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Moslem buys kosher hotel
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND (JCNS)—Brighton'* last remaining
tocher hotel, the King 1 *, he* been bought by ■ practicing Modem
for a reported £200,000. b win, however, continue to be run as a
strictly kosher hotel, supervised by a shooter. •
The new owner of the King’s Hold, 42-year-old Peter Bawa,
has been granted a license by the local kashrut commission.
Rabbi I. Fabricant, of the Brighton and How Hebrew
Congregation, said that he would rather have a tosher hotel run by
a Moslem than no kosher hotel in Brighton at alL
Bawa was born in Burma. He claims that his grandmother was
army officer (a Captain Wiffiame). Barn's mother
Mosteal in 1*34. She died in 1952.
Induction age may change
TEL AVIV (JTA)—The army is considering proposals to raise
the induction age from 18 to 19 or possibly 20. White military
sources stressed that the idea is far from being implemented and
must be studied for its implications with respect to manpower
needs. Chief of Staff Gen. Raphael Eytan appears to favor the
prospect -of older conscripts.
At a question and answer session with Boy Scouts in Haifa
today, Eytan noted that a higher induction age would allow
youngsters to finish high school and possibly a year or two of
university studies. They would enter the armed forces more mature
and with fewer adjustment problems. They would have an
opportunity before induction to contribute to socially productive
tasks such as neighborhood work and new town development, he
said.
Zimbabwe Jews ‘wait and see’
CAPE TOWN—Zimbabwe's Jewish community is waiting to
see how the political situation develops, following the victory of
Robert Mugabe in the independence election. >
Initially, the community was surprised by the election result. It
feels itself very much part of the white electorate and it has no
particular po)iti$al views,of its pnpq.
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the government will affect them in the same way at other white
people. ,. ,
According to the latest estimates, the number of Jews
remaining in Zimbabwe totals a little under 2,000.
If any decide to leave, it is understood that most would prefer to
go to a Western country rather than to Israel.
U.N. council defers vote
UNITED NATIONS (JTA)—The Security Council continued
its debate on Palestinian rights but will not vote on a resolution
endorsing an independent Palestinian state until July at the
earliest, it was learned here recently. The deferment, not officially
announced, was attributed to the threat of a U.S. veto and the
unwillingness of the Western European countries to support such a
resolution at this time.
Sources here explained that the European members,
including France, decided not to endorse the Palestinian statehood
resolution pending the outcome of President Carter’s-meetings
with President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin in Washington later this month and the progress
of the autonomy talks up to the May 26 target date.
Austria sells Saudis guns
VIENNA (JCNS>—Less than a week after Dr. Bruno Kreisky,
the Austrian Chancellor, solemnly declared that Austria could not
buy Kfir jets from Israel because it was a country at war, Austria
agreed to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.
Austria had at one time shown considerable interest in the
Israeli-designed fighter-interceptor, which is powered by an
American-supplied jet engine.
Foreign tales of the Kfir have been hampered by American
regulations which forbid the re-export of military equipment.
According to the terms of the Austro-Saudi aoreement
by Otto Rocsch, Austria’s defense mioiaMr,
during a visit to Jeddah, the Saudis wiR buy anti-aircraft guns and
Definition of ‘refugee’
dauses Israeli concern
The Saudis have ateo agreed to test a newly designed Austrian
light I
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by Joseph Poiakoff
WASHINGTON-The small
cloud hovering over relationships
between Israelis and American
specialists concerned for Soviet
Jewry has grown larger and
perhapa darker. The heart of a new
facet of the controversy, long the
cause of discussion, is whether
under a new U.S. law a Soviet Jew
equipped with an Israeli visa
becomes a “refugee” when he
arrives in Vienna and out of Soviet
Government control.
Americans say the designation is
unimportant and meaningless;
Israelis see it as politically,
demographically and psycho
logically significant. In
conversations with the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency. Israelis and
Americans agree that the matter is
not maim-in U.S.-Israe! policy hut
nevertheless Prime Minister
Menachem Begin, prodded by
Israeli immigration officials, may
take it up with President Carter in
their talks here April 15 and 16. it
is a principal topic forthe National
Conference of Soviet Jewry at
meetings here that precede and
partly overlap the Carter-Begin
sessions.
The Refugee Act of 1980 Which
President Carter signed March 18
has precipitated the latest
discussions between Israelis who
want the Soviet
Israelis, are eager to
Jews from oblivion in the Soviet
Union but ate prepared to see that
they have a free choice of the
country in which they will live once
they leave the USSR.
Over the next four or five
months, the U.S. Department of
Health, Education and Welfare
will write the regulations to carry
out the law for the various refugee
programs now in effect. “Well try
to keep the programs the same as
they are now and basically with no
change,” one Jewish communal
official involved said.
