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24 Pages ; . ■niursday, October 30,1980 Clieslivaii 20,5741
^56
[Dr. B. Blackstien photo]
mTimLmgGRAM
Beverley BlacksHen and Wendy Gold read from the Haggadah at the Festival of Jewish Holidays program hi Niagara Falls, Ont. See story on page 12.
By WOLFBUTZER
WASHINGTON —
As par of a clever, overall mediatory approach, U.S. Middle East ambassador Sol Linowitz has asked Israeli and
By BEVERLEY STERN
TORONTO —
Although he had to be back in Ottawa to vote on closure of the constitutional debate by 1 a.m., Mark MacGuigan, secretary of state for external af^ fairs, was still standing before a Primrose Qub audience at 10 p.m. last Thursday delivering his ciostng remarks of a
MacGuigan, who was- In-' trodnced by Senator David Croll, came to honor the 60th anniversary of the Primrose anb and Dbra TID, the first winner of the Primrose Qub Awardj, an annnid award of SI ,000 to be denoted tea charity of the honoree's choice. Primrose Onb president Noel Zeldin, presented the award.
half-hour speech oariewirtgi-*,^
issues in Canadian domestic and foreigil ikilicy. '
v'TTieHquse is stin sitting at the very "Inorrient I address you," Ma^uigan told his audience. |Tou will understand if 1 leave right away. We are in the midst of a great debate on nation-buildihg which involves a bill of rights in which all minority groups have a great stake."
(A plane was standing ready at Dpwnsview Airport ■to fly MacGuigan back to (>^^ tawa in time for. the vote on closure which the Liberals won handily 156 to 83. Prime Minister Trudeau's constitutional reform proposals now move into the second stage of study and discussion by a joint parliamentary committee of the House and the Senate.)
like Dora Tili do the real work of the world." Mrs. Till. who has been active in Jewish pr-ganizational life for almost i60 years, is particularly known for her work for United Jewish Appeal and Bay crest.
In reviewing Canada's position on the Middle East, MacGuigan Stated that Canada sought balance between Israel and the Palestiniains. and that it.couldn't always come down on the side of Is-:, raei. ;
He scored .unilateral :ac-tions (without specifical 1 y mentioning Israel recently passed Jerusalem Law declaring a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel) as well as expressing disagreement with settlements in the occupied territories.
Declaring that the Pales-
tinians are entitled to political expression within "a defined territory," MacGuigan at the same time made it dear that Canadian foreign policy was hot specific either on what "defined territory" meant or where the ne^y boundaries should be.
"It's up to the parties themselves to agree and decide on the settlement and the
b9ahdarle$:?J, -/^e a^.^ '*There can he no limg term security for braeltf Arabs don't accept negotiations."
.; In a speech which was, on the whole; strongly supportive and praising of Israel, MacGuigan assured his listeners that Canadian foreign policy would '.'never wiaiver. on the security, well-being and peace of Israel."
Ndi" would Canada stand by idly at international conferences such as the United Nations'; Mid-Decade on; Women and watch PLO supporters turn the whole event into a political foriim for their propaganda, he said;
"Canada would,not recognize the PLO in any sense .. . unless it accepted, peace and security for Israel and renounced terrorism," he declared.
Israel trips planned hy Canadian groups
By CHARLES LAZARUS
MONTREAL —
Israel's tourist industry, currently undergoing a radical reappraisal in developing new markets, can look to Canada.as an example of imaginative (and ; even inspired) merchandising. :
This is the main conclusion to be drawn from a recent interview with Asher Rahav, director-in^ Canada for the Israel dSVerhment Tourist Office, whose, headquarters are in Toronto, and who was in Montreal recently on one of his frequent selling visits.
AcconUng to Rahav, "this Is a tehUIvely new approach —' seDIng . special Interest groups on the advantages of organised visits to Israel wheie.'Siey can meet and exchange ideas ■ wttfaTIsrael eaperta .and organizations of tlieir paiticnlar professional andcTMtive fields.-- - --. "As well,.we are placing a high priority on, incentive travel to Israel, which means taking advantage of the incentive . market — now. an important dimension of the tourist and travel industry. The idea of making a visit to Israel as an incentive for
by spiritual, secular and ideological motivation, been, vigorously tapped, but that only well under 10% of North American Jews have made even one visit to Israel since the Delcaration of Independence in 1948;
The ancillary problem — inasmuch as a large proportion of North American Jews .who have.visited Israel are repeaters — is that once a tourist has experienced what is known as the '>Egged syndrome" — 7-to-7 package, tours in Egged buses to the biblical sites from northern Galilee to the southern Negev — he still has much to learn about Israel's other features and attributes. ■ w^^^
It is Rahav, therefore, working in high gear to open new vistas of the Canadian -tourist market,; a market ,„which cuts across the parameters of religious, ideological and generally emotional motivation toward the Holy Land, who now reports these breakthroughs, with a side trip to Egypt thrown into the package and unquestionably adding to the attraction:
□ The Association of Municipalities of Ontario, comprising literally hundreds :
employees of companies who ^ of muhiqial administrations, are rewarded for achieve- is scheduled to have a repre-
ment. has limitless possibilities and poteiitial.'' '
Israel's ministry of industry, trade^d tourism, has,x>f cours^, recognized\that not oid^has the market of Jewish tourism, substantially stirred
sentative group of at least 100 visit Israel between Feb. 17 and-27. Members of the delegation will meet with mayors of the largest cities, - as weU as ropresentatives'of the Union of Local Authori-
pron
some "positive" moveniient may havebeen made.
Such a taaic, officials here said, is designated to encourage both Egypt and Israel to continue to demonstrate flexibility in their respective bargaining positions. Israeli and
Egyptian: negotiators not to show each other their govern-- .Egypt ian off ici als, d uring ments'respective position separate interviews, con-
By SUSAN LAZARUS
MONTREAL —
"At a meeting with External Affairs Minister Mark MacGuigan, a Canadian Jewish Congress delegation was assured Canada intends to "speakout" at the upcoming East-Weist conference in Madrid in respect to both human rights and anti-semit-ism in the Soviet Union.
Although a Canadian Press story, which ran in both the Montreal Gazette and Toronto Globe and Mail last week, stated that Ottawa is expected';"to handle human rights violations with caution" and is unlikely to raise specific cases of human rights abuses for public debate during the conference, which begins Nov. 11, MacGuigan did assure the delegation that cases would be dealt with.
According to a source close to Congress,"we have been assured that the selective use of cases will be pursued by the government, probably by bilateral meetings, although this policy has yet to be finally determined."
As well, fdthongh the matter of ahti-semitism will definitely be raised ifvith the Soviet Union, the Canadian government has not yet determined the manner in which this will be done.
The Madrid meeting has been cialled to discuss progress in following through on the Helsinki agreement on European and human rights.
The CJC delegation to Ottawa included CJC Pfesi-• deui Irwin Cotler (the attorney of record of jailed Soviet Jewish activists Anatoly Scharansky aind Yosef Men-delevitch as well as the exiled Ida Nudel)< jBarbara Stern, chairman of the Montreal
committee for Sovjet Jewry. CJC executive vice-president Alan Rose and ManinPenn. director, national comniittee on Soviet Jewry.
During the niecting, a number of human rights violations vis-a-vis Soviet Jews were raised.
CJC. in itspresemation to MacGuigan-saici it considers Soviet complia:ice with respect to the rights of Soviet Jews is a "litmus test" of its intention to follow the Helsinki agreement;
Among the issues raised bv Congress that illustrate the Soviet disregarf! for the Hel. siriki accord were;
• The restrictive policy of the USSR in relation to family reunification,
• TTie lengthy iiii'pri.son-ment of about 10 Jews for attempting to exercise their rights (guaranteed by the Soviet constitution atid the Helsinki F'inal Act) to be
,. reunitedw'ith their faniilies in Israel.
.• The enormoiis volumes of anti-semitism in the Soviet media, including distribution by Russian authorities of the "Sword of David," a piece of anti-semitic propaganda rnade available at the Soviet Space Exhibition at the On-tarib Science Centre in Tor-onto.
• The lack of . organized cultural, educational or religious; life in the Soviet Union.
• Thenon-^elHjyof mail, the interruptipri n'tclephoiie calls bet\veej)?^l^i''i arid the Soviet Uniorrftii/^arassmeht of touri.sts rfnd last fall's expulsion of "Cotler.
Alan Rose later told The Canadian Jewish News that he .was "well-satisfied" with the MacGuigan meeting.
papers, responding to the latest draft U.S. Memorandum of Understanding oh Palestinian autonomy.
The Israeli and Egyptian documents, instead, were simply submitted to.Linowitz
firmed that they had not been allowed to see each other's papers.
The approach appears to be meeting with some slow success. Officials from all three delegations confirmed that
di#ing his; most recent round the last sessions managed to
of discussion with Israeli Interior Minister Yosef Burg and Egyptian Foreign Minister Kamal Hassan Ali. Those: negotiations, held here in Washington, wound up on Oct. 15.
Linowitz and other U.S. officials are convinced that any direct exchange of such writ^ ten documents between Cairo and Jerusalem would merely stiffen their negotiating stances. TTieybelieye that.it would be more effective for the United States to take the Egyptian and Israeli papers and try to incorporate or accommodate as many of their concerns as possible in a new U.S. working paper.; .
According to U.S. ofiBcials, Linowitz wiU be working oh this revised U.S. document l>etween now and Nov. 17, the scheduled date for rescuing the negotiations .eitheF in Israel or In Eg>-pt. Linowitz, is hot expected to participate personally in that session. He wiU be. represented by his deputy. Ambassador James Leonard.
Officials here said that the Israeli and Egyptian negotiating teams have a rough, general idea of each other's specific comrhents to the U.S. workpaper, although neither side knows exactly what was included.
That may seem like a strange way of conducting negotiations, but the U.S. envoy iis said to believe that it represents the best hope for
narrow the gaps on some tough issues, although they
also agree that the parties remain very far apart on the major points of dispute — whiether East Jerusalem Arabs should be permitted to-vote for the proposed Pales-tiniaii self-governing authority; how to share the_area's limited water supplies; who should be responsible for the internal security of the West Bank and Gaiza; and how will the public lands be administered.
'^There was heartening progress in a niiml>e!r of areiais," linowitz said after the talks. "If we keep at It, there is reason to believe we are going to be able to make
ANALYSIS
very considerable progresis In the future."
Significantly, the negotiators wound up with general agreement that the liiglily-publicized summit involving President Jimmy Carter, Prime Minister Menadiem Begin and President Anwar Sadat would be put off nntfl next year. Earlier, there had been ' talk of a December meetihg in Washington."
"Gearly, we are able to anticipate there will be a summit," Linowitz said. "The only question is when."
[Cont'd, on page 3]
Iraq
By SHELDON KIRSHNER
in defiance of U.S. and Israeli warnings, Jordan's King Hussein has committed his nation tb supporting Iraq in its war with Iran. .
Some observers in Washington and Jerusalem figure that the king's policy is foolish and dangerous, and they are already comparing it with his calculated gamble which misfired in 1967.
Ignoring Israel's admonitions. Hussein unleashed his army against Israel in the Six Day War in the misitaken belief that Egypt, his ally, was wiiining. The error cost the monarch, who is usually astute. East Jerusalem and the- West Bank. He has regretted it ever since. .. Since the start of the Iran-Iraq war. Jordan has made its port of Aqaba, opposite Eilat. available to receive and relay Iraqi consumer goods and .weaponry. King Hussein has
inching toward progress in also issued an order requiring the talks. As a matter of pro- .private truckers to transport cedure. Linowitz reportedly Iraqirbound cargo to Bagh-
infprms Egypt and Israel only in rough terms of each other's formal, written positions — stressing those areas where
dad.
While endorsing a negotiated settlement of the war, he has placed his army of
70,000 hi a state of high alert and has pledged "physical support" to In^ if its leader, S^dam Hussein, requests it.
If his critics in Israel and the U.S. are correct, Hussein risks more than he can possibly gain by siding so openly with Iraq. By incurring, the. enmity of iran, he exposes his country to possible military attack. If the Iranians regroup their forces, they may be tempted to hit Jordanian targets. And if Jordan becomes too deeply involved in the struggle, Isriael might react militarily.
In political terms, Jordan runs the risk of damaging its traditionally cordial relations with the U.S.
From Amman's point of view, 'there are several reasons for a prorlraqi position.
Jordan and Iraq have been • moving together in the past two yeairs, having signed trade, transport and other cooperative agreements. The Iraqis, who have grown fat on the wealth of their oil reserves, have channelled . funds to the tune of tens, and probably hundreds of millions of dollars into Jordan.
