6th Annual Jaffa Convention for Relations between the Jewish and Arab Citizens of Israel

Israeli society is going through turbulent times.  People from the right and the left, ultra-orthodox, religious and secular Jews, leading Jewish and Arab figures in business and industry, figures influential in shaping public opinion, the highest echelons in the legal system, along with many others, will come together in order to discuss issues and events of the past year and this mosaic of attitudes and opinions will constitute our response to those events.

During the course of the conference many of the most important players on the Israeli political map, in the Israeli economy and social life, will make a joint effort to create dialogue and cooperation that will, hopefully, build bridges across the widening gap between Jews and Arabs in Israel. This year, the sessions on the Economy will be conducted in co-operation with the Authority for the Economic Development of the Arab, Druze and Circassian Sectors at the Prime Minister's Office.

For years the Citizens' Accord Forum(CAF) has been deeply committed to advancing dialogue between sectors of the population that are ideologically divided.  The CAF promotes dialogue that emphasizes cooperation, equal rights and tolerance.  That commitment is apparently the main force that is allows the Sixth Jaffa Convention to bring together on the same stage cabinet Ministers, members of the Knesset from both the Left and the Right, former Supreme Court Judges, prominent public figures, economic and industrial leaders, leading Jewish and Arab businesspersons, and many more.

The sessions will be open to the public and will be widely covered by the Israeli and foreign media.

For more information, please visit www.jaffaconvention.org.il.

AMONG THE PARTICIPANTS:

Ministers and Members of Knesset

Minister of Housing - MK Ariel Atias; The outgoing minister of Minority Affairs - MK Avishai Braverman; The outgoing Minister of Welfare - MK Isaac Herzog, Deputy Prime Minister - MK Dan Meridor; Minister at the Prime Minister's office - MK Michael Eitan; Minister at the Prime Minister's office - MK Yossi Peled; Minister of Agriculture - MK Orit Noked; MK Afu Aghbaria; MK Orit Zuaretz; MK Ilan Gilon; MK Ze'ev Bielski; MK Daniel Ben Simon; MK Haim Oron; MK Dov Hanin; MK Eitan Kabel; MK Hana Swaid; MK Sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur; MK Majallie Whbee; MK Zvulun Orlev; MK Yoel Hason; MK Raleb Majadele; MK Ahmad Tibi

Academics, high officials, Industry and Finance, Civil Society

Rabbi Michael Melchior; Prof. Zvi Eckstein; Ambassador J. Cunningham; Prof. Leah Ahdut, Prof. Sami Smooha; Arnon Keret; Aiman Saif; Sami Lahiani; Shraga Brosh; Samer Nahla; Dov Lautman; Mohammad Zeidan; Danny Gitter; Ramez Jeraisi; Boris Krasny; Mike Prashker; Arie Der'i; Reuven Adler; Yehuda Meshi Zahav; Dr. Dalia Fadila, Nir Bar'am; Eldad Yaniv, Ibrahim Abu Shindi; Udi Cohen; Prof. Tayseer Elias; Amnon Be'eri Sulizeano; Zohair Bahlul; Avrum Burg; Dr. Yosef T. Jabareen; Dr. Aviad Hacohen; Prof. Itzchak Weismann; Suhail Karam; Shimon Lankry; Wadia Awada; Hava Friedman Shapira; Aia Shachar

The legal system

Former President of the Supreme Court - Meir Shamgar; Former Supreme Court Judge - Yitzhak Zamir; Former Supreme Court Judge - Dalia Dorner; Former Supreme Court Judge - Abd al-Rahman Zoabi; District Court Judge - Khaled Kaboub

Jewish and Arab senior businesspersons

85 top Jewish and Arab businesspersons from the industry, commerce and investment sectors will attend a formal reception and sign a Declaration of Intent to promote the integration of the Jewish and the Arab economic scenes in Israel.(invites only)

Greetings and updates to the Sixth Jaffa Convention participants (On video and in writing)

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Knesset Speaker Reuven Ruvi Rivlin; Chairperson of the Opposition MK Tzipi Livni; Minister Gideon Sa'ar; The outgoing minister Fuad Ben Eliezer; Nahum Itzkovich - Director General Ministry of welfare and Social Services
• Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar; Sheikh Abdallah Nimr Darwish - founder of the islamic movment; Archbishop of the Greek - Catholic Church Elias Shakur

Among the participants on the various radio programmes - Vice Prime Minister Moshe Bogey Ya'alon; MK Zeev Bielski; MK Ahmad Tibi, MK Ilan Gilon; MK Eitan Cabel; Julia Zahar, Aiman Ouda; Amal A'Sana and more

• Jaffa Convention - also on Reshet B and Radio a'Shams - on choice programmes and ongoing updates along the day The Convention will be broadcast fully on *22 LIVE
• The digital library of Jaffa Convention will be launched during the proceedings
• Mini-Book Fair and organizations' Exhibitions