Thirty-four Jewish community leaders from all parts of the United States will fly to Israel on Monday, March 15, for a three-week study mission under the auspices of the American Jewish Committee. The group will also visit Rome and Amsterdam to observe the Jewish communities as well as interfaith developments in those cities. The Community Leadership Delegation, appointed by AJC president Philip E. Hoffman, will study economic, social and foreign policy questions in Israel. The first two weeks will be spent in Israel and will include meetings with Prime Minister Golda Meir, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Walworth Barbour, Minister of Transportation Shimon Peres, Hebrew University President Dr. Avraham Harman, and ranking officials in the Israeli Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defense. In an effort to understand more clearly the relationships between Arabs and Jews in Israel, the delegation will meet with Arabs representing three different groups–Arabs who are Israeli citizens; Arabs of East Jerusalem, and Arabs from the West Bank. They will also visit with a Druze member of the Knesset (Parliament) in his home in a Druze village. The Druzes are a separate religious community that broke away from Islam many centuries ago. Their faith also contains some elements of Christianity and Judaism. They number approximately 23,000 in Israel, and live mainly in the Galilee area.
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.
