Last Hope?
Pollard to get his day in court in latest twist in famous spy case.
militants number only a few thousand at most.
The American position is ambivalent. Powell has
said the United States "will not be satisfied until ter-
ror has been eliminated, not just for the moment,
not just for a hudna, for good." Yet, he adds, "We
need to show a little bit of patience and flexibility
to make sure that it happens in a way that does not
result in a situation that undercuts or brings down
Mahmoud Abbas, because then where are we?"
A senior Israeli official describes the emerging situ-
ation, in which the cease-fire continues but the mili-
tias are left untouched, as a "honey trap" for Israel.
Hamas and other terrorist groups are re-arming mas-
sively for a new round of terror, he says, but if the
cease-fire continues, the government won't even be
able to explain to its own people, enjoying peace and
quiet, the need for the Israel Defense Forces to pre-
emptively smash the terrorist infrastructure.
Worse, he says, the Israeli fear is that in an ongo-
ing cease-fire situation, the Americans might press
Israel to move on to the next stage of the road map
without the Palestinians having carried out their
most basic commitment: disarming the militants.
The Israeli official acknowledges that President
Bush could not have been more emphatic in
demanding that the Palestinians disarm the militias
before taking the peace process any further. But, he
says: "That's the American position now Who
knows what it might be several months down the
road if the hudna is extended and holds." 1-1
TEE ISSUE
Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the traditional site of
the ancient Jewish temple built by King
Solomon, according to the Hebrew Scriptures,
and known to Muslims as Fla_rarn al Shaxif; has
been in the news lately regarding visits there by
tourists and Jews.
DEEDED THE ISSUE
Although under Israeli law and authority, as has
been all of Jerusalem since 1968, the local Muslim
religious authority, the NVaqf, is the custodian of
the two mosques and plaza on the mount. Since ''•44
the resurgence of Palestinian violence in
September 2000, which began in full force vvith
rioting on the mount, there had been no visitation
there by tourists and Jews, except for a brief time
period last month. Taking into consideration both
security concerns and religious sensitivities, Israeli
authorities and the Waqf are now negotiating the
future status of the site as a tourist destination.
-- Allan Gale, Jewish Coinniunt#K
Council of Metropolitan Detroit
EDWIN BLACK
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Washincton
ept. 2 is going to be a big day for Jonathan
Pollard: The American Jewish spy is going
to get another day in court.
Pollard's lawyers will have 40 minutes in
a federal courtroom to explain why they should be
permitted to continue efforts to rescind the life sen-
tence he received 18 years ago for committing espi-
onage for Israel.
Years of tenacious motions by attorneys Jacques
Semmelman and Eliot Lauer either have been
vigorously opposed by government attorneys or
allowed to languish in the court. Now U.S.
District Court Judge Thomas Hogan has granted
tollard and his attorneys — who are working on
the case pro bono — a hearing.
Semmelman and Lauer will get 30 minutes to
argue why they should be permitted to appeal,
the government can take a half hour to respond,
and then Pollard's attorneys will be granted 10
minutes for the last word.
So pivotal is the hearing that the judge has
ordered federal prison officials in Butner, N.C.,
to shuttle Pollard to the U.S. District Court in
Washington. Despite mounds of legal briefs and
well-researched citations, Pollard's hearing boils
down to two issues:
• Was the ex-naval intelligence officer convict-
ed in March 1987 on the basis of a misleading,
secret, 46-page affidavit?
• Was he denied due process by a defense attor-
ney who declined to file a routine appeal after
Judge Aubrey Robinson stunned Pollard and
threw a crowded courtroom into pandemonium
with an unexpected life sentence?
documents so they can adequately appeal. But their
efforts have been denied on the grounds of national
security, even though they have been granted the
necessary security clearances. Semmelman is a for-
mer U.S. attorney. -
The documents concern sources and methods
used two decades ago, before the proliferation of
personal computers. The second question asks
whether Pollard was denied due process on account
of "ineffective assistance of counsel," according to
the motion.
Pollard's attorney at the time, Richard Hibey, has
been widely criticized for inaction. He failed to
Irregularities
Jonathan Pollard, in an undated prison photo.
The life sentence violated the prosecutor's plea
agreement to not ask for life in exchange for
Pollard's cooperation. Then-Secretary of Defense
object when prosecutors violated the plea agreement
Caspar Weinberger submitted the secret affidavit at
and asked for life, failed to call for an evidentiary
virtually the last minute at Robinson's personal
hearing on Weinberger's secret affidavit, and then—
request. In the affidavit, Weinberger wrote: "It is
to the surprise of most observers — declined to file
difficult for me, in the so-called 'year of the spy,' to
the routine notice of appeal in the 10 days allotted.
conceive of a greater harm to national security:"
For years, Hibey has dodged all questions on his
The message,. backed up with some 20 classified
representation of Pollard.
documents, was clear: Give Pollard a life sentence —
Despite the new hearing, there are few prospects
regardless of the written plea agreement. Fifteen
for a Pollard release in the immediate future. Even if
years later, Weinberger conceded that "the Pollard
Semmelman and Lauer were granted the opportuni-
matter was comparatively minor. It was made far
ty to appeal — consistently denied because Hibey
bigger than its actual importance." Pressed on why
failed to file the 10-day notice — it might take
this was so, Weinberger replied, "I don't know why
another year or two for any decision.
— it just was."
Pollard already has served far longer than the aver-
Attorneys Semmelman and Lauer have been filing age for people convicting of spying either for ene-
motion after motion to see the supposedly secret
mies of the United States or it allies. ❑
SW
8/15
2003
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