Shelagh Weir is a former Curator for the Middle East at the Museum of Mankind, British Museum.  She has published several books on Palestinian
embroidery).

Top of the Page

Top of the Page

Top of the Page

Wed - 10:00 am - 4:00 pm - "The Shortest Route To Peace Is Through Jerusalem"

Conference hosted by The Muslim Parliament In association with Palestine Solidarity Campaign & Universal Peace Federation. (Speakers click here)

Speakers:

The Right Rev. Riah Abu El-Assal (Bishop of Jerusalem, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan)
Rabbi Jeffrey Newman
Ahlam Akram (Member of Arab-Jewish Forum, Joint-Action for Israeli-Palestinian Peace)
Dr. Ghayassuddin Siddiqui (Leader, Muslim Parliament)
Dr. Brian Klug (Research Fellow in Philosophy at St. Benet's Hall, Oxford Founder member of Jewish Forum for Justice and Human Rights)
Betty Hunter (Secretary, Palestine Solidarity Campaign)
Chris Coverdale (Action Against The War)
Julia Hauserman (Rights and Humanity)
John Rose (Author)
Rabbi Ahron Cohen (Neturei Karta)

Speakers panels convened by Margaret Ali and Soraya Boyd
Venue: 45 Crawford Place, London, W1H 4LP

RSVP to confirm attendance to Soraya Boyd 07906 435561
or email at soraya.boyd@ntlworld.com

Top of the Page

Dear Respected Brothers, Sisters and Colleagues, 

Asalaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,


After praise to Allah and greetings of peace to our beloved Prophet Muhammad I pray that this finds you all in the best health and iman. 

I would have preferred to write my first letter as Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain to you in much better circumstances. However, the devastating Zionist war against the Lebanese and Palestinian people has made this letter an absolute necessity. 

Given the enormity of the crimes and the scale of destruction being visited upon the Lebanese and Palestinians a number of marches are planned in world cities including London on Saturday 5th August. The main purpose is to demonstrate support for the oppressed and protest against the unlimited support given by the US and British governments to the Israeli war. Without the military help and diplomatic cover of the US and several European governments Israel could never have wreaked such havoc and carnage that it currently does upon Lebanon and Palestine. 

Respected colleagues, our support for the people of Lebanon and Palestine is not in any way confined to Muslims or any sect. The fact is when the aggressors kill and maim they do not distinguish between Muslims and Christians or Sunni or Shi'i. It is for these reasons we urge you to offer salaat al-gha'ib for the martyrs of Lebanon and Palestine after salaat al-jumu'ah and also turn out in large numbers and participate in the Stop The War Coalition demonstration on Saturday. The assembly point will be Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park at noon on Saturday 5th August and there will be a peaceful march to Parliament Square where a rally will be held, insha' Allah. 

'And Allah hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not.' 

[Qur'an 12:21]

Your brother in Islam

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari
Secretary General

Top of the Page

NATIONAL EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION
END ISRAEL'S WAR ON LEBANON AND GAZA
SATURDAY 5 AUGUST: ASSEMBLE 12 NOON
SPEAKERS CORNER, HYDE PARK
(Nearest tube Marble Arch)
MARCH TO PALIAMENT SQUARE FOR RALLY

* Spread the word among your friends, neighbours, work colleagues, fellow students.
* Phone or email the Stop the War office to get information about coaches in your area.
* Download the demonstration flyer from the Stop the War website (http://tinyurl.com/enffa), photocopy or print it, distribute it as widely as you can.
* Take leaflets to your local mosque, church, community centre etc. Leaflet tube and bus stations.

George Bush and Tony Blair insist the carnage must continue. They are rushing bunker busting bombs and laser guided missiles to Israel, which will be used to raise much of Lebanon to the ground. The UN describes what is taking place as "horrific". Half of those killed by Israel's bombs have been children (http://tinyurl.com/jq8xo). Gaza has been turned into "a prison with no way in or out, and no protection from an fearsome battery of drones, precision missiles, tank shells and artillery rounds", with once again children being the main victims. (http://tinyurl.com/ggael)

The rest of the world demands the slaughter stops now. On Saturday 5 August, we need the biggest possible expression of our disgust over Tony Blair's slavish support for Bush's endless wars and for our demand that Israel's attacks on Lebanon and Gaza end immediately.

