How to Break a Middle East Stalemate

The following is a portion of an Op-Ed by Dennis Ross published in The Washington Post on January 6, 2012 about his views of how to restart the Middle East peace process. Mr. Ross is a Counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and previously served as a special assistant to President Obama and as Senior Director on the National Security Council from July 2009 to December 2011. To read the full Op-Ed, click on the title above.

Dan Meridor, one of Israel's four deputy prime ministers, said to me years ago that "the peace process is like riding a bicycle: When you stop pedaling, you fall off." And currently, the Israelis and Palestinians have stopped pedaling.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is convinced that this Israeli government cannot make a peace deal — or at least one he can live with — so he imposes conditions on negotiations. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees these conditions as harsh and unprecedented, and doesn't want to pay a steep political price just to enter talks.

The Obama administration and the other members of the Quartet — the Middle East mediating group that also includes envoys from the European Union, Russia and the United Nations — want to resume direct talks and this past week held a preparatory meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Amman, Jordan. There may be more such meetings, and that is good, because ultimately there will be no peace without negotiations.

But there should also be no illusions about the prospects of a breakthrough any time soon. The psychological gaps between the parties make it hard to resolve their differences and have bedeviled all the work for peace talks over the past few years.

I have been intimately involved in peacemaking efforts over the past 20 years under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Obama, and I know that Abbas and Netanyahu carry the weight of their peoples' history and mythology, and face enormous political constraints. But those difficulties cannot be a reason to despair and accept a stalemate, particularly when those who reject peace will exploit any impasse to challenge the very idea of a two-state outcome.

While there may be no early breakthrough on holding negotiations, it is possible to overcome the stalemate.

Israel: PA Reviving Rejected Ideas in New Talks

The following is a portion of an article by Herb Keinon published in The Jerusalem Post on January 11, 2012 about the recent negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders that have taken place in Jordan. To read the full interview, click on the title above.

So far the Palestinians are only bringing "recycled positions" to the negotiating table in Amman, Israeli sources said Tuesday.

"Up until now – and we hope this changes – what the Palestinians have put on the table has not been as serious as it could have been," one source said, commenting on the second round of direct Jordanian- sponsored Israeli- Palestinian talks held in Amman on Monday.

The Palestinian negotiators gave Israel their proposals for security and borders at their first meeting last week, which were believed to include a call for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, with a 1.9 percent land swap.

The Israeli side has presented a 21-point document outlining all the areas upon which there will need to be agreement for an accord to be signed. According to the Israeli side, this document can serve as a foundation for a framework agreement.

The sources said Israel wanted to move forward on the September format laid out by the Quartet that gives the sides three months to put comprehensive security and border proposals on the table. The sources rejected the Palestinian interpretation that the clock had already started ticking, and that these proposals needed to be submitted by January 26.

"We are making efforts for the talks to succeed," one source said, without elaborating. He added that Israel would like to expand the talks, and that further discussions were scheduled "in the coming days."

Sharansky: Obama's New Chief-of-Staff 'Staunch Israel Supporter'

The following is a portion of an article by Aviel Magnezi published at ynetnews.com on January 11, 2012 about the recent appointment of Jacob Lew, an Orthodox Jew, as President Obama's new Chief of Staff. To read the full article, click on the title above.

"Jacob Lew is an Orthodox Jew who treats his religion very seriously. It is important for him that his children are raised as Jews," Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said of the new White House chief of staff.

Sharansky was still a Prisoner of Zion in the former Soviet Union when he first heard of Lew, who had just received his bachelor's degree from Harvard. "He worked as a senior policy adviser to House Speaker Tip O'Neill and was one of the most influential people in Washington, and every negotiation between the White House and Congress passed through him," Sharansky recalled.

"My wife would travel to Washington to promote the struggle for my release, and he and the current director of the Rothschild Foundation in Jerusalem were the ones who fought for us in Congress," he said.

The Jewish Agency chief said that following his release he would organize the activities in support of Soviet Jews from Lew's home. "The largest demonstration in the history of the struggle, which brought some 250,000 Jews to Washington, was organized from his home," Sharansky said. "His office was in charge of all the logistics ahead of the rally."

