Representatives of Jewish organizations and communities from around the Western world today launched a two-day campaign to put the case of Soviet Jewry in the forefront of the summit meeting here between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The two are to start their consultations on Tuesday.
Jewish representatives said here today “we must not and cannot allow the two (Reagan and Gorbachev) to forget even for one moment during their meetings the tragedy of Soviet Jewry. “Most of the organizations present in Geneva have asked to meet Gorbachev to inform him personally of the acuity with which the free world views this issue.
None of these organizations has received as yet a reply from the Soviet advance party already in Geneva to organize Gorbachev’s agenda. The Soviet representatives are nonetheless readilyavailable to meet Jewish reporters to try and “give reassurances” and claim that the issue of Soviet Jewry is either non-existent or “has been blown out of all proportion” by “adverse propaganda.”
MASS DEMONSTRATIONS UNDER WAY
The campaign started this afternoon with a mass demonstration in the heart of Geneva. Several hundred people, including participants from France, Holland, Belgium, Italy and Britain chanted “free Soviet Jewry.”
In spite of the freezing temperature, many Swiss came to listen to the speakers who included Gerald Kraft, president of B’nai B’rith International. The demonstrators carried 2,500 balloons, each symbolizing 1,000 Soviet Jews eager to obtain their freedom.
Another meeting is due to take place this evening in the Geneva Community Center, and the World Conference on Soviet Jewry (the body which has replaced the Presidium of the Brussels Conference) will address the world press tomorrow calling for international action on behalf of Russia’s Jews.
The Simon Weisenthal center of Los Angeles, Cal., is holding another press conference tomorrow at which documents based on research inside the Soviet Union will be made public.
ELEMENTS OF DISCUSSION AT THE SUMMIT
The Swiss authorities have banned all public meetings after Tuesday when the summit will start. Reagan and Gorbachev will start conferring Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time. Their meetings on that day will be devoted to the general aspect of Soviet-American relations and, in the afternoon, disarmament.
On Wednesday, when the provisional agenda provides for a discussion of regional conflicts and what is diplomatically termed “other issues,” the Americans might raise the issue of Soviet Jewry. Diplomatic observers believe that if the Middle East issue will be raised it will be at the Soviet initiative.
Soviet diplomats in Geneva hint at such a possibility, saying that Gorbachev will press, as he has indicated at his press conference in Paris last month, for an international conference with Soviet participation as the only way towards a solution to the Middle East conflict.
Gorbachev said at the time “the Middle East does not belong to the Americans. A solution to the conflict there is part of international responsibility.” The Soviets might respond with this argument, diplomats here hint.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
