Jewish Groups Hail Shevardnadze’s Return

Eduard Shevardnadze, who has returned as Soviet foreign minister after resigning 11 months ago, will be a positive force for Soviet-Israel relations, pro-Israel observers said Wednesday.

An Israeli official said Shevardnadze “started the road of normalization with Israel” during his prior five-year stint as foreign minister. That effort culminated last month in the restoration of full diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Israel after a 24-year lapse.

The official conceded, however, that Shevardnadze will likely be preoccupied by relations with the seceding Soviet republics.

Boris Pankin, the Soviet foreign minister since the failed Soviet coup in August, has been named the new Soviet ambassador to London.

Shevardnadze helped lay the groundwork for last month’s Middle East peace conference in Madrid by altering the Soviet Union’s relationship with former client-states such as Syria.

Syria’s inability to rely on the Soviet Union for strong military or political support is credited with having led it to the Madrid conference.

On the emigration front, Shevardnadze presided over an expansion of Jewish freedom of movement out of the country, from just over 1,000 in 1985 to 180,000 in 1990.

But given the increasing autonomy of the Soviet republics, the battleground for future emigration will likely be waged in the individual republics.

Mark Levin, associate executive director of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, praised Shevardnadze for his past efforts but said his group is “continuing to try to find out where each of the republics stand” on the issue of “open borders.”