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.