NATIONAL
W000 jp
George Shultz receives a CJF human rights award from Max M. Fisher, CJF past president; Mandell L. Berman,
CJF immediate past president; and Charles H. Goodman, new CJF president.
The Costs
Are High
Federation leaders worry over the
high stakes involved in Israel,
the Middle East and at home.
PHIL JACOBS
Assistant Editor
dent Chaim Herzog told a
packed GA Thursday au-
dience. "We are looking to
settle one million new peo-
ple, 25 percent of our popula-
tion at a cost of $80 billion."
To complicate the addition
of the emigres, Israel's U.S.
Ambassador Zalmon Shoval
said the emigres represent a
considerable security threat
to the Jewish state's
enemies.
"The Arabs hope in their
hearts that Israel is a tem-
porary affair," he said. "But
with a million people com-
ing, perhaps two million, the
Arabs are slowly grasping at
what is happening, that
we're not going anywhere,
we're becoming stronger.
However, if we don't have
the funds or the aid to take
care of all of these people, we
could be facing the biggest
disaster since World War
II." Former Secretary of
State George P. Shultz, who
was given the inaugural
George P. Shultz Human
Rights Award at the GA for
his work in freeing Soviet
Jews, said in his Saturday
keynote address that not
only Israel, but the entire
world, needed to brace itself
economically for the flow of
Russians, a flow he said
would impact on Israel for
generations. He also strong-
ly suggested that the United
States increase its quota of
Russian emigres above its
current 40,000 mark.
Mr. Shultz said with levity
that there were enough Rus-
sian musicians now in Israel
to form eight symphonies.
But he was deadly serious
when he told the audience
that while receiving the
emigres was a big part of
Israel's future, the country
Photo by Ro be rt A. Cum ins
.11
., he "cost" of resettling
one million Soviet
Jews over the next
three years in Israel.
The "costs" to Israel in
terms of bodies and monies if
war breaks out in the Per-
sian Gulf. Also, the "costs"
to Israel should war not
break out and new alliances
remain firm between the
United States, Saudi Arabia
and Syria. The "cost" of
U.N. resolutions condemn-
ing Israel. The continuing
"costs" of the intifada.
The "costs" to Israel
should it decide not to
revamp its economic system.
And "what is at stake"
should Israel not change its
ways of electing its politi-
cians.
Words such as "the costs"
and "what is at stake" were
attached to almost every
major speech, debate and
discussion during last
week's Council of Jewish
Federations General Assem-
bly in San Francisco.
There was a pall, a feeling
of urgency and a fear of the
unknown that hung over
this 59th assembly that no
matter how many zeros and
dollars were attached to the
cause, it would not be nearly
enough to cover what would
be the bottom line of all of
these "costs". If anything,
the dominant issue of reset-
tlement was unsettling and
overwhelming.
Indeed, GA seminars on
issues such as intermarriage
and AIDS, which have ex-
acted their own "costs" in
the Jewish community, pal-
ed in comparison to the gen-
eral feeling that American
Jews, who have already been
called on to give millions of
dollars towards Soviet Jew-
ish resettlement, have just
seen the beginning. Terms
such as resettlement and
Operation Exodus were
redefined as an evacuation,
an evacuation that could go
on for years or end
tomorrow.
"If we come to be judged by
history, it will be during
these times," Israel's presi-
had other major issues it
needed to resolve. He called
on the Israeli government to
get back to the peace table
immediately. He also called
on the state to reform its
election process, and to pre-
sent a clearer political pic-
ture towards more internal
and external stability.
The former secretary of
state also said the United
States needs to establish
closer relations with Israel,
especially now, when that
trust is in doubt.
"It seems to me that we
should be consulting with
Israel about what is going
on," he said. "It seems to be
that if you listen to them,
you might learn something.
Israel is right in the center
of our concerns, and we have
to display trust."
Mr. Shultz said there
should be absolutely no con-
nection between Iraq's
pullout from Kuwait and the
situation on the West Bank
and Gaza Strip. He said the
U.S. government must make
sure Iraq does not have the
capacity for waging
chemical warfare. He also
said the U.S. should be slow
in removing its troops from
the region.
He then talked about
Israel's need for electoral
reform, saying that Israel
needed a political system
that allowed more
decisiveness. He said Israel's
economy was tied up in
knots, needing more
privatization and less bu-
reaucracy.
Mr. Schultz called for im-
mediate and direct negotia-
tions between Israel and the
Palestinians. He cited Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir's
April 1989 peace initiative,
calling it a great potential
step.
Mr. Schultz, however,
criticized Israel for
"backpedaling" on the plan.
But at the same time, he
called for the Bush Ad-
ministration to be more en-
couraging to the State of
Israel to continue some sort
of negotiations.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
35
0