Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., June 22, 2009 Sivan 30, 5769 | | Israel Time: 01:28 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File
Share |
U.S. survivors to Clinton: Name neutral claims delegate
By Cnaan Liphshiz

The United States should follow Israel's example and replace its top delegate to the Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets later this month for fear of "conflicting interests," American survivors on Friday told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The survivors explained that attorney Stuart Eizenstat should be replaced as the U.S. representative because of his position with the Claims Conference - the world's richest restitution body, which has been accused of irregularities.
Advertisement

Last week the Foreign Ministry appointed Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein as Israel's chief negotiator to Prague, in place of Reuven Merhav, a Claims Conference official. Merhav will be stay on as Israel's number-two man. The switch came after Israeli survivors and NGOs complained of "a conflict of interest."

The Claims Conference (its full name is the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany), a U.S.-based NGO, has been accused of unjustly withholding from survivors and heirs funds it has collected on their behalf, charges that are currently under review by a Knesset committee of inquiry. Merhav, a former Mossad and Foreign Ministry official, has categorically denied the truth of such claims. He said "some people sometimes attack" his organization "to vent frustrations."

The Foreign Ministry described the June 26-30 Prague event - which is intended to review the restitution of looted Jewish property, and is to be attended by representatives from 50 countries - as "the last opportunity to set up a program to reclaim looted assets." Poland, Ukraine and other countries have so far resisted paying out compensation for heirless Jewish property, whose value is estimated in the tens of billions of dollars.

"The issue of having a Claims Conference man as the official head of a national government delegation has already been addressed and resolved by the Government of Israel," David Schaecter, president of the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, wrote to Clinton. "It is unthinkable that the U.S. would hold itself to a lesser standard."

"We are very upset," said Leo Rechter, 81, the Foundation's secretary. Rechter, who survived the Holocaust in hiding in Brussels, added that survivors had "no confidence" in either the Claims Conference or Eizenstat, a former deputy secretary of the Treasury.

A spokesperson for the Claims Conference, which to date has allotted some $70 billion in German reparation fees to Holocaust survivors and Jewish organizations, declined to comment on the letter. The State Department, which announced Eizenstat's nomination to Prague last month, has also not yet replied to the letter.
PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
Bookmark to del.icio.us  
 
Bombing Iran
How do recent protests change Israel's military option against Iran's nukes?
Deadly Tehran protests
Mousavi urges Iranians to continue rallies after 17 protestors die
Special Offers
Advertisement
hotel Jerusalem
David Citadel Hotel, come stay at the finest of Jerusalem hotels.
ISRAEL ARMY SURPLUS STORE
IDF insignia,Uniforms, Paladium Boots Watches, Israel Army T-shirts & Collectibles
Dead Sea Skin Care
Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
Eldan Rent a Car
Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
Junkyard
Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
More Headlines
22:55 Mousavi defends 'right' to protest, after 17 die in Iran
21:28 Netanyahu: World wants free Iran, too soon to predict change
23:24 West demands Iran recount; Ahmadinejad: Don't meddle
19:24 Two dozen Iran journalists, bloggers arrested since elections
14:12 Iran interactive - images, videos and Tweets from the streets
18:44 Yemeni Jews arrive in Israel on covert Jewish Agency mission
00:01 U.S. road cleaned by neo-Nazis could be renamed for rabbi
21:19 Palestinian sets Guinness record for world largest knafeh
20:58 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
20:14 Mossad chief kept on for another year to monitor Iran
22:11 Israelis and Palestinians 'hug' Jerusalem for peace
09:40 ANALYSIS / Mousavi testing how far he can take Iran protests
20:17 Quarry dating to time of Jesus discovered near Jericho
14:37 Barak: Regional talks better than bilateral negotiations with PA
17:46 Druze rally against 'state discrimination' near Netanyahu office
Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
| Israel 2009 election results | Makom: Engaging on Israel
| Search engine marketing
Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
© Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved