Greece has sent an unofficial goodwill mission to Israel, which includes two members of the newly elected Parliament, academicians, former ambassadors, mayors and other dignitaries.
They arrived Friday and will remain in Israel until Dec. 1.
One objective of the mission is to help change the unflattering image of Israel held by the Greek public through the mass media.
These opinion leaders will try to show “that Israel is not the black sheep of the Middle East, that it is advanced in medicine and technology, and not just warlike,” said Moshe Gilboa, Israel’s diplomatic representative here.
It is the second such mission organized by Gilboa, who holds the rank of ambassador although relations between Israel and Greece are only on the consular level.
Israel hopes the atmosphere will improve since the Nov. 5 eletions, which followed an unsuccessful attempt by the conservative New Democratic Party to put together a government to replace the regime of ousted Socialist Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.
The new all-party government includes conservatives, Communists, Socialists and others.
While the government is deeply enmeshed in domestic problems, it is considered likely to reappraise Greek policy in the Middle East, which was distinctly hostile to Israel under Papandreou.
But the new government does not plan to take any immediate action on the case of Mohammed Rashid, a Palestinian wanted in the United States to stand trial for a 1982 hijacking.
The new justice minister, Constantine Stamatis, was quoted by Western news agencies last week as saying that no action on a longstanding U.S. extradition request would likely be taken before next September.
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