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WE WILL EXPLAIN ISRAEL'S PROBLEMS IN PEACE PROCESS TO WORLD Leaders of the American Jewish Committee, which has some 110,000 members and affiliates throughout the world, toured the flash points of Israel and received briefings from top Government officials, military officers and intellectuals, in a five-day solidarity and fact-finding mission. The mission, led by AJC President Harold Tanner and Executive Director David Harris, numbered 25, and included leaders from throughout the United States and representatives from Poland, Great Britain, Venezuela, Bulgaria and Poland. Among the representatives was Venezuelan Chief Rabbi Brenner, Polish publisher and columnist, Konstanty Geber, and U. S. theatre director Michael Price. Members of the group visited Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood, which still is under terrorist fire, spoke with residents, victims of terror, viewed Israel Defense Forces' deployment and learned about IDF tactics employed in counter terrorist attacks, from an army reserve colonel who gave them a field briefing. A senior IDF Intelligence Analysis officer also briefed the group. The AJC mission flew to northern Israel, where they visited the Israel-Lebanon border spoke with present and past regional council heads and visited the Israeli Arab town of Tuba to learn of Israel Arab co-existence. During the course of their mission, the group met with President Moshe Katsav and Jerusalem's mayor Ehud Olmert, They were briefed by Foreign Minister Peres, Hebrew University Professor Shlomo Avineri and President, Ambassador Moshe Arad, Tel-Aviv University's President Ambassador Itamar Rabinowitz, Prof. Uriel Reichman, President of Herzliya's Interdisciplinary Center, as well as by the directors of the Center's Institute for Counter Terrorism Shabtai Shavit and Boaz Ganor and Head of the Center's Institute for Policy and Strategy, Prof. Uzi Arad. The Jewish Agency and the AJC are among the co-sponsors of the annual Herzliya Conference on National Strength, of the Institute for Policy and Strategy, which will take place in December. According to David Harris, the AJC hopes to explain the difficulties and dilemmas encountered in Israel's quest for Peace, to heads of state and decision-makers throughout the world. The AJC will be meeting with many of the foreign ministers who will attend the U.N. General Assembly's Opening Session in September. The AJC will also be one of the NGOs participating in the upcoming U.N. Conference on Racism, which will take place in Durban, South Africa, at the end of August.
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