48 Friday, February 21, 1975
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Syrian Jewry Support Stressed
During National Weekend Rallies
(Editor's Note: Just one
The weekend activities
week before national ral- include special Sabbath
lies in support of the 4,500 services, community meet-
oppressed Syrian Jews, ings and a petition cam-
Mike Wallace and CBS paign to gather one million
Television's "Sixty Min- signatures calling upon
utes" show gave a dis- President Ford to intervene
torted picture of the lives personally on humanitarian
of Syrian Jews. A similar grounds to save those Jews
distorted article in Na- remaining in Syria.
tional Geographic in
"The Syrian govern-
April, 1974, led to the mag- ment must learn that hu-
azine publishing the first manitarian treatment of
retraction in its history' Jews represents a prime
last November (See Jew- principle for involvement
ish News, Oct. 25, 1974
in the international corn-
Page 56). A commentary munity," noted Albert
on the "Sixty Minutes" Arent of Washington,
program appears on Page chairman of the Social
2 of this issue, and the fol- Actions Commission.
lowing article-reviews the
Rabbi Stephen S. Gold-
continuing plight of Syr- rich of Cleveland's Temple
ian Jews and the weekend Ner Tamid, chairman of the
campaign in their behalf.) CCAR's Committee for Jews
,
NEW YORK (JTA) — in Arab Lands, noted that
Reform synagogues in the the observance coincides
United States and Canada with Brotherhood Week and
are devoting this,weekend to urged that the events be
a religious and community- , connected wherever possible
wide campaign calling at- to "sensitize non-Jews to the
tention to the plight of 4,500 conditions of Syrian Jewry."
Syrian Jews. Dr. George E. Gruen, di-
The national Save Syrian rector of Middle East Af-
Jewry Sabbath will be held fairs for the American Jew-
under the auspices of the ish Committee, wrote that
Commission on Social Ac- although there- have re-
tion of the Union of Ameri- cently been much publicized
can Hebrew Congregations reports about the alleged
and the Central Conference improvement in the position
of American Rabbis, and of Syrian Jewry, the basic
supported by the Synagogue ban on all emigration re-
Council of America and the mains in force.
Conference of Presidents of
Moreover, a variety of
Major American Jewish harsh discriminatory mea-
Organizations.
sures continue to restrict
Facts on Syrian Jewry
The following is an updated listing, based upon eye wit-
ness and other reliably confirmed reports, of the numer-
ous discriminatory restrictions to which Syrian Jews are
currently _being subjected:
• Jews are forbidden to leave the country. They are
not even permitted to join relatives in the United States,
Canada or other countries far from the Middle East.
• Jews still require special permission from the secret
police to travel more than three miles from their homes.
• A nightly curfew is still imposed. on the Jews and
they are subject to periodic roll calls.
• Jews must carry special identity cards on which the
word "Musawi" (Arabic for Jewish) is written in large red
letters across both sides.of the card. Jewish bank accounts
are similarly marked in red, as are Jewish homes in the
town of Qamishli.
• Jews are barred from employment in government
offices, public bodies or banks. They have been arbitrarily
dismissed from jobs without compensation and their licen-
ses to conduct foreign trade revoked.
-
• Jews are no longer able to obtain drivers licenses or
to have telephones in their homes. (The only exceptions are
doctors and a handful of merchants given preferential
treatment.)
In the past few years only a handful of the many quali-
fied Jewish students have been adniitted to Syrian universi-
ties. Asa result many 'young Jews are unemployed or eke
out a living as peddlers.
• Jews are forbidden to sell their homes or other real
estate. The government takes over title to property of Jews
who die if any heirs are no longer living in Syria. (In the
case of Moslem and Christian Syrians, the shar,es of heirs
outside the country are divided among the family members
remaining in Syria. It is only in the case of Jews that the
government confiscates the property.) As a result, many
Jewish families are reduced to poverty.
• The Jewish schools have Moslem government-ap-
pointed principals and Jewish religious instruction is lim-
ited to four hours per week.