NATIONAL EMERGENCY DEMONSTRATION
END ISRAEL'S WAR ON LEBANON AND GAZA
SATURDAY 5 AUGUST: ASSEMBLE 12 NOON
SPEAKERS CORNER, HYDE PARK
(Nearest tube Marble Arch)
MARCH TO PALIAMENT SQUARE FOR RALLY
Called by Stop the War Coalition, CND, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, British Muslim Initiative, Lebanese community organisations.

************************************
2) KEEP SIGNING THE LETTER TO TONY BLAIR
If you haven't signed our letter to Tony Blair, add your name now here: http://tinyurl.com/rgdwt.

The letter is being signed at a rate of one name every 10 seconds. We handed it to 10 Downing Street with the first 10,000 signatures at the CEASE FIRE NOW rally in Whitehall on Friday 28 July. We will hand it in again with tens of thousands more names on the national emergency demonstration called for Saturday 5 August. Add your name now and join the demonstration on 5 August.

Manchester Assembly

Manchester coach to the London demonstration

3 pick-up points - leaving at:
7-00am Chorlton St Coach Station. Chorlton St. Manchester
7-10am Jaffa Cafe, Wilmslow Rd
7-15am Chorlton Library, Manchester Rd.

For details of telephone and online booking go to 
http://www.mancsagainsttanks.org/
Tickets £20/£15/£10 concessions
Cheques to 'GMAW' PO box 111, Chorlton M21 OYX

email mark.krantz@ntlworld.com

STOP THE WAR COALITION
Phone 020 7278 6694
Email office@stopwar.org.uk

Top of the Page

DAY TO STOP THE US-BACKED ISRAELI SLAUGHTER IN LEBANON & GAZA
Israeli Embassy, 9am-7pm, 3 August 2006
Kensington High Street opposite Palace Green (the address of the Israeli Embassy), nearest tube Kensington High St
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Global Women Strike & Payday men’s network are participating in a fast day called by Jews for Justice for Palestinians outside the Israeli Embassy. ALL ARE INVITED.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JFJFP say:

The 3rd August coincides with the 9th Av, Tisha b'Av, in the Jewish calendar, the day when Jews remember their tragedies, particularly the destruction of both temples in Jerusalem. We shall be mourning both the deaths of all those killed in the current hostilities and what we regard as a violation of the universal Jewish humanitarian and ethical values by the Israeli government and armed forces policies and actions. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jewish people & others in the Strike & Payday are taking part on the basis that:

· We are outraged at the death, disability & destruction that Israel, on its own behalf and on behalf of the US which arm and defend them, are raining on Gaza and Lebanon, where again children and their carers and elderly people and people with disabilities who cannot run are the worst hit.

· The Israeli State says it intends to “turn the clock back in Lebanon by 20 years” telling us they will bomb their way back to Sabra and Shatila, the two camps where Israel arranged for hundreds of refugees to be raped and slaughtered – but this time, if we allow it, it would be genocide throughout the Middle East.

· Those among us who are Jewish must take the lead in opposing Israeli imperialism which has hidden & undermined the great tradition of Jewish struggle against all forms of racism, exploitation & state terrorism. This tradition has contributed to every movement for social advancement beginning with those with least, including our own movement.

· We cannot allow the Nazi holocaust to continue to be used by the Israeli state as an excuse for a holocaust against Arab people and its grab of Arab land and resources. We have only too often heard Zionists say that 'The only good Arab is a dead Arab.' We cannot allow the third largest military power in the world, backed by the US military machine, to occupy and destroy other countries.

· Every year when the Nazi Holocaust is remembered, people ask: how was this allowed to happen? It happened because when Jewish, Romany, lesbian and gay people, trade unionists, socialists and communists were put in the concentration camps, many in Britain and elsewhere who knew did little or nothing. We are not going to let this happen with the victims of Israel. Maybe this will be the beginning of not letting it happen anywhere, whoever perpetrates such horrors.

· These actions of Israel are one with the war in Iraq, controlling oil and water in the Middle East for the real axis of evil – US, Israel & the UK. We cannot oppose the Iraqi war and occupation and not oppose the Israeli war and occupation.

