New York-----United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington announced today that Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will address the 2001 General Assembly in Washington, DC November 9-13.

The Prime Minister will deliver an important message to the largest gathering of lay and professional Jewish communal leaders in the Diaspora, one he feels is essential to deliver at this time.
"United Jewish Communities welcomes Prime Minister Sharon to our annual gathering where Jews in the Diaspora will continue to demonstrate our unwavering solidarity and unity with the people of Israel," said UJC General Assembly Chairmen Sandy Baklor and Arlene Kaufman. "We are looking forward to an extremely important and memorable General Assembly."
Michael C. Gelman, president of The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, said, "We are particularly heartened that Prime Minister Sharon is coming to the nation's capital at this time to attend the General Assembly.
It highlights the importance and closeness of the relationship between the North American Jewish community and Israel and between the U.S. government and Israel. Since Sept. 11, it has really come home that, as one of my non-Jewish neighbors recently said, 'We are all Israelis now.'"

Due to the heightened security situation in Washington, DC, security measures for Sharon's speech and the entire General Assembly will be much tighter this year than in year's past.
For more information on the General Assembly or to register, please visit http://www.ujc.org/ga .

United Jewish Communities (UJC) represents 189 Jewish Federations and 400 independent communities across North America. Together, they demonstrate unparalleled philanthropic success. Last year, 700,000 people contributed
more than $826 million to the UJA Federation Annual Campaign and another $1.2 billion to endowment funds, capital campaigns, foundations and other special projects. UJC is a $2 billion annual enterprise that provides life-saving and
life-enhancing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and translates Jewish values into social action on behalf of millions of Jews in hundreds of communities in North America, in towns and villages throughout Israel, in the former Soviet Union, and 60 countries around the world.

ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY