Page 12-The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, August 29, 1991
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: n the wakrof ihrfailed ojup, Mikhail Gorbachev's stature as president of the Soviet Union is diminished. Yet Gorbachev's place in history is assured. He introduced glasndst and /7erej/ro/^,-which changed the face of Soviet society. He unleashed forces that liberated Eastern Europe and ended the Cold War.
. In the Middle East, Gorbachev cleared away the cobwebs from Soviet policy and thus forged a still-ongoing rapprochement with Israel, permitted the exodus of Soviet Jews to the Jewish state and upgraded relations with conservative Arab states; , .
When .Gdrbachdv assumed power six short years ago, Moscow was openly hostile to Israel: The Soviet Union had severed diplomatic relations with Israel during the 1967 Six Day War, drew closer to militant Arab states and the PLO, vilified Is(;ael_as an imperialist Western outpost in the Middle East and branded Zionism as a ; decadent, racist, bourgeois ideology.
Althoiigh Soviet leaders never oncejijues^^ Israel's right to exist within secure and rec6g-nized boundaries, preferably its pre-l;%7.frx)nt— iers, they treated Israel like a pariah.
/Gorbachev, the arch pragmatist. gradually drew away from the Soviet Union's harsh attitude to Israel Several months before the bungled coup. Soviet Foreign Minister Alexsandr Bess: mertnykh (who has since been fired) visited Israel; Moscow and Jerusalem enjoyed a ftill range of bilateral relations on the consular level; and the Soviet Union was reportedly prepared to reestablish fuH ties with Israel in advance of a Middle East peace conference set for October.
, What's more, after two years of frustratin^de-lays. Israel and the Soviet Union had signed a raemoraridum. of Understanding for 'direct . Moscow-to-Tel Aviv flights for new immigrants..
-In recasting Moscow's Mideast policy, Gorbachev moved slowly but resolutely, using small but significant gestures to signal his long-range intentions.
In May of 1985, on the 40th anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in theiSerond World War, /ji'^j^na published a~cpngratulatory messag^.from Israeli President Chaim Herzog to the Soviet Union; It marked the first time since the Six Day War that an official Israeli message had been run in the Soviet press.
Two moriths later, the Soviet atnd Israeli am-: bassadors in Paris met and discussed a whole range of mutually common issues. The Soviet envoy hinted thait diplomatic relations couid be restored under .certain conditipris and that : large-scale Soviet aliyah was possible.
Subsequently, in a.stunning breakthrough, Moscow allowed one of its satellites, Poland, to establish an interest section in Tel Aviv. Hungary soon followed jn Poland's footsjeps.
In August of 1986, in Helsinki, Soviet and Is-
raeli diplomats rriet publicly for the first time in 19 years. The Soviet side expressed a desire to_ send a teanrlo take an inventory of Russian property in Israel. Slightly less than a year later,
- a Soviet mission arrived, and it turned out to be the nucleus of what has become a permament
- Soviet diplomatic presence in Israel. In 1988, Is-[•aeli diplomats took up residence in Moscow.
Against this backdrop, Gorbachev exerted pressure pahis Arab allies and friends to face
■ , reality.-; ''
In Damascus, he declared that the absence of Soviet relations with Israel"eannot be considered normal." He also served nPtice on Syria that the Soviet UniPn would not support its professed desire tP achieve "strategic parity" with Israel, but would nevertheless erisure iSyria's capacity to defend itself. To PLO chieftain Yasser Arafat, Gorbachev
^ promised continued aid. but broke with the past by telling him thatlisraeli inteigsts had to be taken into account in any Arab-Israeli settlement. It is
= believed that Gorbachev played a central role in convincing Arafat to fashion an accommoda-
"ttPni^^t policy vis-^-vis Israel:
In sharp contrast with his predecessors, Gorbachev wooed the Arab conservative camp, notably Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. Gorbachev realized that Moscow's reliance on its alliance with radical Arab states such as Syria and Iraq was outmoded.
Israel took advantage of the emerging new climate to bolster its linkTwith Moscow. In December of 1988. Israel returned to Moscow Soviet hijackers who had forced an Aeroflot plane to
_Jand at Ben-Gurion Airport.' Soon afterward- Is- :
rael provided humanitarian assistance tP^Arme-Jli?' J'll^A'^^I^ by an earthquake. Moscow ^ appreciated bPth moves.
