A meeting of the Socialist International Middle East Committee opened in Ramallah on Thursday 14 March, with the participation of the President of the Palestinian Authority and leader of Fatah, Yasser Arafat. The meeting resumed on the following day in Tel Aviv where delegates were addressed by the leader of the Israel Labour Party and Israel's Minister of Defence, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, the leader of Meretz, Yossi Sarid, and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
The two-day discussions centred on how to stop the violence and resume the peace negotiations in the region, building on the long-standing commitments of the International for peace in the Middle East and reflecting the concerns of social democrats worldwide about the latest tragic developments in the region.
The meeting provided a platform for dialogue and discussion with the leaders and representatives of the International's member parties in the region, the Israel Labour Party, Meretz and Fatah, counting with the participation of Thorbjørn Jagland, leader of the Norwegian Labour Party and Chair of the Committee; Luis Ayala, Secretary General of the Socialist International; and representatives of SI member parties, from the Social Democratic Party of Austria, the Socialist Party, PS, of Belgium, the Social Democratic Party of Germany, the Labour Party of Great Britain, the Panhellenic Socialist Movement of Greece, the Democrats of the Left, DS, of Italy, the Italian Democratic Socialists, SDI, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces of Morocco, the Labour Party of the Netherlands, the Norwegian Labour Party, the Socialist Party of Portugal, the Swedish Social Democratic Party, and of the International Union of Socialist Youth, Socialist International Women, and the Parliamentary Group of the Party of European Socialists. (Full list of participants)
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
Chair of the Committee
Thorbjørn Jagland
(Norway, DNA)
Secretary General of the SI
Luis Ayala
AUSTRIA
Social Democratic Party, SPOe
Fritz Edlinger
BELGIUM
Socialist Party, PS
Simone Susskind
GERMANY
Social Democratic Party, SPD
Günter Gloser
Wolfgang Weege
GREAT BRITAIN
The Labour Party
Ernie Ross
GREECE
Panhellenic Socialist Movement, PASOK
Costas Stefanidis
ISRAEL
Israel Labour Party
Benjamin Ben Eliezer
Shimon Peres
Raanan Cohen
Colette Avital
Abraham Hatzamri
Efraim Sneh
Roby Natanzon
Leslie Rayne
Ben-Ami Erlich
Esther Herlitz
Yona Iahav
Raleb Majdala
Nurit Yardeni
Arik Hadad
Erez Shani
Eran Mozel
Yossi Atia
Yuval Frenkel
ISRAEL
MERETZ
Yossi Sarid
Monica Pollack
Naomi Chazan
Roi Yellin
Latif Dori
Arieh Shapir
ITALY
Democrats of the Left, DS
Marina Sereni
Nicola Manca
ITALY
Italian Democratic Socialists, SDI
Ugo Intini
MOROCCO
Socialist Union of Popular Forces, USFP
Abdelhamid Ben El Cadi
NETHERLANDS
Labour Party, PvdA
Alvaro Pinto
Bert Koenders
NORWAY
Norwegian Labour Party, DNA
Kathrine Raadim
TERRITORIES UNDER PALESTINIAN
AUTHORITY, PALESTINE
FATAH
Yasser Arafat
Yasser Abed Rabbo
Hanni Al-Hassan
Ilan Halevi
PORTUGAL
Socialist Party, PS
José Lamego
SWEDEN
Swedish Social Democratic Party, SAP
Oscar Stenström
International Union of Socialist Youth, IUSY
Martin Sandgren
Samir Al Assi
Socialist International Women, SIW
Ester Levanon-Mordoch
Daphna Sharfman
Parliamentary Group of the PES
Emilio Menéndez Del Valle
Jannis Sakellariou
SI Secretariat
Latifa Perry
Sophie Thérouanne
If you are looking for an earlier meeting, please consult the LIBRARY section.