UK Cancels Trade Delegation to Israel
October 28, 2000 - 0:0
LONDON A British government-backed trade delegation, due to Israel this month has been postponed due to the latest Palestinian uprising.
A Department of Trade official said that the visit had been put off until next month because some participants from the medical industry were "very nervous" about current conditions in Israel, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
The weekly quoted UK and Israeli economists saying that commercial relations between the two countries were unlikely to suffer in the short-term but cautioning that continued unrest might well have considerable impact.
The cancellation of the trade delegation comes as British Jews were being urged to visit Israel following a dramatic fall in the number of tourists in the past week.
The Jewish Chronicle said that Israeli travel chiefs in Britain had "condemned the failure of the Jewish community to support Israel in its time of need." "What Israel needs at the moment is a show of support from the Jewish community," the Managing Director of Peltours, Stuart Lewis was quoted saying.
The Israeli government tourist office director, Amon Lipzin, was reported to have gone further in the appeal, saying that the issue of support went "beyond tourism and business." "Its important psychologically to the tourism industry, but more than that, to the Israeli people, to know the Jewish community is supporting them by visiting," he said.
But in a letter to the Jewish Chronicle, nine Israeli academics in the UK said that they "deplore the outrages perpetrated on the Palestinian population by the Israeli government." "Israel must accept its obligations under international law such as the fourth Geneva convention and UN resolutions and withdraw from all territories occupied in 1967," said the academics, led by Professor Moshe MacHover of King's College London.
(IRNA)
A Department of Trade official said that the visit had been put off until next month because some participants from the medical industry were "very nervous" about current conditions in Israel, according to the Jewish Chronicle.
The weekly quoted UK and Israeli economists saying that commercial relations between the two countries were unlikely to suffer in the short-term but cautioning that continued unrest might well have considerable impact.
The cancellation of the trade delegation comes as British Jews were being urged to visit Israel following a dramatic fall in the number of tourists in the past week.
The Jewish Chronicle said that Israeli travel chiefs in Britain had "condemned the failure of the Jewish community to support Israel in its time of need." "What Israel needs at the moment is a show of support from the Jewish community," the Managing Director of Peltours, Stuart Lewis was quoted saying.
The Israeli government tourist office director, Amon Lipzin, was reported to have gone further in the appeal, saying that the issue of support went "beyond tourism and business." "Its important psychologically to the tourism industry, but more than that, to the Israeli people, to know the Jewish community is supporting them by visiting," he said.
But in a letter to the Jewish Chronicle, nine Israeli academics in the UK said that they "deplore the outrages perpetrated on the Palestinian population by the Israeli government." "Israel must accept its obligations under international law such as the fourth Geneva convention and UN resolutions and withdraw from all territories occupied in 1967," said the academics, led by Professor Moshe MacHover of King's College London.
(IRNA)