Newspaper Page Text
SCLC rapped
Blum, Lowery hit head-to-head
by Yitzhak Rabi
NEW YORK (JTA)—Israel
made clear Tuesday to a delegation
of black leaders representing the
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) that “the
terrorist PLO” which “is bent on
the destruction of Israel” will not
be accepted by Israel as a partner
in the Middle East peace
negotiations.
Yehuda Blum, Israel’s
Ambassador to the United
Nations, told the black leaders
during a two-and-a-half hour
meeting at the Israel Mission that
any encouragement to the
Palestine Liberation Organiza
tion, as given Monday by the black
leaders, “could only discourage the
peace process” currently taking
place in the Middle East Blum
referred to a statement made by
Joseph E. Lowery, president of the
SCLC, after he and an SCLC
delegation met with Zehdi Labib
Terzi, the PLO observer at the
U.N., in which Lowery declared
support for Palestinian “self-
determination.”
In a press conference after
Tuesday’s meeting, Blum said he
“expressed regret that Lowery
made the statement before
listening to both sides." Blum said
that he explained to the black
leaders Israel’s willingness to
conduct negotiations with Egypt,
Jordan and the Palestinians in
Judaea and Samaria and that the
PLO is not a partner for
negotiations.
As to the issue that prompted
the involvement of the black
leadership in the Middle East
question, namely the resignation
of Andrew Young as U.S.
Ambassador to the U.N., the
Israeli envoy said that he explained
to the black leaders that Israel is
concerned about a shift in U.S.
policy and that the issue is not one
of a personality or race.
Blum added, in response to a
question, that Israel protested
other contacts by U.S. diplomats
with PLO officials, such as the
meetings Ambassador Milton
Wolf had in Vienna, but those
protests, Blum maintained, “were
submerged because of the Young
furor.”
During the meeting, Blum said,
the black leaders brought up the
question of Israel’s diplomatic and
economic ties with South Africa.
Blum said he told the leaders that
the issue was blown out of
proportion, noting that Israeli
trade with South Africa amounted
to only two-fifths of one percent of
South Africa’s total foreign trade
and that many Black African
countries trade with South Africa
on a much larger scale than Israel.
In a separate press conference
following Blum’s press conference,
Lowery said that his delegation
communicated “the concern of
black Americans aboqt Israel’s
relations with South Africa.”
When confronted with Blum’s
assertion that Israel's trade with
South Africa was only marginal,
and that many African countries
traded with South Africa, Lowery
said that “it is irrelevant what other
black countries do” with South
Africa because while the survival
of those African countries is
dependent on their trade with
South Africa, Israel’s survival is
not.
Lowery said that Israel, by
trading with South Africa, gave
dignity to a nation of apartheid.
According to the black leader, his
delegation reiterated its support
“of the nationhood of Israel and
human rights of all Israelis,” and,
at the same
Blum
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Lowery also said t...
delegation stressed to Blum its
belief in non-violence as the means
of achieving peace in the Middle
East. Blum, in his press
conference, said that his response
to the black non-violence message
was it is “ridiculous to equate us
with the PLO” and that this
equation is like equating the
criminal and the police.
The Southern Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
Our 55th Year
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, August 24, 1979
No. 34
Zaban
Morris
Dedication of
Zaban Branch:
‘The Big Event’
by Vida Goldgar
Sunday’s ribbon cutting and
dedication of the new Zaban
Branch of the Atlanta Jewish
Community Center has been billed
as a “total community happening”
and if the turnout approaches that
at the groundbreaking last year, it
should come pretty close.
rhe 38,000 square foot building,
together with the outdoor facilities
of Zaban Park’s 44-acre tract
provides a complete family
recreation center. Sunday's
festivities include informal tours.
The four official "ribbon
cutters" are representative of the
broad scope of Center involve
ment. Pete Morris, president ol
the AJCC, and Erwin Zaban,
whose philanthropic contributions
have been matched by hundreds of
hours of his personal time and
attention to detail, are two of the
ribbon cutters. Representing the
generational span of those for
whom the Center provides
activities and facilities will be
Allison Fine, not yet three years
old. and Nora Stahlman, president
of the AJCC Senior Adults.
Ilarrv Maziar is chairman of the
dedication committee and will
introduce the dignitaries
attending. At press time, these
include Sen Herman Talmadge;
DeKalb County Commission
Chairman Walt Russell; DeKalb
County District One Commission
er William Williams; Richard
Hicks, executive director of the
United Way; and Henry Birnbrey,
vice president of the Atlanta
Jewish Federation.
I he ceremonies will open with
presentation of colors and singing
of the United States and Israeli
See Dedication page 20
Does ‘Big Four’ mean
four different policies?
by Joseph PolakofT
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The
Carter Administration's “Big
Four” on Middle Eastern affairs
presented the President with a set
of recommendations on the United
States’ course in the Arab-lsraeli
situation Tuesday although there
still seemed to be confusion over
who was in charge of American
Mideast policy.
Vice President Walter Mondale,
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance,
National Security Advisor
Zbigniew Brzezinski and Special
Ambassador to the Mideast
Robert Strauss decided on the
recommendations at a three-hour
meeting at the White House and
then said they telephoned them to
Carter, who is cruising on the
Mississippi River
The recommendations were not
disclosed when Vance and Strauss
met the press after the meeting.
Vance, who interrupted a vacation
at Martha’s Vineyard for the
meeting, said that Strauss’
conversations with Israeli Prime
Minister Menachem Begin and
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
over the weekend "have led to new
insights." He said the four leaders
"have come to a unanimous
recommendation" for the
President.
Strauss said that the four
Administration leaders “had very
little difficulty" in coming "to some
general conclusion, not only with
respect to the recommendations
we would make to the President,
but possibly far more important,
beginning to put in place and
continue to put in place and firm
up an overall Middle East peace
strategy." Strauss added that
“among the things we decided
upon" was that he would return to
the Mideast following the Sadat-
Begin meeting in Haifa early in
September
When Vance was asked “who is
in charge of Middle East policy,”
he replied that it has “always been
the responsibility of the Secretary
of State and remains the
responsibility of the Secretary of
State. Bob (Strauss) is in charge of
the peace negotiations."
Strauss, who has consistently
said that he is in charge of
negotiating an Arab-lsraeli
settlement, consulting as necessary
with Carter and Vance, was asked
if Vance’s statement bothered him
He sidestepped the question and
the news conference ended
Meanwhile, news reports from
the Delta Queen riverboat bearing
the President's party, said that
Presidential News Secretary Jody
Powell declared that Mondale is in
charge of Middle East policy. “1
am authorized to say that the
President has asked the Vice
President to be responsible for any
questions or problems that arise in
the larger area of the Middle East,"
Powell said.
Carter, himself, when he was
asked to comment on statements
by resigned Ambassador Andrew
Young, said the question should be
referred to Mondale. The State
Department pointed out later
Tuesday that “ultimately" the policy is
the responsibility of the President.
Strauss, who returned home
from the Mideast Monday night,
told reporters aboard his plane
that his mission to Israel and Egypt
was “not good.” His aides in
Washington were quoted as saying
that Strauss was opposed to the
U.S. offering its ow n resolution on
Palestinian rights for the Security
Council debate scheduled for this
Thursday, but was given written
instructions on this just before he
boarded the plane for Israel last
week |
Strauss reportedly believed that
a U.S. resolution would worsen
relations with Israel but he had no
chance to argue the point with the
See Big F our page 20