In a break with the tradition in which Israeli officials come to Washington to meet with U.S. government and Jewish leaders, an Israeli official met with Arab Americans.
Israeli Housing Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer met Monday with a joint group of Jewish and Arab American officials.
In what is believed to be the first substantive meeting between an Israeli official and top Arab American leaders, the luncheon was yet another in a series of groundbreaking events between the two communities here since Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed their landmark agreement last month.
The meeting was organized by Project Nishma, a group that promotes education about the peace process.
Ben-Eliezer urged the Arab American leaders to speak out against the continuing Arab boycott of Israel.
The boycott has become a hot topic here in recent weeks, with U.S. officials denouncing it as an anachronism now that both the Palestinians and Jordan are entering economic relationships with Israel.
“We expect you, the Arab lobby, to raise your voices” against the boycott, Ben-Eliezer told the officials, who included leaders from the National Association of Arab Americans and the Arab American Institute, as well as the Egyptian ambassador to Washington.
James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute who was at Monday’s meeting, said in an interview Tuesday that the Arab American community here, like Arab countries, is split on the subject of the Arab boycott.
He said his institution believes that the secondary boycott of companies doing business with Israel is “not helpful” and should be ended.
‘EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE’
In 1991, Zogby said, his group proposed trading the boycott for a recognition of Palestinian national rights, and now, “to be consistent,” there should be a trade.
But he said there was “no point” to Arab American groups issuing statements opposing the boycott because they have been holding meetings on the issue and are supportive of the peace process.
At a small briefing at the Israeli Embassy for reporters Tuesday that included members of the Egyptian press — in itself an unusual occurrence — Ben-Eliezer called Monday’s meeting “very promising.”
During the briefing, Ben-Eliezer spoke of reaching agreement with Syria by the end of 1994.
“Syria is the lever for the whole thing,” he said, adding that once peace is reached with Syria, Israel could look forward to relations with such Arab countries as Qatar.
“Everything is negotiable,” Ben-Eliezer said several times. But he drew the line at the issue of Jerusalem, calling it “taboo” and “out of any negotiations.”
Ben-Eliezer also met with his U.S. counterpart, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros. The two discussed a plan to establish a three-way Israeli, U.S. and Palestinian planning committee to work on future rehabilitation of Gaza, Ben-Eliezer said.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