In 1989, following a meeting in Cairo between the then Soviet foreign minister, Eduard Shevardnadze, and his Israeli ciauriterpart, Moshe Arens, Israel and the Soviet Union agreed to normalize relations.
There have been cultural, scientific and sports exchanges. Trade has begun to take off. Soviet ministers, dignitaries, Jpumahsts and tpurists have visited Israel, and Israelis have recipirocat^ ed. Soviets ships have docked at Israeli ports.
And with Soviet approval, Soviet Jewish immigrants in unprecedented numbers have fiood-.ed into Israel, while newly democratic East European gbvernments have restored relations with Israel.
As these developments have unfolded, the offi-: cial Soviet media have all burstopjg«d a^^^^^^ Israel' Furthermore, the SpviFt Unioii"noTongef" supports Arab efforts to expel Israel from the United Nations. Of late, the "new thinking'' in Soviet foreign icy has been expressed in two separate arenas. During the Persian Gulf crisis, Gorbachev lined up with-the United States to oppose Iraq's aggression in Kuwait. Iraq had been a close Soviet ally.-     ^ .
In recent months, Gorbachev^has swung his support behind a Middle East peace conference co-sponsored by the United States.
It's clear that Moscow's Mideast policy has undergone tremendous change since 1985, It's similarly dear that Mikhail Gorbachev has masterminded these historic changes.
The Jewish World
By SHELDON KIKSHNER
fter five years of virtual silence, the American Jewish community has begun to make its voice heard in the Jonathan PjOllard cause celebre; Pollard, a 37-year-oldTonTier civilian employee of U.S. Navy intelligence, was arrested in 1985 on charges of passing hundreds of classified documents to Israel. In 1987 he was sentenced to life ..^imprisonment despite a plea bargain agreement under which he agreed to plead guilty in exchange ■for a reduced senteriee. ■
The. case triggered tension between Israel and the United States (Israel disavowed Pollard and claimed that he had been part of a "rogiie operation") and shocked American Jews; who feared accusations pf dual loyalty and felt betrayed by the Israeli operation.
Pollard started spying for Israel in }984, five years, after the Field Operational Intelligence Office hired him as an analyst. He passed information to Aviem Sella, anJsraeli air force colonel studying computer science at New York University. Sella had distinguished himself during the War of Attrition by shooting down an Egyptian MIG flown by a Soviet pilot and had taken part in a raid during the Lebanon War which resulted in the destruction of Syrian missile batteries in the Beka'a Valley. Sellaworked for LAKAM (Office of Scientific Liaison) rather than*forthe Mossad.
As related by Wolf Blitzer in Territory of Lies. Pollard provided Israel with data about Arab weapPn systems, Arab military capabtMties and intelligence, Soviet military equipment.to be shipped to Arab states and Arab leaders. According to Andrew and Leslie Cockburn in their new book. Dangerous Liaisons (Stoddart), Pollard stole U.S. military technology which was used by Israel's defence industry and betrayed U.S intelligence agents in Israel.
Pollard seeks trial
Mikhail Gorbachev and Soviet Foreign Minister Alexsandr Bessmertnykh meet Tareq Aziz, the Iraqi foreign minister, during the Gulf crisis. Last week, after the failed coup, Bessmertnykh lost his job.
By
CARL ALPERT
'ith scientific institutions of international calibre, like the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, the .Hebrew University, and the Weiz-mann Institute, Israel has been able to counterbalance the numerical and geographical superiority of the Arab world in most areas of national defence.
We have maintained that even 100 million Arabs can be no match for our technological supremacy. Our achievements, both on land and in the air have confirmed this belief again and again. ■
There are serious indications, however, that the gap between us is narrowing. A number Pf Arab lands have learned their lesson and are now making supreme efforts to raise their scientific arid technological standards.
The quick defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War did not obscure the fact that Saddam Hussein had made considerable progress in his efforts tojpin the exclusive club of nuclear powers, and the most recent revelations make it clearthat only Israel's pre-emptive strike 10 years ago, which destroyed his nuclear reactor and set his program back by a decade or mpre, forestalled his use of atomic weapons which could have changed the course of the Gulf War drastically.
Scholars of the Neaman Institute, at theTech-nion, who have been studying developments in the Middle East, are now warning that we must discard bur smug sense of superiority and wake
up to the fact that the Arabs are beginning to catch up with us.
