Με αυτό το μήνυμα, στα Εβραϊκά, μας αποχαιρετά ο Πρέσβης του Ισραήλ στην Αθήνα Arye Mekel, που είχε κατά γενική ομολογία όσων συνεργάστηκαν μαζί του, μια πολύ δημιουργική θητεία. Άλλωστε, τα κυριότερα σημεία αυτής, τα..
επισημαίνει εν είδει απολογισμού της θητείας του και ο ίδιος στην επιστολή του, που δημοσιεύεται στο Shalom Athens. Δείτε την:
Dear Friends,
The Bible states "a generation goes and a generation comes." This piece of age-old wisdom applies to every field of human activity. It is my time to leave Greece. This June 2014 Edition of "Shalom Athens," will be the last one with me as the Ambassador. I will be ending my term at the end of the month and returning to Israel.
After working for twenty years as a journalist and serving for another thirty in the Foreign Ministry, I was given the tremendous privilege of becoming Ambassador of Israel to Athens. I was able to contribute to the development of relations between Greece and Israel as they blossomed from those of two neighbors with great promise to strategic partners in the East Mediterranean.
The process began in 2010 with the exchange of visits of the Prime Ministers of Greece and Israel at the time, Mr. George Papandreou and Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu. It was then promoted even further by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras along with his coalition partner, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Mr. Evangelos Venizelos.
The amazing thing is that Greek-Israeli relations flourished while both Greece and Israel faced tremendous challenges. These included the economic crisis in Greece, two interim governments, two general Greek parliamentary elections and elections in Israel.
As such, the improvement in our bilateral ties has been even more remarkable. It has included the following developments:
Politics: There was an unprecedented volume of high level political visits between the two states. These included 40 visits of Israeli and Greek Ministers and Deputy Ministers to Athens and Jerusalem respectively (Foreign Affairs, Defense, Public Security, Energy, Tourism, Agriculture, et al.). The President of the Hellenic Republic, Mr. Karolos Papoulias carried out a visit to Israel in 2011, whereas the President of Israel, Mr. Shimon Peres, reciprocated with a historic visit to Athens in 2012.
The crowning moment in political contacts was the High Level Greek – Israeli Government to Government Council (G2G) in October 2013 when Premier Antonis Samaras traveled to Israel with seven cabinet Ministers to be hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership. Ten agreements were signed.
Defense: The defense establishments of Israel and Greece have developed very close cooperation that includes constant high level visits and joint military exercises. The Greek Minister of National Defense, Mr. Dimitris Avramopoulos and the Chief of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, General Mikhail Kostarakos visited Israel in December 2013. In fact, our defense exchanges have reached a stage that Jerusalem will be sending a Defense Attache to the Israeli Embassy in Greece this summer for the first time.
Culture: Our cultural ties are literally flourishing. There are constant visits of world famous Israeli authors, filmmakers, musicians, dancers, artists, etc. to Greece. Major Israeli writers like Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua and David Grossman visited Greece in recent years. There is an annual Israeli film festival in Athens organized by the Embassy of Israel and the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation. Many works of Israeli writers and filmmakers have become favorites among Greek readers and audiences. Greek musical icons like George Dalaras, Haris Alexiou, Glykeria and Maria Farandouri are beloved in Israel and perform to sell- out crowds in venues there.
The defining moment in our cultural ties took place this year as Israel was the "Guest of Honor" at the Thessaloniki International Book Fair in May. World renowned Israeli writers like Etgar Keret, Zeruya Shalev, Eyal Megged and Fania Oz Salzberger participated along with a plethora of artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and academics. It was truly a historic event demonstrating the deep ties of friendship between Greece and Israel in the cultural realm.
