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28

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1989

HOURS:
MON.-THURS.
9:30-4:30
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9:30-6:00

New Administration Policies
On Soviet Refugees Unveiled

JAMES D. BESSER

Washington Correspondent

B

ehind the barrage of
news last week about
changes in U.S. refu-
gee policies was a tale of an
administration that ap-
parently does not know how
to handle success.
In a wild series of hear-
ings, officials unveiled new
policies for handling thous-
ands of Soviet Jews.
The administration, eye-
ing the potential impact of
the new wave of immigra-
tion on an already tight
budget and the possibility
that the Soviet Jewry surge
is just the beginning of a
worldwide rush of refugees,
had quietly started shifting
policies almost a year ago.
The new policy will make
it more difficult for Soviet
Jews to get into this country
as refugees by setting limits
on the total number of refu-
gee slots, establishing
Moscow as the sole site for
refugee processing and en-
ding the practice of accep-

ting Soviet Jews with Israeli
visas.
But the sudden burst of
publicity — and the sugges-
tion of an abrupt policy
about-face — created a crisis
atmosphere in the adminis-
tration. One result was a
sloppy, disorganized presen-
tation to Congress last week
that battered the carefully
constructed consensus.
"At the hearings, they
seemed very unprepared,"
said one top Soviet Jewry ac-
tivist here. "I had the feeling
that the people responsible
for carrying out these new
policies did not really know
what they were."
Singled out for special crit-
icism was new State De-
partment refugee coordina-
tor, Jewel Lafontant, who
suggested that Jews in Rome
whose application for refu-
gee status had been denied
"could always go to Israel or
return to Russia. In these
days of glasnost, that's not
an impossible thing."
Officials were also vague
about how the administra-

tion plans to make up the
expected $58 million short-
fall in refugee funding for
the fiscal year that starts on
Oct. 1.
On the other hand, Jewish
groups praised Deputy Sec-
retary of State Lawrence
Eagleburger, who rejected
Lafantant's comments and
gave concise, well organized
testimony on the new plan.
Talisman, director of the
Council of Jewish Federa-
tions Washigton office and a
lead player in negotiations
between the administration
and Jewish groups said the
plan is "good, it's thought-
ful, and it's responsive to the
real-life situation created by
all these refugee numbers."
But Talisman warned that
the expanded refugee pro-
cessing operation in Moscow
needs a big boost to become
effective, and funding ques-
tions have to be settled.
"And we have to worry
about Gorbachev's fragility.
If he falls, we could find
ourselves in a terrible situa-
tion."

Arad Passes
On Diplomatic Dinner

Proponents of peace talks
between Israel and her Arab
neighbors sometimes over-
look the deep passions that
make the conflict so intrac-
table.
These passions were dem-
onstrated in a diplomatic in-
cident last week when the

raeli ambassador Moshe
Arad.
But there was a hitch. The
Jordanians indicated that
the crown prince would not
appear if Arad was in atten-
dance.
According to the Israeli
embassy, Arad was then
"sort of disinvited" by the
Washington Institute. In a
stab at a compromise, Mar-
tin Indyk, the group's direc-
tor, suggested the possibility
that the Israelis send a
lower-ranking diplomat — a

suggestion that Arad ref-
used.
As a result, there was no
representative of the Israeli
government at the dinner.
A spokesman for the Israe-
li embassy referred to the
entire incident as "sad," and
said that the refusal of the
Jordanian crown prince to
appear in the same room
with any Israeli diplomat
was a reflection of the tre-
mendous difficulties in
bringing the sides in the
Middle East together to talk.

Will Arafat Visit
Now Or Later?

Moshe Arad: No-prince diner.

Washington Institute for
Near East Policy, a think
tank closely tied to the pro-
Israel cause, held a dinner
for Jordanian Crown Prince
el-Hassan bin Talal.
The Institute invited a typ-
ical guest list for a major af-
fair — a list that included Is-

The diplomatic cat-and-
mouse game continued last
week as new rumors surfac-
ed concerning a possible visa
for Palestine Liberation
Chairman Yassir Arafat to
visit New York. And the
administration continued to
display an uncharacteristic
reticence that is confounding
the plans of both Arab and
Jewish groups.
Originally, word was out
that Arafat would attempt to
speak at the opening ses-
sions of the United Nations
General Assembly at the end

of the month.
But the PLO and its repre-
sentatives have been vague
about Arafat's plans — in
part to make it difficult for
Jewish groups to mount op-
position to a visa, in part be-
cause they still hope to ar-
range meetings with US of-
ficials during the PLO
chief's visit.
The State Department has
been even quieter, despite
widespread speculation a
visa would be granted. Offi-
cials have not responded to
PLO requests for private

