A four-man delegation from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia said Thursday night after a meeting with Presidential assistant Leonard Garment that Garment promised to convey to President Nixon their concern for the survival of Israeli prisoners still held by Syria in violation of the Geneva Convention. The delegation–led by Benjamin S. Loewenstein, JCRC president, and composed of Philadelphia leaders of the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress and B’nai B’rith Men–delivered to the White House petitions bearing the names of 10,000 Philadelphians protesting Syria’s refusal to exchange captured soldiers with Israel.
Loewenstein said that during the course of the half-hour meeting, the delegation showed Garment pictures of several of the 42 murdered Israeli prisoners who were found blindfolded with their arms and legs bound. “All of us felt that Mr. Garment was responsive to our concern for the safety of those prisoners still thought to be alive in Syria,” Loewenstein said after the meeting. We were impressed by his knowledge of the plight of the Israeli prisoners of war, and with his sincerity. He said the Administration was familiar with the plight of the prisoners and it was working on the problem, but that it appreciated the fact that we as a community wanted to express the need for action.”
Garment emphasized the delicate natures of the negotiations being undertaken as a result of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s most recent tour of the Middle East. He referred the Philadelphia delegation to a statement made by Kissinger before his Jan. 20 departure from Tel Aviv. Kissinger said then: “With respect to the prisoners of war I conveyed the position of the Israeli government to President Assad and also the profound humanitarian concern felt by all people of Israel. The ideas that I was asked to convey to the Israeli government contained the Syrian view of how the prisoner issue can be related to the negotiation process. I was also given assurances that the prisoners are being treated in an humanitarian fashion.”
Loewenstein said the delegation urged Garment to convey its appeal that the President and the Secretary of State do everything possible to halt the use of the Israeli prisoners as hostages to Syria diplomacy. “The unprecedented and welcome recent diplomatic successes in the Middle East could not have taken place without the persistent and patient leadership of the President,” Loewenstein said.
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