President Clinton has given concerned senators his assurance in writing that his administration will not let the plight of Syrian Jews “slip from our attention.”
In May, a group of 73 lawmakers led by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote to the president, urging him to press Syria to allow Syrian Jews to travel freely.
Despite Syria’s assertion last month that its Jewish population no longer wishes to leave the country, Jewish groups here have charged that Syria has reneged on its earlier pledge to allow Jews unrestricted travel.
In a July 15 letter to the senators, Clinton said that his administration is continuing to discuss the plight of the Syrian Jews “with the highest levels of the Syrian government.
“We want Syria to resume issuance of exit permits in the full spirit of President (Hafez) Assad’s April 1992 decision permitting freedom of travel for Syrian Jews,” he wrote.
Alice Harary, president of the Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews, welcomed Clinton’s remarks, saying his letter “represents an unmistakable commitment on the part of the administration to finding a way for all the Jews remaining in Syria to be granted the fundamental human right to travel.”
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