Newspaper Page Text
U.S. seeks to repair
rift with Italy, Egypt
by Joseph Polakoff
TSI’s Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON—The State
Department has opened a path of
United States reconciliation with
the governments ofltaly and Egypt
while taking additional steps to
bring to justice the six Palestinians
involved in the hijacking of the
ship Achille Lauro and the murder
of Leon Klinghoffer, whose body
has been found off the Syrian
coast.
The American Embassy in
Damascus has confirmed that body
was Klinghoffer. It was sent from
Damascus on an Italian airline jet
to Rome. The body arrived at the
Damascus airport in a wooden
coffin draped in the U.S. flag. U.S.
Ambassador William Eagleton and
Syrian military police escorted it.
At the State Department, a spokes
man said that the body had two
bullet wounds—one in the back
and the other in the head.
On the eighth day after the terrorist
outrage, the State Department said
with regard to the conduct of Egypt
and Italy, bitterly decried by
President Reag^jt, that “The im
portant thing now is to put the
incident behind us.” The two
countries, the Department said,
“share fundamental and durable
interests which traverse the incident.”
With regard to Egypt, a Depart
ment spokesman, Charles Redman,
Southern
Israelite
The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry
'Since 1925'
Britain says no to PLO;
Mideast peace talks oft
George Shultz
suggested that the U.S. and Egypt
“concentrate on the larger issues,
especially our shared commitment
to peace in the Middle East.”
About Italy, Redman noted that
“We want to preserve our good
overall relations” with this “important
ally.” As an example of “regular
high-level contacts” between the
two governments, Redman pointed
to the meetingat the NATO session
in Brussels a few hours earlier
between Secretary of State George
Shultz and Italian Foreign Minister
Giulio Andreotti.
A United Press International
See U.S. seeks, page 4.
by Joseph Polakoff
TSI’s Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON—The Financial
Times of London said in an issue
received here that “Britains’s hopes
of giving new impetus to a compre
hensive peace settlement in the
Middle East was abandoned for
the time being when Sir Geoffrey
Howe, foreign secretary, cancelled
at the last moment his scheduled
meeting with two leading members
of the PLO.”
“The controversial talks were
called off after the Foreign Office
learned Bishop Elia Khoury and
Mohammad Milhelm, independent
members of the PLO executive
committee were not prepared to
express support for a settlement of
the Arab-Israeli conflict on the
basis of U.N. resolutions and oppo
sition to violence as well as terrorism,”
the Financial Times reported.
The newspaper added that “the
invitation by Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher to a joint
Palestinian-Jordanian delegation was
based on a ‘firm understanding
that its members would subscribe
to a statement incorporating these
principles,’ the Foreign Office said.”
Earlier reports concerning the
meeting by this reporter in London
did not indicate in any way that
there was any understanding of
such a statement in connection
with the meeting.
The London Daily Telegraph,
which supports the Thatcher govern
ment, said Mrs. Thatcher’s rnind
was changed by pressure from
Washington following the hijacking
by Palestinian gunmen of the Italian
cruise liner Achille Lauro. The
Telegraph said President Reagan
made his views known to Mrs.
Thatcher “in no uncertain terms”
after the hijacking. Another London
newspaper, the Mirror, which backs
the opposition Labor Party, said
that a telephone call from President
Reagan to Mrs. Thatcher “torpedoed
talks planned” between Howe and
PLO officials. Dennis Healy, foreign
affairs spokesman for the Labor
Party, was reported saying in a
See Britain, page 25.
- 1-.. ■+**.%. v'-a* ^ . •*. *. . - 7. . - *
‘Blowin’ in the wind’
Mary Travers gives new meaning to an old song
Mary Travers at Ahavath Achim Synagogue
by Vida Goldgar
“How many years
can some people exist,
before they’re allowed
to be free?
“The answer, my friend,
is blowin’ in the wind;
the answer is blowin’ in the wind.’’
