Argentine President Carlos Menem has offered his services to help resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Meeting last week in Buenos Aires with leaders of B’nai B’rith International, the Argentine leader said he would “gladly” offer his help in mediating the Middle East conflict.
“If mediation by Argentina is needed, you can count on us,” he said.
The B’nai B’rith delegation, led by the organization’s president, Kent Schiner, was in Argentina during a 10-day tour of Latin American capitals, which B’nai B’rith conducts annually.
The Argentine foreign minister, Guido Di Tella, and the president of the Senate, Eduardo Menem, the president’s brother, also attended the meeting.
The president, who is of Syrian extraction, expressed hope that Israel’s Arab neighbors would soon sign peace treaties with the Jewish state.
And he assured the B’nai B’rith leader that he would continue his efforts, pledged to B’nai B’rith during his visit to Washington last October, to gain freer emigration for Syrian Jews.
During the 10-day visit to South America, which began April 9, Schiner discussed international and domestic issues with high-level government officials of several countries. He was accompanied by Daniel Mariaschin, the organization’s director of international and public affairs; Alfredo Neuburger of Buenos Aires, who is B’nai B’rith director for Latin America; and leaders of the Latin American districts of B’nai B’rith.
Schiner was also the luncheon guest of President Luis Lacalle of Uruguay in Montevideo. His lunch with Lacalle was attended by Uruguay’s foreign minister, Hector Gros Espiel.
Schiner thanked Lacalle, as he did Menem, for their countries’ support for Israel and the U.S.-led coalition throughout the Persian Gulf crisis.
In Santiago, the last stop on the trip, he met with the vice president of Chile, Enrique Krauss, who also serves as that country’s interior minister.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