· We endorse an anti-war voice from Israel demanding an immediate end to Israeli war crimes: 

Enough! Israel is committing extensive war crimes. A country is in ruins, whole communities are being uprooted, thousands of families destroyed, hundreds of civilians killed, and thousands of civilians injured. No excuse can whitewash these crimes. The abduction of two soldiers, the killings in centres of dense population in the north of Israel, cannot cover the barbarity practised by Israel in Lebanon and at the same time in Gaza. Those crimes must be stopped. Right now!

Endorse online: http://www.petitiononline.com/laor/petition.html

· We must do everything we can to stop all killing, maiming and destruction. We hope that this fast outside the Israeli Embassy can become a rolling hunger strike in which all can participate

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Global Women’s Strike www.globalwomenstrike.net 020 7486 2496

Payday www.refusingtokill.net 020 7209 4751

Top of the Page

THE WAR WIDOWS OF THE IRAQ INVASION - JUNE 23RD, TRAFALGAR SQUARE

Tony Benn and other speakers to be announced will be with us on the steps of St Martins in the Fields, Trafalgar square,  at 3 pm on June 23rd when we read out the names of iraqi widows and draw attention to this hidden and grossly neglected issue. We await these names now coming from our colleagues in Iraq.

Uncounted numbers of iraqi women are now widows or wives of the disappeared.

Sole supporters of families - children, elderly, sick, wounded, traumatized they are living in extreme poverty, and, as women  alone, vulnerable to human rights abuses of all kinds. Causing irrevocable  damage and deprivation of rights to their children.

There is barely a family in Iraq today that is not a family of widows - across the generations.

These women are key players in Iraq's recovery from years of oppression.

Their roles must be recognized, their needs addressed and their voices heard.

Please join us on Friday June 23rd , at 3 pm , on  International Widows Day, when we will be reading out the names of iraqi widows on the steps of st martins in the fields, Trafalgar  square. Please bring placards and banners!

 Margaret Owen
 Widows for Peace and Democracy
 36 faroe road
  london w14  0ep
 fax/tel: 44 (0)207 603 9733
 cell phone: 07770 945  916

Top of the Page

Top of the Page

Summer Exhibition of The Arab Society at Imperial College

I am the president of Arabic Society at Imperial College, London, and have been looking for organisations that are based on Arabs, their culture, life and achievements. I came across your website and my attention was grabbed by the contents.

The Imperial College Union Arabic Society is planning to hold an exhibition in the summer 2006 in which the works of talented Arab professionals and students may be showcased in order to celebrate their achievements and encourage other Arabs to follow their talents in various fields such as art, music, science and engineering. The aim is to celebrate the works of Arabs from both the past and present. 
 
We are currently looking for organisations and individuals to invite as participants in the exhibition and to present either their own work or the work of Arabs in the rich history of our civilisation. I would be grateful if you let me know whether you are in a position to contribute and participate in this exhibition in any way. Perhaps you know very successful Arab doctors, dentists, pharmacists or scientists whom you feel would be able to present their achievements at the exhibition. Any contributing/ participating organisations will be acknowledged in all our advertisement material. The exhibition will be open to students from a range of London Universities and possibly their non-student friends and guests.

I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Yours faithfully

Khadijeh Mohri
President - Arabic Society
www.union.ic.ac.uk/osc/arabsoc

The next IDF presentation is this week, Wed 15, BUT this week it will take place in the **Civic Design lecture theatre** (number 67 on the Precinct Map), which is right next to the philosophy department. All presentations commence at 3:30pm Our speaker is Georgia Xekalaki (SACE, University of Liverpool).

"Women's Studies in Egyptology: Egyptian Royal Women and Diplomatic Activity"

From the 14th century B.C., archives from Egypt (Amarna) and abroad (Bogazköy, Turkey) present evidence of royal women’s involvement in Egypt’s foreign policy in two ways. First, Egyptian royal ladies exchange letters with their contemporary foreign leaders. Secondly, foreign princesses marry Pharaohs as an alliance between their countries. The concept of “diplomatic marriage” and the position of these ladies in it, indicate the status of their country of origin,towards Egypt. 

This paper aims to establish the factors, which allowed Egyptian royal women to participate in diplomatic correspondence. The role played by the women in the court provides evidence that this right was largely based on the titles the ladies’ bore, like - Great King’s Wife or King's Mother. The second section of the paper focuses on the Egypto- Hittite correspondence that concentrated on a diplomatic marriage between the Pharaoh Ramesses II and a Hittite princess. Given the importance of the Great King's Wife title as indicated above, the Hittites pressurised the Egyptians to establish this princess as the Great King's Wife in Egypt.

