AJC Leadership Mission To Visit Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Israel, Germany

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 2 March 2000

An American Jewish Committee leadership delegation will arrive in Oman tomorrow, the first stop on a Middle East tour that will include stops in Qatar, Jordan and Israel.

AJC President Bruce M. Ramer, who is heading the 27-member delegation, will present Sultan Qaboos bin Said with the American Jewish Committee's Leadership for Peace Award, in recognition of the Omani leader's long-standing support for the Arab-Israeli peace process.

In Qatar the AJC delegation will meet with Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and other government officials.

In Jordan, the delegation expects to meet with King Abdullah, the third such meeting since he succeeded the late King Hussein in February 1999.

In Oman, Qatar and Jordan, the delegation also will meet with Israeli envoys as well as American embassy officials.

Mr. Ramer joins the AJC leadership delegation in Oman, after two days of meetings with United Arab Emirates officials in Abu Dhabi.

In Israel, the delegation will meet with Prime Minster Ehud Barak and other senior government officials. The AJC leaders also are slated to spend a day touring the Golan Heights, which will include meetings with Israelis on both sides of the "withdrawal debate."

A centerpiece of the visit will be meetings sponsored by AJC's Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations. The Institute, founded in 1981, brings the American Jewish and Israeli communities closer together through research, publications, conferences and people-to-people exchange programs. Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich, president of Tel Aviv University, was recently named Chair of the Institute's Israeli Advocacy Council. Ambassador Peter Rosenblatt, of Washington, D.C., is chair of the Institute.

After the Israeli segment of the multi-nation tour, the delegation will visit Germany, where AJC maintains an office in Berlin, before returning to the United States.

In Germany, the AJC leaders will meet with President Johannes Rau, Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, Defense Minister Rudolph Scharping, members of the German Parliament, and leaders of the German Jewish community.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org