The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, March 4, 1993rPage 9
World
JERUSALEM (JTA) - The standoff between the "Zionisl" and "fundraiser" factions of the Jewish Agency for Israel continues, despite efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to intervene.
In a meeting last week, Rabin asked the top fundraisers to.drop their demands that two posts in the quasi-governmental body be eliminated to avoid duplication.
His request was refused by Mendel Kaplan, chairman of the Jewish Agency Board of Gdvemors, and Max Fisher, its founding chairman.
Instead, in a compromise that promises to keep the controversy simmering, Rabin will study the issue and recommend a solution after Passover.
This was agreed upon by a six-member committee of top leaders of the two sides. Both sides are represented equally on the committee, explaining the deadlock.
A sirrtilar situation prevails in the Jewish Agency as a whole, where the leadership and governance is split evenly between representatives of the World Zionist Organization — made up of Diaspora Zionist groups, such as Hadassah. and Israeli political activists — and representatives of the United Jewish Ap-. peal and similar fiindraising b<xlies around the world.
The Zionists have charged that the effort to eliminate the department heads reflects the desire of the fundraisers to "de-Zionize" the Jewish Agency and assume full control.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres
weighed in earlier on behalf of the Zionists, issuing a sharply worded attack on the fundraisers.
But despite his call for Israeli political leaders to take an interest in what goes on in the Jewish Agency^ Peres did not address the issue in subsequent speeches to Jewish leaders in New York and Washington.
While the fundraisers refused to heed the requests from Rabin and Peres to drop their demand to eliminate the department heads, their willingness to let Rabin find a solution could reflect a desire to quietly retreat.
It was hoped in Jewish Agency circles that their decision would enable the Board of Governors session taking place here in Jerusalem to proceed with other matters, without being overshadowed by this acrimonious dispute.
In a statement issued by the committee of six. they spoke of progress on four other structural issues: the size and structure of the Board of Governors, the budget of the World Zionist Organization, the committees of the Board of Governors, and the "advise and consent" process by which the fundraisers approve or veto candidates for Jewish Agency posts put forward by the Zionists.
But the statement conceded that on the^ vexed issue of the department chairmanships, no progress had been made. Hence the decision to call in the prime minister and ask, him to make a proposal.
ition sou
for Reform conversions
JERUSALEM (JTA) - Israel's Reform movement has filed a petition with the nation's Supreme. Court in the hope of winning State recognition of Reform conversions to Judaism performed in Israel.
The Israel Movenfient for Progressive Judaism and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel joined forces to challenge the Interior Ministry's refusal to accept the validity of such conversions^
The petitioners expect a protracted battle in what they describe as a continuous effort to promote religious pluralism here, saying the case cuts to the heart of the issue for both sides.
"What is at stake is whether Orthodo.xy is going to have a monopoly over the definition of Judaism and Jewish status in Israel," said Uri Regev, head of the Reform movement's Religious Action Center here.
The appeal Challenges the claim by the Orthodox-controlled Chief Rabbinate that it has jurisdiction over conversion when it comes to state registration of religion.
That, said Regev, is a civil matter.
The petitioners say the ruling could have broad implications for an increasing number of non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union seeking non-Orthodox conversions here.
The. same parties won a landmark Supreme Court appeal in 1989 that required the government to grant citizenship under the Law of Return to non-Orthodox converts who are immigrating to Israel.
The Jenisalem District Court recently upheld another appeal of theirs, ordering the Orthodox-controlled Interior Minis-tP,' to recognize as Jews all Israelis who undergo Reform conversions outside Israel. ■
Regev said the aim of the petition filed last week is to ensure the same religious: rights for Israelis as those of iiew immigrants.
The petition was filed on behalf of Cha-va Passero Goldstein, who was bom in Brazil and converted to Judaism under the supervision of a Reform rabbinical court here. The Interior Ministry has denied her request for citizenship under the Law of Return.
A Bosnian refugee, with his child, makes a free call to his family in Bosnia following his arrival in Ma'agan Michael. Each family was given a gift of a $20 phone card from the Bezek phone company. [IPPA photo]
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