Russian Trade Official Goes 2 Hunger Strikers Yield to Appeal
After U. S. Business on Tour; to Save Their Strength; Asian Studies
Jewish Protests Await Party Experts Rally to Vitali Rubin's Behalf
By JOSEPH POLAKOFF
JTA Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A
Soviet trade official said
here Tuesday that the USSR
will carry out its contracts
with American companies
whether or not the Jackson
Amendment is adopted but
warned that the 78 senators
who sponsor that measure
were forcing the Soviet
Union to "take a decision lo
reorient our (trade) interests
to western Europe" instead
of the U. S.
Nikolay S. Patolichev, the
Soviet foreign trade minis-
ter, speaking to reporters
here added, "It is for you to
judge if this corresponds to
the interests of the American
people." He said that the
credit facilities for the Soviet
Union which would be barred
by the Jackson Amendment
unless there is a relaxation
of Soviet emigration policies
— were an integral part of
doing business in the world.
Patolichev appeared at a
press conference held under
the auspices of the U. S.-
USSR Trade and Economic
Council, established last year
after the Brezhnev-Nixon
summit meeting in Washing-
ton.
He disclosed that the Soviet
Union presently holds 103
contracts with American
firms worth $360,000,000 and
indicated that his trade dele-
gation was going after more
during its current U. S. tour.
(As The Jewish News went
to press Thursday a luncheon
in Patolichev's honor at the
Detroit Club was to be picket-
ed in a demonstration coor-
dinated by the Jewish Com-
munity Council with the co-
operation of the Detroit Ac-
tion Committee for Soviet
Jewry. Officers of the Jew-
ish Community Council were
to lead the demonstration.)
The group of 26 high-rank-
ing Soviet trade officials was
hosted by President Nixon
at a White House dinner
Wednesday night and break-
fasted Thursday with mem-
bers of the Senate Finance
Committee before embarking
on an 11-city U. S. tour for
meetings with American
businessmen. The Senate Fi-
nance Committee will begin
hearings Monday on the
trade reform bill that em-
bodies the Jackson Amend-
ment.
Donald M. Kendall, chair-
man of the Pepsico Corp.,
which has contracts with the
USSR for its soft drink,
Pepsi Cola and Russian
vodka, remarked at the press
conference, "Unfortunately
the U. S. Senate does not de-
cide if we give credit to the
Soviet Union." He did not
make it clear whether he was
referring to private Ameri-
can companies or the U. S.
government.
Patolichev remarked that
the senators who support the
Jackson Amendment were
thinking in ways typical of
the past.
The Madison Hotel where
the press conference was
picketed by members of the
54 Friday, March 1, 1974
—
Washington Jewish Commu-
nity Council, who carried
signs reading, "East-West
Trade Yes, Blackmail of So-
viet Jews No."
Asked by the Jewish Tele-
graphic Agency how he re-
conciled the protests with
statements by the U. S.-
USSR Council referring to _a
"climate of mutual trust and
understanding," the Soviet
trade official replied by say-
ing that he had many friends
of Jewish • origin.
The Nixon administration
has scheduled five cabinet
members and two White
House economic experts to
testify on the Trade Reform
Att and against the inclusion
in it of the Jackson Amend-
ment at the hearings by the
Senate Finance Committee.
A similar array testified
for the administration at the
hearing before the House
Ways and Means Committee
but the representatives, by a
4-1 margin, approved legis-
lation identical to the Jack-
son Amendment proposed by
Reps. Wilbur Mills (D. Ark.)
and Charles A. Vanik (D.
Ohio). This is pat of the
legislation that is to be aired
in the Senate.
Lady Davis Awards
Given Hebrew U. and
Technion Scholars
JERUSALEM — The first
awards from the Lady Davis
Fello‘Vship Trust, which, at
$5.000,000, is the largest
scholarship' fund in Israel,
have been presented to stu-
dents and scholars hailing
from far-flung areas from
New York to Ontario. in
diverse fields ranging from
philosophy to chemistry. The
awards are given for studies
at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem and the Technion-
Israel Institute of Tech-
nology, as well as to grad-
uates of these institutions
studying abroad.
The Lady Davis Fellow-
ships seek to make the cul-
tural heritage of ancient and
modern- Israel, its achieve-
ments in development, state-
building, scholarship, science
and education widely avail-
able and known to people
from both technologically ad-
vanced and evolving so-
.cieties.
Jerusalem Green Belt
Progress Reported
JERUSALEM (JTA)—The
Jewish National Fund has
reported good progress in its
tree-planting projects around
Jerusalem which are planned
eventually to provide the
capital with a 16,000-dunam
(4,000 acres) belt of woods
and parklands.
The project is seen as an
extension of t h e original
"Jerusalem Forest" which
was begun west of the city
after the state was estab-
lished.
