Mrs. Jacobson Says Conditions for Jews in Syria Have Improved

Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the World Zionist Organization-American Section, and a former leader of Hadassah, said here today that conditions for Jews in Syria have improved. She and 15 Hadassah women arrived in Israel Friday via the Allen-by Bridge after concluding a two-week tour of Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

Mrs. Jacobson, who led the group, said in an interview in Yediot Achronot that the women met with Syrian officials, including the Health Minister and high officials of the Ministry of Interior and visited Jewish institutions in Damascus, schools and homes of the Jewish community’s leaders.

According to Mrs. Jacobson, Syrian officials told the group that restrictions on Jewish citizens had been lifted and this was confirmed by the U.S. Ambassador in Damascus. However, she noted, the main restriction lifted pertained to the right of Jews to travel freely inside Syria. There was no immediate comment on Mrs. Jacobson’s interview by the Foreign Ministry.

A highlight of the group’s tour in Egypt was a meeting with Mrs. Anwar Sadat in her Cairo residence. The Egyptian President’s wife briefed the delegation on Egypt’s views on the current political situation. The impression she made, according to one of the three husbands accompanying their wives on the tour, was that Mrs. Sadat is “a beautiful woman who says exactly what her husband tells her to.” Mrs. Jacobson said there were slight improvements in the conditions for Jews in Egypt but she did not elaborate.

TOUR HAD BEEN CRITICIZED

The two-week tour, which created adverse reactions in Israel and the American Jewish community, was described officially by Mrs. Jacobson as a mission to study health practices in the Arab countries. The main criticism of the tour by Jewish Agency and Foreign Ministry officials here was that such tours may be used for propaganda purposes by the Arabs. Another criticism was that Mrs. Jacobson did not first consult with her WZO colleagues here about the intended trip and they learned about it from press reports. One Jewish Agency senior official said: “However you view it, it was still the head of the American Section of the World Zionist Organization visiting Cairo. Mrs, Jacobson can nit visit Arab countries merely as an individual in view of her high Zionist position.”

When the delegation arrived in Israel Friday there were no WZO, Jewish Agency or government officials to greet them. The only ones to meet them on the Israeli side of the Allenby Bridge were Prof. Kalman Mann, director general of the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, and George Edward Lichtblau, first secretary for labor and social affairs at the American Embassy.