I do not take a stand on issues: I took
a very clear stand when there was a
meeting between religious and
secular Israelis at the Knesset.
"My position was that we shouldn't
try to destroy the differences between
us. The differences are also part of
constructive dialogue.
"But we have to stop our wars. We
must talk more to one another, under-
stand one another and retain our dif-
ferences while fulfilling our main
mitzvah — which, as I understand it,
is to live in the Land of Israel and to
build it. Not to destroy it.
"There are many questions on
which I do not take clear positions
because they are very difficult issues.
The easiest thing is to go to lbhiya
[an ultra-nationalist right-wing
political party] or to Peace Now [a
leftist movement] in order to solve all
the problems. But so far, I haven't
seen that one side or the other is able
to provide all the solutions.
"I can't say I'm living deeply in
Israeli society. I'm still concentrating
on Soviet Jewry and my family."
Nevertheless, that has been enough
to propel him along a collision course
with Official Jerusalem: He never
hesitates to speak out against the
Israeli government's predilection for
"silent diplomacy" when dealing with
Moscow.
Silent diplomacy is fine, he lectures
politicians, but only when it is accom-
panied by public and noisy demon-
strations that leave the Soviet leaders
in no doubt of what is being de-
manded and what is being expected.
Nor does he pull his punches when
discussing the tepid, sometimes
hostile, response of the Jewish Agen-
cy and the government to the ques-
tion of "neshira," those Soviet Jews
who choose to make their homes
somewhere other than Israel.
"I think it's a big mistake that they
do not continue working with these
Jews. We should not simply accuse
them of being traitors to the land and
forget about them, throw them out of
our memories. We really must con-
tinue to have contacts with them.
"Israel might not be able to offer
them the possibility of such great
financial success as the United
States, but it can offer them a home
and a better quality of life. And that's
important."
Apart from issues affecting Soviet
Jewry, though, Anatoly Shcharansky
continues to tread between the rain-
drops on a host of contentious issues
that divide Israelis.
For all that, the seasoned pro did
fall into one well-baited trap last
month when a West Bank Palestinian
sought a meeting ostensibly to
discuss a human rights issue — the
proposed deportation of an Arab
newspaper editor for his alleged PLO
activities.
Preoccupied as Shcharansky was
with the birth of his first child, he
could not resist challenge when his
caller accused Shcharansky of refus-
ing to meet him because he was an
Arab. Speaking from a telephone in
the maternity hospital, he agreed to
the meeting.
But the following day, Shcharansky
was appalled to read in a Hebrew-
Continued on Page 18
President
Reagan hosted
Shcharansky at the
White House.
A Visit With Reagan
To Sound The Alarm
GARY ROSENBLATT
Editor
W
ashington — Natan
Shcharansky is so con-
cerned about the dangers
of a new Soviet emigration law
that he left his wife and six-week-
old daughter in Jerusalem to come
to Washington this past week to
sound the alarm.
During his seven-day stay in the
U.S., he met with President
Reagan and Vice President Bush
at the White House, Senators and
Congressmen at the Capitol, and a
handful of journalists to speak out
on the dangers of the new Soviet
law, which goes into effect on
January 1, and will narrow the
already severely limited basis for
emigration.
"It's the most serious attack on
emigration since 1972," he told five
journalists during an interview in
the Washington apartment of a
friend last Wednesday evening
"And the reaction from the West
has been inadequate. It shows the
success of Gorbachev's public rela-
tions campaign, and many Soviet
Jewish activists feel almost
betrayed?'
Shcharansky, in Washington at
the invitation of President Reagan
to mark International Human
Rights Day, said he told the Presi-
• dent and Congressional leaders in
separate meetings earlier in the
day that while the Soviets are
describing the new law as a liberal
reform, in fact it will "close even
tighter the doors of the Soviet
Union." He called on Western
leaders to "make it clear to the
Soviets that they are not deceived
by these hypocritical steps."
Shcharansky said he was "glad
to hear President Reagan de-
nounce this law."
The former Soviet refusenik,
freed from prison last February
after nine years, said that the focus
of his meetings with Congressional
leaders was to request a joint
resolution when Congress recon-
venes in January calling attention
to the plight of Soviet Jews and
criticizing the new Soviet law. He
said the leaders he had met with
were supportive of his proposal.
During the 90-minute interview,
Shcharansky, dressed in an open-
necked white shirt and navy blue
pants; was asked to comment on a
wide range of issues, from Amnes-
ty International to Israeli politics,
which he did with clarity while
noting that he preferred to concen-
trate on the plight of Soviet Jewry.
His command of the English lan-
guage is remarkable, though his
Russian accent is heavy. And
despite the seriousness of the
topics, he showed flashes of his
puckish humor, as when he noted
that during a 110-day hunger
strike three years ago, which
brought him close to death, he
outlasted Soviet leader Brezlmev.
"On the 45th day of my hunger
strike," said Shcharansky with a
smile, "the heart of Brezhnev
couldn't bear it anymore and
stopped."
Contrary to rumors, Shcharan-
sky refuses to take payment for
speaking engagements and pays
for his travels with his own money,
primarily from the advance he has
received to write his autobio-
graphy. He travels in the style
more becoming a student than an
international celebrity, sleeping on
a mattress in the living room of a
friend's apartment in Washington
rather than staying in a hotel.
During our interview, he as-
serted that "the most crucial
point" of his message is that "the
West wants to be deceived" by
Gorbachev's more moderate image
into believing that the Soviets
share the same goals of world
peace that we do. People don't
want to think that Gorbachev is as
dangerous as his predecessors, ac-
cording to Shcharansky, who
warns: "Forget about his face and
voice and look at the pure facts,
listen to the voices of the witnesses
who are crying to us from there."
Personalizing this aspect of
human nature, Shcharansky said
that when he was in prison, he at
times thought of his captors as not
wanting to see him die: " 'My God,
they're human, the same as me,' I
would think, and I had to remind
myself that they are different, they
have different moral principles.
The same is happening now to the
free world; thinking that we all
share a desire to avert war."
Shcharansky argues that there
is an intrinsic linkage between
nuclear disarmament and human
rights, since no stable peace agree-
ment can be reached without a
"common ground of understand-
ing" between the U.S. and the
USSR. And the fate of the 400,000
Soviet Jews who wish to emigrate
is "a good indicator," according to
Shcharansky, of the sincerity of
the Soviets to make serious
changes in the way they rule.
He senses an "inferiority com-
plex" among Jews in terms of a
hesitancy to make the mistreat-
ment of Soviet Jews a major issue.
"There is a fear by Jews to irritate
the world with their own problems,
a fear more evident in Europe but
also here in America." He ad-
vocates making Soviet Jewry an
international issue rather than a
Jewish one. "We must do our best
to make this not just an internal
issue to make us feel more Jewish
or more Zionist, but to make it an
international issue and show how
it can build a base for detente in
the East-West process."
I.