Quest for Peace and Soviet Refugees Are Talk at Congressional Breakfast

Unflagging support for Israel and continued vigilance of the Soviet Union’s human rights policies were the unambiguous messages of 15 members of Congress who spoke here Sunday morning at the annual congressional breakfast of New York’s Jewish Community Relations Council.

But between the declarations that there was never a greater friendship than that between Israel and the United States, a voice made itself heard more than one time that some sort of negotiations must take place between Israel and its adversaries to quench the incendiary conditions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“There are shifting perceptions and opinions in world opinion, in the Middle East, in Israel and even in the U.S. And I see these new rumblings and doubts and questions even in the U.S. Capitol, yes, in the Senate of the United States,” said Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.), who received JCRC’s Henry M. Jackson Award for notable contributions to the Jewish people.

“Some way must be found to defuse the situation on the West Bank and Gaza that goes beyond just a constant chain of violent action and reaction,” said Dole, who is Senate minority leader.

“Some way must be found to start a dialogue, and a broader political process that will restore order and provide some semblance of hope that the legitimate concerns of all concerned can be addressed.”

QUESTIONS TALKS WITH PLO

On U.S. talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization, Dole said, “Frankly, some of us have questioned whether now is precisely the right time to make that move.

“But the fact is those talks go forward,” he said, “and they go forward alongside other, more subtle changes, changes of which all of us, including those of us committed to strong U.S. Israeli relations, must be aware.”

“In the face of the continuing reports of new tragedies coming from all sides in the West Bank and Gaza, we must face this fact,” he said.

Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-N.Y.) spoke of the chilling “events of the least two weeks” concerned with death threats to author Salman Rushdie by the Ayatollah Khomeini and the riots following this pronouncement.

Reps. Benjamin Gilman and Hamilton Fish, both New York Republicans from Queens, issued a statement saying they have called on President Bush to revise U.S. policy on refugees to accommodate the tens of thousands of Soviet Jews expected to receive exit visas this year.

Gilman, recently appointed chairman of an ad hoc task force on the Soviet refugee issue, and Fish, who was designated by the Refugee Act of 1980 as one of four members of Congress who must be consulted by the White House on refugee policy, suggested immediate adoption of a four-point policy to accommodate the new refugees.

Rep. Ted Weiss (D-N.Y.), asked whether Congress would favor waiving trade sanctions against the Soviet Union imposed by the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, said Congress would have to take into consideration both recent positive trends and ongoing human rights violations in the Soviet Union.