EVENTS AROUND THE WORLD HAPPEN SO QUICKLY, IT IS SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO GATHER ALL OF THE FACTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87M00539R002804720032-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 21, 2009
• Sequence Number: 32
• Publication Date: November 5, 1985
• Content Type: LETTER

3637:.. ~'.?.~'-
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 STAT '
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Berrlar~d F~clelman
November 5, 1985
Events around the world happen so quickly, it
is sometimes difficult to gather all of the
facts. Acts of terror are widespread and must
be resisted.
If you have not already seen them, please
examine the enclosed items.
continued good health.
Please also accept. my best wishes for your
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 ? Approved For Release 2009/09/21 :CIA-RDP87M00539R002804720032-1
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1985
Don't Forget the Helsinki Thousands
sy s~ Haewrrz
And Dovcz.~s Mtstflcnv
The plight of Soviet Jews is often re-
duced to the single case of Anatoly
Shcharansky. For seven years the West-
ern press has focused its accounts of Soviet
Jewry on Mr. Shcharansky, a scientist con-
victed in 1978 of trumped-up spying
charges and sentenced to 13 years in a Si-
berian labor camp.
Ott on the 10th anniversary of the Hel-
sinki international human-rights accord,
the worid should know there are hundreds
more "Shcharanskys" whose names and
cases have gone unreported. Largely ig-
nored as old news, these Soviet Jews con-
tinue to be arrested. beaten, imprisoned
and shipped off to labor camps for the
' `crime" of applying to emigrate to Is-
rael.
We recently spent 10 days meeting with
Jewish activists in Moscow and Leningrad.
These "refuseniks"-Jews whose applica-
tions for exit visas have been arbitrarily
refused-said that under the leadership of
the new Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorba-
chev, their harassment has escalated.
They told us of jobs being taken away,
apartments being searched, phones being
disconnected, mail being seized and-most
disturbing-more refuseniks being az-
rested on trumped-up charges.
During our trip, we met with the family
and friends of a 24-year-old Soviet Jew who
was imprisoned in January. ostensibly for
the crime of writing letters to Soviet offi-
cials appealing the denial of his visa ap-
plication.
While we talked one Sunday afternoon
with this prisoner's visibly shaken father,
the prisoner contlnued to languish in a
Moscow jail cell without notice of a sched-
uled trial date. without being told specifi-
cally why he had been arrested five
months eazlier, and without the assistance
of a lawyer.
The unmistakable message of this and
other recent cases is that a refusenik may
be arrested at whim, beaten without cause
and detained without explanation. In fact.
the refuseniks said that this summer, for
the first time since the Stalin era, Soviet
authorities arrested and imprisoned a Jew
based on their official conRscation of his
private mail, a blatant violation of the 1975
Helsinki Accords.
Such arrests, while perhaps'not surpris-
ing in light of the history of the Soviet Un-
ion's treatment of Jewish activists, are
nonetheless significant because they ap-
pear to undercut the hopeful, speculation
by some Western observers that the new
Gorbachev regime would demonstrate an
increased sensitivity to human rights.
13y most counts, about 10,000 Soviet
Jews have been refused visas, and an addi-
tional 300,000 to 400,000 of ttie approxi-
mately two million Jews still in the So-
vier Union have requested applications for
visas. .
Even while the 10th anniversary of the
Helsinki agreement was approaching:
? Roald Zelichonok, a Hebrew teacher,
was arrested in Leningrad and charged
with defaming the Soviet state.
? Evgeny Aisenberg, a Hebrew, teacher
in Kharkov, was sentenced to 2'~ years in
a labor camp.
? Dan Shapiro, a talented linguist, He-
brew teacher and Jewish activist, contin-
ued to serve an indeterminate pre-trial
sentence in a Moscow jail.
? Yuli Edelshtein, a Jewish prisoner In
a Siberian labor camp, was being battered
daily by prison authorities who wanted to
"beat the religion out of him,'' according
to the U.S. State Department.
These four men are among the latest
victims of what the State Department re-
cently decried as "an official Soviet cam-
paign against the current revival of Jewish
culture in the Soviet Union."
Recent arrests of Soviet Jews remain
largely unreported because, as some West-
ern journalists explain, they have become
commonplace and thus are ~ not newswor-
thy. However, when the routine arrests
and harassment of Soviet Jews are, in the
words of our State Department, "a real ob-
stacle to the constructive relations with the
Soviet Union that the United States seeks."
then even the routine is newsworthy.
By~ignoring these repeated violations of
human rights and international law, the
press allows the Soviet Union to systema-
tize persecution while leaving the mistaken
impression with the American public that
the oppression of Soviet Jews is limited to
Anatoly Shcharansky.