It was a familiar voice singing
familiar words but Mary Travers
brought new meaning last Wednes
day night to one of the most famous
songs of the ’60s.
It was almost the conclusion of a
remarkable evening presented to
heighten awareness of the plight of
Soviet Jewry when Travers, after
lighting the last symbolic candle in
an eight-branch menora, ended her
lecture/concert with the familiar
song. Then, turning to the audience,
she said, “You were, you are, and
will always be that answer that
blows in the wind.”
There was a standing ovation
(not the first of the evening) when,
with “Shalom and God bless you,”
she left the stage.
Over 1,100 people gathered at
Ahavath Achim Synagogue for the
program. Some no doubt came
primarily out of nostalgia for the
songs and singer of another time;
others because of a special dedication
to the cause of freedom for Soviet
Jews; still others from a combination
of both or even because it was a
“star” presentation at a bare mini
mum cost.
Whatever drew them, it’s unlikely
that anyone went away disappointed.
It is equally unlikely that anyone
went home without an increased
determination to make our voices
heard in behalf of the 2.5 million
Jews of the Soviet Union.
Howard Sachs, chairman of the
Worldwide Jewish Affairs Committee
of the Atlanta Jewish Federation,
stressed the need for immediate
action in his welcoming remarks.
Noting that President Reagan has
indicated that he will add “human
rights, and, in particular, the rights
of Soviet Jews” to his agenda during
his Nov. 19 and 20 discussions with
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev,
Sachs said the president has advised
that “his words will have more
strength; his message, more power;
and his argument, more impact if
the weight of American public
opinion is visibly behind him” when
he raises the issue with Gorbachev.
Mary Travers’ activities in behalf
of Soviet Jewry began in 1983
when she was invited to accompany
a small group of members of the
Union of American Hebrew Congre
gations who were going to Russia.
The hu mor which pu net uated T ravers’
performance was evident when she
said, “I was the towering shiksa.”
Five feet 10 inches in bare feet, six
feet in heels, the blond singer joked
about being advised before leaving
this country to “be inconspicuous.”
Perhaps it was her ability to
interject humor into the account of
certain portions of her trip—such
as her description of listening devices
in the hotel—that made her serious
remarks all the more chilling.
Describing the “internal visas”
required for travel between cities in
the Soviet Unfon which must be
applied for at age 16 and which
include “nationality,” and the effect
this has on those who might later
apply for emigration, Travers said.
“They try to keep Jews up in the
air—keep them insecure—so more
and more Jews will say it’s not
worth the trouble.” She said that
the people she met had all applied
for exit visas and had been fired
from their jobs and are subject to
arrest for parasitical behavior.
In her discussions with refusniks
about what the role of the United
States should be, she said there was
agreement on only two areas: pressure
and detente.
She urged pressure on congress
men, senators, the president and
corporate leaders. “Corporate leaders
have a lot of power, as we are
witnessing in South Africa,” she
said.
Admitting that initially she thought
of making the trip to give comfort,
she says now that “I got back more
than I could possibly give because I
met heroes and heroines—the stuff
that books are written about. I met
brave people with convictions, willing
to risk so very much for those
convictions.”
Travers stressed that it is vital
“to not forget that there are people
in bondage; not forget that there
are oppressed” but she added, “It is
not just not forgetting but doing
something about it” that is important.
Among those who have “done
something about it” and who also
participated in the program was
Rep. Wyche Fowler of Georgia’s
Fifth District. Fowler, one of the
initiators of the 300-member
Congressional Committee on Soviet
Jewry, has been outspoken in behalf
of the cause of freedom for Soviet
Jews for many years.
Echoing Travers’ call for involve
ment and public pressure, Fowler
said, “We cannot—must not—rest
until the light of public scrutiny
shines wherever tyranny is found.”
Admitting that “it is not a sexy
See Travers, page 23.
090 f VO QM3H.IV
VI0HO39 HC AI NO