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28
FRIDAY, JANUARY 1, 1988
Washington Rally, Stock Crash
Were The Big Stories Of 1987
JAMES DAVID BESSER
Washington Correspondent
S
enators and congress-
men are off for the hol-
idays, and the staffers
who do the grunt work on the
Hill are taking a breather
after the last-minute
legislative frenzy caused by
the rush to pass a budget bill.
Political observers here in
Washington are standing
back a little and looking at
the curious twists and turns
of events that characterized
1987—many of which will
comprise the controversies of
1988. _
The big story of 1987, from
the point of view of Jewish ac-
tivists here, was the Mobiliza-
tion for Soviet Jewry, which
brought a quarter-million
Americans together on the
Mall to protest continuing
human rights abuses by the
Soviet government.
But beyond the success of
Freedom Sunday in generat-
ing a new feeling of activism,
1987 was a year of changing
expectations for the activists
who do daily battle in the
trenches of human rights
diplomacy.
"Glasnost" became a
household term in 1987, and
Soviet Jewry activists have
been forced to deal with the
gap between Mikhail Gor-
bachev's successful public
relations campaign and the
realities of many thousands of
Jews still forced to remain in-
side the Soviet Union.
Under the leadership of
Secretary of State George
Shultz, the United States
made Soviet human rights
policy a major topic at the
year's landmark arms reduc-
tion talks. But it is unclear
whether the new visibility of
the issue will result in
changes to the Soviet policies
that have caused the long-
standing problem.
"There's no doubt that
emigration figures have
picked up," said Mark Levin,
Washington representative of
the National Conference on
Soviet Jewry (NCSJ). "But
they remain well below the
numbers during the peak
years in the late '70s. We
don't have a good sense yet of
which way things are going,
despite all the speculation."
The task now, Soviet Jewry
activists here say, is to move
beyond the exhilaration of
Freedom Sunday and find
new strategies to press the
human rights message with
the Soviets.
Black Monday, Oct. 19: Was the crash a harbinger of more serious
economic woes?
Implications Of
The Crash
The impact on the Jewish
community of the other domi-
nant news story of 1987 is far
from clear. The dust has not
yet settled from the stock
market crash of October 19
and the resulting chaos on
world financial markets.
Shortfalls in contributions to
Jewish organizations have
not materialized, despite ear-
ly cries of alarm. Israel's $3
billion in foreign aid for this
year is secure despite the
chaotic, last-minute effort to
cut the U.S. budget deficit.
But the long-range implica-
tions of these economic dislo-
cations are disturbing. If this
fall's economic woes prove to
be more than just a "correc-
tion," it may become increas-
ingly difficult to insulate
Israel from cuts in aid as Con-
gress and the Administration
renew their efforts to cut the
bloated federal deficit.
And if a serious recession
suddenly clouds the domestic
horizon, the kind of wholesale
panic that characterized the
last days of the recent con-
gressional session could mean
slashes in a variety of pro-
grams, including the military
projects that Israel is count-
ing on to fill the gap left by
the demise of the Lavi.
Israel continues to have
staunch defenders in Con-
gress, and groups supporting
close ties between the two
countries are stronger than
ever. Any attempt to cut aid
in next year's budget discus-
sions will be vigorously re-
sisted. With elections in the
offing, cuts to Israel may
prove unattractive to many
key legislators.
The issue of possible
declines in contributions to
Jewish organizations remains
a strong concern, discussed
mostly in nervous whispers.
After some initial panic
following the October 19
crisis, the level of contribu-
tions to various groups ap-
parently settled down. But
Jewish communal leaders re-
main edgy; if the Crash was
a harbinger of more serious
economic woes to come, what
will happen to the groups
that comprise the backbone of
the formal Jewish commu-
nity?
And what will happen to
Jewish political influence
here in Washington if the
groups at the cutting edge of
Jewish political participation
experience cuts in their war
chests?
"It's too early for panic,"
said the director of one
Jewish organization active in
Washington. "The trend isn't
clear yet. But you'd have to
say that we're all watching
economic developments with
concern. It would be fair to
say that we're nervous."
The PLO Bill's
Journey
On the Hill, a number of
issues dear to the hearts of
Jewish activists journeyed
through Congress in 1987,
with varying degrees of
success.
The most peculiar legisla-
tive odyssey has been that of
the bill intended to close
down the U.S. information of-
fices of the Palestine Libera-
tion Organization.
Legislation to close both the
New York and the Washing-
ton offices of the terrorist
group was introduced in the
spring by Rep. Jack Kemp
and Sen. Robert Dole, against