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ABRAHAM FUND
Group Pledges to Continue
Coexistence Programs
By Tim Boxer
 NVESTMENT
manager Alan Slifka, who co-founded the Abraham Fund in 1989
to further coexistence between Arab and Jew in Israel, said that
despite what’s been happening there, his group’s programs would
continue.
“We are trying to create a culture where this
can be a homeland for Jews and Arabs,” he said at the fund’s
annual dinner at New York’s Pierre Hotel.
Sen. Charles Schumer, the keynote
speaker, said that America’s battle against terrorism would result
in an expansion of the powers of the federal government, much like
the New Deal.
“We need to recalibrate the way we live and
work,” he said. “Our media must change its attitude. Its tone is
overwhelmingly cynical. Always emphasizing the negative is not fair
or accurate.”
The organization’s president, Judith Eigen
Sarna, presided over a panel discussion that included Ali
Yahya, Israeli’s first Arab ambassador (formerly posted in
Finland); Moshe Raviv, a former Israeli ambassador to
the United Kingdom, and Mari Fitzduff, professor of conflict
studies at the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland.
Yahya commented on the “magnificent
partnership” between Arabs and Jews in Israel. He said children
must be taught the way of coexistence.
Raviv pointed out several strategic errors by
Arafat. Once the intifada broke out, the PLO leader banked on an
infusion of money from the Arab countries, but it was not
forthcoming.
Arafat expected the Arab countries to rally
around the Palestinian cause, but it didn’t happen. “Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak made it clear there will be no
regional war,” Raviv said.
Arafat also hoped the European Union would bail
him out – it didn’t happen, Raviv said.
“What did Arafat’s assumptions achieve? More than
1,000 Palestinians and 193 Israelis killed.”
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