Now, JNF is concentrating
on former Jordanian areas
north, east and south of
Jerusalem.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Secretary of State Henry
A. Kissinger, Treasury Sec-
retary George P. Schultz,
William D. Eberle, special
White House representative
for trade negotiations, and
Peter Flanigan, executive
director of the White House
Council on International Eco-
nomic Policy, will be the top
administration witnesses at
the hearings Monday and
Tuesday. Sen. Russell B.
Long (D. La.), the Finance
Committee chairman, will
preside.
On the following day, three
additional cabinet members
will testify. They are Agri-
culture Secretary Earl Butz,
Labor Secretary Peter Bren-
nan and Commerce Secretary
Frederick Dent.
The major difference in
the administration's lineup
at the Senate hearings is that
William P. Rogers, who was
then secretary of state, led
off the testimony on the
legislation. Now it will be
Kissinger.
Seventy-eight senators, al-
most four-fifths of the mem-
bers of that body, have spon-
sored the Jackson Amend-
ment, but the administration
harbors hopes of killing the
amendment or watering it
down when the trade bill as
a whole goes into a Senate-
House conference for ironing
out- of differences that in-
evitably occur in measures
of this sort.
Boris Ainbinder, a former
Soviet Jewish activist, ap-
pealed to a group of senators
on behalf of Moscow Jewish
friends now conducting a
hunger strike over refusal
'of Soviet authorities to grant
them exit visas.
Ainbinder told the senators
that during recent months
conditions for Soviet Jews
had worsened and that Dayid
Azbel, Vitaly Rubin and
Vladimir Galatsky had re-
sorted to the hunger strike
to protest their situation.
Ainbinder also said that all
of the telephones of leading
MOscow Jewish activists, in-
cluding that of the hunger
strikers, had been discon-
nected.
Sen. Vance Hartke (D.
Ind.) was host for the in-
formal meeting of nine sena-
tors, who questioned Ain-
binder about the effect on the
situation of Soviet Jews of
the Jackson Amendment.
He said his friends in the
Soviet Union believe adopt-
tion of the amendment will
aid the cause of free emi-
gration. Ainbinder has been
touring this country under
auspices of the National Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry.
The Conference and the
Student Struggle for Soviet
Jewry jointly released the
tevt of an appeal from the
hunger strikers, "An Open
Letter to the People of the
United States," which said
the Jackson Amendment
made "certain aspects of
Soviet-American relations de-
pendent on free emigration
from the USSR and that
means dependent on moral-
ity, international law and
human rights."
NEW YORK (JTA)—Vitali
Rubin and Vladimir Glatsky
ended their 11-day hunger
strike Tuesday night, but
David Azbel and Ida Nudel
continued their action, it was
reported by the Student
Struggle for Soviet Jewry
and the National Conference
on Soviet Jewry.
Rubin and Galatsky de-
cided to end' their strike fol-
lowing an appeal Monday by
all the senior professors at
Israeli universities and tech-
nical schools which urged
the hunger strikers, for the
sake of their health, to end
their action.
According to the SSSJ and
the NCSJ, the two activists
stated that they had made
their views known-throughout
the world by conducting
their action,- which began
Feb. 15 in Azbel's Moscow
apartment. Miss Nudel be-
gan her hunger strike in her
own apartment six days ago.
Azbel reportedly responded
to the appeal by the Israelis
by saying that he felt he
must continue the strike ac-.
tion despite the fact that he
is extremely weak and can
hardly stand up. The four
have been striking in protest
against the refusal- of Soviet
authorities to give them exit
visas.
Their desperation h a s
drawn unprecedented sym-
pathy from the American
academic community. At the,
University of M i c h i g a n,
where the plight of sinologist
Rubin has drawn particular
attention, 20 of 23 specialists
in Chinese studies have sent
letters on his behalf to Mich-
igan's 'congressmen and to
Soviet leaders Anatoly Dob-
rynin, Yakov Malik and An-
drei .Gromyko.
A communitywide petition
appeal also was mounted on
the Ann Arbor campus. Ef-
forts here have been led by
Prof. Rhoads Murphey and
Frank Shulman.
Rubin has been invited by
Hebrew University to serve
as-corresponding scholar in
the department of East Asian
studies.
A specialist in Chou Dy-
nasty philosophy he. worked
as a researcher at the In-
stitute of Oriental Studies at
the USSR Academy of Sci-
ences in Moscow. He was
faced to resign following his
application to immigrate to
Israel in early 1972.
Over 1,300' Asian scholars
throughout the world have
signed a petition asking the
Soviet Academy of Sciences
to allow Rubin to resume his
career.
Ida Nudel, an an econo-
mist who has been the target
of KGB harassment for sev-
eral months, applied for a
visa to Israel 2 1/2 years ago
and has been threatened with
imprisonment for alleged al-
coholism and p/rostitution.