Shalit Thanks Sarkozy For Release Efforts

The following is a portion of an article by Boaz Fyler published at ynetnews.com on January 11, 2012 about a recent meeting between Gilad Shalit and the French Ambassador to Israel. To read the full article, click on the title above.

Gilad Shalit and his father Noam met with French Ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. The two handed the envoy a letter to be delivered to French President Nicolas Sarkozy in which Shalit thanks the president for "his endless efforts in bringing about" Gilad's release.

Talking to Bigot, Shalit explained he was going through a rehabilitation process. "I am undergoing all the medical procedures. I had an operation, and am doing physical therapy, working with my fingers."

Shalit thanked Sarkozy and the French people for the efforts they made along the years to speed up his release and the support they gave him and his family.

"I want to thank you with all my heart for the unlimited support you have given me and your ongoing efforts to bring about my release," the letter stated.

"Mr President, I'm aware of your great contribution to my release. I shall be forever grateful for that extraordinary, firm and uncompromising commitment," Shalit wrote.

Shalit noted he was aware of Sarkozy's determination to free him since he came into office. "I know you assertively denounced the illegality of my being held captive and that you stressed it was hurting a French-Israeli citizen, but above all – a human being.

The 'Iranian Schindler' Who Saved Jews from the Nazis

The following is a portion of an article by Brian Wheeler published by BBC News on December 20, 2011 about an Iranian diplomat who helped thousands of Iranian Jews flee from the Nazis. To read the full article, click on the title above.

In his book In the Lion's Shadow, author Fariborz Mokhtari paints a picture of a bachelor and bon viveur who suddenly found himself head of Iran's legation house, or diplomatic mission, at the start of World War II.

Although officially neutral, Iran was keen to maintain its strong trading relationship with Germany. This arrangement suited Hitler. The Nazi propaganda machine declared Iranians an Aryan nation and racially akin to the Germans.

Iranian Jews in Paris still faced harassment and persecution and were often identified to the authorities by informers.

In some cases, the Gestapo was alerted when newborn Jewish boys were circumcised at the hospital. Their terrified mothers were ordered to report to the Office of Jewish Affairs to be issued with the yellow patches Jews were forced to wear on their clothes and to have their documents stamped with their racial identity.

But Sardari used his influence and German contacts to gain exemptions from Nazi race laws for more than 2,000 Iranian Jews, and possibly others, arguing that they did not have blood ties to European Jewry. He was also able to help many Iranians, including members of Jewish community, return to Tehran by issuing them with the new-style Iranian passports they needed to travel across Europe.

A change of regime in Iran, in 1925, had led to the introduction of a new passport and identity card. Many Iranians living in Europe did not have this document, while others, who had married non-Iranians, had not bothered to get Iranian passports for their spouses or children.

When Britain and Russia invaded Iran in September 1941, Sardari's humanitarian task become more perilous.

Iran signed a treaty with the Allies and Sardari was ordered by Tehran to return home as soon as possible.

But despite being stripped of his diplomatic immunity and status, Sardari resolved to remain in France and carry on helping the Iranian Jews, at considerable risk to his own safety, using money from his inheritance to keep his office going.

New Nano Watermelon Hits Shelves

The following is a portion of an article by Viva Sarah Press published at Israel21c.org on January 10, 2012 about a new type of winter-harvested watermelon that was developed in Israel. To read the full article, click on the title above.

There's a new fruit on supermarket shelves in Israel. It's called the Nano Watermelon and it's exactly that: A smaller version of the country's favorite summer fruit.

The Nano is sweeter than the original, a slightly different color and no heavier than three kilograms (making it easier to carry home).

The new fruit is a joint venture by Hishtil Nurseries and Itay Gal, a farmer from Moshav Ein Yahav. It took them three years to perfect the winter watermelon.

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Social Action/Public Policy

Yes, There's Poverty In Plano

The following is a portion of an Op-Ed by Norman Roberts published in The Dallas Morning News on January 6, 2012 about the realities of poverty in Plano, Texas. To view the full Op-Ed, click on the title above.

Our mayor likes to say that Plano has the highest median income of any U.S. city with a population over 200,000. I wish he would stop. The factoid reinforces a false but persistent notion that we don't have poverty here. The truth is a lost job can move a Plano family from a lavish lifestyle to the poorhouse in a flash, just like anyplace else.

