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PM, American donors working out JA compromise
By Nir Hasson

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is working out a compromise with American donors to the Jewish Agency that will enable former minister Natan Sharansky to chair the organization and the approval of most of the reforms the donors want.

The organization is holding its annual assembly in Jerusalem this week, and its Board of Governors will vote on the reforms today. The main issue is whether to separate the Jewish Agency from the World Zionist Organization, which founded it 80 years ago.
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The proposal has stirred up controversy within the agency and led to a confrontation with Netanyahu. The American donors behind the reform want to end the tradition by which the prime minister recommends one person who chairs both the agency and the World Zionist Organization.

Despite Sharansky's past and popularity, the donors want him to go through the accepted election process after the reforms are approved.

A senior Jewish Agency official said the reform is the product of years of work, and that the process cannot be changed solely on account of the chairman's handing-off.

Under the agreement in the works, the Americans will accept Sharansky as chairman of both the Jewish Agency and the WZO for a limited period. Afterward, he will step down from the latter post.

Rabbi Richard Hirsch, chairman of the Zionist General Council and a fierce opponent of the reform, said the uniqueness of the Jewish Agency lies in its blend of Israeli politics and American volunteerism, and that it would be a mistake to destroy that link.

Netanyahu took an unprecedented step for an Israeli prime minister, and canceled his speech to the Board of Governors this week.

However, the Prime Minister's Bureau shelved a letter to the chairman of the Board of Governors, Richard Pearlstone, after deciding it was worded too harshly.
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