• Military intelligence and secret police representa-
tives frequently search Jewish homes. Jews are held for in-
terrogations and tortured at the whim of the police.
the fundamental human
rights of the 4,500 Jews in
Syria, subjecting them to
constant secret police sur-
veillance and harassment,
denying them normal edu-
cational and economic op-
portunities, and limiting
their freedom of movement
even within the country.
Dr. Gruen said it is true
that in recent months
there have been a few
hopeful signs that the Syr-
ian authorities are not
completely insensitive to
world public opinion.
There was an interna-
tional outcry following the
rape and murder last March
of four young Jewish
women, in the mountains
near the Lebanese border as
they were apparently at-
tempting to flee the coun-
try, and the subsequent dec-
laration by the Syrian
Minister of the Interior that
two Jews and two Moslems
had been arrested and had
"confessed" to the murder
of the women.
After it was revealed that
the two accused Jewish
men, Yusef Shaluh and
Azur Zalta, were respected
members of the community
(Shaluh was in (act the
brother-in-law of one of the
victims), and that their
"confessions" had been ob-
tained through torture and
were repudiated in court,
the Syrian authorities ,
dropped the murder charge
against the Jews, accusing
them instead of aiding in il-
legally smuggling persons
out of the country, and then
last summer released them
on bail.
The two Moslems, with a
record of smuggling and
other crimes, were placed
under psychiatric observa-
tion. The trial was sched-
uled to be resumed in Octo-
ber, but there have been no
reports of any further ses-
sions thus far, prompting
some to believe that the Syr-
ians have decided quietly to
drop the proceedings
against the Jews.
After three years of im-
prisonment, the Syrian
authorities have also fin-
ally released two young
Jews, Nissim Katri and
Joseph Swed, who had
been picked up by the
Muhabarat (secret police)
in, the summer of 1971 and
had languished in solitary
confinement in secret pol-
ice cells without formal
trial for nearly two years
'before being transferred to
the regular al-Maze prison
in Damascus, from which
they were released in June
1974.
(Nothing is known of the
present fate of Dr. Albert
Elia, secretary-general of
the Lebanese Jewish com-
munity, who was kidnapped
from a Beirut street by
agents of the Syrian secret
police in September 1971
and was reliably reported to
have been held in a Damas-
cus military prison.)
In recent months, the
Syrian authorities have also
given permission for a few
blind or critically ill persons
to travel to Lebanon or Eu-
rope for urgent medical at-
tention not obtainable in
Syria.
However, they had to
leave large security deposits
with the Syrian authorities,
which are forfeited if they
fail to return promptly.
It has also become some-
what easier for Jews to ob-
tain the special permission
they must obtain from the
secret police to travel from
one city in Syria to an-
other.
These slight signs of im-
provement are attributed in
part to the embarrassment
the Syrian authorities feel
at the image of persecution
and brutality that their past
record has created.
They are particularly sen-
sitive to their image now
that diplomatic relations
with the United States have
been resumed and the Syri-
ans are eager to encourage
increased business and tour-
ist contacts with the United
States.
As part of their campaign
to portray a falsely rosy pic-
ture of Jewish life in Syria,
the Syrian authorities have
singled out a few Jews for
special privileged treat-,
ment. They may own shops
and live outside the Jewish
quarter. They are trotted
out for display whenever
visiting foreigh dignitaries
or journalists inquire about
Syrian Jews.
For example, the N
s.
York Times on Jan. 5
ported a Syrian statemeir - "
that "the most popular
men's clothing store in Da-
mascus is owned by a Jew."
This is true, but the Times
failed to note that the
owner, Halil Jijati, is known
in the Jewish community to
be a close friend of the head
of the Syrian secret police.
ilk
Jijati is also a member
of the Jewish Community
Council, which in Syria is
not picked by the Jewish
community but is ap-
pointed by the secret po-
lice. Because of his special
relations with the police,
Jijati has been able to rent
space for his store in a
government building and
has beeh permitted to
travel to Europe on busi-
ness:
But,it is virtually impossi-
ble for foreigners to go to
the old Jewish quarter,
where most of the Jews live
in poverty, without police
escort, and even when they
chance to encounter Jews,
they are usually too terri-
fied to discuss the actual sit-
uation for fear of reprisal
against them or -their fami-
lies.
