Special to the JTA Behind the Prisoners Exchange Deal

Rabbi Ronald Greenwald, of Monsey, New York, believes imprisoned Soviet Jewish activist Anatoly Shcharansky may eventually be released as part of an international prisoner exchange deal similar to the one in which he helped free a young Israeli pilot, Miron Marcus, from a jail in Mozambique.

While the Shcharansky case has burgeoned into a world-wide Free Shcharansky Movement, Marcus, 24, languished in a prison cell for 19 months, his plight virtually unknown to the outside world, Greenwald told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in a telephone interview today. The 43-year-old New York-born rabbi, who is a manpower training specialist and vice-president of the Collegiate Institute, a New York business school, related the part he played in reuniting Marcus with his family last Sunday.

Greenwald was visiting his father in Israel in February when he was approached by Samuel Flatto-Sharon, who comprises a one-man Knesset faction. He had met Flatto previously in the U.S. This time, Flatto asked him to meet with Marcus family members who were going to the U.S. to seek help. They needed someone with access to the State Department and Flatto asked Greenwald if he could find such a person, the rabbi said.

Greenwald decided that the ideal contact was Rep. Benjamin Gilman, a ranking Republican member of the House International Affairs Committee whose constituency includes Rockland County where Greenwald lives. Gilman, who is Jewish, is “respected” in the State Department, Greenwald told the JTA “and he is not interested in publicity for himself.” They decided that “a low profile approach” was necessary inasmuch as the U.S. had no official interest in Marcus, a foreign national.

DECLINES TO DISCLOSE DETAILS

Greenwald would not disclose details of the “unofficial” negotiations that followed which resulted in the exchange of an American student, Alan Van Norman, who was being held in East Germany on smuggling charges, for Robert G. Thompson, a convicted spy serving a term at the Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pa. Greenwald would not say how Marcus came into the deal. He said he knew the facts but it would be “injudicious” to reveal them. Gilman was quoted elsewhere as saying that the East Germans pressured the Communist regime in Mozambique to free the Israeli.

According to Greenwald, only four persons were involved in the negotiations apart from unnamed U.S. officials. These were Flatto, Gilman, the East German lawyer Wolfgang Vogel and himself. He said he served as a clearing house for communications between all parties which were conducted in code. Vogel has been involved in previous negotiations of this type.

Marcus, who lives in Capetown, South Africa with his wife, Marilyn, was arrested in Mozambique in September, 1976 when the light plane he was flying from Rhodesia to South Africa was forced down. Greenwald said it was not certain whether the plane was forced to land by bad weather or was shot down. The co-pilot, Marcus’ brother-in-law, was killed and Marcus was wounded by Mozambique soldiers who fired at them.

According to Greenwald, Marcus managed to reach the U.S. Embassy in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, but was turned over to the Mozambique authorities who accused him of spying and sentenced him to prison. Greenwald hinted that the Embassy’s refusal to grant Marcus asylum was used in a subtle way to involve the Americans in the case.

Greenwald flew to South Africa last week and was present when Marcus crossed the border from Mozambique into Swaziland where his wife was waiting for him. “He approached the border in company of eight people. He was the only white person so we were able to recognize him. He was emaciated, his wounds were not completely healed. He said he didn’t know what day it was, what month or what year. When I told him, this is the second day of Pesach, his face lit up,” Greenwald told the JTA.