Page 6-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, August 10, 1989
World-National
Press divided over future course
on
LONDON (JTA) -
A government panel's recommendation to allow Britain to pursue one-time Nazi war criminals more aggressively has led to rancorous and even slanderous debate in the British press.
Initial newspaper editorials welcomed the Parliamentary War Crinies Inquiry Report, which recommended changing, British law to prosecute alleged World War II criminals who became British citizens after the war,
The report says the changes would allow the inunediate prosecution of three people living in Bri-_ tain, and that at least 75 other eases warranted ftir-
ther investigation.
The Independent and Guardian newspapers came out strongly in favor of the reconunendations, as did a columnist for the Daily Mail.
However, Jewish columnists in the Standard and times have argued against the trials, as have various members of Parliament in letters to editors.
The writers fear over-zealous prosecutors mis--carrying justice* and question the morality of vengeftilly pursuing old men for 40-year-old crimes.
The most scurrilous attacks on the Inquiry Report appeared in the
Sunday Teli^raph and the Daily Telegraph.
In the Sunday Telegraph, a cohunnist called the board's reconunendations **an affront to the very heart of English law and even of EngUsb life" and labelled Jewish Parliament member Greville Janner as "zealous."
The Daily Telegraph columnist went even further, calling Jewish activists "terrifying in their fanaticism and unappeasable thirst for vengeance" in their pursuit of war criminals and complaints over the Carmelite convent still
to increase
on
PARIS (JTA) -
U.S. Secretary of State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze have agreed to step up cooperation on the Middle Ea.st and have appointed high-ranking aides to serve as their liaisons on the subject.
The two men were here^ for a Cambodian peace conference. They discussed their Middle East priorities during nearly three hours -of talks on worid issues, including the Arab-Israeli, conflict.
They also agreed that another meeting in September could lead to a summit
between President Bush
and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
Baker and Shevardnadze agreed to have Dennis Ross, the director of policy planning for the State Department, and Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Ter-rasov act as their representatives on the Middle East.
The two appointees, in fact, are both already involved in the policy area and have each met with Israeli officials. Ross, who is Jewish, has already been to the Middle East on one
more
I JERUSALEM (JPFS) -
There are an estimated 18,000 hard-drug addicts i |: in Israel, and an additional 36,000 \yhp,Ayhile not || i; addicted, use drugsregulariy, according to a health |g |:; ministry survey. .
The report states that drug use has grown by 25% 1; i each year for the past three years. The report also |; ;| states that |.5% of the population use drugs regu- || li lariy, and 3% of the population — 50,000 persons % i| — have tried hard drugs at least once in their lives. H In addition^ over 5,000 people methadone by .|| i| prescription to cope with their addiction.
on
PARIS (JTA) -
The cardinal of Lyon, who headed the Catholic ddegatkn that negotiated the agreement on vacating the Auschwitz convent, said last week he agreed with the Jewish conununity that the nuns ''should have left by now." .;■
Cardinal Albert Decour— tray, who took part in the Geneva accord of Feb. 22, 1987, said in a radio interview: "My interpretation of the agreements is the same as that of the Jewish-community: the nuns should have left by now."
Decourtray, who is considered France's leading Catholic prelate, said.
em convent
"One should understand the sentiment of the Jewish OMnmunity, Auschwitz is a powerfiil symbol for them, and any further delay in the departure of the nuns is simply unbearable.''
The cardinal said that despite the "freeze" on CaUiolic-Jewish relations decreed by French Jewish leader Theo Klein last week, '' personal relations between Jews and Cathol -ics will continue. I, on my side, will do whatever I can to try to see that the agreement is implemented at the eariiest."
-r^'he Geneva agreement stipulated that the Carmelite nuns would vacate the convent by Feb. 22 of this year. ^ ■,■
mission for the Bush administration.
Terrasov, who is close to Gorbachev, met July 20 in Tunis with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat. He later briefed an Israeli Labor Party official, Nimrodi No-vik, on the talks during a meeting here in Paris.
Novik, who is a close aid to Vice Premier Shimon Peres, was told that the PLO was ready to accept, under certain conditions. Prime! Minister Yitzhak: Shamir's plan for Palestinian elections in the territories.
Furthermore, it was reported from Moiscow last week that Terrasov would soon be visiting Israel, even though Moscow has yet to reestablish full dipkmiatk relations with Jerusalem.
The U.S.-Soviet decision to increase coordination on the Middle East "show.s that our two countries are no longer adversaries or backing enemies, but are determined to work out a joint solution satisfactory to both sides," a Soviet commentator who did not wish to be identified told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. V
in place at the site of the Auschwitz death camp.
"These Jewish fanatics, at their most extreme, seem almost to have persuaded themselves that Jews were the only people massacred in the Second World War," wrote Peter Simple. "This is an attitude which thoughtftil Jews must surely repudiate, lest... the overbearing fanaticism of a few should bring on a reaction against the many."
The press debate is complicating matters for community leaders, who are
hoping to avoid a repetition of the inter-communal conflict that has accompanied Nazi prosecution in other countries.
