San Diego Jewish World |
Vol. 1, No. 125 |
Sunday Evening , September 2, 2007 |
|
||||||||||||||||
|
EU's Solana in Israel for consultations JERUSALEM (Press Release)—Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union (EU) arrived in Israel (Sunday, 2 September) for a two-day working visit in Israel and the PA. Solana's visit comes at the beginning of the political season in the EU and several days before the scheduled meeting of EU foreign ministers in Portugal. The ministers are expected to discuss, among other issues, the Middle East and particularly the Israeli-Palestinian arena. Solana’s schedule had meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Speaker of the Knesset Dalia Itzik, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and with Vice Prime Minister Haim Ramon.
The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs assigns great importance to
Solana's visit, against the backdrop of the EU's
increased involvement in the region and the anticipated
upgrade in bilateral relations between Israel and the EU. The preceding story was provided by Israel's Ministry for Foreign Affairs Firefighters battled Greek blazes, saved village, won friends for Israel TEL AVIV (Press Release)--After four days of grueling, round-the-clock activity in Greece, Israeli firefighters returned to Israel early Friday morning (31 August). Israel had sent the group, numbering 52 graduates of the firefighters' officers course, in response to an appeal from Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis to the Israeli Foreign Ministry to help Greece combat the huge fires that have been raging there for more than a week. Members of the Israeli embassy in Greece accompanied the firefighters and liaised between them and local firefighters as well as between the Israeli visitors and the Jewish community in Athens. The Israeli firefighters operated mainly in the Kalamata area. This is a mountainous, forested region, difficult to maneuver in. The dedicated actions of the Israeli firefighters succeeded in saving one of the villages together with some of the surrounding forest. In an emotional encounter, the villagers expressed their gratitude to their Israeli rescuers Greek newspapers, government ministers and normal citizens praised Israel's readiness to lend a helping hand in Greece's hour of need, and Olympic Airlines offered to fly the group for free.
Foreign
Minister Tzipi Livni commended the firefighters and the
Israeli embassy staff in Athens for their life-saving
activities. |