At the IASP 10th Anniversary Reception Ambassador's Residence November 7, 2001 Good evening. Sheila and I want to welcome all of you into our home. We are particularly honored to have Ministers Roni Milo and Salah Tarif and members of the Knesset, Mayors and the President of Haifa University. But actually most important the graduates of this program: The Israeli-Arab Scholarship Program. You know far better than I, the graduates and the families, how important this program has been and how important it will continue to be. Education is clearly the key to not only what's happening today, but also to a better future. We are very proud that the United States Congress was wise enough ten years ago to dedicate a small amount of money into an endowment which allows this program to live well into the future. We are also pressing very hard to increase the amount of money that will be available for this program, and we are hopeful that the Congress will agree in the near future. Just yesterday Sheila and I had an opportunity to travel to the North and we met with people from the follow-up committee just outside Nazareth, and then with the business community in Nazareth and I gave a speech, and we went to visit a farm. We saw first-hand some of the challenges in the Israeli- Arab community. Quite clearly, there is much to do, and quite clearly, the Government of Israel needs to find a way not only to commit to equality for all of its citizens, but actually to produce that equality. We say this as a friend of Israel. As the American Ambassador, this is an area of internal Israeli affairs in which we don't interfere. We interfere in other things, but this one we don't. But as a friend of Israel and also as a representative of a country whose own population has been going through and experiencing many of the same challenges as the Israeli Arab community, we think that our own experience gives us a platform with which to deal with the Israeli Government on this issue and hopefully to pass along some good advice on budgetary support, on translating words into action, on providing better educational opportunities, providing jobs, and providing a better hope for the future, for the children of the community. In many ways the program that the United States has administered and which many of you have benefited from, and which tonight we are celebrating the tenth anniversary, is an extension of what we hope would be a focus in the future on the educational system throughout the Israeli Arab community, so that the demand for this program will grow substantially, and that both I and my successors can argue successfully in Washington to increase the size of this program and therefore increase its reach. I was asking many of you as you came in tonight, then I also read the brochure about what you did when you were in the United States and what you are doing now, and it is quite clear that you are an extraordinary group of people. You are individuals who know what it is that you have wanted, you knew what it was that you wanted from the experience in educational institutions in the United States, and then you went ahead and did it. That alone is going to be a wonderful model for the communities to which you have now returned, because it will send a message to your younger brothers and sisters, to your children, to your neighbors, that you can achieve anything you want. Sometimes it takes a little longer, sometimes the obstacles are a little higher, but you have done it. I really want to congratulate you, the graduates of this program, and the alumni of this program for all of your accomplishments. Normally at this time I tell a joke, but this is a very serious subject. So, I have a series of jokes, but I think I am not going to tell them tonight. But if I had a good joke I would tell it now and you would all laugh, and we would have a good time. But seriously, Sheila and I are very proud to host this event in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of this program, again to congratulate you, to wish you well in your communities, and spread the word. Because if we can get more money, we will have more opportunities and we will really be able to celebrate the 15th and 20th anniversary in real style. So, thank you very much. I have the privilege of introducing the next speaker, Dr. Michael Karayanni, who is a researcher at the Hebrew University, a graduate of George Washington University, and I understand was the first student scholarship recipient. So here is a gentleman who has something to say about the program in its entirety. Dr. Karayanni (applause)
|