New York, NY, July 1, 1997...Editors of American college and university newspapers will embark on a study mission this summer sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to Israel and Poland. They will meet with officials, local media, and community leaders and travel around the countries, visiting religious and historic sites August 14 - 26.

"ADL is proud to provide this unique opportunity to student editors to learn about the lessons of the Holocaust and experience the ancient history and current culture of Israel," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "Because of the situation in the Middle East and the ongoing Arab-Israeli Peace Process, Israel is often the focus of media attention. The complexity of events within Israel and the challenge of reporting those events require our future journalists, who are now shaping dialogue on campuses, to have an understanding of the people and cultures on which they report that can only come from firsthand exposure."

Twelve students from colleges and universities around the country will participate in the fifth annual Albert Finkelstein Memorial Study Mission to Israel and Poland for Campus Newspaper Editors. In Poland students will visit major sites of the Holocaust, including Auschwitz and the area once occupied by the Warsaw and Krakow ghettos.

The students will then travel to Israel to learn about the history of the Jewish State and its contemporary achievements and challenges. They will meet with decision-makers on all sides of the political spectrum, government and military officials, peace negotiators, Palestinian representatives, local faculty and students, and the American press corps.

The mission is made possible by a gift from Bidi Finkelstein, a Philadelphia and Palm Beach philanthropist and honorary life member of the ADL National Commission. She established the program in memory of her late husband, who initially conceived the idea of the study mission.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.