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■r V y v v y ■/ y f v V y y ■/ y y r y y ■r v V V \ y \ \ ( i 1986 Goal: $8.5 million Miracles Can Happen... $6,350,000 ...when you support the Atlanta Jewish Federation’s 1986 Campaign See pages 6 and 7 for Campaign update Mayor’s slaying puts Israel’s plans on hold by Yaacov Ben Yosef Special to The Southern Israelite JERUSALEM—The assassina tion of Zafer Al-Masri, the 44- year-old mayor of Nablus, largest town on the Israeli-occupied West. Bank, appeared likely to set back Israeli plans to install more Arab mayors in West Bank towns in the coming weeks. Until Sunday’s murder, carried out by an unidentified gunman who shot the mayor as he was about to enter the Nablus munici pality building, Israel had intended to continue the process begun in November with Al-Masri’s ap pointment as mayor of Nablus by permitting three more Arab may ors to take over West Bank towns. The appointment of those three mayors was to occur within the next few days. However, within hours of the murder, a number of Palestinian Arabs who had been prepared to serve as mayor were indicating that they had second thoughts — apparently picking up the signal of the Al-Masri murder loud and clear. Prime Minster Shimon Peres, addressing the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of the Knesset, insisted that even after the See Mayor, page 32. The Southern Israelite The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry 'Since 1925' ^^Vol^XI^^^^^^^Atlanta^eorgia^Tiday^lareJW^98^^^^^^^^No^lO Dornan’s tirade prompt differing Jewish opinio s- c < . ►-!>>! - — ^ CX rr; i: ^ ■ C c r - —i •- v — O r ^: T. 1 C. C. - C C. > C - c. c by Joseph Polakoff 7Si’s Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON—Congress man Robert Dornan’s denuncia tion of Soviet spokesman Vladimir Posner as a “disloyal, betraying lit tle Jew” who has affronted “Jewish people all around the world” received a mixed reception from Jewish colleagues in the House of Representatives and communal spokespersons. The Israel Em bassy applauded Dornan’s “Im peccable” record in support of Israel. Following his remarks in Con gress, Dornan, a Republican from California who is among the most conservative House members, agreed he had used “inelegant phrasing” in his remarks but denied they were anti-Semitic. His denunciation of Posner fol lowed President Reagan’s criticism and a White House protest to ABC News for putting the Soviet propa gandist on television for eight minutes following the president’s speech on his administration’s mil itary program and national secur ity. Richard Walsh, senior vice president of ABC News, later said, “Reluctantly I tend to agree that Vladimir Posner was allowed too Robert Dornan much scope on our program last nigKt” (Feb. 27). “The little flunky, ‘Vlady,’ sits there and calls our president a liar,” Dornan told the House. “I’m tired of having my government insulted by paid communist toa dies. Let’s put a stop to it. Vladimir Posner was born a Jew. And he covers (up) the anti-Semitism in the Soviet Union. “This disloyal, betraying little Jew...sits there on television claim ing that he is somehow or other a newsman,” Dornan said. “It’s an affront to decency and to Jewish people around the world.” The New York Times pointed out that Posner’s father’s family were Russian Jews who converted to the Russian orthodoxy. His mother was French. In 1949 after his Russian-born father, Vladimir, had been dismissed by a Holly wood studio because of his pro- Soviet views, the family moved to the Soviet-occupied zone in Berlin. In 1962 the family settled in Moscow. The Soviet Embassy said Dor nan’s words were “an outrageous anti-Semitic attack incompatible with elementary standards of civ ilized behavior.” However, ana lysts of international affairs found the embassy statement in “weird contrast” and “incongruous” with the U.S.S.R.’s own internal pro paganda and actions against Jews. Attacks and defense of Dornan quickly followed his brief House speech. Interviewed on Cable News Network, Dornan admitted he “mis-chose” some of his words. He said a pro-Israel group told him he had no reason to apologize for his remarks but, he said, “I dis- See Dornan, page 32. The cutting edge Kemp seeks to indict PLO as racketeers by Edwin Black U.S. Rep. Jack Kemp recently revealed that he is spearheading a congressional campaign to have the Justice Department indict the Palestine Liberation Organization for violations of the RICO rack eteering statues. RICO allows prosecutors to seize assets ac quired from a pattern of crime. According to Kemp, the PLO has been financing its terrorism with a host of illicit operations withinU.S. borders, including drug traffick ing, extortion, arson and fraud. When Kemp made his an nouncement, the Justice Depart ment indicated it could not consider an action unless con fronted with specific allegations. Since then, specifics have come to light. • In 1981, a massive drug ring operated in North Carolina, smuggling in as much as a billion dollars in Lebanese hashish. In 1984, 16 people were indicted for trafficking in some 16,000 pounds of hashish valued at $670 million. The U.S. attorney at the time openly implicated the PLO in the operation. • In December 1979, federal agents in Pennsylvania arrested the son of the bursar of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He was about to sell a huge quantity of cocaine to finance ammunition purchases in Beirut. • Around the beginning of 1984, 1,000 pounds of heroin were reportedly smuggled into Detroit directly from labs in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley. The operation was associated with illegal weapons trading in the Middle East. These are just three incidents in a massive drug business featuring the PLO or their operatives as either perpetrators or direct beneficiaries. Drug Enforcement Jack Kemp Agency (DEA) sources revealed that a narcotics intelligence es timate completed just a month or two ago confirms that during 1984 Lebanon led the world in hashish production with an estimated 350- 400 metric tons. Production this year is expected to nearly double. Most of this, sourcing from the Syrian-con- trolled and PLO-infiltrated Bekaa Valley, is destined for Arab countries. But much of it is smuggled into Europe, Canada and the United States. In fact, about 30 percent of America’s hashish originates in Lebanon. Forty percent of that arrives via commercial air, an equal amount by commercial vessels and only 20 percent via clandestine carrier. Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley is also becoming a major factor in America’s heroin trade. A DEA source described the Bekaa Valley as a hotbed of heroin labs. “Remember Marseilles in ‘The French Connection,’ ” said the DEA source. “The Bekaa Valley is an up-and-comer in that vein.” Detroit is a favorite distribution center for the PLO because it seats America’s largest Shiite popula tion, and because it affords easy access to Canada, which suffers from a greater hashish problem than the United States. Sources estimate that Bekaa Valley narcotics finance some 40 percent of the PLO’s light arms purchases. Narcotics is hardly the only moneymaker for the PLO. Arson and automobile accident faking to defraud insurance companies are also quite lucrative. • New York in the late 1970s witnessed a rash of grocery store fires. One of the Jordanian-born arsonists reportedly confessed to authorities “the PLO expects siza ble contributions from the arson insurance profits.” An informant reportedly told police, “We bring our insurance money to the PLO office in New York.” See Kemp, page 27.