See you all there,
John Spencer
IFY Program Developer
Director, Interdisciplinary Forum
<www.liv.ac.uk/idf>
Department of Philosophy
University of Liverpool
44(0)-151-794-1488

PS All inquires to idf@liv.ac.uk. please do not reply to me. thanks.

From: "Seminar of Arabian Studies" <seminar.arab@durham.ac.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 2:55 PM
Subject: ***Seminar for Arabian Studies 2006***

Dear Colleague,

The 2005 Seminar was a great success and we are very pleased to announce that the 2006 Seminar will again be held at the British Museum. Details of the Seminar will be posted on the website www.arabianseminar.org.uk and further details will be sent out in April to all on this mailing list.

If you wish to give a paper this year please send a 200-word abstract
before the 15th of February 2006 for consideration. The abstract must set out what the paper intends to cover, the approach it will take and indicate the significance of the topic. Due to the limited time available, and the increasing number of abstracts we receive there is no guarantee that all abstracts will be accepted.

All abstracts received by the February deadline will be considered by the
Steering Committee in early March and will be selected on the basis of
quality, content, and importance of the topic. As in previous years we can normally only accept one paper from any given project.

This year accommodation for Seminar participants will again be in Aston
College UCL Student Halls of Residence. The accommodation in Aston College is basic but it is extremely good value for money in central London. Those wishing to stay there should note that we now have much less flexibility with accommodation and need to confirm the number of rooms by May 25th. Those wishing to book accommodation must therefore make a firm commitment as soon as possible, giving details of which nights they wish to stay.

The committee is very keen to widen participation at the Seminar, in particular to students, and we would be grateful if you would display the attached poster in your institution.

Images of last year's Seminar can be found at www.arabianseminar.org.uk/2005gallery.html.

If you know of anyone who would like to be added to the Seminar mailing
list please ask them to email or write to us and we will be happy to oblige.

Those who require an official invitation to the Seminar for visa or other reasons should let us know by April.

We will be contacting you again in April with further details. We very much hope that you will be able to join us at the 
British Museum and look forward to seeing you there.

Yours sincerely,

The Steering Committee
Derek Kennet (Chair), Ardle Mac Mahon (Secretary), Andrew Thompson
(Treasurer),
St John Simpson (Chief Editor), Robert Carter (Editor), Mark Beech, Nadia
Durrani, Robert Hoyland, Michael Macdonald, Venetia Porter, Lloyd Weeks.


**Seminar at The British Museum**
**Thursday 27th - Saturday 29th July 2006**
www.arabianseminar.org.uk

Seminar for Arabian Studies,
The British Museum,
c/o Asia Department,
Great Russell Street,
London,
WC1B 3DG,
England.
Tel: 0208-9853561
e-mail: seminar.arab@durham.ac.uk

My new play, It Happened In A Time Of Curfew  was especially commissioned by T Whittaker for this event.  It is based on true stories from the intifada told with feeling and humour.  It's a moving and thought provoking journey into the day-to-day lives of Palestinians and the soldiers who place them under siege.

a 40 minute play by Razanne Carmey
(Previous reviews:  "Funny, intelligent, go see it" Heart 106.2 - "Most watchable, Carmey keeps us guessing" Time Out - "This is edge of your seat stuff" Theatre Review -  "Razanne Carmey has become the foremost Palestinian playwright writing in English today" Paul Eisen DYR)

Starring: Nathan Rimell (Royal Shakespeare Company) Callum Walker, Llewellyn St David (Film: A Place to Stay and Ruffian By Joe Orton) Noeleen Comisky, Stevie Harris (BBC, ITV).
Directed by Khalil Heresh

The play will be followed by a Q&A session with Razanne Carmey and multi award-winning internationally famous  musician Gilad Atzmon  ... followed by a Jazz concert till midnight.

