For the first time ever, a delegation of senior Israeli Arab leaders is making a trip to Tunis, where the Palestine Liberation Organization is headquartered. While the official purpose of the trip is to attend an annual festival in the ancient Tunisian city of Carthage, it is clear that the delegation will be meeting with… More ▸
Italian authorities are investigating the failed hijacking Sept. 19 of an Alitalia flight to Tunis. Though it appears to have been the work of a lovelorn Tunisian immigrant upset by losing his job in Italy, the authorities are not fully convinced there was not a political motive. One source of suspicion was the presence on… More ▸
Israeli peace activist Abie Nathan, recently freed from prison, where he served time for having met with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, made good on his promise to renew contacts with the PLO. Nathan met Friday evening in Tunis with Yasir Arafat and other PLO leaders. In a telephone interview Sunday with the Jewish… More ▸
The father of an Israeli soldier missing in Lebanon since 1982 sought the help of Palestine Liberation Organization officials in Tunis nearly a year ago to trace his son and six other Israeli soldiers believed to be held captive by Shi’ite groups. Yona Baumel was identified by Israel Television on Monday night as the first… More ▸
Austrian President Kurt Waldheim made a three-day visit to Tunisia last week, which included a meeting with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat. Waldheim, accompanied by Foreign Minister Alois Mock and Austrian businessmen, also met with his Tunisian counterpart, President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. According to the Austrian press agency APA, Waldheim used the occasion… More ▸
Israel’s protest to the opposition Social Democratic Party for sending a delegation to meet with Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat in Tunisia last week was more than a pro-forma complaint. Israel deeply resents that the SPD, a staunch friend since the era of former Chancellor Willy Brandt, is virtually begging Arafat to visit West… More ▸
The Dutch news media are displaying avid interest in a Foreign Ministry delegation from The Hague presently visiting Palestine Liberation Organization head-quarters in Tunis. The intensive radio, television and newspaper coverage given the trip seems to have embarrassed Dutch officials and Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek, who sent them to Tunis. It was supposed… More ▸
The Tunisian government asked the United Nations Security Council Tuesday to condemn Israel for what it called “the wanton murder” of Khalil al-Wazir, second in command of the Palestine Liberation Organization. At the United Nations in New York, officials said the council members would convene behind closed doors Wednesday morning to consider Tunisia’s request. President… More ▸
A report that the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations met in Tunisia last Saturday with a senior leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization was denied Wednesday by the envoy, Vernon Walters, as well as the State Department and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. CBS News reported Tuesday night that Walters met a… More ▸
Tunisia’s tiny Jewish community has welcomed the ascension to the presidency of Prime Minister Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, even though the man he deposed over the weekend, President Habib Bourguiba, was regarded by Jews as their “protector.” There are about 3,500 Jews out of a total population of 6.9 million in Tunisia, a North… More ▸