Last year, Iraq loaned Jordan $13 million to expand harbor facilities at Aqaba and to build a new road to. Baghdad. -
King Hussein views Iraq as his "strategic depth." In his quest to survive, he has always attempted to forge strong military alliances. On the eve of the Six Day War, he drew close to Egypt, and after the Yom Kippur War, he linked his fortunes to Syria. The Syrian connection withered, with the Syrians accusing Jordan of harboring Islamic fundamentalists working to unseat Hafez Assad's regime.
Finally, Hussein may be hoping that Iraq, his latest ally, will support a compre-heiisive Middle East plan which he reportedly plans to submit to Western capitals. If accepted, it would supplant the Camp David accords.
But this, too, is a gamble. Iraq has never accepted Is- . rael's existence and the likelihood is that it will not. Jordan may then be sucked even deeper into the Arab rejec-. tlonist cainp — a prospect which it does not favor.
Navon is optimistic but...
ties. :The contacts are being arranged.by the ministry of the interior. .
□ The Canadian Community Newspapers Association, whose membership-totals more. than 520- publications with circulation and. readership into the many thousands, will make a "study tour" of Israel, and Egypt, Jan. 26 to Feb. 9. The tour program, in addition to taking in Israel's sites, scenes, culture and folklore, will mclude such professional happenings . | as a meeting with faculty and = students of the Hebrew Uni- | versify's department of mass | circulation; a visit with 5 editors and staff of The i Jerusalenri Post; a get- | together with members of the = Israel Newspaper Associa- | tion who will act as hosts; a i meeting with editors of the i Israeli-Arab press;'and a visit 1 to the Weizmann Institute of = ScienceJn Rhovot. |
□ Contacts and/or nego- | tiations are under way with i more than 50 Bible institutes i and colleges, for Israeli tour- = ing. I
□ Canadian farmers . and 1 agricultural organizations, - = whose winters are long and | often idle, and whose afflu- § ence is impressive»:^have been: | invited to attend Ifigricultural i seminars m Israel/where^the § expertize in such areas .as 1 poultry development, egg | production and/irrigation hasv 1
_^received worldwide acclaim. \=
[Cont'tl. on page 16]
Israel's President, Yitzhak Navon, is at present in Egypt on a state visit. This interview was given to Yoram Kessel, London Jewish Chronicle correspondent in Israel, just, before the President flew to Cairo.
By YORAM KESSEL
S "The people of Israel are ready to give more of
2 themselves, to make sacrifices. This is true in the
= economic sphere no less than' in other spheres. But
1 what they need is to be given vision, and direction. One
= does not always get the feeling thatwe know where we
5 are going, and that is vital."
1 This is how Israel's President Navon believes the
i Israeli people will respondtothe challenges in the year
= ahead. In a wide-ranging assessment for the Jewish
1 Chronicle of the problems, difficulties and challenges
I that lie ahead, the President made it patently clear ■
1 thati despite all the current problems, he looks to the
1 future with considerable optimism. And he believes
S there is good reason to be confident.
1 Like that of any observer, his assessment is
S essentially a personal one. But from the thousands of
S individuals and the scores of groups whom he meets •
1 every month, both at his official residence and during
1 the numerous visits around the country, he has a
= genuine vantage-point to feel the national pulse:' And
i hisoverwhelming impression is: ''We are much better
= than we seem."
i : There are objective reasons, the Presidentconcedes,
= for the bleak image projected by the media. But he
1 hastens to add that, unlike those politicians who blame .
1 Israel's poor image entirely on television and press,
1 "surely they are not making things up. These moods
i doexist. But it is in the very nature of news reporting
I not-to-cover the grey, positive, day-to-day achieve-
I ments. These exist in their thousands, but they don't
1 make fornewsi This question of self-image is vital;. To'
1 correct it we need vision, for 'without vision a nation
i dissolves'." - .":
1 A secojid source of the problem is the iiisecurity
= createdby Israel's unstable currency. "People fear"
1 inflation. The uncertainty over the level of one's salary,
i of prices — this causes great disquiet."
