Israeli Tourism Minister Benny Elon to visit Washington, D.C. this week

The Washington Times ^ | December 3, 2003 | James Morrison

[Piranha]

Tourism Minister Rabbi Benny Elon is returning to the United States next week to continue his contact with evangelical Christians. Mr. Elon, a conservative member of the Israeli parliament, will be in Washington on Dec. 4 and then travel to Oklahoma to meet Gov. Brad Henry and address Jewish and Christian communities. In August, he visited several Southern states in what an aide called his "Bible Belt tour." "I am visiting the United States to continue to spread the message that tourists are continuing to visit [Israel]. While the 'road map' isn't working, our Jewish and Christian friends stand by us and continue to visit," he said, referring to the U.S.-backed Middle East peace plan that has been stalled.

[Piranha]

As SJackson noted on another thread, Israel's Tourism Minister, Benny Elon, is going to be in Washington, D.C. tomorrow, en route to Oklahoma.

Elon, of course, is the author of the famous Elon Plan proposal to solve Israel's dispute with Palestinian Arabs.

Since, according to Voice of America, "U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told a news conference in Morocco that he will meet with anyone who has ideas on achieving Middle East peace," it will be exciting to see Powell arrange to meet with Elon.

The VOA news article is at http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=452E398C-E76D-49A6-BC68BCCCEDDB1617.