Ari Rudolph, Israel and international affairs associate at the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, says that to his knowledge, no Trader Joe's store in the area was hit.

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported that demonstrations occurred only in stores in San Francisco and Sacramento.

In a statement, Trader Joe's said: "We have no intention of removing any products based on pressure from any group, no matter what they support or don't support. As always, we believe our customers are smart, and they are capable of making decisions about what they purchase."

JUFJ: For Purple Line,

protect affordable housing

Jews United for Justice is teaming with Casa de Maryland to mobilize support in urging the Prince George's County planning board to build greater protections for affordable housing and small businesses in its sector plan for Takoma/Langley Crossroads neighborhoods, the planning document for the Purple Line.

"The Purple Line has the potential to bring so many opportunities to the communities it would serve, but if development along the route is not thoughtful, with due consideration given to the communities that already live there, it could be their kiss of death," Jacob Feinspan, executive director of JUFJ, a grassroots organization pushing for a fair Purple Line, said in a statement.

"Prince George's County must revise its Sector Plan to give current residents and business owners a fighting chance to remain in their homes and shops and preserve the character of their community."

The Purple Line is a proposed addition to the Washington Metro system.

Construction set

for Polish Jewry museum

Construction on the long-planned Museum of the History of Polish Jews is set to begin in Warsaw.

Poland's culture minister, Warsaw's mayor and other officials signed a contract on Wednesday of last week authorizing Poland's largest construction engineering company, Polimex-Mostostal, to begin work on the multimillion-dollar project on June 30.

Polimex-Mostostal chairman Konrad Jasko said the building, a glass-walled structure designed by Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamaki, would be completed in 33 months.

The museum will be located in the heart of what was the World War II Warsaw Ghetto, facing the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Monument that was erected there in 1948.

Meanwhile, the future museum launched a Virtual Shtetl Web site on Tuesday of last week to help build the museum's collection, the French news agency AFP reported.

The site contains information about 800 Polish cities and towns that were home to Jewish shtetls before the Holocaust. Users can add information and eyewitness testimony to the site.

Vatican: Not delaying

Pius beatification

The Vatican has rejected suggestions that Pope Benedict XVI may be delaying beatification of Pope Pius XII in order to maintain good relations with the Jewish world.

The Vatican's chief spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, released a statement Friday reiterating that the signing of beatification orders for the controversial wartime pope "is exclusively the responsibility of the pope, who must be left completely free in his evaluations and decisions."

"If the pope thinks that the study and the reflection on the cause of Pius XII must be further prolonged, this position must be respected without interfering with unjustified and inopportune interventions," Lombardi said.

Lombardi was responding to Italian news reports Friday that quoted Jesuit Rev. Peter Gumpel, a key promoter of Pius' cause, as implying that the pope may be hesitating to sign the beatification decree for fear of offending Jews.

Jews and other critics have accused Pius of having turned a blind eye to Jewish suffering in World War II.

‹ by Aaron Leibel with reports from JTA News and Features and other sources