Posted on 05/05/2003 5:27:55 AM PDT by veronica
Edited on 05/26/2004 5:13:45 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
OH, that Khadafy! Jordan's Queen Noor assures us that the Libyan dictator and his wife are such a "delightful and charming couple," with whom she spent "a remarkably pleasant evening."
Strife in the Middle East? It's the Jews who are at fault, her majesty informs us in "Leap of Faith," her new best-selling autobiography: "Jews, Muslims, and Christians had lived peacefully in the Middle East and indeed in Palestine for centuries. It was not until the rise of Zionism and the creation of Israel that animosities took root."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
This is pretty circular. The current crop of Palestinians was "not permitted to stay in Jordan" precisely because King Hussein kicked them out, because he did not want to put up with their crap. He did want to give them the vent they Morris talks about.
I believe she was born in this country. She is Najeeb Halaby's daughter. Halaby was Chairman and CEO of Pan American Airways.
Last sentence should read: "He did not want to give them the vent Morris talks about."
A fellow should never type before the first cup of coffee.
No. Grace Kelly had class and she brought that class to the Grimaldis. She also always loved the US, was a real American girl, and I cannot recall ever reading about her dissing her homeland or sticking her nose into US politics. Lisa Halaby adopted the hate-filled attitiudes of the ME, and now, is striking out in bitterness because her husband is gone, and so is her power.
She's the daughter of an Arab businessman, democratic donor, and social climber.
HER MAJESTY QUEEN NOOR OF JORDAN
Her Majesty Queen Noor was born Lisa Najeeb Halaby on 23 August 1951, to an Arab-American family distinguished for its public service. She attended schools in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York City, and Concord Academy in Massachusetts, before entering Princeton University in its first co-educational freshman class.
After receiving a B.A. in Architecture and Urban Planning from Princeton University in 1974, Queen Noor worked on international urban planning and design projects in Australia, Iran, the United States, and Jordan from where she traveled throughout the Arab World to research aviation training facilities. Subsequently, she joined Royal Jordanian airline as Director of Planning and Design Projects.
Their Majesties, King Hussein and Queen Noor, were married on 15 June 1978. They have two sons: HRH Prince Hamzah (born 29 March 1980), and HRH Prince Hashim (born 10 June 1981), and two daughters: HRH Princess Iman (born 24 April 1983), and HRH Princess Raiyah (born 9 February 1986). Their family also included the children of His Majestys previous marriage: Ms. Abir Muheisen, HRH Princess Haya, and HRH Prince Ali.
Since 1978, Queen Noor has initiated, directed, and sponsored projects and activities in Jordan to address specific national development needs in the areas of education, culture, women and childrens welfare, human rights, conflict resolution, community development, environmental and architectural conservation, public architecture, and urban planning. She is also actively involved with international and UN organizations that address global challenges in these fields. Queen Noor has played a major role in promoting international exchange and understanding of Middle Eastern politics, Arab-Western relations, and humanitarian and conflict prevention, and recovery issues throughout the world, such as youth drug abuse, refugees, and disarmament.
Jordan
In 1979, Queen Noor chaired the National Committee for the International Year of the Child and actively launched a national immunization campaign, childrens parks, and literature programs, as well as an initiative to establish Jordans first childrens hospital. Also, in 1979, the Queen established the Royal Endowment for Culture and Education (RECE), which conducted the first research on the countrys specific manpower needs and awards scholarships, with special emphasis on outstanding women, for graduate studies in fields vital to Jordans future development.
In 1980, the Queen convened the first Arab Childrens Congress, which annually brings together children from throughout the Arab world for two weeks of activities designed to promote understanding, tolerance, and solidarity. During two weeks of travel, learning, and cultural interaction in Jordan, the children are encouraged to discuss and debate contemporary issues and challenges facing the Arab nations and to appreciate the cultural and historical bonds shared by all Arabs.
In 1981, Queen Noor, with a group of Jordanian philanthropists, faculty, and students from Yarmouk University in northern Jordan, founded the Jerash Festival for Culture and Arts. The annual festival provides a vibrant venueas one of Jordans most important archaeological sitesfor Arab and international performing artists, and serves as a dynamic catalyst for the promotion of Jordanian and Arab culture and arts.
