Abbas to visit Israel for Rabin tribute
PA chairman expected to address Israeli audience for first time – at conference organized by Netanya Aacademic College marking 10th anniversary of PM Yitzhak Rabin's assassination
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is expected to speak for the first time at an Israeli convention as part of an international conference held by the Netanya Academic College to mark the 10th anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in mid November.
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia is also expected to attend the conference.
The event is being held in cooperation with the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israeli Studies.
Abbas and Qureia conditioned their participation in the maintenance of intact relations between Israel and the PA and in the absence of firing incidents between Israel and the Palestinians. If the two should arrive, it would be the first time that the PA Chairman addresses an Israeli audience in a public event.
Other public figures have also confirmed their participation in the conference, including the Jordanian prime minister during the signing of the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty, Dr. Abdul Salam al-Majali, Andalusia's President Manuel Chaves, Spanish Foreign Prime Minister Miguel Moratinos, EU envoy Javier Solana, former Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, the political adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Osama El-Baz, as well as Quartet envoy and former World Bank leader James Wolfensohn.
The convention will be held under the banner "Peace – a Dream or a Vision" and will discuss issues related to Rabin, such as "Rabin and Egypt", "Rabin and King Hussein", "Rabin and the Palestinian problem", "Rabin and Syria and Lebanon", "Rabin and the U.S.", as well as the region's water problem.
A special pin was designed for the event's participants, in the image of the 16 basalt stone blocks composing Rabin's memorial monument in Tel Aviv. The pin was designed by the same artist who designed the monument.
The Netanya Academic College said in a statement that retired Major-General Danny Yatom, chairman of the college's Strategic Dialogue Center, personally spoke with Abbas and Qureia and invited them to participate in the conference. They both accepted the invitation and said that they would be happy to address the attendees, the statement said.
