Tel Aviv Agreement Opens Door to Return of Israeli Journalists to IFJ Membership

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the National Federation of Israel Journalists (NFIJ) have reached an agreement to end a split between the two groups.

An agreement on a package of measures to improve relations, including a proposal to end a dispute over non-payment of fees to the international, was reached in talks in Tel Aviv on Monday evening.

"A damaging and difficult period is behind us," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "Both sides are committed to work together to bring Israeli journalists back into the centre of IFJ work."

The meeting was attended by leaders of two major journalists' unions in Europe, including Franco Siddi, General Secretary of the Federazione Nazionale Della Stampa Italiana, who with the support of the Deutscher Journalisten Verband called for mediation between the two sides after the NFIJ was expelled by the IFJ in June.

"The atmosphere was frank and honest but always in the best spirit of unionism," said White. "We are agreed to put the bickering of the past months behind us and start a new phase of co-operation."

Among the proposals that will be put before IFJ leaders for endorsement by the Federation's Executive Committee which meets in London later this month are:

· An annual meeting between IFJ and NFIJ leaders to review and monitor relations;

· An invitation to Israeli journalists to join a meeting of Mediterranean journalists' unions to be held in Sardinia next year;

· Organisation of a seminar in Israel to discuss the IFJ's Ethical Journalism Initiative, the global campaign for standards in media;

· Fresh engagement of Israeli journalists in the industrial work of the IFJ's European section, the European Federation of Journalists;