Ford, in Message to Confab, Pledges U.S. Support of Right to Emigrate

President Ford has sent a message to the Second World Conference on Soviet Jewry opening here tomorrow in which he pledged that America will support the right of emigration at the appropriate international forums and in exchanges with other governments. The message will be read to the 1000 delegates from 30 countries attending the conference, the largest international gathering ever held on behalf of Soviet Jews.

The President’s message specifically cites emigration as one of the fundamental human rights that the U.S. adheres to. This is an apparent reference to the 1975 Helsinki Declaration on Human Rights of which both the U.S. and the Soviet Union were signatories. The largest single delegation consisting of 350 members will be from the United States, headed by Sen. Frank Church (D.Idaho).

PLO PLANS OWN CONFERENCE

It was learned today that the Palestine Liberation Organization plans to hold a “world conference” of its own here, to expose “the true face of Zionism” and describe the plight of the Palestinians. An Arab League spokesman here said the PLO gathering would open Feb. 25 and probably would be held at the Salle Des Congres, the same hall to be used by the Soviet Jewry conference.

A Belgian government spokesman said the PLO conference needed no special government authorization as long as it was not contrary to public morals or Belgian interests. Arab sources here would not disclose who will attend or whether the meeting would be presided over by PLO chieftain Yasir Arafat. They said only that it would be the first international conference on behalf of the Palestinians to be held outside of an Arab state.

Other sources here expressed doubt that the PLO would be able to organize a meeting of international scope on a few days’ notice or that any well-known personalities outside the Arab world would attend a gathering that will be openly anti-Israel. Nevertheless, sources close to the conference on Soviet Jewry admitted that they were surprised by the PLO announcement.

Some sources blamed the local Herut Federation for deliberately provoking a PLO response by scheduling an anti-Palestinian meeting here tomorrow night on the eve of the opening of the Soviet Jewry conference. The sources said that in view of the Herut meeting, the Belgian authorities had no choice but to permit the PLO to hold a counter-meeting here.

USSR SPONSORING MEETINGS

The Soviet Union is also sponsoring a number of propaganda meetings here aimed at countering the effects of the Soviet Jewry conference. The Soviet news agency, Novosti, has called another press conference for this morning-at which a number of Soviet Jewish immigrants who left Israel will state their reasons for wanting to return to the USSR. An earlier one was held last Thursday. This evening, Aharon Vergelis, editor of the Soviet-sponsored Jewish periodical “Sovietische Heimland” will address a public meeting here.

At the same time, an ultra-Orthodox group known as “Rav Tov,” believed to be associated with the Satmar Rebbe, leader of a Hasidic group based in Brooklyn, announced that it will hold a protest meeting to counter the Soviet Jewry conference. The group claims that Soviet Jews do not want to go to Israel and that they obtain no assistance from American Jewish organizations.

KAHANE DUE TO ARRIVE WEDNESDAY

Meanwhile, it was reported that Rabbi Meir Kahane, leader of the Jewish Defense League, is due to arrive in Brussels Wednesday morning where he will try to address the delegates. He is,

As of today, conference organizers indicated they will not permit Kahane to address the assembly and are determined to prevent him from entering the hall as they did at the first conference five years ago.