The rostrum of speakers at the seminar, which is also sponsored by the Rabin Heritage Center, slants sharply towards the left. The most right-wing speaker is Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz - a supporter of the disengagement/expulsion plan from Gaza and Northern Shomron.
Conference spokesman Shaya Segal confirmed that the organizers considered inviting PA terrorists Jibril Rajoub and Muhammed Dahlan to participate, and that contact was in fact made with Rajoub, but neither of them will appear.
Labor MK Danny Yatom, Chairman of the College's Strategic Dialogue Center, which is organizing the conference, issued a statement regarding the above. Yatom said, "Peace is made with enemies, not with friends, our enemies include also those who fought with us and killed us, and whom we killed as well... We must also remember that these are Palestinain figures with whom both the Likud and Labor governments had and have official contacts."
Arutz-7 asked why the organizers did not see fit to include representatives of the right-wing camp, sometimes known as the "orange" camp. Several answers were received. The spokesman for the Netanya College said, "I don't know... I speak only with the regional press, not the national press."
A staffer at the Strategic Dialogue Center of the Netanya College, which is hosting the seminar, said that whether the rostrum is left-wing or right-wing is "a matter of analysis/opinion."
Shaya Segal, former press advisor to both Ariel Sharon and Binyamin Netanyahu, serves as seminar spokesman. He explained that the purpose of the seminar is to discuss Yitzchak Rabin and his influence on various processes in the Middle East. "The purpose of the seminar is not to discuss the disengagement or to bridge the gap in Israeli society," Segal said.
"Could no one on the right-wing side of Israeli public life be found who had something to say about Yitzchak Rabin or the diplomatic process he initiated?" Arutz-7 asked. "Wasn't there someone who had at least as strong of a connection with events involving Rabin as Jibril Rajoub?"
Segal repeated that the issues to be discussed at the seminar did not necessitate the inviting of speakers other than those included.
Finally, when this question was raised to Prof. Joseph Ginat, Director of the Strategic Dialogue Center, he said though this was an academic conference, and not a political one, he would raise the matter at the next meeting, and that he hopes to have an answer by Thursday.
The seminar is billed as "develop[ing] a basis for a future plan of action which will create hope for cooperation and peace." The promotional literature states that "conference participants will concentrate on creating a balanced dialogue between leading figures from the Arab countries and Israel..."
The following speakers, among others, are scheduled to appear at the "Vision of Peace" seminar:
Past and present Labor Party MKs Shimon Peres, Dalia Rabin, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and Amnon Lipkin-Shachak;
Dr. Osama El Baz, Political Advisor to the President of Egypt
Dr. Abdel Salam Majali, Former Prime Minister of Jordan
Saeb Erekat, Head of PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department, representative of President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen)
Dr. Munther Haddadin - Former Minister of Water, Jordan
Prof. Ibrahim Soliman, Director of Syria/Israel Projects, Institute for Middle East Peace and Developments
Prof. Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland
Dr. Alfred Abed Rabbo - Bethlehem University
Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, President of Tel Aviv University and former Ambassador of Israel to the U.S
Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk
Former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and Israel Dan Kurtzer
Ambassador to Israel Richard H. Jones, former Ambassador to Lebanon, Kazakhstan and Kuwait
Lionel Jospin, Former Prime Minister of France
Justice of the Supreme Court Elyakim Rubinstein, former Attorney-General
The Stategic Dialogue Center at the Netanya Academic College can be reached by phone at (+972- 9) 860 7885, fax at (+972-9) 860 7701, and by email at sdc@netanya.ac.il or paltera@netanya.ac.il
Conference spokesman Shaya Segal confirmed that the organizers considered inviting PA terrorists Jibril Rajoub and Muhammed Dahlan to participate, and that contact was in fact made with Rajoub, but neither of them will appear.
Labor MK Danny Yatom, Chairman of the College's Strategic Dialogue Center, which is organizing the conference, issued a statement regarding the above. Yatom said, "Peace is made with enemies, not with friends, our enemies include also those who fought with us and killed us, and whom we killed as well... We must also remember that these are Palestinain figures with whom both the Likud and Labor governments had and have official contacts."
Arutz-7 asked why the organizers did not see fit to include representatives of the right-wing camp, sometimes known as the "orange" camp. Several answers were received. The spokesman for the Netanya College said, "I don't know... I speak only with the regional press, not the national press."
A staffer at the Strategic Dialogue Center of the Netanya College, which is hosting the seminar, said that whether the rostrum is left-wing or right-wing is "a matter of analysis/opinion."
Shaya Segal, former press advisor to both Ariel Sharon and Binyamin Netanyahu, serves as seminar spokesman. He explained that the purpose of the seminar is to discuss Yitzchak Rabin and his influence on various processes in the Middle East. "The purpose of the seminar is not to discuss the disengagement or to bridge the gap in Israeli society," Segal said.
"Could no one on the right-wing side of Israeli public life be found who had something to say about Yitzchak Rabin or the diplomatic process he initiated?" Arutz-7 asked. "Wasn't there someone who had at least as strong of a connection with events involving Rabin as Jibril Rajoub?"
Segal repeated that the issues to be discussed at the seminar did not necessitate the inviting of speakers other than those included.
Finally, when this question was raised to Prof. Joseph Ginat, Director of the Strategic Dialogue Center, he said though this was an academic conference, and not a political one, he would raise the matter at the next meeting, and that he hopes to have an answer by Thursday.
The seminar is billed as "develop[ing] a basis for a future plan of action which will create hope for cooperation and peace." The promotional literature states that "conference participants will concentrate on creating a balanced dialogue between leading figures from the Arab countries and Israel..."
The following speakers, among others, are scheduled to appear at the "Vision of Peace" seminar:
Past and present Labor Party MKs Shimon Peres, Dalia Rabin, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and Amnon Lipkin-Shachak;
Dr. Osama El Baz, Political Advisor to the President of Egypt
Dr. Abdel Salam Majali, Former Prime Minister of Jordan
Saeb Erekat, Head of PLO's Negotiations Affairs Department, representative of President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen)
Dr. Munther Haddadin - Former Minister of Water, Jordan
Prof. Ibrahim Soliman, Director of Syria/Israel Projects, Institute for Middle East Peace and Developments
Prof. Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland
Dr. Alfred Abed Rabbo - Bethlehem University
Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, President of Tel Aviv University and former Ambassador of Israel to the U.S
Vice Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk
Former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and Israel Dan Kurtzer
Ambassador to Israel Richard H. Jones, former Ambassador to Lebanon, Kazakhstan and Kuwait
Lionel Jospin, Former Prime Minister of France
Justice of the Supreme Court Elyakim Rubinstein, former Attorney-General
The Stategic Dialogue Center at the Netanya Academic College can be reached by phone at (+972- 9) 860 7885, fax at (+972-9) 860 7701, and by email at sdc@netanya.ac.il or paltera@netanya.ac.il