AICE OBJECTIVES:
FACILITATING
PARTNERSHIPS
AICE's major
long-term objective is to bring innovative, successful social and education
programs developed and proven in Israel to the United States to help address
our domestic needs and provide tangible benefits to Americans. In 1996,
AICE also began to look at specific opportunities for introducing novel
American programs to Israel.
For example, AICE introduced
Hebrew University’s innovative YACHAD peer tutoring program to
Guilford County (North Carolina) which initiated a pilot project in 1996 to
adapt the program. “Reading Together,” as it is now called,
improves the reading skills of second-graders and enhances the
self-esteem of the fifth grade tutors. The program has been so successful that
it is now being used in 207 different schools in 14 states.
PUBLICITY
One of AICE's
principal objectives is to enhance Israel's image by publicizing novel
Israeli approaches to problems common to both our nations and illustrating
how Americans can learn from these innovations.
AICE also works with individual
states that are establishing and expanding their ties with Israel. In
particular, we produce reports documenting how these states can, and do,
benefit from cooperation, trade, and academic & cultural exchanges with
Israel.
Reports on cooperation between Israel and all 50 states and the
District of Columbia can be found under Israel & the States.
RESEARCH
AICE was created, in large part, to highlight areas where Israel might contribute to the betterment of America.
AICE publishes studies to identify specific programs and approaches that can benefit Americans.
AICE has published the following books and reports:
JEWISH
VIRTUAL LIBRARY
The Jewish
Virtual Library is the most comprehensive
online Jewish encyclopedia in the world,
covering everything from anti-Semitism
to Zionism. There are more than 16,000 articles
and 7,000 photographs and maps that have been
integrated into the site.
The Library has
13 wings: History, Women, The Holocaust,
Travel, Israel & The States, Maps, Politics,
Biography, Israel, Religion, Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress,
Vital Statistics and Reference. Each of these has numerous subcategories.
Under Religion, for example, we have the complete text of the Tanakh,
information on Jewish holidays, and material on relations between Jews
and Christians and Muslims. The Politics wing includes collections
on U.S.-Israel relations, the United Nations and the peace process.
The Reference section has bibliographies of more than 1,000 books
and 1,000 web sites, and a glossary of more than 1,000 words and a time-line for the history of Judaism.
The
Library also includes the Virtual Israel Experience, an educational
tool and virtual tour of Israel designed especially for students going
on Birthright and other trips to Israel. The VIE highlights Israel's ancient history accentuated against its timeless beauty and modern culture.
The Jewish History World Tours allow
users to virtually visit Jewish
communities across the world to learn about their history and culture.
The goal is to educate visitors about Jewish heritage, the development
of Judaism, the changing nature of Jewish communities and the connection
between the Jewish past and present.
Much of
the information in the Library cannot be found anywhere else in the
world, such as material on joint U.S.-Israel projects, cooperation
between Israel and the individual states and the treatment of Americans
during the Holocaust. We received permission from the Library of Congress
to put its Judaic and Hebraic treasures on our site. We have also
received permission to use material from the American Jewish Historical
Society, Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the
Israeli Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office, Rabbi Joseph
Telushkin (author of “Jewish Literacy”) and dozens of other
sources. One of our goals is to offer visitors a single source for
information so they don’t need to search thousands of other “Jewish”
web sites.
ISRAEL
SCHOLAR DEVELOPMENT FUND
To address
the critical need to develop new scholars and place established Israel
scholars on campus, AICE has created the Israel Scholar Development Fund
(ISDF).
This fund will:
- Identify
U.S. and Israeli scholars who could be placed in visiting professorships.
- Offer
universities matching funds to hire a visiting scholar.
- Brief
scholars on issues, provide them media training, and encourage them
to educate the public through public lectures and media appearances.
- Identify
students who want to become Israel/Middle East scholars and offer
them scholarships for graduate study.
- Develop
a strategic plan for promoting Israel studies that would involve identifying
institutions that could and should have pro-Israel scholars.
- Advise
philanthropists on where positions should be created to have the greatest
impact, and how to do it so their intentions are not frustrated
CLEARINGHOUSE
AICE has
built and maintains a database that contains all joint U.S.-Israel
activities conducted on both a governmental and non-governmental level.
The database contains more than 4,000 entries, including all recipients
of grants from the three binational foundations: the Binational Science
Foundation (BSF), the Binational Agricultural Research and Development
Foundation (BARD) and the Binational Industrial Research and Development
Foundation (BIRD).
The Economic
Partnership Databank contains information on more than 10,000 U.S.
companies doing business in or with Israel. This is the most sophisticated
and comprehensive collection of data on U.S.-Israel cooperation.
FOR
MORE INFORMATION
To
learn more about AICE, obtain publications, sponsor a wing of the Jewish Virtual Library, or join the AICE listserv, contact us: aiceresearch@gmail.com
