Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1982-09-23

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VOL.60   NO.39
SEPTEMBER 23,1982-TISHREI6
Devoted to American
and Jewish Ideals.
Pope, Arafat Hold Private Meeting
Speculation Grows That Gemayel's Links To Israel,
Leanings Toward Peace Led To His Assassination
> ROME (WNS)—Pope John Paul II, in a highly controver-
sail move, met privately for about 20 minutes with chief of
the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasir Arafat, at the
Vatican Sept. 15. According to Vatican sources, the meeting
changes the political status of the PLO. Shortly after Arafat's
audience with the Pope, the Vatican Press Office issued a
statement saying that the Pontiff had called for a "peaceful
solution" to the Middle East conflict and had excluded "terrorism, violence and the use of arms" in pursuit of such a solution. The statement said the Pope explained that "a fair
and lasting solution must by necessity recognize the rights of
the Palestinian people or their homeland, as well at Israel's
right to its security."	
Gunman Attacks Brussels Synagogue
BRUSSELS—Jews, late arriving worshippers and members of a guard team formed to augment police security outside synagogues because of increasing anti-Semitic violence
in Europe, were sprayed by'machine gun fire last Saturday,
as others, unaware of what was happening, were gathered inside the Synagogue of Brussels for Rosh Hashanah Services.
The lone gunman fled when fired upon by police. Four people
were wounded in the attack.	
Ex-SS Officer's Citizenship Revoked
CHICAGO (JTA)—A Federal judge has revoked the
citizenship of Conrad Schellpng, a former SS officer living in
Chicago, for having made "material misrepresentation" of
his Nazi past when he applied for U.S. citizenship. Schellong,
71, is alleged lo have commanded a guard unit at the Dachau
• and Sachsenburg concentration camps during World War II
and to have trained SS recruits for concentration camp guard
duty.  ' 2_T	
France Scene Of Arab Propaganda Effort
LONDON (WNSJ—A comprehensive study which finds that
a concerted Arab propaganda effort in France has been
backed by both left-wing and right-wing elements and which
warns that "Arab propagandists will intensify their
methods" has been released here by the World Jewish Congress. The commissioned study, issued by the WJC research
and publications unit, the Institute of Jewish Affairs, shows
that France's Middle East policies and its position within the
European community were key factors in its emergence as
"ideal territory for the propaganda of the Arab states involved in the Middle East conflict."
Haig Critical Of Reagan
Middle East Initiative
NEW YORK (WNS)-In
his first address to a Jewish
organization since he resigned from the Reagan Administration in June, former
Secretary of State Alexander
Haig denounced President
Reagan's Middle East peace
initiative, saying that the
President's call for a freeze
on Jewish settlement activities on the West Bank was
"a very serious mistake."
Haig asserted during the
course of his speech Sept. 14
that he had examined the
record of the Camp David
negotiations carefully and
had concluded that "Israel
never committed itself to
terminate permanent settlements on the West Bank."
Although He did not refer directly to the Reagan initiative, spelled out on national
television Sept. 1, Haig was
NEW YORK (JTA)-
President Reagan last week
condemned the "cowardly
assassination" of Presidentelect Bashire Gemayel of
Lebanon, saying it is a
"shock to the American people and to civilized men and
women everywhere."
"We condemn the perpetrators of this heinous
crime against Lebanon and
sharply critical of the Reagan proposal to revive the
stalled autonomy negotiations for Palestinians on the
West Bank and Gaza in association with Jordan. He said
the President's idea posed a
threat of a "gutting session"
between Israel and the U.S.
"When by our policies, we
cannot deal effectively with
our friends in Israel, we are
undercutting our effectiveness throughout the Arab
world," Haig declared. The
speech before 300 United
Jewish Appeal leaders at the
UJA's "Hineni I" leadership
meeting was warmly received and interrupted by
frequent applause. He received a standing ovation
when he concluded with the
commentf "When we are
true to Israel, we are true to
ourselves,"
against their cause of peace
in the Middle East," Reagan
said in a strongly worded.
White House statement.
"The tragedy will be even
greater if men in countries
friendly to Lebanon permit
disorder to continue in. this
war torn country."
According to observers in
Washington, Gemayel, the
34-year-old  Christian Pha-
EDITORIAL
All Voices
Must Be Heard
Israeli action in Lebanon in recent weeks has once
again caused international attention to be focused on
the political and military policies of the Israeli government in its long struggle to provide and maintain security for its people and bring peace to the Middle
East. '
Each time that Israel's policies and actions become
subject to this scrutiny, there are many repercussions
"throughout the" Amerrcaii a^d ^oil(J Jev^tehcortimuni?
ties. Because the State of Israel is a focal point for
world Jewry and a monument to Jewish history, it has
become very difficult to deal objectively with the politics of Israel as a nation without at least some con- .
sideration of the influence on world Jewish culture.
