Regional Conferences to Mobilize Jewish Communities for Mideast Peace

In an effort to mobilize the American Jewish community for effective support of Israel’s cause during the next few critical weeks as search for Middle East peace continues, four major regional conferences will be held concurrently on Thursday, April 13, in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.

Sponsored by the Israel Task Force of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC), each of the conferences will draw in Jewish communal leaders from the surrounding area, together with Israeli officials and experts from national Jewish community relations agencies.

Rabbi Israel Miller, Israel Task Force chairman, in announcing the projected conferences, commented that “grave and difficult challenges immediately confront the American Jewish community” in the early aftermath of Israeli Premier Menachem Begin’s visit to Washington last week and in view of the Administration’s apparent determination to press its proposals to sell advanced U.S. aircraft to Saudi Arabia and Egypt while cutting back on airplanes for Israel. “We must consult together, arm ourselves with facts and concert our efforts to keep the momentum toward a true, just and durable peace going,” he added.

Theodore R. Mann, chairman of NJCRAC, stressed that the planned regional conferences will not be open meetings, but nonpublic working sessions, attendance limited to individuals specifically invited by the NJCRAC and its national and local member agencies. “The aim,” said Mann,” is a hard-headed assessment of the situation, a serious disciplined consultation on strategies and tactics, and a mobilization for effective action.”