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\ C U P .t,® W^CIES C^N H/VP pET> ' H T1 - c at'\on jAtaasss^®. | OBC 1 BBC !^=~l l^=^J C. m c - > c. CL rr c u. AJF sets ’86 Campaign goal The leaders of the 1986 Federation Campaign believe that Miracles Can Happen, and have been working hard to prove it. The 1986 Campaign was officially kicked off on Jan. 5 with hundreds of volunteers gathering for a Worker Briefing Session. An $8.5 million goal has been set for Campaign ’86, according to Gerald Cohen, president of Feder ation. This figure was recommended by the campaign leadership and approved by the Federation board of directors. “This is an ambitious goal,” said Gerald Horowitz, 1986 general campaign chairman, “but must be realized to meet the growing needs of Jews in Atlanta, Israel and around the world.” In addition to the regular campaign, $500,000 must be raised to complete Atlanta’s $4 million commitment to Project Renewal. Funds raised in the 1986 Campaign are allocated to support local social service, educational and cultural agencies, which are hard pressed to expand operations to meet the needs of Atlanta’s growing Jewish popu lation. In addition, the annual Federation Campaign helps alleviate Israel’s burdened economy, and reaches out to needy Jews around the world. “With the support of the entire community and the realization of the $8.5 million 1986 Federation goal, Miracles Can Happen,—Jews in Atlanta and overseas can live a better life,” Horowitz said. C X -<. The Southern > 2 C. m Israelite u n c. G “T. The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewr Vol. LXII 'Since 1925' Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, February 7, 1986 No. 6 U Official silence prevails on Shcharansky release U.S. shelves request for arms sale to Jordan by Joseph Polakoff I Si’s Washington correspondent WASHINGTON—The Reagan administration has formally with drawn its proposal to Congress for the sale of $1,900 million dollars in advanced weaponry to Jordan after two failures took place in Amman in attempts to improve the climate for Israel-Arab talks about the West Bank and Gaza. Faced with overwhelming oppo sition in the House and Senate for the transfer of 40 war planes and Momar missile systems to Jordan, the administration notified the Congress in writing that the deal will be postponed indefinitely. Its decision came as preparations are being made in the House to adopt legislation against the sale. I n letters from Secretary of State George Shultz to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-lnd), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and to Rep. Dante Fascell (D- Fla.), head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Shultz praised Jordan’s King Hussein as firmly committed to peace. He said in the letters that the administration understood Congress looked for negotiations before approving weapons to Jordan. Lugar and Fascell had both warned the administration that the deal for Jordan would not pass in Congress unless Hussein opened meaningful and direct talks with Israel. Repre senting majorities of both parties, 75 senators had signed a resolution against the sale. It was spearheaded by its sponsors. Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John Heinz (R-Pa.) with close support from Sens. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), Allen Cranston (D-Calif ), Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) and Rudy Bochwitz (R- Minn ). In the House 286 members joined in the resolution sponsored by Rep. Larry Smith, (D-Fla.), with support from most of the George Shultz Foreign Affairs Committee. The withdrawal of the admini stration’s proposal for Jordan appears to some in the capital as a negative sign of the administration’s hope for a billion dollar arms deal for Saudi Arabia, which it has not yet proposed to Congress. Majorities of both houses oppose this planned sale, too. The Shultz letter follow s a collapse in Amman of talks between PLO chief Yasir Arafat and King Hussein on a new formula for negotiations. In Jerusalem, Prime Minister Shimon Peres reiterated on CNN Television that the decisive move toward peace talks was up to King Hussein. “Time is running out,” he warned. Peres’ approval of an inter national forum of some kind to meet Hussein’s position on that aspect is seen as giving Israel the edge in the “peace process.” Informed sources in the capital said to The Southern Israelite that the admini stration’s withdrawal is a compromise of sorts. It has avoided a “nasty fight” over such legislation with the Congress. However, the specialist said, the administration can again bring up the sale with 30 days notice to Congress should Hussein move in the direction of talks with Israel. It does not mean, he said, no action for the remainder of this congressional session is certain. by Joseph Polakoff TSTs Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON —Optimism prevailed here that Soviet-Jewish activist