In 1984, Queen Noor assumed responsibility for the implementation of an educational project to commemorate His Majesty King Husseins Silver Jubilee. The Jubilee School, an independent co-educational secondary school, was established in 1993 to develop the academic and leadership potential of outstanding scholarship students from the country and the region, with special emphasis on students from less developed areas of Jordan. The School provides a unique educational environment, which promotes creative thinking, leadership and conflict-resolution skills, scientific and technological expertise, and social responsibility. The Schools Center for Excellence in Education advances national and regional educational standards through the development of innovative curricula and training programs, and workshops for public and private school teachers. The National Music Conservatory was initiated by Queen Noor in 1985 to develop accomplished musicians in classical Arabic and Western music, to foster music appreciation, and to promote teacher training and public school music curricula in Jordan. Its annual program includes concerts, recitals, and instruction by local and world-renowned international musicians.
The National Handicrafts Development Project was launched by the Queen in 1985 to revive and preserve a unique aspect of Jordans national heritage. In partnership with Save the Children (U.S.), the Bani Hamida and Jordan River Design projects were established as successful community-development handicraft-production models. Subsequently, the Jordan Design and Trade Center was established to raise the standards of national handicrafts production, to increase womens productivity and economic role, to create new jobs, marketing strategies, and opportunities for the industry to become a new, sustainable source of national income.
Also, in 1985, the Noor Al Hussein Foundation (NHF) was established to consolidate and integrate the Queens diverse and expanding development initiatives. The Foundation initiates and supports national, regional, and international projects in the fields of integrated community development, micro finance, women and enterprise development, child and family health, and education and culture. NHF programs successfully advanced and modernized development thinking in Jordan by progressing beyond traditional charity-oriented social welfare practices, to integrate social development strategies more closely with national economic priorities. NHF projects promote individual and community self-reliance, grassroots participation in decision-making and project implementation, equal opportunity, with special emphasis on the empowerment of women, and intersectoral co-operation.
The NHF Quality of Life Project and Women-in-Development Projects, the Institute for Child Health and Development, the Jubilee School, the National Handicrafts Development Project, the National Music Conservatory, the Performing Arts Center, and the Jordan Micro Credit Company have been recognized and supported by the United Nations and other international organizations as development models for the Middle East and the developing world.
In 1986, Queen Noor launched Jordans and the Arab Worlds first childrens museum, the Childrens Heritage and Science Museum, and in 1988, the Mobile Life and Science Museum, as an outreach program for the childrens museum targeting young people in rural areas. Using computers, books, exhibits, and hands-on educational and recreational activities, young children learn about environmental protection, health, the sciences, and Jordans history.
In 1995, His Majesty King Hussein directed Queen Noor to establish and chair a National Task Force for Children (NTFC) to monitor and evaluate the condition and status of Jordans children in accordance with Arab and international conventions on the rights of the child and the National Plan of Action for Children. To encourage and facilitate cooperation among often competing organizations, the NTFC established the National Coalition for Children in 1997 as a forum to coordinate and promote partnerships among all public and private institutions, and NGOs involved with childrens affairs. The NTFC also established a national policy and research center as well as Jordans first child information system on the World Wide Web. The research center was restructured in 2001 to operate under the name of The Information and Research Center (IRC). The IRC has focused on critically important issues, such as child labor, urban poverty, youth and culture, smoking among teens, and gaps and priorities in development research and programs.
She chaired the Al Amal Cancer Center (1997-2001)Jordans first comprehensive cancer center serving Jordan and the region. Recently the center was renamed The King Hussein Cancer Center.
In 1999, His Majesty King Abdullah issued a royal decree establishing the King Hussein Foundation, chaired by Queen Noor. The Foundation is a national and international non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to give meaningful expression to the late Kings humanitarian vision and legacy with emphasis on democracy, peace, education, leadership, health, and the environment. Through the King Hussein Foundation, the Jubilee School partners with national and international organizations to develop an innovative program integrating state-of-the-art multimedia communications technology into the national curriculum for math, science, and English. The Jordan Society in Washington, D.C., a non-profit organization initiated by Queen Noor in 1980 to promote understanding and closer ties between Jordan and the United States, was reconstituted as the King Hussein Foundation International (KHFI) in 1999.
Queen Noor is an active patron or president of several national institutions, which serve the Jordanian community. These include: the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the Petra National Trust, the Royal Society of Fine Arts, the National Federation of Business and Professional Womens Clubs, the SOS Childrens Village Association, the Queen Noor Technical College for Civil Aviation, the Cerebral Palsy Foundation, the Jordanian Physiotherapy Society, the Jordan Tennis Federation, and the Womens Sports Club.
