Two important new developments in the campaign for Jewish refugees: Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Liberman has promised that the Jewish refugees will be part of his party's election manifesto, (Yisrael Beitenu); and a coordinator for Jewish refugee rights is to be appointed within the ministry. This means that, whatever the outcome of the January elections in Israel, Jewish refugees will occupy a permanent place on the foreign ministry's agenda. The Jerusalem Post reports:
“We will not give up on this goal,” Liberman told representatives from the Central Organization for Jews from Arab Countries and Iran on Tuesday afternoon in reference recent developments on his ministry’s efforts to bring the issue of Jewish refugee rights to public and diplomatic attention.
“Whenever the issue of Palestinian refugees is raised in the context of peace negotiations, we will raise the issue of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.”
He noted that the Jewish refugees “came to Israel and were successfully absorbed by the state, as opposed to the Arab states who kept Palestinian refugees in refugee camps to tear Israel apart.”
Liberman, who heads Yisrael Beytenu, also said the issue would be part of his party’s election platform and that he would insist that the campaign be advanced as part of any coalition agreement after the general election in January.
The meeting with the delegates was the first to take place at the ministerial level.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon also announced that a coordinator for Jewish refugee rights had been appointed within the ministry, and that the coordinator would meet regularly with the relevant government departments to advance the issue.
According to the ministry, more than 850,000 Jews from Arab states fled their countries of birth following persecution that ensued after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. Many also had their property confiscated.
The ministry, along with the World Jewish Congress, has embarked on a campaign in recent months to raise awareness of the Jewish exodus from Middle Eastern countries.
In September, Ayalon, ambassador to the UN Ron Prosor and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder held a press conference presenting the campaign at the UN. Foreign diplomats, activists and journalists were in attendance.
Critics of the campaign, including former Jewish refugees from the Middle East, have claimed that it is designed merely to forestall negotiations with the Palestinians.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting at the Foreign Ministry, Ayalon – who has taken the lead on the issue – denied that this was the objective of the campaign.
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That's what we thought still in 1997 but the first thing the Barak Labor government through Yossi Beilin as Justice Minister did as of January 1998 was to buty that dossier and stop funding WOJAC.
ReplyDeleteRachel Shabi is definitely and finally discredited.
ReplyDeleteI used to think that having no experience of life in a Muslim country, she was just an ignorant or perhaps just delusional.
Now we know she is an outright lier. In the Guardian (where else), she writes:
"The death of the Israel-Palestine two-state solution brings fresh hope
With many Palestinians and Israelis coming round to the idea of a bi-national state, it's possible to glimpse a peaceful future"
Shame she didn't send us the memo.