Aya Azrielant and architect
Raquel Ramati.
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ISRAEL POLICY FORUM
Seekers of Peace
In Mideast Conflict
Story
and Photos by Tim Boxer
 SRAEL
POLICY FORUM chairman Jack Bendheim brought Charles
Schumer to the podium as the senior senator from New York.
Schumer remarked that he was once introduced as the senior citizen
from New York.
Schumer said the only answer to the
Israeli-Arab conflict is land for peace. He urged guests at the IPF dinner at Chelsea Piers
to support Pres. George W. Bush’s appeal for Israel to
withdraw its troops from Palestinian towns.
Gen. Ephraim Sneh, Israeli
transportation minister, differed on that point.
While supporting the Oslo formula in which
“the Palestinian Authority promised to fight terrorism and Israel
promised to agree to a Palestinian sovereign state,” Sneh added
that “negotiations cannot succeed while terrorists are permitted
to act freely.”
Robert K. Lifton and
Meshulam Riklis. |
He went on to
defend Prime Minister Sharon’s pursuit of terrorists in the
territories.
“We have already apprehended or killed the
planners of the recent wave of suicide bombings. We should support
the current military mission in the West Bank.”
George Mitchell, who brokered a
cessation of violence in Northern Ireland and advanced a highly
touted formula for peace in the Mideast, noted the six senators in
attendance at the IPF dinner. “That’s more than I could get to
listen to me when I was senate majority leader,” he cracked.
Fred Howard and
Dr. Ruth Westheimer. |
“There are so many speakers on the program, I
feel like Zsa Zsa Gabor’s eighth husband. On their
honeymoon he said, ‘I know what to do, but how do I make it
interesting?’
“Like him, I’ll try to be brief.”
Mitchell said he was “disheartened by the
failure to implement” his report, issued 11 months ago, but “it
is still relevant.”
Among the recommendations of the Mitchell
Report is a freeze on all settlements, which prompted hearty
applause from the audience.
Mitchell was entirely positive about the
prospects for peace between Israelis and Arabs. “There is no such
thing as a conflict that can’t be ended,” he said.
Rep. Charles Rangel.
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Founded in 1993 by Michael Sonnenfeldt
and Robert K. Lifton, IPF honored Gail Furman,
assistant clinical professor at New York University Medical School; Peter
Joseph, general partner at Palladium Equity Partners
investment firm, and philanthropist Marcia Riklis.
Among the 900 dinner guests were world renowned
jewelry designer Aya Azrielant, actor Richard Dreyfuss,
singer Debbie Friedman, Seymour Reich, Dr. Ruth
Westheimer, Meshulam Riklis and ambassadors from Egypt, Turkey
and Oman.
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