I And the thhd element — vital, hi Mr. Navon's view
1 ^ is the muted fulfilment of expectations created by
i the peace treaty with Eg>i>t. "I myself believe that the
I breakthrough, Egypt's I'lMng of the taboo oa Isradl,
I cannot be'^underestimated: it is nothing short of
§ historic. But people tend to thfaik to terms <rf wluu^-^^
1 Kissinger described as Israel's dhspossesskm i>f
= tangibles [and whats^lgnificant sacrifices they ate/— the whole of Sbiai^the oilfields] to return for one concrete act — an Eg>ptian ambassador In Tel Avty, soniiethlng that can be revoked to a day.. . V : "These are the sources of instability — and they are^ understandable." But most searing in its absence, the :
Yitzhak and Ofira Navon.
President feeISi is a lack of vision and of perspective. ''We do not apply the proper standards by which to measure Israel's achievements and problems. They must be seen against the difficulties of the past, against the enormity of the problems that had to be overcome." -
Ofprime interest to President Navon is the necessity to put across to the Jews of the world the urgency not so much for a^hanged relationship between Israel and the Diaspora as for a definitive reordering of priorities in that relationship. -'For so many years Israel's primary appeal to Western Jews was for money to help absorb those Jews-who had come from countries of distress. We accustomed Western Jews to that division of responsibility. When we spoke of aliya, the reference was clearly to Jews other than themselves.
Inevitably,.the President points out, the demands on "Western Zionists" for commitment to settle in Israel have increased only since aliya dried up from other sources. "This is a mistake and we need an entirely new approach. The money Jews abroad contribute is vitail — all the more so since it binds them to Israel and comes with no strings attached — but the accent must be on aliya.
, "If there has been any legitimizing of.the Diaspora in Israeli minds in recent years, that is'wrong, The Diaspora has been our fate. But it is not the ideal; it doesn't exist out of choice; it shouldn't really be there. Against it, Zionism means simply coming home; Full stop. That may be simplistic, it may sound banal,;but^; that's what it's about: that the Jewish people return to tlieir hisjoric land and build their future^th'emselves.
^'Atyarions symposia one hears talk about the need to redehne Zionism; 1 hold that there*s^no need for that. All it needs is a fulfilment of amilsm. Zionism means behig able to take our own fate toto our own hands, decreetog what we want to do with our future."
Despite the awesome difficuUies of Israel'spresent international situation. President Navon suggests that hiscountrymen and Jews abroad should strenuously resist any temptation to be drawn into a "the whole world is always against us" attitude. Such a stance is recognizably popular among segments of both Israeli officialdom and the Israeli public.
"There have always been some elements around the world, who. for religious; political or other reasons have refused to accept the State of Israel as aiact. Nor are they lightweights. In recent years, economic factors, principally oil, have come into play as well. But most of the states which for ideological or religious reasons are set.against Israel are not a priori against us. Look how we fought the War of Independence largely with Czech arms.
"I want." said the President, changing the subject, "to return to this question of vision, of the.national readiness for sacrifice. In order to have a valid economic policy, one has to tell the people precisely what is needed of them; to have a concrete policy to implement it, and to create a belief that it has purpose."^
Ultimately, however, the President says with his usualdisarming frankness, his concerns are much more about the future of the Jewish people outside Israel than within the state. "What worries me about the Diaspora is simply the diminishing numbers of Jews, through assimilation, intermarriage or the low birth rate. If this process continues, demographers estimate that instead of 11 million Jews outside Israel. as at present, by the year^2000 there will ,be but 8 million. Twenty-five years beyond we will have dwindled by a further J million.
"While Israel makes up less than"25% of the world Jewish population,40% of all Jewish children are bom here. So we are not exactly in dire straits. Nor am I
-giving instructions to couples. But 1 am merely stating the facts, and these are very worrying."
As President Navon embarks on bis diplomatlcaily delicate state visit to Egypt, what does he bnagtoe tlie outcome will be? "Let me state the negative first, |am not gotog to conduct negotiations and-wiU tlierefore
.not beJnvolved to any:taiigible political Issues.. But the visit could have significance to trying to further the dialogue with the Egyptian leadership and with the people of Egypt. I shall try to underline a number of basic issues which are held to consensus by virtually' the whole nation."
In this respect he hopes to be able to explain to his Egyptian hosts that the vitriolic attacks and the anti-semitic caricatures against Mr. Begin in the^; Egyptian press are attacks not only on the Prime Minister, but on all Israel, irrespective of political affiliation, and on the enTire Jewish people. "These create btrriers. We must make an effort to ensure that peace with Egypt does not rest only.on a shallow layer of government people and a few army officers, but goes as deep as possible, to relations between the two peoples as a whole."
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