Energy and the Environment: Greece and Israel are continuing their high level deliberations for cooperation in the field of natural gas. The planning also includes Cyprus. Israeli companies have expressed an interest in carrying out exploration for natural gas in Greek territorial waters through official channels with Greek partners. A Greek company recently applied for a license to conduct research for natural gas in Israel. In August 2013, the responsible Ministers of Israel, Greece and Cyprus signed a Declaration in Nicosia in support of the EurAsia Interconnector, an ambitious project that will connect the electricity grids of all three states. More recently, the Environment Ministers of Israel, Greece and Cyprus met and declared their support for an agreement on the protection of the Mediterranean maritime environment.
Parliamentary Diplomacy: There is a large Greek-Israeli Friendship Committee in the Hellenic Parliament comprised of over 30 MPs from five different political parties (New Democracy, SYRIZA, PASOK, DIMAR, ANEL). Its President is MP Kostas Karagounis of New Democracy. There are constant visits of Greek and Israeli Parliamentarians to Israel and Greece respectively.
Tourism and Entrepreneurship: Greece has become a major tourism destination for Israel. 400,000 Israeli tourists visited Greece in 2013, flocking to islands like Rhodes, Kos and Crete on direct charter flights. There now are direct cruises to Thessaloniki, a city of special historic importance to the Jewish people.
Several major steps have been taken to further promote business between Greece and Israel. These include the signing of cooperation agreements between the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Technology (EVEA) with the Greek-Israeli and Israeli – Greek Chambers of Commerce. A major Israel-Greece Business Forum with the participation of over 200 Israeli and Greek entrepreneurs took place in Tel Aviv on the sidelines of the G2G. The Israeli Yozma Organization signed agreements with the Greek Ministry of Development and published a report on how to promote innovation and start-up enterprises in Greece.
Recently, representatives of the Israel-Europe R&D Directorate (ISERD) and the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT) met to select the parties that will participate in joint R&D projects following a Call for Proposals issued by the Office of the Chief Scientist in Israel and the GSRT.
Israeli companies are participating in some major Greek privatization projects, including the tender for the Thessaloniki Water & Sewerage Company (EYATH).
Public Security and Civil Protection: Israel and Greece have greatly enhanced their cooperation in the fields of public security and civil protection. This includes the excellent ties that have developed between the Israeli and Greek Fire Brigades. In fact, the Chief of the Greek Fire Service, Lt. General Vasilis Papageorgiou visited Israel in March whereas his Israeli counterpart, Mr. Schahar Ayalon, reciprocated the visit at the beginning of this month.
Academia: There are an unprecedented number of exchanges between Israeli and Greek Universities and academics in wide variety of fields including science, international relations, medicine, etc. Israeli Professors participate in all kinds of academic conferences in Greece. The Israeli Embassy in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, has been offering scholarships to Greek students on a yearly basis.
Diaspora: The vast improvement in Greek-Israeli ties has also extended to include cooperation between Greek and Jewish Diaspora organizations abroad, particularly in the US. The heads of major Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee and the European Jewish Congress often visit Greece and meet with the political leadership. A Greece – Israeli Caucus has also been established in the US Congress by representatives of Greek and Jewish origin with the aim of strengthening ties between Israel, Greece and Cyprus and their Diaspora organizations in the United States.
These remarkable achievements did not emerge from thin air, but were the result of hard work. I want to take the opportunity to convey a special thanks to my tireless embassy staff and all our Greek partners without whom none of them would have been possible. I also want to thank my wife, Ruth, who was very active staging civic events with several groups including women's organizations.
Looking back at my term in Greece, I am overwhelmed by mixed feelings of both satisfaction and sorrow. On the one hand, I leave knowing that a strong foundation has been created in Greek-Israeli relations. On the other, Ruth and I are departing from a country we have grown to love. Its unparalleled beauty, history, culture, people and all the great friends we have made will remain forever in our hearts. That is why I have decided to continue to work to promote relations between our two states in any way I can in the future. I am therefore not saying goodbye, but will conclude with the following Greek and Hebrew phrases:
Efcharisto poly gia tin filia sas (Thank you very much for your friendship)
Shalom Yedidim ve leetrahot! (Farewell friends, until we meet again!)
Best regards,
ARYE MEKEL
Ambassador
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