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Pollard probe ends; U.S., Israel
on verge of patching up relations
by Joseph Polakoff
I SI s Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON-Onemonthto
the day after the FBI’s arrest of
Jonathan Jay Pollard at the gates
of the Israeli Embassy here, the
US. probe in Israel of the espionage
case that rocked American-Israeli
relations appears ended and bilateral
ties between the two countries
reportedly are back to their earlier
close relations.
Barring further disclosures in
the criminal proceedings pending
against the 31-year-old former civilian
analyst for the Naval Intelligence
Service and his wife, Anne Henderson-
Pollard, who was arrested after
Pollard was taken into custody,
the affair may be said to have been
settled on the official level. The
Pollards are in prison, held without
bail.
The U.S. team of four Justice
Department officials led by State
Department legal adviser Abraham
Sofaer received all the documents
the State Department said Israel
obtained “in an unauthorized
manner.’’ Israel also closed down
the four Science Bureaus that had
operated in the United States and
had come under a heavy cloud of
suspicion through the Pollard affair.
In a statement following the team’s
week-long probe, the State Depart
ment said it was satisfied the team
had received “full cooperation” from
the Israelis. The covert activity
that allegedly involved Pollard, it
said, was undertaken against Israeli
government policy and “without
authority.” In addition, “the govern
ment has acted to prevent any
repetition of such activities,” the
statement said.
U.S. officials said that intelligence
cooperation by the two countries,
temporarily suspended in part after
the arrest of the Pollards, has been
resumed. Since it had been implied
after the Pollards’ arrest whether
other espionage was involved, Charles
Redman, the deputy State Depart
ment spokesman, said the team
looked into the matter while in
Israel and found no new develop
ments. Redman said he could not
“directly” answer the question, “but
we did not go there with our eyes
closed.”
The U.S. probers questioned Man
Rafid and Yosef Yagor, the science
diplomats who left the U.S. for
Israel the day after the Pollards
were arrested, and Rafael Eitan,
who had headed the Defense
Ministry’s Liaison Bureau for
Scientific Affairs, known by the
Hebrew acronym LEKEM. The
reports from Jerusalem said that
Eitan had been removed from his
LEKEM post and would be allowed
to retire quietly in the near future.
LEKEM’s activities are reportedly
being reorganized and divided among
other agencies.
The New York Times reported
an Israeli military analyst saying of
Eitan that “no one will touch him”
because of his services for many
years. He is reported to have been
the Mossad agent who knocked
out the Nazi war criminal Adolf
Eichman on a street in Buenos
Aires in 1960. That enabled an
Israeli team to abduct Eichman to
Israel for trial. In addition, the
Times said, Eitan is a member of
the Central Committee of the Herut
wing in the Likud bloc. Any attempt
to punish him would have serious
political implications, the Times
said, which “none of the country’s
political leaders want now.” LEKEM
was organized some 20 years ago
when Prime Minister Shimon Peres
was a top official in the Defense
Ministry. An Israeli source reported
Peres, in fact, created LEKEM.
Eitan was named the Bureau’s head
in 1981. He was an adviser both to
Peres and Israeli Prime Ministers
Menachem Begin and Yitzhak
Shamir.
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Peace process won’t be deterred
by Joseph Polakoff
WASHINGTON—The failure of
current efforts in the “peace process”
to bring about talks between Israel
and her Arab neighbors would not
preclude the hope for settlement of
the West Bank, Gaza issues, a State
Department official indicated
Monday.
There are “no such things as last
chances,” he said in a meeting with
foreign correspondents on condition
he was not to be identified. “There
are times of better opportunities,”
he said. “Now is the time of oppor
tunity in the Middle East.”
“The more time goes by without
answers,” he said, “the more difficult
will be the settlement process.” He
said the present time offers the best
opportunity for peace since the
Israeli-Egyptian treaty in 1979.
The official was asked by The
Southern Israelite what would happen
if (in Israel’s leadership rotation
agreement about the prime ministry
in its unity government) next
September arrives and Shimon Peres
is succeeded by Yitzhak Shamir,
the head of Likud which is not in
concert with Labor about giving
up parts of the territories occupied
in 1967 in return for a peace treaty.
The official replied that the U.S.
“will stay engaged” in the process
as long as the parties want to
maintain commitment for a settle
ment. He added, however, that
there would be no “function” if
both sides made no commitment.
In a year-end review of the “peace
process,” the official said much
progress had been made by Israel
"L
and Jordan toward meeting, but
that two key issues remain—the
shape of the international forum
for starting the talks that must lead
to direct negotiations, and “the
nature of the Palestinian represen
tation at the forum and in the
negotiation.” He said the solution
“is not going to be easy” because
“these two are not simple issues.”
The official cautioned that no
dramas are to be expected in the
process, but “the proud pattern of
incremental progress” will continue.
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THE ATLANTA JEWISH
COMMUNITY CENTER
5
4**M(** ^ iilS
Jl.
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u
Congregation
Ahavath Achim
its officers and
Board of Trustees
proudly announce the
dedication of a new
Sefer Torah
this Shabbat Morning,
December 28, 1985
at 9:30 a.m.
The Sefer Torah
is presented by
the Shaffer family in memory of
Sam and Esther Shaffer
The public is invited
to share in this simeha
PAGE 3 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 27, 1985