Anatoly Shcharansky will soon be reunited in Israel with his wife Avital although official silence prevails in Washington, Moscow, Bonn and East Berlin on reported dealing for an exchange of East- West prisoners that would include him< “No comment” was repeatedly stated by the White House and the State Department including Secretary of State George Schultz. A prominent Soviet representative in Washington categorically stated to The Southern Israelite that neither Tass, the Soviet news agency, nor any Soviet publica tion has carried such a report. Official silence was reported in the capitals of East and West Germany, which between them hold a score of alleged espionage agents said to be mainly Germans. In Jerusalem, an official noted Israel is not involved. Meanwhile, skepticism and cynicism about the reports of an exchange began to appear. Jewish activist Alexander Lerner, who has been waiting for an exit visa for 15 years to go to Israel, was quoted by the Washington Post as saying in Moscow: “Many times such infor mation has been broadcast and with no results. We must be very careful with such hopes, so many times we have been disappointed.” The West German conservative publication Bild, the first newspaper to publish that a deal is taking place, said three days after its original report that the Soviet government is demanding five million West German Deutschmarks, about $2 million, for Shcharansky’s release as part of the exchange. Bild claims American and Belgian Jews were prepared to raise the money. There was no confirmation here of such dealing. “If the Soviet Union is actually demanding money, it is blackmail and must be unacceptable,” was the reaction representing views of several Soviet Jewish supporters learning of the report. Competent Anatoly Shcharansky sources here recall that two months ago American news reports privately said some 15,000 Soviet Jews would be allowed to depart. This report has not materialized. Nevertheless, a Jewish activist said “We are very, very hopeful” that the news about Shcharansky is true. “He has paid an inordinately high price for his Jewish identity,” he said. “His release would be good public relations for the Soveit U nion. The problem is the dealing is taking place in a fish bowl when it should be outside the public domain until it is completed. Putting it in the glare of publicity brings negative reactions in Moscow.” Rep. Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.), who is regarded at the capital as probably the best-informed congress man about the reported exchange, indicated he continues hopeful. “We honestly don’t know” an aide said to The Southern Israelite, “but there is a good chance that Scharan- sky could be let out any time now.” Gilman, the second-ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs committee, has been in contact with Dr. Wolfgang Vogel, an East German lawyer who has been in negotiations for East-West German prisoner exchanges. The two had first met in 1978 in connection with the first inter-German exchange. “Very complicated, sensitive nego tiations are taking place," the aide said. Shcharansky’s brother Leonid in Moscow was reported in the Washington Post as saying that for the first time in nine years it appears possible Anatoly’s release is im minent. In his most recent letter Anatoly has told of improved prison conditions at his labor camp in the Urals, but he gave no hint he expected dramatic change in his status. News reports said Feb. 1 1 was a possible date for the exchange to take place. Avital Shcharansky, in Israel, has declined to comment. Granted a visa in 1974 to emigrate imme diately, she had left the Soviet Union for Israel the day after she and Anatoly were married. Their understanding was that Anatoly would be given a visa shortly after ward. Since then, she has traveled to cities around the world, imploring private citizens, governments and legislatures to help bring about his release. Comment also was refused by Rabbi Ronnie Greenwald of Rock land County, N.Y., which is in Gilman’s congressional district. Greenwald is reported to have been in contact with Vogel during his approximately 25 trips to East Germany on behalf of Shcharansky. “I will make one hundred trips if necessary to help free him,” Green wald was quoted as having told Avital. Shcharansky, a mathematician who is now 38 years old, was a leader of the human rights movement in the U.S.S.R. during the 1970s. In 1978 he was convicted on charges of passing intelligence to foreign agents and sentenced to 13 years imprisonment —10 in labor camp and three in prison. Later he was sentenced to three more years in prison on charges he was a bad influence on other prisoners. Shcharansky refuted the charges that he was an agent. President Jimmy Carter branded as “ridiculous" the Soviet allegation that Shcharan sky was a CIA agent. Carter and President Reagan have both made the Shcharansky issue part of their case of Soviet human rights abuses.