Ms. Horwitz is a business and consu>~er
writer at the Washington Post. Mr. Mish-
kin is a trial lawyer with the Washing-
ton jirm of Melrod, Redman & Gartlan.
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Our Opinions
Opening in the Middle East
here is a slim chance to move now
toward peace in the Middle. East and it
should be grasped. King Hussein of
Jordan should accept Israeli Prime Minister
Shimon Peres' offer to talk, in Jerusalem or in
Amman or anywhere else. Peres, in turn,
should be prepared to accept Hussein's sugges-
tion that the Soviet Union be included in
peace talks, so long as diplomatic relations
between the .Soviets and Israelis are first
restored. And the Senate is right to _encourage.
the .process -by ~ making "meaningful" peace
talks a condition of the $1.9 billion arms deal
negotiated between the Reagan Administra-
tion and the Jordanians.
We've always maintained there are, or at
least there ought to be, useful limits to the
Senate's "advise and consent" powers in mat-
ters of foreign policy. As concerns the Middle
East, however, one adminatration after anoth-
er, not least the present one, has fallen for the
mirage of Arab moderation, which supposedly
can be enhanced and encouraged by an "even-
handed" approach which amounts to a quid
(arms) without a pro (recognition of Israel and
peace.) The Senate has usually been more
sensible in this area. This is a case in point.
family of which Hussein dearly desires not to Washington that this latest demarche follows
be the last representative. If Hussein faces a on the heels of tough Israeli reprisals against
Syrian threat, only a firm American, and the PLO and U.S. reaction to the Achille
eventually an Israeli, alliance can deter trou- Lauro incident. For years we have been told
ble. that the way to foster the "peace process" in
Hussein had attempted to get the Palestin- the Middle East was to appease the radicals.
ian Liberation Organization included, by We are now finding that exactly the opposite
some feeble subterfuges, in negotiations be- is the case. There will be no_peace as long;as
tween himself and the Israelis. If he did this the democracies give hope to the radicals,
because he honestly believed there had at long whose interest is not in peace but in power for
last developed a moderate faction within the themselves. And moderate Arabs will not
PLO, led by Yasser Arafat, he was sorely come forward if we are constantly threatening
disabused by the pirates who seized the to leave them dangling, in the breeze while we
Achille Lauro and murdered Leon Klinghofer pursue fantasies of a "moderate" PLO. The
in his wheel chair. One of the captured pirates time is now ripe for progress in the Middle
is reported to have confessed to his Italian East_because of firmness, not weakness. A true
jailers that Abu Abbas, one of Arafat's closest peace process is one that creates true condi-
lieutenants, masterminded the hijacking. tions for peace, not an artificial diplomatic.
Israel has objected to Soviet participation charade that can be torpedoed by any crazy
in peace cor~'~*~"^~a hona?co ~1,0 *tL~ .,n+i~.,a ~~.~~ ~~rn r.~n ~~ ~~ ..w
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have not had diplomatic relations since the
Soviets broke them during the Six Day W ar in
1967. But if relations are restored, as Israel
insists they must be, Soviet participation in a
peace conference may make it easier for
Hussein to come to the table.
There is a risk here, and it is a significant
one. The Soviets will probably try to act as
spoilers. If they do, perhaps Hussein will learn
that he must do without them, just as he has
(we hope) finally learn that he must do
without the PLO. And if the Soviets try to get
him into their corner, ~ our diplomats should
take a leaf from the Senators and understand
that their job is to make it perfectly clear to
Hussein that doing ao will cost him dearly.
Soviet mischief could be minimized - we
hope - by including the other Security
Council members in an umbrella group that
-would do little more than provide a forum for
direct talks between Israel and Jordan.
We are not especially sanguine about the
latest initiative for Mideast peace, but then
there is no need to be. Let's be realistic even as
we demonstrate that we are open to all
sensible ideas. And let's remember that our
openness will be taken all the more seriously
as it is backed by a credible threat to come
down hard on those who cross or disappoint
comes from Arab enemies of the Hashemite It should also be impressed on minds in
If Hussein faces a security threat, $2 billion
of arms won't protect him. The threat he faces
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~~. 'TNEvDETROIT NEWS/7A
Our Opinions
Turning Point
n a show of national resolve and military
effectiveness, the Reagan administration
forced down an Egyptian plane carrying
the four terrorists who hijacked the Achille
liauro late Thursday night. The Palestinian
pirates are now manacled in an Italian jail,
awaiting the.beginning of a trial -whether
ultimately held in Italy or removed to the
United States -that should command world
attention. If all goes well, this could prove a
real turning point in the war on terror.
There's a temptation to want to exact a
r>ore visceral vengeance for the wanton mur-
der of a 69-year-old, partially paralyzed Amer-
ican, than that which a trial by due process, in
a land where there is no capital punishment,
provides. But a fair and public trial, where it's
possible, offers the best hope against terror.
Such a trial is the best way to establish, for
all time, the source and nature of the terrorist
scourge that has gripped the free world over
the past decade. It will also serve to emphasize
that theie'is no moral equivalence between the
lawless pirates of the Middle East, despite
their claims, and the civilized states upon
which they have been making war.
We suspect it will be found that terrorism
ip the Middle East has a great deal less to do
with "social- dissatisfaction" and "Zionist op-
pression" than with good old-fashioned thug-
gery. Those whom the media are pleased to
call "leaders," such as Yasser Arafat, will be
shown to be gangsters.
The Italians, who_ will have the first crack
at prosecuting the pirates, should be trusted.
Alone among our European allies, they have
proved that they have the wit and the will to
c?mbat terrorism. They brought the violence
of their Red Brigades to heel in a trial such as
t8e one we now expect, by systematically
examining and cross-examining the
murderers until a very clear picture had
emerged as to the source of the terror. And
tLen they went after the source. Equally
i>~portant, by showing up the absurd preten-
sions and hypocrisies of the Red Brigade
"fevolutionaries," they dried up sympathy for
tae terrorists.
We reserve some skepticism that the Ital-
i/ns wiUprosecute the case to the fullest. They
Nave the closest relations with the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) of any NATO
member. Indeed, Mr. Arafat has expended
much effort courting them, and they have
returned the compliment. Until after it be-
camewidely known that Leon Klinghoffer had
been murdered, Italian Prime Minister Betti-
no Craxi and Foreign Minister Giulio An-
dreotti insisted that Mr. Arafat had "material-
ly contributed to the freeing of the hostages
unharmed."
But now that the Italians must reckon with
the deeds, not the sweet words, of the PLO, we
are certain that the scales will fall from their
eyes, and they will recognize the nature of the
beast. If :prosecution is vigilant, the self-de-
ception of all nations -including some parts
of our own administration -will be shat-
tered. The United States should press its
claim for extradition, but it should be viewed
primarily as a trump card in case the Italians
falter.
PLO "chairman" Yasser Arafat denied
complicity throughout the latest incident.
When things went wrong, he tried to gain
extra points in world opinion by offering to
negotiate the end of the ordeal, and conduct
his own trial of the pirates. Former Secretary
of State Henry Kissinger noted that it is hard
to believe that Arafat had the power to stop
the action, but not to start it.
Meanwhile, PLO spokesmen have castigat-
ed the United States for intercepting the
plane, and have warped that future hijackings
are now more likely to end in the death of
innocent passengers because terrorists will not
trust those who offer safe passage. That must
be read as a vow of continued warfare, by the
PLO and Chairman Arafat, against the civi-
lized world. The terrorists will try not to
repeat the obvious mistakes that made them
so vulnerable this time around.
But we shouldn't despair. Success feeds on
itself. Greece and Tunisia, both of whom have
recently paid harsh penalties for harboring
terrorists, this time declined to offer ~ safe
harbor to .murderers. Just and proportionate
retaliation does work. Deterrence is possible.
And we need pay little heed to the ridiculous
quibbles that the U.S. interception of the
escape plane amounted to a case of piracy
itself. Thanks in large part to terrorism,
international law has become a farce anyway.
We will never know to what extent Presi-
dent Hosni Mubarak secretly cooperated with
the United States while appearing to placate
his Arab neighbors by setting the terrorists
free. It is wise to resist speculation, and
proceed with our relations as allies. Insofar as
there is a peace process in the Middle East,
Egypt must be ranked as one of its brighter
hopes.
The swift strike that intercepted that plane
may just signal a turning point from the
acquiescence of the West in our own decapita-
tion, to regaining the habit of fighting back,
and fighting to win at that. We were fortunate
this time, in that the terrorists made serious
tactical mistakes. More difficult operations
may be necessary in the .future before we
finally bring a halt to the assault on civiliza-
tion. But we can take heart from this success.
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rage, drawn eyes,
the throbbing
veins in the fore-
head.
After all, Mu-
barak is a pretty
cool. cat, and he
can be assumed to
know how the
American govern-
mentfelt after the
hijacking of the
By WILLIAM F. Bl1CKLEY JR.
