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PAGE 4 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE January 15. 1982 The Southern Israelite The Weekly Hew\p*per lor Southern lewry litibliihed 1925 Vida Goldgar Editor and Publisher (iambi Jo Eaton Assistant Editor Luna 1-tfvy Copy Editor L eonard Goldstein Advertising Director Esc hoi A. Harrell Production Manager Published eoery Inday by The Southern Israelite, Inc. Set and Class Postage paid at Atlanta, Ga (ISSN 00388) (UPS 776060) Mailing Address PC) Box 77388, Atlanta, Georgia 30357 Location 188 15th St.NW Phone (404) 876 8248 Advertising rates available upon request Subscriptions: $20 00, 1 year; $35 00, 2 years Member ol Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Religious News Service American Jewish Press Assn Georgia Press Assn National Newspaper Assn The Southern Israelite A Prize Winning Newspaper 1980 1981 Better Newspaper Contests ERA, yes! It appears to be now or never for the Equal Rights Amendment in Georgia. The issue is expected to be brought to a vote in the General Assembly early next week. Opponents of the amendment, the very vocal and well- organized STOP ERA faction, have spread a lot of misconceptions about what ERA is all about. A pamphlet prepared by the American Jewish Committee and the National Council of Jewish Women, two of a number of Jewish organizations which have been fighting for ratification, sums up inequities in Georgia law which have the effect of leaving a wife legally unprotected and dependent upon her husband’s generosity. The Equal Rights Amendment is incredibly simple. Section one reads. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Section two gives Congress the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, provisions of the article. Section three provides for the amendment to take effect two years after the date of ratification. That’s it. It does not mean that women and men are the same; only that the law cannot treat them differently solely because of their sex. ERA applies to government action, not to private action. The Southern Israelite fully supports passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and urges readers to do the same. Time is running out. It may be too late to write your state legislators but there is still time for a phone call A message can be left at the state capitol, 659-1100. LESSON FORJNED/W murder - t ibera tioai TERROR = PATRIOTISM QUER/LLA - FREEDOM fiqhter x Vida Goldgar Neither sleet nor snow As I write this, it is midnight Wednesday. Outside my window in the Admiral Benbow Inn, a few cars move carefully up Spring Street and ease gently into Peachtree. Last night the view was different. Spring Street’s fourlanes were part of the city-wide parking lot that was Atlanta. In the lobby, dozens of shivering souls waited hopefully for rooms. For most, the wait was to no avail. Throughout the night, the Benbow lobby, like other hotels and public buildings, was shelter to those who had abandoned autos in the massive mess. The bar did a land office business and the kitchen staff kept food coming in a yeoman effort to serve the stranded I was one of the lucky ones. I had a room. Newspapering is like show business, it must go on At first reports of the oncoming storm, I booked a couple of rooms so at least a few of us would be within walking distance a long walk—of the office. Other staffers headed home. Some made it eventually- others found shelter with friends. Whether they would make it back Wednesday was questionable Leonard to the rescue. He had chains for his car and started our private taxi service. Even so. not everybody made it in. It’s Thursday morning, now An hour to final deadline. The printer has assured us he would get the truck in from Monroe on time. How, I don’t know. Statement Seven out of 12 of us have struggled in over the new snow. Many of us are doing jobs we haven’t done before. I even did some typesetting and managed to make the job of correcting errors harder by hitting all the wrong keys on that complicated critter I’ve been vowing to learn for years. Maybe now I’ll do it If you find more than the usual typos, blame me All in all, this is by way of letting you know that we did our durndest. It gives me an opportunity, too, to thank the loyal staffers who made it through the sleet and snow, even gloom of night We hope the mailmen can do the same. on Golan Following is ihe text of the lormal statement on the Golan Heights Law submitted by Israel's United Nations ambassador, Yehuda Blum, to Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, and incorporated in the latter's official report to the Security Council on January I, 1982. The permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations presents his compliments to the Secretary General and with reference to the latter’s note verbale of 21 December 1981 concerning Security Council Resolution 497 of 17 December 1981 has the honor to communicate the following: Ever since Israel’s estab lishment in 1948, Syria has regarded itself as being in a state of war with Israel. It sought to prevent by force Israel’s establishment before 1948 and having failed in that, attempted with other Arab states to destroy Israel Between 1948 and 1967 Syrian tanks and artillery on the Golan Heights repeatedly bombarded the northern part of the country and harassed its population The Golan Heights Law — 5742/1981 was enacted almost 15 years after the Six-Day War of June 1967 which Syria and other Arab states forced on Israel Both before June 1967 and ever since, Syria has repeatedly rejected Israeli offers to negotiate peace It has also refused to accept Security Council Resolution 242 (1967) which affirms the right of every state in the area to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries. Instead Syria opened yet another all-out war against Israel in October 1973. In the wake of that aggression Israel again sought to obtain full and durable peace with Syria. In its quest for peace Israel withdrew considerably from territory captured in its defensive operations in the Yom Kippur War of October 1973 as well as those of 1967. Despite all this, and in disregard of Security Council Resolution 338 which calls for negotiations for the establishment of peace, Syria has refused to go beyond agreements on a cease-fire and a disengagement of military forces. This Syrian position has placed the Golan Heights and its inhabitants in a limbo; if left to the policies of the present Syrian government, there would be no peace with Israel for generations to come It is preposterous that a state should be permitted to unleash repeated acts of aggression with the aim of conquering and even destroying a neighboring country and then having been repulsed should be perfnitted to invoke international law in a selective and distorted manner and to find fault with legislation which seeks, in the absence of peace or even of negotiations aimed at reaching peace, to normalize the situation in the area in question This Syrian attitude would appear to violate Article 2(2) of the Charter which states that "All members in order to insure to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter " In the view of the government of Israel, recent Syrian acts and declarations have made it urgently necessary to bring to an end the anomalous situation regarding the Golan Heights. The government of Israel could not wait endlessly for Syria to begin to show political will to make peace and agree on secure boundaries. Israel cannot be expected to maintain indefinitely a military administration merely to accommodate Syria’s interest in persistent conflict. It is therefore greatly regretted that the Security Council should have passed a resolution which ignores this background. The Israel legislation in question does not in the slightest manner diminish the rights of the local population including of course, their property rights and their right to education and religious worship according to their traditions. All these are fully safeguarded. The government of Israel wishes to reiterate that is is willing now as always to negotiate unconditionally with Syria as with its other neighbors fof a lasting peace in accordance with Security Council Resolutions 242(1967) and 338(1973). I he Golan Heights Law does not preclude or impair such negotiations. The government of Israel expresses the hope that any further consideration by the Security Council of this matter will focus constructively on the attainment of peace through negotiations between the states directly concerned and on the prevention of the threat or use of force.