I count at least 27 food pantries in our city, mostly run or supported by churches, synagogues and mosques. There is no shortage of need. Minnie's Food Pantry, the one my parish supports, makes the news occasionally when its shelves go empty. It isn't unusual to see someone drive up to Minnie's in a Cadillac Escalade to pick up the family's food for the week. The salary that was to have paid for the car is gone, and the family may be on the verge of losing its home.

Samaritan Inn, the one shelter in the county that can accommodate families, turns away 50 or so people every week, about a third of them children, many from Plano.

The Plano school district sends a bus to McKinney every morning to collect children enrolled in our schools but living at Samaritan Inn. Just because they are in a homeless shelter doesn't mean they shouldn't be in school, or necessarily have to change schools right away.

Over 20 percent of schoolchildren in the district qualify for free or discounted breakfast, lunch and snack programs. That means their families have incomes no more than 185 percent of the federal poverty level. They tell me Mondays and Fridays are the days with highest attendance because the schools also have a backpack program so the kids don't go hungry over the weekend. If they don't bring in the empty backpack on Monday, they can't expect the school to fill it Friday.

The Next Immigration Challenge

The following is a portion of an Op-Ed by Dowell Myers published in The New York Times on January 11, 2012 about the dramatic reduction in undocumented immigration and what he views as the next immigration challenge. Mr. Myers is a professor in the Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. To read the entire Op-Ed, click on the title above.

The immigration crisis that has roiled American politics for decades has faded into history. Illegal immigration is shrinking to a trickle, if that, and will likely never return to the peak levels of 2000. Just as important, immigrants who arrived in the 1990s and settled here are assimilating in remarkable and unexpected ways.

Taken together, these developments, and the demographic future they foreshadow, require bold changes in our approach to both legal and illegal immigration. Put simply, we must shift from an immigration policy, with its emphasis on keeping newcomers out, to an immigrant policy, with an emphasis on encouraging migrants and their children to integrate into our social fabric. "Show me your papers" should be replaced with "Welcome to English class."

Restrictionists, including those driving much of the debate on the Republican primary trail, still talk as if nothing has changed. But the numbers are stark: the total number of immigrants, legal and illegal, arriving in the 2000s grew at half the rate of the 1990s, according to the Census Bureau.

The most startling evidence of the falloff is the effective disappearance of illegal border crossers from Mexico, with some experts estimating the net number of new Mexicans settling in the United States at zero. The size of the illegal-immigrant population peaked in 2007, with about 58 percent of it of Mexican origin, according to the Pew Hispanic Center; since 2008, that population has shrunk by roughly 200,000 a year. Illegal immigrants from Asia and other parts of the globe have similarly dwindled in numbers.

This new equilibrium is here to stay, in large part because Mexico's birthrate is plunging. In 1970 a Mexican woman, on average, gave birth to 6.8 babies, and when they entered their 20s, millions journeyed north for work. Today the country's birthrate — at 2.1 — is approaching that of the United States. That portends a shrinking pool of young adults to meet Mexico's future labor needs, and less competition for jobs at home.

Slower Growth In Health Spending

The following is a portion of a New York Times Editorial published on January 11, 2012 about the recent slowdown in the growth rate of health care costs in the United States. To read the entire Editorial, click on the title above.

Health care spending in the United States increased at the slowest rate in half a century in 2009 and 2010, essentially keeping pace with the growth of the economy, according to the latest federal data.

That looks like good news after decades of soaring health care spending that outpaced economic growth. The hitch: the main factor was the recession that left millions of Americans unemployed, uninsured, short of income, and unable or unwilling to spend money on health care.

Optimists hope that most of the decreased spending came about by eliminating care that was not really medically necessary. Pessimists fear that many low-income people are forgoing care they need, increasing the likelihood that they will eventually become sicker and require costly hospitalization. They may both be right.

The data show that total health care spending by public and private sources, including households, rose by 3.8 percent in 2009 and 3.9 percent in 2010. Spending slowed for hospital care, physician services, nursing homes, home care and especially prescription drugs, as consumers increasingly chose cheaper generics.