Universal Press SrnEicafe
THE PUBLIC tantrum of Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak has got to be
the kind of thing for which one pre-
pares by spending an entire hour in
makeup, where they supply tears of
Achille Lauro, and Buckley
how the American people felt when
they learned that a cripple in a wheel-
chair had -been shot and tossed over-
board.
What Mubarak promised the hi-
jackers was safe passage out of Egypt.
In a purely technical sense, he lived up
to exactly what he promised. The
hijackers were indeed shipped out of
Egypt, and they left the country with-
out molestation.
WHAT THEN happened was not
Egypt's responsibility. If the United
States is guilty of piracy as Mubarak
charges, then the United States has to
answer to a court of world opinion,
given that it no longer accepts the
jurisdiction of the World Court- in
matters involving political questions.
The court of world opinion is not
likely to consider it an act of piracy to
apprehend an airplane carrying fugi-
tives from justice. Piracy is more gen-
erally understood as apprehending a
vehicle with innocent people in it for
the purpose of kidnapping or killing
them.
Mubarak senses this, and he Is him-
self intimately aware of the conse-
quences of terrorism. Indeed, if it were
not for the most dramatic act of terror-
ism in 1981, he wouldn't be president
of Egypt. Anwar Sadat was sitting a
few feet from him when Sadat was
shot by fanatic Muslims, aggrieved by
Mubarak: What got
him so worked up?
that great statesman's noble act of
reconcIliatlon with Israel. Therein lies
the explanation for Mubarak's synthet-
ic wrath.
Here is another way to seek per-
spective inthe matter. Suppose that the
four hijackers had been members of the
IRA, -the -Irish terrorist association.
Suppose the identical scenario: A large
Italian cruising ship is seized, a passen-
ger iskilled, the IRA terrorists put in at
Port Said and negotiate for safe pas-
sage, which is tendered, and the Egyp-
tian airliner is brought down In Sicily.
Would Mubarak and the Egyptian,peo-
plehave felt the same sense of outrage?
No.
THE PROBLEM is a deep one, and.
every time one breathes a little hope, as
we did a few weeks ago when it looked
as though Jordan's King Hussein would
enter into active negotiations with
Israel, the seething resentments of the.
region are ventilated. The protest is
over the capture of four Palestinian
terrorists -because the sympathy of
most of the Arab world is, let's face it,
with them, rather than with law and
order.
It's precisely the knowledge of
where the sympathy lies that moved
the Italian government, knowing full
'With friends like these, who needs enemiest"
tonal documentation, elected to. let him
slip away to Yugoslavia.
His was a political gesture, pure and
simple. The Arab world understood
that.Italy has to prosecute four terror-
ists who hijacked an Italian liner and
The protest -Is ov r the capture of
four Pa/etinlan terrorists
because the syrup -thy of ~?st ~f the
Arab world Is, let's ace fit, with them,
rather than with /a~w and order.
well that the United States would be
enraged by the act, to release Moham?
med Abbas of the Palestine Liberation
Front. The probabilities are high, that
our old friend Abbas, the seasoned
terrorist, masterminded the whole ma-
neuver aboard the Achille Lauro. But
Itallaa Prime Minister Bettino Craxl,
pleading the insufficiency of prosecu-
ikilled one of its passengers. But the
felease of Abbas was a signal to the
Arab world, with which Italy solicits
harmonious relations, that the genial
ICtalian-Arab circuitry is still function-
ng.
It we were a country of soreheads,
-here would be a lot of 'American
tudents out on the streets protesting
the action of the Italian government,
but we do not get aroused that easily.
PROTESTS within Egypt continue. i
My favorite is that of the Egyptian
pharmacists, who pledged not again to
use any American drugs until Egypt is
pacified by a presidential apology,
which of course is not forthcoming. All
of this leaves us worrying about Egyp-
tianhealth and hygiene when deprived
~of -1.5. aspirin and deodorants. j
Boys will be boys, but Mubarak has
perhaps wrenched a little too firmly
the tail of our tiger when he reported
that he had not even bothered to open
the letter sent to him by the president
of the United States.
Who knows what was in that letter?
Perhaps our intelligence people in Cai-
ro -the same ones who discovered ~
that Mubarak was lying to us all when
he said the hijackers had already left
Egypt when in fact they were still I
there -might whisper the word ~
around Cairo that Reagan's letter had
in it~a P.S., to wit:`"D-ear Mr. Mubarak:
Unless I receive an acknowledgment of
my letter above by Oct. 17, all econom-
ic aid by the United States to your
country ($17 billion during the past 10 !
years) will be suspended." ~
That would get that letter opened, is
my guess. ~
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