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October 29, 2004/Cheshvan 14 5765, Vol. 57, No. 9
UCLA launches Israel program
TOM TUGEND
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
LOS ANGELES - Israel advocates have often complained of a pro-Arab tilt in Middle East programs at American universities, but now academics at a university in California are doing something about it.
The International Institute at the University of California Los Angeles - prodded by a concerned political scientist - is launching an Israel studies program, which its creators hope will be "the most comprehensive and systematic" program for the study of the Jewish state in America.
While Israel is often the focus of academic scrutiny, there has been no teaching, research and community program at an American university focusing solely on the state in all its multiple facets.
Until now.
Already in place are two undergraduate courses, visits by prominent Israeli and American scholars, and a community lecture program. In the works is a major international conference on Israeli democracy.
By 2007, Israel studies expects to have assembled an interdisciplinary faculty and to have created a prestigious academic chair and library - and hopes to be poised to offer an undergraduate degree.
The initiative, drive and seed money for the Israel studies program has come from Sharon Baradaran, an Iranian Jew living in Los Angeles, and herself holder of a doctorate and a university teacher in political science.
"It started more than two years ago, after the Israeli-Palestinian clashes in Jenin, when the media reported a lot of false and slanderous information about the behavior of the Israeli army," Baradaran said in a phone interview.
For information on programs or financial support for the Israel Studies program, contact Steve Gamer, International Institute, 11343 Bunche Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif. 90095-1487. Call (310) 206-8578 or e-mail sgamer@international.ucla.edu.
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