Growth in spending by both Medicare and Medicaid actually slowed in 2010 compared with 2009, even though the federal government ramped up its share of the nation's total health care spending while private businesses reduced their share.

Long-Term Care Conundrum

The following is an Op-Ed by Jill Schlesinger published by The Baltimore Sun on January 11, 2012 about the problem that many elderly people face in paying for long-term health care. Ms. Schlesinger is the Editor-At-Large for www.cbsmoneywatch.com. To read the entire Op-Ed, click on the title above.

When my mother turned 65, all she wanted was a shiny, new long-term care insurance policy. As an obliging daughter, I found the perfect fit!

Mom was on to something. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 70 percent of people over age 65 will require some type of long-term care (LTC) during their lifetime, and more than 40 percent will need care in a nursing home. In 2008, 21 million people had a condition that required personal care assistance, and that number is expected to rise as the population ages.

If those odds don't scare you, maybe the dollars will. In 2010, the approximate cost of nursing home care was over $83,000 per year for a private room, $75,000 for a semiprivate room and $40,000 per year for care in an assisted living facility (for a one-bedroom unit), while home health aides charged $21 per hour. Prices vary depending on the state, but you get the idea - this is big money.

And let's be clear: This kind of care is largely NOT covered by Medicare, which only addresses short-term skilled services or rehabilitative care. The government will step in (via Medicaid) only if you deplete most of your assets -- not something I advocate. Unfortunately, the stories of people blowing through their hard-earned retirement accounts are not fiction -- one of the swiftest ways to deplete an asset base is to get sick at the wrong time. That's probably why Medicaid currently accounts for 40 percent of all spending on long-term care.

Ideally, everyone would be able to find affordable LTC coverage, but it's just not an option for many. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 originally had a component for LTC, which would have provided basic coverage (about $27,000 per year) for an annual premium of only $1,500. Sadly, the plan was suspended because a bean counter realized that it might cost a lot more than originally anticipated.

That leaves most people who own a house and have saved a chunk of money (let's say a total net worthof over $300,000) with a rotten dilemma: either pay for private long-term care insurance, which is mighty expensive, or roll the dice and hope that you don't need care.

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The Iran Report

September 2007, the JCRC began a special section entitled “The Iran Report”.  Due to the looming serious nature of Iran and its politics within the global world, JCRCs across the country are providing community leaders with updated materials and articles concerning Iran, which will include political matters, divestment information, etc.  Both the United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) have issued joint statements indicating that the subject of Iran should be on the top of the agenda for local Jewish communities. 

The JCRC will continue to bring the community updates on the situation with Iran and its implications throughout the Middle East and the world.

JCPA Resolution On Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program

Adopted by the Board of Directors of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) on March 27, 2007.

The Real Iranian Threat in the Gulf

Below is a portion of an Op-Ed by Michael Singh published by The Washington Institute for Near East Policy on January 3, 2012 about the potential Iranian threat in the Persian Gulf if they decide to retaliate for sanctions. Mr. Singh is the Managing Director of the The Washington Institute. To read the entire Op-Ed, click on the title above.

Iran's navy -- especially the naval arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards -- has invested in vessels and armaments that are well-suited to asymmetric warfare, rather than the sort of ship-to-ship conflict that Iran would surely lose. Thus, they have purchased, with Chinese and Russian help, increasingly sophisticated mines, midget submarines, mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, and a fleet of small, fast boats. In addition, they have reportedly sought to develop a naval special warfare, or frogman, capability.

Iran has also demonstrated a growing willingness to confront U.S. and allied forces in the area. The best known of these incidents occurred in March 2007, when fifteen British marines and sailors were taken captive by an entrepreneurial Revolutionary Guard commander. But other incidents abound. On many occasions, including at least one reported case this year, Iranian small boats have conducted mock "swarming" attacks on US carriers and warships. In each case, U.S. or allied commanders have shown restraint, which is inevitably interpreted as passivity by Iranian leaders, who then proceed to push the envelope further.

Rather than waiting for one of these gambits to succeed and force our hand in response, the U.S. should actively seek to discourage Iran from further testing of U.S. limits through a stronger deterrence effort. First, the U.S. should resume a more active program of military exercises and signaling activities in the Gulf, in order to demonstrate U.S. capabilities and make Iran reconsider its actions in the area. Second, the U.S. should signal our enduring commitment to the Gulf after our withdrawal from Iraq and continue to bolster the littoral, air, and missile defense capacity of our GCC allies and integrate their forces into the aforementioned exercises.

