BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18366828 SEQUENCE:18377406 CREATED:20070222T011800Z DESCRIPTION:UNPRECEDENTED BAY AREA DEBATE ON THE ISRAEL LOBBY:\n\nAfter a considerable effort, this first of its kind public debate on the role and power of the Pro Israel Lobby in influencing U.S. foreign policy will be coming to the University of San Francisco at the McLaren Conference Center on Thursday, February 22, at 7:00pm.\n\nIf you are anywhere in or near the San Francisco Bay Area you won't want to miss it!\n\n(Such a debate - on the "no" side, denying the power and influence of the Israel lobby and its constituent organizations such as, e.g., AIPAC, the ADL and the JCRCs - has been EVADED by such people as Noam Chomsky of MIT, Joel Beinin of Stanford, and Mitchell Plitnick of JVP, and other such figures. But, people like Ralph Nader, Robert Fisk, Alexander Cockburn of CounterPunch, and other progressive icons not afraid of the lobby have attested to its power.)\n \n\nDEBATE: "Is the Pro-Israel lobby a dominant factor in determining US Middle East policy?"\n\n\nYES side:\n \nDR. HATEM BAZIAN is a Palestinian-American senior lecturer in the Departments of Near Eastern and Ethnic Studies, and an adjunct professor of law at Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, as well as a longtime progressive activist, a frequent radio & television consultant-commentator, an international public speaker in high demand on Middle East, Arab and Muslim issues, and a former undergraduate & graduate student leader at SFSU and UC Berkeley. \n\nJEFFREY BLANKFORT, an anti-Zionist Jewish-American, a veteran photojournalist who has covered the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the Vietnam anti-war movement, the anti-apartheid movement, various wars in Lebanon, the Iraq anti-war movement, was former editor of the Middle East Labor Bulletin, and also hosts public affairs programs, Connecting the Dots on KPOO in San Francisco and Takes on the World, on KZYX, the public radio station for Mendocino County, and a former host on KPFA in Berkeley. Blankfort is a long time observer of the Israel-Palestine conflict and an expert on the pro-Israel lobby. \n\n\nNO side:\n \nSTEVE NIVA, a professor at Evergreen College, has written\nfor CounterPunch, has taught at Beir Zeit. \n\nSTEPHEN ZUNES is a professor of Politics at the University of San Francisco and the Middle East editor for Foreign Policy in Focus." \n\n\nModerator: KHALIL BENDIB is a Berkeley-based, sculptor, artist, political cartoonist and commentator as well as a producer and host of KPFA-94.1 FM radio's weekly show Voices of the Middle East and North Africa. \n\n\nUniversity of San Francisco \nMcLaren Conference Center (MC), Rm 250 \n(near the center of the main campus)\n2130 Fulton Street\nSan Francisco\n\nFebruary 22, 2007\n\n7:00pm \n\nAdmission $20 \n\nSponsors: Global Information Services and Alternate Focus \n\nFor any further information contact Fred Shepherd at 415-459-8738 or altencon@aol.com\n\nFor those of you out of the area or who cannot attend the USF event, a DVD/VCR video will be made of the debate and available from its sponsor, Global Information Services, 336 Bon Air Center, Suite 441, Greenbrae, CA 94904, or email altencon@aol.com .\n\n\nFor USF campus map (ref. MC):\nhttp://www.usfca.edu/online/gen_info/map_c.html\n\n\nTickets at leading Bay Area bookstores or at the door (advance purchase will assure you a seat). Due to extraordinary interest, advance ticketing is recommended.\n\nSan Francisco: \n\nCity Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Ave., San Francisco, CA 94133 (415) 362-8193 \n\nModern Times Bookstore, 888 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 282-9246 \n\n\nBerkeley: \n\nBlack Oak Books, 1491 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709 (510-486-0698) \n\n\nOakland: \n\nWalden Pond Bookstore, 3316 Grand Ave., Oakland, CA 94610 (510) 832-4438 \n\n\nMarin County: \n\nBook Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Boulevard, Corte Madera, CA 94925 (415)927-0960 \n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/02/21/18366828.php SUMMARY:DEBATE!: "Is the Pro-Israel lobby a dominant factor determining U.S. Middle East policy?" LOCATION:University of San Francisco\nMcLaren Conference Center (MC), Rm 250 \n(near the center of the main campus, \nwest of Masonic Ave and east of Parker Ave, \nsouth of Golden Gate Ave and north of Fulton St., \nnear Kittredge Ter. or Clayton St.)\n2130 Fulton Street\nSan Francisco URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/02/21/18366828.php DTSTART:20070223T030000Z DTEND:20070223T050000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR