YSU Theme at symposium to be Judaism, Holocaust

The keynote speaker for the event is the top negotiator for the United States in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
YOUNGSTOWN -- "Israel and the Pursuit of Peace" will be the theme of the third annual Judaic/Holocaust Studies symposium Tuesday at Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center, beginning at 8 a.m.
"The symposium will offer insight into the continuing conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors," said event organizer Dr. Saul Friedman, a professor of history and chairman of the Judaic/Holocaust Studies program at YSU.
This year's keynote speaker is the top negotiator for the United States in the Mideast conflict, Aaron Miller, who will discuss the current state of negotiations.
Other speakers: "As in the past, a major element of this symposium will be acknowledgment of the importance of the Holocaust and its link to our present world," Friedman said.
To that end, David Stoliar, the lone survivor of 769 Romanian Jews aboard a ship that sank, the SS Struma, will discuss his experience.
"The SS Struma," Friedman said, "was a decrepit freighter that was prevented from reaching Palestine in February of 1942 because of British mandatory policies. Mr. Stoliar is a link to that period of international indifference."
The symposium will also include speaker Uri Huppert, a civil rights attorney, who will look at legal and religious claims to Jerusalem. Huppert, who has lived in Jerusalem since he fled Nazi-dominated Poland 60 years ago, has been a research fellow and lecturer at the American Jewish Archives, the Lemnitzer NATO Center, and Marshall School of Law.
Andrea Levin, executive director of the Committee for Accuracy in the Middle East Reporting in America and Professor Zev Garber of Los Angeles Valley College will lead a panel discussion on education, the press and propaganda.
Also in a panel discussion, Professor Daniel Pipes, a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania and editor of the Middle East Quarterly, and Jonathan Kessler, editor of Middle East Insights, will offer views of the continuing strife in the region.
Humanitarian award: At the symposium, the Janusz Korczak Humanitarian Award from the National Association of Holocaust Educators will be presented to Rose Kaplowitz of Cleveland, who has devoted the past 30 years to telling her story of survival and being liberated from a Nazi concentration camp in 1945.
A luncheon buffet will be served from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. Reservations should be made with Friedman by Friday.
The cost is $10 for nonstudents, $6 for students, and $6 for a kosher lunch. Call Friedman at (330) 742-3452.