International Activities
Internationally, the Queen is Patron of The World Conservation Union (IUCN), the oldest international conservation organization in the world, Honorary President of BirdLife International, the widest global network of conservation organizations, and a board member of World Wildlife Fund International (WWF), the largest, privately supported international conservation organization dedicated to protecting the worlds wildlife and wildlands. In 1995, she received the United Nations Environment Program Global 500 Award for her activism in environmental protection, in promoting awareness, and in initiating community action for the preservation of Jordans natural heritage.
She is President of the United World Colleges (UWC), a network of 10 equal-opportunity international colleges around the world which foster cross-cultural understanding and global peace; Chair of the international advisory committee for the United Nations University International Leadership Academy (UNU/ILA), the first global leadership training facility as well as the first UN university institution to be initiated and established in the Middle East. Queen Noor is Honorary Chair of the McGill Middle East Program in Civil Society and Peace Building, which brings together Jordanians, Palestinians, and Israelis to improve the living conditions of the regions poor. The Queen is also an Adviser to the global initiative, Women Waging Peace, and Patron of International Alerts Women and Peace-building campaign, which focus on womens role and contribution to peace building and conflict resolution. She is also a board member of Seeds of Peace, an organization that brings children from the Middle East and other conflict-wracked regions together to provide them an opportunity to break down the barriers of prejudice and build mutual respect, as well as producing a significant network of future leaders and activists for peace who value communication over confrontation; a board member of Refugees International (RI) that serves refugees, displaced persons, and other dispossessed people around the world; and a member of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP)the first organization that has ever attempted to create a process to search for, recover, and identify missing persons from the armed conflicts in the regions of the former Yugoslavia between 1991-1999. Its Forensic Sciences Programme incorporates the use of scientifically accurate DNA methods in an effort to obtain near indisputable evidence of a missing persons identity.
Queen Noor has assumed an advocacy role in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). As Patron of Landmine Survivors Network (LSN), she hosted the first International Conference on Landmine Injury & Rehabilitation in the Middle East in Amman in 1998, and visited landmine ravaged countries around the world advocating world leaders to sign and ratify the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty. On 1 October 1998, Queen Noor, member of the international advisory board of the Nobel Prize winning ICBL, announced the 40th ratification of the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty at the United Nations, as well as new measures to universalize the treaty and to promote victim-survivors assistance.
She is Chair of the advisory board of the Center for the Study of the Global South at American University, which examines critical issues affecting the poorer developing countries of the world, and a trustee of the American Cancer Society Foundation.
In 1994, Queen Noor, a member of the International Commission on Peace and Food (ICPF), presented the results of a five-year international research program: "Uncommon Opportunities: An Agenda For Peace And Equitable Development" to the United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali for adoption by the UN. The report presented practical strategies to accelerate political stability, progress, and peace to ensure food security and employment, and to promote human development, demilitarization, and environmental protection. She is a Director on the global board of The Hunger Project and Ambassador of Future Harvesta network of international research centers located around the world that seek to make agricultural issues and the need for international agricultural research more immediate and relevant to policymakers, the media, and the general public.
The Queen is also an Honorary Member of the General Assembly of the SOS-Kinderdorf Internationala network of villages for orphans and abandoned children around the world, as well as a member of the International Council of the Near East Foundationa private, nonprofit, development agency that helps people in the Middle East and Africa build better lives for themselves and their communities. The Queen is a Trustee of the Mentor Foundation, a global youth drug abuse prevention initiative, President of Journey of a Lifetime Trust in the U.K., and a member of the honorary Global Committee of the Center for Development and Population Activities.
Upon her marriage, Queen Noor received Jordans Grand Cordon of the Jeweled Al Nahda, and, in 1980, the Grand Collar of Al Hussein Bin Ali in addition to state decorations from around the world. In recognition of her efforts to advance development, democracy, and peace, she has been awarded numerous international awards and honorary doctorates in international relations, law, and humane letters.
Queen Noor speaks Arabic, English, and French. She enjoys skiing, water skiing, tennis, sailing, horseback riding, reading, gardening, and photography.
I wonder what her (final) solution is. Send all the American Jews to Israel? But, but Israel is not legitimate in her eyes. What to do what to do....
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