At the annual general meeting in Göttingen on October 9 and 10, 2010, the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) will have a very special guest: Dr. Ahmad Tibi, Arabic member of the Knesset, is coming from Jerusalem specifically to take part in our panel discussion on "Peace for Israel and Palestine." He will be joined on the panel by Sacha Stawski from the "Honestly-Concerned e.V." organization in Frankfurt.

Dr. Tibi was a political consultant for many years to former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and supported him in 1998 in negotiations on the Wye River Memorandum, which was intended to revive the peace process. Tibi joined the Israeli Parliament in 1999. Attempts to exclude him from the Knesset were foiled by a decree of the Israeli supreme court.

Sacha Stawski is a founding member of Honestly-Concerned e.V. His organization is dedicated to "truthful reporting on Israel and the Middle East conflict" and seeks to counter anti-Israel bias. The aim of Honestly-Concerned is to speak up any time anti-Jewish resentment and anti-Semitic clichés dominate the discourse.

The public is cordially invited to attend the panel discussion, and to remain for the recital afterwards when the Felicitas Niegisch Trio performs Yiddish songs. Under the title, "Don't Let the Yiddish Voice Fall Silent/Farstumt nit doss jiddische loschn," singer Niegisch offers spirited and soulful renditions of multifaceted melodies that "bear witness to both the vitality and the tragedy of the Jewish people." Felicitas Niegisch will be accompanied by Hanno Botsch (piano/violin) and Andres Buchholz (double bass).

The STP will be welcoming representatives of ethnic and religious minorities from around the world and from STP sections in neighboring European countries and the US, as well as members and sponsors, to the annual general meeting. Regular elections to the board will be held. Tilman Zülch will not be running for re-election as honorary national chair, but will continue as President of GfbV International.

You are cordially invited:

Panel discussion: "Peace for Israel and Palestine," followed by a Yiddish music recital with the Felicitas Niegisch Trio

Saturday, October 9, 2010, at 8:00 p.m., at the "art la danse" ballet school (site of the former fencing hall), Geiststraße 6, 37073 Göttingen. Admission is free.

Jürgen Trittin, head of the Bündnis 90/Green Party parliamentary group, will address the annual general meeting at midday Sunday, following the human rights workshops that morning. On Friday evening, Member of Parliament and Africa expert Hartwig Fischer (CDU) will address the STP members. For a detailed program of the weekend's events, please see our home page at www.gfbv.de.

Translated by Elizabeth Crawford