The Neaman Institute began its study of the situation five years ago with the co-operation and participation of other distinguished bodies in Israel, and the facts which have emerged are creating genuine'concem here.
The purpose of the research program is to examine the:deyeIopmenl of science and technology in neighboring Arab countries and Iran, and to compare it to the trends in the same area in Israel. During the past year the study was focusing on higher education and on use of computers.
In the past 15 years, the number of university students in the Arab world has increased fourfold, from half a million in 1970 to 1.9 million in 1985. In Egypt alone there are 600,000 students, and about 35 per cent of these are studying in scientific and technological disciplines. Before the outbreak of the Gulf War, Iraq's ' universities had an enrolment twice that of Israel. Even Syria has more students than Israel, which—^ heretofore had been proud of it^ 80,000 en-rolment. r
Until 40 years ago, there was not even a single university in Saudi Arabia. Today there are seven institutions pf higher learning, with over 100,(X)0 students, and We must not minimize the academic level there, which continues to rise.
They have learned to tap into other institutions in the worid as well, and today there are one and a half times more Arab students enrolled in various universities overseas than Israelis studying K both at home and abroad.
For eveiy Israeli who earns a doctorate in one of the scientific or technological professions; there are four or five Arabs who also qualify for a doctorate in some of the best institutions in Europe and North America. This does not create a brain drain, for many of them return home as teachers and thereby coritribute to the raising of the domestic level.
In both Egypt and Saudi Arabia startling progress has been made in the aeronautical and allied industries. Particularly in the latter country, enormous funds from its oil resources have been funnelled into this area. American knowhow is freely available. Egypt has a plant to build airplane engines under British licence.
Israel still enjoys clear supremacy in its ongoing advanced research. International scientific journals carry reports by our research scholars which, in terms of raitio to population, places us. in third place in the world in original, creative research. ■.
- Prof. Yosef Rom, of the Technion's department of aerospace engineering, calls attention to the fact that Israel government participation in the advancement of higher educatipn and scientific and technological research has entered a period of proportionate decline, and a red light of warning should flash on.
Fortunate are those institutions which have a devoted cadre of loyal and dedicated supporters overseas who realize that the physical security of Israel, as well as its economic Well-being, depend on the proper education and traiiTingof its youth. ■■■
Though he was paid for his services, Pollard maintains he was not a mercenary. Furthermore, he told Blitzer, he never imagined he was betraying the United States, which has close ties with Israel .Caspar Weinberger, the then U.S: secretary ofdefence, thought otherwise. On Pollard's • day of sentencing, he submitted to the court an affadavit arguing that Pollard (and Anne Pollard, his wife and accornplice) had caused ' 'great harm" to U.S. national security.
At first, major Jewish organizations in the United States, embarrassed and taken aback by the disclosures, maintained a deafening silence. Last year, however, the National Jewish Community RelatiPnsAdvispiy Council broke the ice by cpm-ing out in favor of an inquiry into Pollaivd's sentencing and the length of the sentence. Alan Dershowitz, Pollard's lawyer, siays that the sentence "not only exceeded any prison term ever given for spying for an ally, but also vk'as far greater than the average term given for spying for the Soviet Union..." - >
Since then, the World Jewish Congress (U.S. section) and the Central Conference of American Rabbis have called for commutation of Pollard's sentence, while 32 prominent Americans have submitted to the U.S. Circuit Court of Ap- -peals in Washington, D.C., a friend of the court brief asking for a new trial.
Signatories include Philip Klutznick, former president of the World Jewish Congress; Seymour Reich, former president of B'nai Brith International; and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. ''I think the Jewish community is finally waking up to his suffering," WieseLsaiilJ^^reyiously, pep-ple were quiet because they feared being accused of dual loyilty~.-NPw, fiibre are seeing it's time for a little rachmonis (compassion) for him."
Pollard has written a letter tP his parents in which he expresses reniorse for his crimes. Incarcerated in a maximum security jail in Marion, III., Pollard says he accepts the fact that he is not above the law and deserves to be punished for his actions. He goes on to say he never im--agined that enhancing Israel's security would jeopardize U.S. strategic interests.
The next developmnent in the Pollard affair unfolds oh Sept MO, when Dershowitz plans to file a motion to the Court of Appeals withdrawing his client's guilty plea and requesting a formal trial.
Pollard may yet get his day in court.