Father of Israel's Water Honored With Forest
When Dr. Walter Clay
Lowdermilk died last year,
Christian friends of Israel
felt that his memory should
be preserved in a very living
way. Professor Lowdermilk,
Rhodes scholar at Oxford
University, became one of
America's foremost soil and
water conservationists and
had a special love for the
Holy Land.
He was sent to the Middle.
East by the U. S. govern-
ment and the United Na-
tions to study possibilities
for reclaiming once fertile
lands that had become de-
serts through centuries of
neglect.
During World War II Dr.
Lowdermilk wrote an im-
portant and influential
book, "Palestine — Land of
Promise," in which he out-
lined possibilities for re-
claiming the Holy Land and
suggested a Jordan Valley
Authority power and irriga- - flowing from the -headwa-
tion project.
ters of the Jordan River to
The book had 14 print- the dry lands of the Negev.
ings and was translated
Dr. Lowdermilk has been
into seven languages. His hailed as "the father of the
Israel water plan."
During the five years that
Dr. Lowdermilk worked in
Israel he also brought into
being the School of Agricul-
tural Engineering at the Is-
rael Institute of Technblagy
in Haifa. It now bears his
name.
Jewish Community Council
Starts Syrian Petition Drive
When Metropolitan De-
troit's Jewish community
celebrates Purim Tuesday,
they will be asked by their
religious leaders to remem-
ber the current trials of
4,500 Jews who remain in
Syria, living under oppres-
sive conditions.
As part of this year's
Purim activities, the Com-
mittee on - International
Concerns of the Jewish
Community Council of Met-
ropolitan Detroit has
launched a petition drive to
ask President Gerald R.
Ford to use his "good offices
and the resources of the gov-
ernment to intercede with
the government of the Syr-
ian Arab Republic in order
to ameliorate oppressive
conditions under which the
vairisimogra.
Jews of Syria are presently
forced to exist:"
The petitions will be for-
warded by the Jewish. Com-
munity Council to President
Ford at the White House,
and letters will be sent to
Secretary of State Henry .
Kissinger, Michigan Sena-
tors Philip Hart and Robert
Griffin, and Michigan's
members of Congress, in'
forming them of the Jewish
community's concern about
the fate of the Jews of
Syria.
Copies of these petitions
are available for distribu-
tion by writing or calling
the Jewish Community
Council ,of Metropolitan
Detroit, 163 Madison Av-
enue, Detroit, Michigan
(48226), telephone 962-1880.
Walter Lowdermilk
Dr. Lowdermilk resided
in Berkeley, California
when he was not traveling
and working in other
countries. His widow, Tnez
Lowdermilk, looked upon
by many as a great WOMP -
in her own right, is
very active at 85 and fr,
quently promotes Israel
causes. She lectures and
has written a treatise on
"Modern Israel -= Fulfill-
ment of Prophecy."
proposals for the utiliza-
tion of Palestine's water
resources for the benefit of
all peoples in the area re-
ceived wide acclaim and
many of his ideas were
adopted by the govern-
ment of Israel.
The California Christian
Committee for Israel, based
in Berkeley, has launched a
project of planting a forest
in Israel as a tribute.
In 1964 Dr. and Mrs. Low-
dermilk were the honored
guests of the Israel govern-
ment., at which time they
pulled the levers and
pressed the buttons that
started the great pumps on
the shores of the Sea of Gal-
iliee, to force the water
This project is being car-
ried out in cooperation with
the Jewish National Fund.
Contributions made payable
to "Lowdermilk Memorial
— JNF," can be sent to the
Jewish National Fund, 2266
Geary Boulevard, San Fran-
cisco, Calif. 94115.