New Routes for Soviet Jews Launched, but Transportation Still Vulnerable

Though a new transit route for Soviet Jews immigrating to Israel appears to be opening up in Finland, Jewish organizations here remain concerned that the overall flow of immigration is vulnerable to terrorist threats.

By the end of last week, the Finnish Consulate in Leningrad already had issued 100 transit visas to Soviet Jews who had secured their Soviet emigration papers and Israeli entry visas, according to the World Jewish Congress. A transit visa enables passage through an intermediary country not serving as a final destination.

Elan Steinberg, executive director of the WJC, said his group learned of the issuing of the visas from sources in the Finnish Jewish community and from the Va’ad, the umbrella body of Jewish organizations in the Soviet Union.

The train ride to Helsinki from Leningrad–the city with the second-largest number of Jews in the Soviet Union — is an eight-hour journey.

Tempering the good news from Finland for Soviet Jews, however, is the likelihood that Malev, the Hungarian national airline, will soon cease carrying Soviet Jewish emigres once again.

MALEV SELLING NO NEW TICKETS

There was an outcry last month when Malev suddenly canceled agreements for special charter flights of Soviet Jews from Moscow to Budapest and also did not allow the emigres aboard regularly scheduled Malev flights.

Malev made the move after receiving threats from an Arab terrorist group that warned it would target airlines and facilities that facilitate the immigration of Soviet Jews to Israel.

After diplomatic protest from Israel and the United States, the Hungarian government dismissed Malev’s director.

Shortly thereafter, the airline again permitted Soviet Jews holding tickets on regularly scheduled flights to make the trip. It also agreed to increase the number of regular flights from Moscow, though did not start charter flights.

And now, while the Hungarians are honoring the tickets that were sold in the past, they have not sold new tickets to Soviet Jewish emigres, according to Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Hoenlein said it could be just a matter of weeks before those holding tickets have made the journey; thereafter, immigration via Malev would likely cease.

Presumably, Budapest could still serve as a transit point for Jewish emigres who arrive in Budapest by train or via the Soviet carrier Aeroflot, and then take specially chartered El Al flights from the Hungarian capital to Israel.

But both Hoenlein and Martin Wenick, executive director of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, said it would be “disappointing” if Malev stopped transporting Soviet Jewish immigrants on scheduled flights.

To try to sway the Hungarian airline’s decision, “the NCSJ has been in touch with the Hungarian ambassador (to Washington) and the Malev director in recent days and, through our member agencies, with political leaders in Hungary,” Wenick said.

During the crisis with Malev, Poland offered to act as a transit point for emigration. Wenick said there is presently “some flow” of emigres to Israel through Warsaw, though it is not an “organized flow.”

1,500 ARRIVALS IN TWO DAYS

There has been talk of Czechoslovakia and East Germany serving as way stations, though these are still in the discussion stages.

Wenick said that “there are some indications that there are problems” in some of the arrangements for alternative routes.

“We had anticipated a greater capacity for transporting the emigrants to be in place by now,” he admitted.

One of the problems Israeli officials and Jewish groups have encountered in trying to persuade countries to serve as transit points for Soviet Jews has been the fear of terrorist attack.

“We are concerned about the possibility of a terrorist attack in and of itself, and we are very concerned it would have an overall effect on emigration,” said Hoenlein.

But some the snags also stem from uncertainty over the issue that the Soviets say stalled direct flights of Jewish emigrants from Moscow to Israel: whether the newcomers will be settled in the West Bank.

Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze told reporters in Washington earlier this month that the “one problem” in allowing direct flights is “the settlement of the Jews in the occupied territories.”

Despite the problems, the numbers of emigrants coming through the primary way stations of Budapest and Bucharest, Romania, have been considerable.

Daniel Allen, assistant executive vice chairman of the United Israel Appeal, reported that during the first two days of April alone, 1,500 Soviet Jews immigrated to Israel.

“There is no question in my mind that in June, July and August, there will be phenomenal numbers,” he said.

Many Soviet Jewish families had carefully planned their emigration for the summertime, so that their children would not miss school, Allen said.