House Passes Law
For Possible PLO Aid

First Level - Next To Neiman Marcus

Washington (JTA) — The
Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization moved one step closer
to receiving U.S. aid as the
House of Representatives
passed legislation this week
waiving some restrictions on
dealings with the PLO.
Since Israel and the PLO
signed their historic accord
last month, the issue of U.S.
aid to the PLO has been put
on the fast track here.
The Clinton administra-
tion feels that certain con-
gressional prohibitions on
U.S. ties to the PLO were
made obsolete by the agree-
ment, and that they must be
waived for the PLO to par-
ticipate more fully in the
agreement's implementa-
tion.
The House passed legisla-
tion by voice vote that would
waive certain provisions un-
til Jan. 1, including lifting
some restrictions on U.S.
contributions to interna-
tional monetary organiza-
tions that fund the PLO.

The legislation, titled the
Middle East Peace Facilita-
tion Act of 1993, includes
language linking the
waivers to a PLO renuncia-
tion of the Arab boycott.
But the act does not make
the waivers conditional upon
a renunciation.
Under terms of this bill,
and of a similar bill passed
recently in the Senate, the
president must certify to
Congress that the PLO has
abided by its recent com-
mitments to renounce
violence and to recognize
Israel.
Some in Congress have
been wary about lifting pro-
hibitions on the PLO, which
has long been regarded as a
terrorist organization or at
least of having ties to terror-
ism.
The House and Senate
must now resolve some dif-
ferences in their respective
bills before the legislation
goes to the White House for
the president's signature.

THE D ETRO IT J EWIS H NEWS

Modest Record Set
In Aliyah Figures

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1 Bloomfield Plaza
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graph at M h ap , le t,
Hours: m
10-6, except Thur. 'til 8

New York (JTA) — As Rus-
sian President Boris Yeltsin
and the renegade Russian
Parliament were locked in a
turbulent standoff last mon-
th, a modest record was be-
ing set in 1993's monthly
aliyah figures from the
former Soviet Union.
September saw the arrival
in Israel of 6,207 new immi-
grants from Russia and the
other former Soviet repub-
lics, bringing the total so far
this year to 47,201.
The September figures
only slightly exceed those of
August (6,113) and of March
(6,120), which was also a
time of great friction bet-
ween Mr. Yeltsin and
Parliament.
Most of the emigrants from
the former Soviet Union,
however, have been leaving
the outlying republics torn
by ethnic and nationalistic
strife.
In the meantime, 2,846
former Soviet Jews im-
migrated to the United
States in September under
the auspices of the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society.
That brings the total 1993
immigration of Jews from

the former Soviet Union to
the United States to 26,462,
and for the fiscal year of Oc-
tober 1992 to September
1993 to 36,808.
Martin Wenick, BIAS ex-
ecutive vice president, said
the annual American im-
migration quota of 40,000
Jews from the former Soviet
Union was "basically filled,"
as a couple of thousand
former Soviet Jews entered
the United States under the
sponsorship of other
groups.

Gravestones
Are Desecrated

San Francisco (JTA) — On
the last Saturday in
September, Dr. Matthew
Ganz went to visit his
parents' graves, as he does
every year on Yom Kippur.
What he found shocked
him.
His parents' tombstones —
as well as eight others in the
Jewish section of a San
Francisco Bay Area
cemetery — had been
sprayed with red paint. ❑

