The presidium of the World Conference on Soviet Jewry decided unanimously to hold its next international session in Jerusalem. It is tentatively scheduled for March 14-16, 1983, Leon Dulzin, presidium chairman, announced today.
This will be the first time that Israel’s capital is the venue for the Conference which was established in Brussels more than 10 years ago. Other sites suggested at the presidium meeting here, including Washington, D.C. were rejected. Dulzin stressed that the selection of Jerusalem was of paramount importance.
“It is both symbolic and important that the message, ‘Let My People Go’, should come from Jerusalem. The Jewish people will stand united in Jerusalem to wage the struggle for Soviet Jewry,” he said.
The presidium issued a declaration to all governments, Jewish communities and organizations throughout the world to demand that the “Soviet authorities cease their persecution and open the gates to those who seek to return to their homeland.” But at a press conference after the presidium meeting, Conference leaders conceded that they had come up with “no dramatic new tactics” to advance the emigration of Soviet Jews.
The problem of drop-outs — Soviet Jews who opt to settle in countries other than Israel after leaving the USSR — was hardly mentioned at the meeting. “Hardly anyone is leaving so hardly anyone is dropping out,” Dulzin observed.
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