Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2008, pages 71-72

Waging Peace

AMEU Celebrates 40 Years of Educating Americans About Middle East

	L-r: Bob Norberg, Rosmarie Sunderland, John F. Mahoney. At AMEU's 40th anniversary dinner, Executive Director John Mahoney paid tribute to Jack Sunderland, co-founder of AMEU and its President from 1967 until his death in 2005. Present to accept the award was his widow, Rosmarie Sunderland, a current Board member. Norberg is President of AMEU (Photo courtesy Sunderland family.)

AMERICANS FOR Middle East Understanding (AMEU) celebrated the 40th anniversary of its founding at a March 25 dinner in Washington, DC. Board members and their guests honored executive director John F. Mahoney; paid tribute to Jack Sunderland, AMEU co-founder and its president from 1967 until his death in 2005; and presented a plaque for distinguished service to Shibabaw Wubetu, AMEU’s accountant and office manager for the past 22 years.

Twelve of AMEU’s 14 board members were present for the occasion, including Rosmarie Sunderland, widow of Jack Sunderland, who accepted an award citing her late husband’s “vision, leadership and humanitarian efforts.” Sunderland also was a co-founder in 1968 of American Near East Refugee Aid, which operates in the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Jordan to provide relief supplies and collaborate with local institutions in education, health and community development projects.

Emcee for the evening was current AMEU president Bob Norberg, who presented an award to Mahoney for “30 years of devoted service” to the organization.

One of AMEU’s founding objectives, Norberg explained, was to identify, publicize and cooperate with other organizations with similar aims, and a number of the invited guests were recognized for their individual and institutional efforts toward educating Americans about the Middle East and working for a just peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He cited the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, ANERA, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, American Task Force on Palestine, Council for the National Interest, Partners for Peace, USS Liberty Alliance, Institute for Palestine Studies, and peace activist Ellen Siegel.

AMEU publishes The Link, a bi-monthly education and information tool. More than 175 issues have followed since the first Link, written by the Rev. Humphrey Walz, appeared in 1968.

For more informaton call Bob Norberg at (651) 345-5356, e-mail bobnorberg@earthlink.net, or visit the Web site: <www.ameu.org>.

—Courtesy AMEU