In C!anada, Australia and the United States, pursuit of war criminals from Eastern Europe has led to tension between Jews and local Ukrainian and Baltic communities.
Hayim Pinner, secretary of the British Board of Deputies, an umbrella group of Jewish organizations, said there was no reason for friction between
Jews, Baltics and Ukrainians over the issue.
Taras Kuzio, a member of the Ukrainian Graduates and Professkmals Association, agreed, and said war crimhials should be proisecuted if evidence was avaialable.
However, Kuzio charged that the" War Crimes Inquiry Report "prompted the myth that tens of thousands of Nazi war criminals were living m Britain. This, we now see, is patently a falsehood."
to convert
ews status as desperate
By
PAUL LUNGEN
NEW YORK -
The condition of the Jews in Yemen is deteriorating and the total destruction of the Jewish community there is only a question of time, according to Moshe B?trr-Nea, a volunteer activist on behalf of Yemeni Jews.
The Jewish community there has been ghettpized and lives in total isolation from other Yemenites, he said.
Relying on more than 15 letters smuggled out of Yemen in the past year, Barr-Nea paints a "desperate" picture of the Jewish community there, the letters tell of young girls being kidnapped by wealthy sheikhs and of family members being jailed, beaten or evicted from their homes when they protest.
There are many forced conversions to Islam, including women who are compelled to marry Moslems and Jewish children who are taken from their homes after the death of their father to be brought upas Moslems, the.letters state.
Quoting "Arab sources," Barr-Nea told The CJN there are approximately 6,300 Jews still left in Yemen, scattered among 40 Arab villages. But about another 2,000 have been forced to convert to Islam, like the Marranos of Spain who were forced to convert to Christianity 500 years ago. The Yemenites would live as Jews if given the chance, he added.
Jews are excluded from Sanaa University and are not part of the general school system. No Jews are allowed among the. thousands of Moslem Yemenite students who study ui the United States and Canada. Visitors from countries that maintain diplomatic relations Mith North Yemen are barred from meeting local Jews, who are in turn forbidden from traveling between towns.
"For years children and parents (some left after the creation of Israel) can't talk to each other," he said. "It's a crune."
No Jews have been allowed to emigrate from North Yemen since 1962. Health services for
Jews are non-existent, with the life expectancy of new-born females 38.7 years and 37.3 for men. The Yemeni government prevents minunal humanitarian aid for the Jews of Yemen.
Barr-Nea, a Holocaust survivor from Lodz, Poland who has been working on behalf of Jews in Arab lands for 35 years, said he is now trying to establish committees in Toronto and Montreal to work on behalf of Yemenite Jews by lobbying politicians to speak up for their rights.
He hopes to convince the Voice of America ra-dk) statMMi to broadcast to Yemen greetmgs from family members and a sort of "university of the air" to educate them.
For 40 years they have felt abandoned by their fellow Jews, he said. Radio broadcasts by VOA or by Canadian broadcasters would "give them hope," he added.
For more information about the Jews of Yemen, contact Barr-Nea at 210 West 91st St., New York, NY, 10024, or telephone (212) 691-3382.
Proof of heightened tensions was found in a police investigation into threatening phone calls and letters sent to Karen Powell, a member of the national council of the Zionist Federation.
After a letter by Powell appeared in the Evening Standard supporting the Inquiry Report, she received one letter saying "Jews are creating their own Holocaust against unarmed Arabs. They are the people who should be rounded
up"
Home Secretary Douglas Hurd said he would delay a decision on the board recommendations until both houses of Parliament return and debate the issue in the autumn.
But supporters and opponents of the measure seem sure it will pass, based on its strong wording and the bipartisan participation of the Inqiiiry board's lOO members.
Esther Caldes of Vancouver wanted to give thousands of troubled teenagers in Israel a second chance . for a decent future. Alone she couldn't. Now she can -as a niember of
NA'AMAT
Learn what you can do!
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(416) 335-4122 (514)484-0252 (613) 733^9591 (416) 636-5425 (519)969-3996
The Name Game
There is a story in abnost every Jewish surname and Toronto lawyer FRED M. CATZ-MAN has been researching their origins over the past few years. Mr. Catzman reports on his research in The CJN.
■ ■ * ■ ■ > ■ ■ * ■ DVORETZKY- SHATSKY - TUROFSKY
DVORETZKY at first blush appears to emanate ft^om the Jewish given name DVORAK (DEBORAH in English). - ^ -
SHATSKY appears to be related to SHATZ, which is an acronym for SHeliach TZibbur — the emissary of the congregation, the cantor or chazzan.
In fact, these prominent Jewish families of Toronto share surnames derived from towns and villages in White Russia,
DVORETZKY comes from DVORETS.
SHATSKY comes from SHATSKI.
TUROFSKY comes from TUROV.
Other municipalities with names that are familiar to the Jewish community are
KOBRIN
RAKOV
SLONIM and
SHERESHEVO.
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