This is part of the week long 'Marxism 2005' featuring Harold Pinter, Tariq Ali and many more which you can find out more about at http://www.swp.org.uk/marxism/

At 8:30 Sunday 10th July 2005
Jeffery Hall, Institute of Education, Bedford Way, WC1 Directions and MAP below.
Tickets:  You can get evening tickets for £10/£5unwaged
Ring 020 7538 2707 or email info@marxism2005.net

Introduction to Islamic Art

When: Tuesday 22 February; and 1, 8 March; 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Where: Carlton Club, 69 St. James's Street; (Nearest tube: Green Park)
(Alert! The Carlton Club is a distinguished men's club with a strict dress code. Men-jacket and tie, women dress or 
tailored trousers, no jeans, no flip-flops, no cell-phones, no take-away drinks or food. Offenders will not be admitted. 
We are at risk of losing this delightful venue because of past offences. )
Cost: £80 

This short (3 half days) course will provide an introduction to arts of the Middle East during the Golden Age. We will look in particular at the gilded and enamelled glass, metalwork and ceramics in their cultural and historical perspective and how these arts inspired the workshops of Venice and the courts of Renaissance Europe. We are very lucky to have Rachel Ward as our lecturer for this series. She was the curator of the Arab and Turkish Islamic material at the British Museum until 2000 and is currently Director of the Royal Asiatic Society and lectures on Islamic Art and Archaeology at SOAS. We will have three lectures at the Carlton Club followed by a visit to the British Museum on 8 March. Limit 25 

Registration info: call Mouna Smith 07789 006155, or email mideast@kcwc.org.uk

Also, be sure not to miss: 


Turks: Culturama of Ottoman Artefacts and Objects; From AD 600 - 1600 

When: open till 12 April 2005
Where: The Royal Academy of Art, Piccadilly (Nearest tube: Green Park)

Taking visitors on an extraordinary journey, this is the first ever exhibition to explore the development of Turkic cultures, as they forged their way westwards across the eastern borders of Central Asia to the Balkans of Eastern Europe. This spectacular exhibition will be devoted to the artistic and cultural riches of the Turkish-speaking people. 
Loaned principally from the celebrated collections of the Topkapi Palace Museum and the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art of Istanbul. 350 objects will be displayed including paintings, textiles, carpets, sculptures, book illustration, calligraphy, woodwork, metalwork and ceramics. Many of the works have not been exhibited before outside of Turkey. 
The exhibition will comprise a wealth of materials stretching from the eastern borders of modern China to the Balkans in the west, examining the artistic achievement of regions controlled by the Turks.

at the Royal Albert Hall 28 June 2005 is performing in London's Royal Albert Hall In order to add his voice to the support of Children of the Middle East, Ragheb Alama will now be performing a concert at the Royal Albert Hall on behalf of the Melkonian Foundation and the Egyptian Association in Great Britain. Mortality rates of children under-five in many parts of the Middle East have deteriorated considerably in recent years due to poor water supply, lack of sanitation, an inadequate health infrastructure and deepening poverty. It is estimated that the on-going support that the Melkonian Foundation provides is helping over 50,000 children to overcome conditions of appalling hardship. To book, please go to www.royalalberthall.com or call the box office on 020 7589 8212 But hurry! Tickets are being sold FAST!

We would urge everyone to support this Festival which it is going from strength to strength.  It started as partnership called Nadey Al-Bluecoat between the Liverpool Yemeni Arabic Club and the Bluecoat Arts Centre. It is normally a month long of activities covering a variety of Cultural events, arts, singing, traditional and moderns dancing, heritage, architecture and music. It is the largest Arabic Arts Festival in the UK and probably in Europe.

Please cirulate this Email to all your friends and if they are interested they may contact the the Bluecoat at the email address below and be placed on the Bluecoat/Festival Database for future correspondence.

Razak1mossa@aol.com
arabicarts@bluecoatartscentre.com

Top of the Page

Poetry Evening
 أمســـية شــعرية : يستضيف المنتدى الشاعر العراقي عبدالكريم كاصد: في امسية شعرية تقدمه الشاعرة وفاء عبدالرزاق 

 يوم الخميس المصادف 27 تموز 2006  الساعة 7 مساءً

 على قاعة  المركز البولوني The Polish Centre, Malinowa Room, 2^nd Floor, 238-246 King Street , London W6 0RF, 
اقرب محطة انفاق:       Ravenscourt Park   أو  Hammersmith
الباصات:    266, 27, 190, 267, 290, 391, H91, 72, 220, 9, 295, 11, 10

الدعوة عامة - يرجى عدم اصطحاب الأطفال