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News Briefs
Let NudeI emigrate!
* / WASHINGTON (JTA)—A resolution was approved in the
House of Representatives last week urging the Soviet Union to
if allow Ida Nudcl to emigrate to Israel to join her husband and sister
there. The resolution, which was recently introduced by Rep.
Edward Stack (D.Fla), passed unanimously on a voice vote,
ft A similar resolution was also introduced in the Senate by
f§ Senators Harrison A Williams Jr. (D.NJ) and Charles Percy
ff (R.II1), who is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
■»
Iranian Jews home in Israel
n
KIAMESHA LAKE, N Y. (JTA) Leon Dulzin, chairman of
J? the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency Executives,
| revealed here last week that some 15,000 Jews from Iran have
,j reached Israel since the takeover of that country by the Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini.
Addressing the biennial convention of the United Synagogue of
America here, Dulzin also said that every effort through
diplomatic channels was being made to “rescue the more than
|f 25,000 Jews of Ethiopia, all of whom wish to emigrate to Israel,”
f* but the effort is being frustrated by the unwillingness of the
Ethiopian authorities to even discuss the matter.
Fruit forecast down
TEL AVIV (JTA)—A severe shortage of fruit pickers, sorters
and packers is threatening to make this year’s citrus harvest much
worse than a year ago, when $20 million worth of fruit was not ,
harvested because of lack of manpower.
This was the dismal forecast sounded by Eliahu Izakson,
president of the Farmers Federation. He estimated that because
laborers from Sinai cannot join the harvest this year, the force will
be short some 3.000 workers or about one-fourth the number
needed. Izakson emphasized that he understood the government’s
position against foreign laborers into the country. But, he said, if :
he had to choose between allowing foreign laborers in, he preferred
the following option. He said there is a possibility that the shortage
of manpower could be made up by allowing high school pupils,
office workers and pensioners to work. Special arrangements
would have to be made to encourage women, office workers and
pensioners to work in the groves, he said.
USSR clears Syria’s debts
PARIS (ZINS)—The Soviet Union has written off Syrian
debts totaling $500 million as a result of President Assad’s recent
visit, according to an Arabic-language journal published in Paris.
Quoting Arab diplomatic sources in Moscow, the independent Al
Mustaqbal said that Moscow, in addition to canceling the debts
and supplying Syria with new tanks and planes, has sent battlefield
missiles of the types known in the West as Scud and Frog and
advanced electronic jamming equipment for use against enemy
planes.
Economic slowdown in Israel
JERUSALEM (JTA) The government Monday announced
a spate of immediate economic measures which will mean in effect
a deliberate slowdown of the economy and an austerity regime
affecting every Israeli household. On the national level there is to
be a tight credit squeeze, and a halt to government development
projects, including the building of new schools and hospitals.
On the level of the family budget, milk and milk products will
rise in price by 100 percent, public transport by 50 percent,
electricity by nearly 40 percent and postal services by 30 percent.
An oil price hike is also expected imminently which will set off a
new chain of price rises throughout the economy.
Neo-Nazi canard rejected
NEW YORK (JTA) A recent decision by the West German
Supreme Court flatly rejected the canard circulated by neo-Nazi
elements that the Holocaust was a fraud and stated specifically that
it was, in fact, a part of the consciousness of Jews and entitled them
to special regard and respect from their fellow citizens. It is
considered a landmark decision.
i
No win situation?
Linowitz settling in
by Wolf Blitzer
WASHINGTON-Both are
rich and powerful lawyers, active
Democratic Party politicians and
Jewish, but Robert Strauss and
Sol Linowitz, in action, are like
day and night.
Linowitz, who was named by
President Jimmy Carter to succeed
Strauss as the Special U.S.
Ambassador for the Middle East,
does not have Strauss’ bravado or
chutzpah. He is a much more soft-
spoken person. And combined
with his previously excellent
diplomatic experience at the State
Department as Ambassador to the
Organization of American States
and Special Negotiator for the
Panama Canal Treaty, Linowitz
is unlikely to rile Secretary of State
Cyrus Vance and other senior
State Department officials, as was
the clear case with Strauss.
Strauss, the fast-talking Texan
whose disdain for the State
Department was apparent from
the day he embarked on the
Middle East assignment, is leaving
the diplomatic arena to head
Carter’s re-election campaign.
In a telephone conversation,
Linowitz told me he was looking
forward to his new job. He hoped
to complete the transition by the
end of the month. Understand
ably, he did not want to get into a
discussion of the details of the
Palestinian autonomy negotia
tions. He was just beginning to
receive the necessary briefings.
Significantly, Linowitz was
already spending time in a seventh
floor State Department office, just
down the hall from Vance. Strauss
never felt comfortable in the State
Department, always preferring to
work out of the Old Executive
Office Building next door to the
White House.
Strauss did use the State
Department’s press room once to
hold a news conference just prior
to one of his swings through the
Middle East. As usual, he bantered
and joked with reporters. “There
was laughter in that building,” he
said to me afterwards at the main
diplomatic entrance, waiting for
his limousine to pull up “That’s
probably the first time they’ve ever
laughed there." That was typical of
his entire attitude toward the State
Department.
The former chairman of the
Democratic National Committee
conceded that the feeling was
probably mutual. Based on my
discussions with State Department
officials, it was.
Linowitz, on the other hand, will
fall much more in line with the
State Department bureaucracy.
Unlike Strauss, he feefc comfortable
with them. He comes into the
Middle East negotiations with
considerable diplomatic experi
ence, even if his particular
expertise on the nuances of the
Arab-lsraeli conflict is limited.
“1 personally know Sol Linowitz
well," Egyptian Ambassador
Ashraf Ghorhal said. "We have had
frequent contacts over the past few
years and have developed a close
friendship. I feel Sol Linowitz has
no bias."
But some U.S. officials are
uncertain how the other Arabs will
react to the second straight
American Jew selected for the key
assignment. These officials recall
that last July, President Carter
told a few selected reporters at a
White House dinner that many
American Jewish leaders
supported his Middle East
policies. He cited two names:
Robert Strauss and Sol Linowitz.
Certainly, that type of comment
docs not do much to strengthen
either Strauss or Linowitz in the
Arab world. And State
Department Middle East experts
fear that it merely reinforces Arab
suspicions of U.S. intentions.
But there’s no denying that one
of the reasons that Carter selected
Linowitz was because of his
perceived good relations with the
American Jewish leadership.
Linowitz is a top-notch diplomat
who comes into the negotiations
with as much clout as Strauss. And
as such. Carter's personal
determination to pursue the
autonomy negotiations is signalled
to everyone in the Middle East.
Yet Linowitz is a Jew. and that
was also an important qualifica
tion for President Carter and his
senior political aides. “One eye on
the negotiations; the other on the
presidential elections." one political
observer here commented.
Linowitz certainly realizes that
he has his work cut out for him.
Strauss eventually began to
conclude that the job represented a
no-win situation for him. He lost
patience because of the slow,
dragging pace. Linowitz. on the
other hand, seems to be a much
more patient man.
Avner The Eccentric
a silent, one man vaudeviUkm
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Monday, Dec. 10, 1979 * SHOWCASE CABARET * Ansley Mall
TWO PERFORMANCES 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
I’ V I ROW '25 (ri'senrd sealing)
Call 634-7388 or 636-8462
lor reservations
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f
Page 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE November 23, 1979