The act was sponsored by such
pro-Israelis as Reps. Peter Rodino
(D. N.J.) and Elizabeth Holtzman
(D. N Y.) and Senator Ted
Kennedy (D. Mass.), Chairman of
the Senate Judiciary Committee. It
has the backing of both the Carter
Administration and Jewish
organizations. Competent sources
gt the House Judiciary Committee,
of which Rodino is chairman add
Holtzman the head of its
subcommittee on Immigration,
Refugees and International Law,
say the new law “does not change
the Soviet Jewish program one
whit” and has “no intent to change
it.” ♦
Other officials at the White
House, Use State Department, the
Washington office of the Council
of Jewish Federations and the
National Conference on Soviet
Jewry tooktbe sane position, “It’s
a tempest Idr-p teapot,**' one
specialist remarked about the
discumion. Israeli sources here
echoetfMi assessment, one laying
“It’s blown way out of proportion
to its significance. It is not one of
the important things the Prime
Minister has to discuss with the
president.”
When Don Maccaby, counsel
for the Federations Council, was
asked if the law would encourage
Soviet Jews arriving in Vienna on
the strength of Israeli visas to
decide to go to the U.S., as some
Israelis believe, Maccaby replied:
“the answer is an unqualified no.”
“For anyone to assume the new
legislation provides much greater
financial incentives for a refugee to
come to the U.S. is misreading the
law and does not properly
understand the history of the
program,” Maccaby said.
Margaret Carpenter, assistant
coordinator to Victor Palmieri, the
U.S. Coordinator for Refugee
Affairs in the State Department,
emphasized “the act changes
nothing with respect to Soviet
Jmw. gtoedHtewourtw
assistance available to refugees.
The assistance provides special
services for refugees to become
economically self-supporting such
as job training and job counselling
and English language training.
Refugees are entitled to Medicare
and cash assistance and other
forms of public assistance
available to any other American
resident who meets the eligibility
criteria for public assistance.”
I*All U.S. form* of assistance are
seen as a last resort where private
volunquy agencies sqch as H1AS
(Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society)
are unable to meet refugees' needs.
This is the same system we have
always had. It doesn’t change a
thing in the refugees’ access to
these services and there are no new
financial incentives,” Carpenter
said.
In Israel, the view is that Israel
issues visas to Soviet Jews who
then get exit permits from Soviet
authorities on the basis that they
are emigrating to Israel to join
brethren and kinsmen. Unlike the
U.S., the Soviet identifies Jews as a
nationality and Israel as the
country of the Jews. t
Last year, out of some 50,000
Jews who arrived in Vienna, the
first step after emigrating from the
Soviet Union, about 17,000—roughly
one-third—went to Israel to live.
The others decided to go
lands consider the
Carpenter observed that the
definition of a refugee in the-new
law has international standing and
is in the United Nations* annals. It
reads: “A person outside his own
country who is unable or unwilling
to return because of a well-
founded fear of persecution on
account of race, religion,
nationality, membership in a
particular social group or political
opinion.”
“A second part of the law, that is
not part of the U.N. definition,”
Carpenter said, “extends the
definition to persons still within
their country of origin and who
have a similar well-founded fear of
political persecution. This, in only
special circumstances, is to be
determined by the president in
consultation with the Congress.”
I “The implication” of this part
for Soviet Jews, Carpenter said Js
that “once they go to Israel they
acquire Israeli nationality and
.therefore no longer qualify
because they do not have fear of
political persecution in their
country of nationality.”
“W* support freedom of
^emigration and freedom of
choice,” Carpenter said. “We do
* not encourage people to come
here. This is absolutely untrue. The
law doesn’t mention anyone from
any part Of the world."
“The law now provides a
uniform ■ method of federal
reimbursement to the state and
local governments for their costs of
providing assistance regardless of
their country of origin. It does not
eskMtUlr change the kind of
mtmam
refugees and facilitates their say in
the U.S., including possible
subsidization of H1AS activities.
A Soviet Jew with an Israeli visa
is not a refugee, according to Arye
Dulzin, chairman of the World
Zionist Executive. -He has been
reported as saying that it is an
affront to the dignity and essence
of Israel to label a refugee a Jew
with a visa for Israel who was
entitled to instant citizenship on
arrival in Israel. In effect, the
question becomes: “Is a Jew with
an Israeli visa a refugee?"
Another factor, which some
Israelis and Americans concerned
with the problem foresee, is
whether the Soviet government
will in the-current state of Soviet-
American tensions continue to
turn a blind eye towards the
emigration of Jews who are
granted exit visas for Israel but
whose intention is to live in the
United States.
A factor also is whether
American organizations will
continue to function in centers for
Soviet Jews in Vienna and
Rome—some Jews go to Rome on
the way to countries other ttuin
Israel—should the Israelis insfct
that visas provided by them mean
Jews are obliged to go to Israel.
Tests that may arise are whether
the definition of refugee in the law
should apply to Soviet Jews and
whether a Soviet Jew can live for as
long as a year in Israel and than,
upon arriving in the U.S., receive
the U.S. benefits accorded a
PAGE 5 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE April 11, 1989