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wwvwmmmmm «HI mm the Southern Israelite The Weekly Newspaper For Southern Jewry • Since 1925 Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, May 16,1986 U.S. rolls out red carpet for Shcharansky’s visit by Joseph Polakoff TSl’s Washington correspondent WASHINGTON—In the hal lowed rotunda at the Capitol and in the Oval Office of the White House, Natan (Anatoly) Shcha- ransky received a world hero’s wel come from the Congress and the president for his courageous fight for human rights in the Soviet Union. Only three foreigners have been previously honored by the Con gress at the rotunda. It gave the accolade in 1824 to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French supporter of the American Revolution; and in 1939 to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. No living American has been greeted there by the Con gress. It has honored American heroes at joint sessions of House and Senate in the House chamber, the office of the Historian of Con gress told The Southern Israelite. Later in the afternoon, Presi dent Reagan welcomed Shcharan- sky to the White House where they were joined by leaders of his administration. In contrast to the public acclaim at the rotunda, photographers and reporters were not invited to the Oval Office. White House spokes man Larry Speakes said the ad ministration was continuing to practice “quiet diplomacy” to advance human rights. Shcharansky’s Washington visit was preceded by a tumultuous wel come by hundreds of thousands in New York May 11 for the annual demonstration of Solidarity for Soviet Jewry. He also met with Jewish communal leaders, and was to attend an observance here of Israel’s Independence Day and make a National Press Club speech. Shcharansky was also to receive special gold medals at a joint meet ing of congressional leaders for him and his wife, Avital, ordered struck for them by Congress. “Unreal, isn’t it,” said Ernest Shalowitz, a prominent Washing ton Zionist, who arrived early at the rotunda. “I never thought I’d live to see this day,” said a graying woman, who wouldn’t reveal her name because “there are many, many here who feel the same way.” “This is a symbol of how we value Shcharansky and other peo ple in the Soviet Union who want to emigrate,” said Rep. Larry Smith (D-Fla.), a congressional leader for Soviet Jewry. To thunderous applause from the crowded rotunda and in view of 32 television came ras for worldwide showing, leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties of both Houses arrived under the Capitol’s dome with the diminutive Jewish dissident, who had defied the Kremlin’s might to speak out for freedom in his native land and who spent nine years in Soviet prison before he was allowed to emigrate to Israel and rejoin his wife in Jerusalem last February. In the third month of pregnancy, Avi tal did not accompany her hus band on his celebrated trip to thank America for its help to them, Soviet Jewry and others seeking freedom in the Soviet Union. But every speaker at the rotunda remembered her with respect and affection for her tireless efforts in behalf of her husband and Soviet Jewry. In introducing Shcharansky and seven congressional leaders with him, Rep. Sidney Yates (D-Ill.), dean of the 38 Jewish members of the House and Senate, included Avital in his remarks, saying “and Mrs. Shcharansky in absentia.” The crowd heartily applauded, re peating applause whenever her name was mentioned. She is re garded as the 20th century Rachel, > £~ C. ■— > rr X — c n m < 7 ;x ex -x C. X u. c [— H- T. —' > (X CL c. X v 7 rr, > m O c X x 3k . -<. (J c. X > 1—• V* O' > X c. m X X X c c o c_ U. c m c: IV c "i, Shcharansky celebrates freedom. who had cried out, “Give me child ren or I die.” Yates pointed out that the “indomitable Avital” in her eight- year struggle for Anatoly’s release visited every congressional caucus to help free him. “The fact that he is here is as much her victory as it is See Shcharansky, page 20. TAie Gutting edge PLO’s D.C. office center of controversy by Edwin Black Despite efforts to close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Washington D.C. liaison bureau, its director Hasan Rahman reports the office is still active and func tioning as a direct liaison with Ya- sir Arafat. “They (Congress) can’t shut us down,” asserts Rahman. “Only the Department of Justice can.” Officially known as the Pales tine Information Office, the PLO’s Washington bureau, housed near Dupont Circle, has been headed by Rahman for the past 12 years. Although Rahman is the PLO’s man in Washington, he is techni cally a salaried employee of the Arab League. Officially, says Rahman, his office “is registered with the Department of Justice (as a foreign agent) to disseminate information on the Palestinian ques tion, and improve understanding of the Palestinian point of view.” And indeed, Rahman presents sev eral dozen lectures annually to var ious church, campus and pro-Arab groups. But the office’s more important function is as liaison directly with Yasir Arafat’s office staff in Tunis. “1 tell him (Arafat) the direction U.S. policy is moving, the mood in the United States and accurate readings of American foreign pol icy,” explains Rahman. Via stand ard telex, a facsimile machine, and telephones, Rahman, during a period of special activity, will communicate with Arafat daily, but in any event “on a regular basis, as regular as necessary.” Frequently, it is difficult to con tact Arafat personally because of Arafat’s scheduled travels and security measures. Messages are then relayed back and forth via “a staff of 20 or 30 people working in his office (in Tunis) who stay in touch with him (Arafat),” says Rahman. Equally if not more important than mood assessments is passing messages between the State De partment and Arafat in the ongo ing peace process. “I am never con tacted directly (by the State De partment),” explains Rahman, “but there are people who go between... the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Tun isians, sometimes diplomats, sometimes also individuals. All of them are used. I speak to them fre quently. And then they convey our point of view to the American Yasir Arafat administration.” 1 his procedure may appear cir cuitous, but Rahman declares that if the State Department needed to pass an immediate message to Yas- sir A.rafat through Rahman, “They would just use an Arab ambassa dor and or one of their friends." He asserts, “There is only a ban on officials of the White House or the State Department (contacting the PLO). But other agencies or the Congress are not prohibited.” Rahman adds that if anyone “from the Justice Department wanted to contact me, they would do it direct ly...or I could use somebody from the Congress.” The existence of this direct link to Yasir Arafat has become the focal point of a government con troversy, intensified since the administration’s declared war on terrorism. A bilateral collage of senators and congressmen have asked the administration to close the Washington office, and its sis ter bureau in New York accredited to the United Nations. Prominent in the movement are conservative Republicans Jack Kemp and Jerem iah Denton. Key administration leaders are slowly becoming persuaded by the Kemp-Denton point of view. But the government still clings to a schizophrenic definition of the organization that has hampered the very anti-terrorist moves the president himself has advocated. Central is the government’s refusal to clearly label the PLO a terrorist organization. One can see this approach in operation by contacting the State Department, the Justice Depart ment or even the FBI and asking if they consider the PLO a terrorist organization? Monosyllabic an swers such as “yes” and “no” are strictly forbidden. Instead, a standard equivocal formulation is used. At State, a spokesman care fully explained, “We view the PLO as an umbrella organization. Under this umbrella there are elements, organizations, and individuals which advocate and carry out acts of terrorism.” Asked if he could answer in a yes or no, the spokes man replied, “The only answer is the complete answer.” Hasan Rahman avers that his office is primarily “a force for val uable information” and has nothing to do with what he termed “mil itary operations.” For instance, says Rahman, “we have no contact whatsoever with the PLA (the Pal estine Liberation Army).” As for acknowledged terrorists such as George Habash who have main tained power on the PLO execu tive committee, Rahman declares, “The PLO is not a membership organization. No one has a card saying you are a member. All Palestinians are members and they vote for their representatives to be on the executive committee. Yes George Habash was on the execu tive. But when you have elections See Controversy, page 4.