This is a problem. Even though they are related, the
policies of Israel are a political entity of a national
government and subject to the same debate and discussion as those of any democratic country, while the
well-being of Jewish culture in the world is related primarily to the strength of Jewish commitment, heritage
and ideals throughout all of the communities of the
diaspora.
We at the Chronicle have identified that within our
community there is confusion and concern over how to
deal with commitment to the importance of Israel and
Jewish culture while understanding and maintaining
objectivity about Israeli politics. The news media have
lately provided incomplete and conflicting details of
events in the Middle East. Israel's activities have not
been treated favorably. The information we get
through our Jewish agencies and what is in our hearts
tells us that this is wrong. The long-range consequence
of incomplete or misleading information might be
more than "bad press" for Israel—it is the threat of
fuel for the flames of anti-Semitism around the world.
The Chronicle is experiencing difficulty in providing
complete and objective information on this important
issue. Our publication schedule makes it impossible to
be timely in reporting dailyievents. At this time, we are
attempting to summarize reactions of community
leaders to recent events for later publication.
The Chronicle urges all American Jews to consider
these issues carefully arid express their knowledge and
opinions openly. We urge our community to do this,
through the Chronicle, in the interest of complete
dissemination of information, fact as well as opinion.
Our "Editor's Mailbox" column is available to all our
readers. In the spirit of an open-forum, we will be
seeking well-written, well-documented feature essays
from qualified contributors. Our commitment will be
to publish, in the coming weeks, as much information
as is available and for which we have the space. It is
critical that all voices be heard.      S.N.P.
EDITOR'S NOTE; Letters to the editor must be brief, well written, not
libelous and of interest to our readers.
langist leader who was elected Aug. 23 to succeed Elias
Sarkis and was to be sworn
into office this week, may
have been assassinated for
his close economic and military links to Israel and his
leanings toward eventually
signing a peace treaty with
the Jewish State.'
The son of Pierre Gemayel, founder of the Christian
Phalangist Party in Lebanon, Bashir Gemayel rose
to prominence when his
forces fought a bloody civil
war against armed Palestinians and their Lebanese
Moslem and leftist supporters in 1975-1976. During this
time, Gemayel received military and economic support
from Israel for his forces,
which grew to nearly 25,000 .'.
troops at the time the Israeli
military operation began in
June.
Gemayel's image as a
ruthless military warrior ->.
seemed to tone down in recent months to a position of
moderation and reconciliation. This was indicated by
his meeting two weeks- ago
with Moslem leaders in an
attempt to reverse the years
of bitterness between Moslems and Christians and to
reunite the country under, a
central ruling government.
Many Moslem leaders had
boycotted the parliamentary
vote, terming Gemayel an
Israeli "collaborator." He
was the only announced candidate in the elections.
Ambassador Moshe Arens
of Isreal said in an interview
on ABC-TV's "Nightiine"
■ program that he could not
place specific blame for the
assassination on a specific
organization in Lebanon's
factional political structure.
However, he said a possible
motive behind the assassination might have been Gemayel's eventual goal of
signing a peace treaty with
Israel. ".'•.-
Responding to a suggestion that Israel might seek to
assume some role in Lebanon to fill a "vacuum" left
by Gemayel's assassination,
Arens told the TV interviewer that Israel has no intention of filling the void. He
said that Israel's objective in
Lebanon, as has been stated
previously, was to see a
united and democratic Lebanon. He said Israel would do
what it can to help Lebanon
achieve this goal.
. Gemayel remained initially hesitant in his'views about
relations with Israel and his
view of a Lebanese-Israeli
peace treaty. The Lebanese
leader feared such a move
would isolate Lebanon from
the rest of the Arab world
and would create difficulties
domestically between Moslems and Christians.
Gemayel, according to reports, wanted time to rebuild
a central Lebanese government; which could maintain
rule over all of Lebanon before entering into a peace
agreement with Israel.
Gemayel said in an interview with Time magazine
last week that "we have no
more room for little private
armies ... only (the) Lebanese army. .;.. This is the
only guarantee for our defense, so that the Israelis of
the U.S. marines or United
Nations forces won't have to
be coming in all the time."
In a recent article published in the Washington
Post, Gemayel issued several guidelines that should
be followed if Lebanon is to
pursue a new "destiny." He
said that any solution to the
Lebanese crisis must include
the recovery of Lebanese
sovereignty over its entire
territory arid the restoration
of the, Lebanese state of its
•full .authority; that Israeli
and Syrian forces must de-.
part from Lebanon and a
Lebanese airmy must
emerge strong enough to
preserve the territorial integrity of Lebanon and that
all Palestinians continuing
to reside in Lebanon must
submit to and respect the authority of the Lebanese government in Lebanon.
I In an interview with Israel
Radio after his election, Gemayel said: "It is a big
achievement for our democracy, it's a great day. I
hope that what we achieved
until now—to reunite the
country and to free the country—will   continue.
Yom Kippur,
The Day of
Atonement,
begins on Sunday,
September 26, at
sundown with the
chanting of Kol Nidre
and ends on Monday
night, September 27,
with the Neilah or
Concluding Service.