Finally, the U.S. should indicate clearly to Iran that we are prepared to use selective military force in response to further provocations such as those discussed above. Such limited force -- whether against Iran's navy in the late 1980s, or against the Revolutionary Guards' Qods Force in Iraq in recent years -- has proven effective in compelling Iran to draw back.

It is frequently observed that the consequences of military action are unpredictable, and rightly so; it should only ever be used with caution and deliberation. However, excessive risk aversion that results in a failure of deterrence and feeds Iran's sense of impunity may, paradoxically, be just as risky. The most prudent course is neither belligerence nor passivity, but a robust posture that makes Tehran think twice.

Don't Let Iran Provoke An Attack

Below is a portion of a Dallas Morning News Editorial published on January 9, 2012 about their view that sanctions should be continued but not military confrontation. To read the entire Editorial, click on the title above.

Iran's leadership is boosting the volume of threats as the international community rallies around an extremely tough new set of economic sanctions. The greater the effect of those sanctions, designed to make Iran open its nuclear facilities to inspection, the louder Iran howls.

And that's good. Iran's growing sense of isolation is becoming obvious to all. The Iranian currency is plummeting in value. Imported goods are growing scarce. Foreign banks are significantly tightening procedures to block Iran from repatriating funds from overseas accounts, particularly oil revenue.

When Britain tightened the financial vise in November, Iranian police stepped aside to let protesters storm and ransack the British Embassy in Tehran . Iran howled again last week as the aircraft carrier USS Stennis ended a deployment in the Persian Gulf and departed for the Arabian Sea. A top Iranian military commander threatened unspecified retaliation if the Stennis returned to the Strait of Hormuz.

Washington's response was a correctly muted reiteration of long-standing policy: The strait is an international waterway through which 35 percent of the world's seaborne oil is transported, and no nation has a right to restrict shipping through it.

As luck would have it, the Stennis quickly came upon an Iranian fishing vessel pirated by Somalis who had held the 15-member crew captive for several weeks. Sailors from the Stennis carrier group rescued the hostages, who later were repatriated. The incident pushed Iran into the embarrassing position of praising the very U.S. Navy it had just threatened.

It is clear from other recent Iranian actions — the embassy sacking, a cruise missile test, implicit threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, and military exercises in the Persian Gulf and near the Iranian-Afghan border — that Tehran is trying to goad the United States and other Western nations into some sort of military confrontation.

Washington mustn't take the bait. Tehran knows there is no quicker way to erode international support for sanctions — whose very basis is to avert the use of force — than to escalate tensions to the point of direct military confrontation with the United States. China, which is heavily dependent on Iranian oil, wouldn't stand for it. Russia probably would balk, and European unity would falter.

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The Public Education Initiative (PEI)

Launched in 2009 as a joint project of the JCRC of Greater Dallas and the Institute for Curriculum Services: National Resource Center for Accurate Jewish Content in Schools (ICS), and through a designated grant, the Public Education Initiative (PEI) works with Jewish communities and educational professionals in Dallas and throughout the state of Texas to:

1) Promote and provide accurate information about Jews, Judaism, and Israel in curriculum materials (including textbooks) used in Texas classrooms;

2) Provide a better understanding and appreciation for Jewish contributions to history, culture, and world religions;

3) Develop networks of individuals to become advocates for local Texas public schools; and

4) Provide resources, consultation, and/or workshops for teachers and curriculum writers that will help them develop interesting and accurate classroom lessons and materials for standards that reference or relate to Jews, Judaism, and Israel. PEI also works with state and local officials to promote accurate educational materials about Jews, Judaism, and Israel.  

Recent News

Website

In October 2011, PEI launched its official website: www.pei-jcrcdallas.org. The website can also be accessed by clicking the Public Education Initiative link at the JCRC of Greater Dallas website: www.jcrcdallas.org.

The PEI website features resources and workshops for Jewish community groups, individuals, and education professionals throughout Texas. You are invited to visit the PEI site and read about the initiative's objectives, review and download PEI-ICS resources, and/or schedule a workshop for your organization.