Some 150 /students and
faculty members at Prince-
ton University staged a sym-
pathy hunger strike in soli-
darity with them.
At the same time, a group
of some 200 students and
faculty members at Colum-
bia University held a peace-
ful rally on the college cam-
pus backing university ad-
ministration's efforts to con-
vince the USSR to permit
Rubin to come to Columbia
to lecture.
On Tuesday, a group of
about 30 young Soviet Jewish
activists began a hunger
strike in front of the Soviet
Mission to the United ,Na-
tions to express sympathy
with the hunger strikers in
Moscow.
The group was led by Alexi
'Pummerman, 24, a former
MoScow Jewish activist who
himself had been arrested
several times in the USSR
for his dissident activities.
VITALI RUBIN
Tummerman, who recently
emigrated to Israel and is in
New York for a visit, was a
friend of the three Moscow
hunger strikers.
Meanwhile, an appeal to
the women of the world from
Rakhil- Azbel, Natalia Galat-
sky and Inessa Akserlord-
Rubin to "help us in the
struggle for our rights" was
released by the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry.
The three -wives said fur-
ther: "Our husbands have
been practically deprived of
the possibility to work and
that means of the possibility
to provide for our families.
The exhausting struggle for
their human rights deprives
them of their strength and
their health. We have al-
ready seen that the Soviet
authorities have no leniency
either for the age or for the
state of health Of those Jews
who have applied for emi-
gration from our country."
Eight American artists
cabled Soviet Communist
Party Secretary Leonid
Brezhnev, with a copy to the
Soviet Ambassador in Wash-
ington, Anatoly F. Dobrynin,
supporting Galatsky's plea
for an exit visa.
The cable was signed by
Red Grooms, John Koch,
Alexander Dobkin, Philip
Pearlstein, Chaim Gross,
Jack Levine, Ruth Gikow
and Robert Gwathmey.
- Meanwhile, Soviet uniform-
ed police, plainclothesmen
and soldiers broke up a
planned hunger strike by
four Jews seeking exit visas
in Kishinev and arrested the
participants and two Jewish
spectators.
The Student Struggle for
Soviet Jewry reported the
authorities rushed into the
central telegraph office at
Kishinev Friday night 21/2
hours after the planned 48-
hour demonstration began.
The six arrested Jews were
taken to the Kishinev police
station and then to an - un-
known destination, according
to the SSSJ.
The four hunger strikers,
Leonid Bendensky, Mark
Abramovich, Sender Levin-
son and Yakov Schartzman
all had served in the Red
Army and this, the SSSJ said
it learned, was used as a
reason for denying them exit
visas. In a letter to Soiet
President Nikolai Po'4 •ry
and to the president tie
Moldavian Republic, the four
Jews said the refusal because
of their military service was
"arbitrariness" on the part
of ovir personnel.
One of the two Jewish
spectators - arrested, Miron
Dorfman, recently staged a
marathon 23-day hunger
strike in an effort to obtain
an exit visa.
Soviet Jews Still Passing
Through Austria to Israel
VIENNA — Austrian and
Jewish Agency officials re-
port that at least as many
Soviet Jews are passing
through Austria as made the
journey before the closing
of Scholnau transit camp,
and one government source
sair there was a "tendency
toward more Soviet emi-
grants" now than before.
Officials are reluctant to
disclose figures for fear of
inciting new Arab terrorism,
but they acknowledge that
between 15 and 150 Soviet
Jews arrive in Vienna every
day by train or plane.
In the first nine months of
last year, 20,031 Russians—
Jewish and non-Jewish—had
traveled through Austria, an
average of about 75 a day.
Kollek Dismisses
Islamic Demand for
Arab Jerusalem
JERUSALEM ( J T A ) —
Mayor Teddy Kollek repeated
Sunday his conviction that
Jerugalem should remain
united as the capital of
Israel.
Kollek reacted to the Isla-
mic summit conference in
Lahore, which called for "the
restoration of the holy city
of Jerusalem to Arab sover-
eignty."
Kollek said he did not ex-
pect a different resolution,
but as the 'mayor of "united
Jerusalem" who was aware
of the everyday life in the
city, he expressed his -con-
viction that life in Jerusalem
under Israeli rule was much
better for its citizens than it
had ever been during 0-^ 19
years of Jordanian ru,
Noting that "we are' 0,fiv-
ing,, for the solution of all
religious and political prob-
lems within the framework
of one city," Kollek added:
1"There is complete personal
freedom and free access to
the holy places for every-
body of all religions and na-
tional origins."
Fire Razes Jewish -
Bookstore in London
LONDON (JTA)—A Jewish
religious bookshop on Cheet-
han Hill Road, Manchester,
known as "Pincus," burned
down as a result of an ex-
plosion. Police are seeking
the culprits.
4:"•• /0, 0 • •
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