PEI Becomes a TeachingTexas.org Partner

In just two short years, the Public Education Initiative (PEI) of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Dallas has gained state-wide recognition as a leader in providing accurate curricular information and resources about Jews, Judaism, and Israel to education professionals and Jewish community groups—including a December 2011 invitation to become a TeachingTexas.org partner. TeachingTexas.org is a "…collaborative project between the Texas State Historical Association, the University of North Texas Library's Portal to Texas History, and Texas Heritage Online" that provides diverse resources for teaching Texas social studies. Other partners include the Texas State Historical Association, Humanities Texas, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Portal to Texas History, University of North Texas, Texas General Land Office, The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, Texas Historical Commission, Texas Archive of the Moving Image, Star of the Republic Museum, Fondren Library-Rice University, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

PEI's educational Guides are now among the curriculum resource materials that can be accessed at the site. PEI is very honored to have been selected as a TeachingTexas.org partner.

For more information or to schedule workshops for your organization, visit the PEI website at www.pei-jcrcdallas.org or contact a PEI professional: June Penkar, Outreach Liaison (214.615.5233 or jpenkar@jfgd.org) or Pat Epstein, Education Liaison (512.906.1737/972.849.5001 or pepstein@jfgd.org). Pat Epstein is located in Austin, Texas and works with educational professionals throughout the state of Texas on behalf of PEI.

Crisis In Darfur

February 2012 will mark the ninth anniversary of the beginning of the violence in Darfur, Sudan. For nine years a government-backed militia known as Janjaweed (which in Arabic means, "evil men on horseback") has continued to engage in a systematic program of expulsion, rape and murderous violence in Darfur, Sudan. Millions of people now live in displacement camps lacking adequate food, water, shelter, healthcare, and sanitation. Attacks on civilians continue. As Jews, we have a particular moral responsibility to speak out and take action against genocide.  

The JCRC remains committed in its fight to end this battle and will continue to bring you facts and articles about this ongoing genocide. (For further information on Darfur, visit the JCRC web site “International” section at www.jcrcdallas.org.)

Sudan In Crisis

Explore the history, people and politics behind one of the world's bloodiest conflicts in this interactive web site by The Washington Post.  Click the title above to be connected to this site.

South Sudan – A Blueprint for a Food Secure Future

The following is a portion of a blog post by Raymond Offenheiser published at www.oxfam.org on January 10, 2012 that lays out a plan of action for eliminating hunger in the new country of South Sudan. Mr. Offenheiser is President of Oxfam America. To read the entire blog post, click on the title above.

As South Sudan emerges as a new nation, there may be no more pressing issue for its people, and perhaps for the stability of the nation as a whole, than the investments it makes in its agricultural sector and long term food security.

In recent years we have seen the impact of volatile food prices across the globe. In 2008 there were food riots in 38 nations, and the international community has yet to fully address the root causes of this food crisis. So the potential for shock effects in fragile economies like South Sudan are real.

South Sudan is however fortunate. It has abundant arable land, water resources, and large stocks of cattle and fisheries. The White Nile region is one of Africa's most fertile areas. So there is enormous potential and opportunity for South Sudan to achieve a high level of food security for its people. Yet while the struggle for independence has been achieved, the struggles to ensure peace and security and to overcome extreme poverty are still to be fought and won.

These twin challenges are daunting. 30 years of conflict has seriously compromised agricultural production. As many as 3 million people in South Sudan are at risk of food insecurity, according to the UN. Just 4 percent of arable land in South Sudan is cultivated. The production of livestock and fish is just a fraction of its potential.

The nation depends heavily on imported food stocks. Interstate trade and international exports are minimal. And South Sudan undertakes the task of building its agricultural sector with significant deficits in human and institutional capital, infrastructure, finance and technology.

So where to begin?

1. Create an enabling environment for investment
2. Build agricultural infrastructure
3. Prioritize small-scale and sustainable agriculture
4. Address conflict and insecurity

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JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL
Jewish Federation of Greater Dallas
7800 Northaven Rd., Dallas, TX 75230
(214) 615-5254
JCRCDallas@jfgd.org
www.jcrcdallas.org