October 1989, Page 42, 43

Issues in the News

Compiled by Parker Payson

Jews Lose Majority in Galilee:

An Israeli government memorandum estimates that some 23,000 Jewish residents emigrated from the Galilee region in northern Israel during the past two years, reducing the ratio of Jews to Arabs in the region to 95 Jews per 100 Arabs. Demographic specialists estimate that there are now more non-Jewish children under six in Israeli-proper than Jewish children in the same age range. Concurrently, Israel reports a 29 percent increase in the number of immigrants during the first six months of 1989 over the same period in 1988. In June, 622 immigrants came from the Soviet Union, 174 from Western Europe, 132 from North America, and 119 from South America. According to the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, some 700,000 Jews will have to immigrate to Israel in the next decade in order to maintain a 10 percent majority in Israeli-controlled areas by the year 2000.

Israeli Religious Authorities Call Land Compromise Blasphemy:

Israel's chief rabbinate has contradicted a statement justifying territorial compromise under Hebrew religious law made by former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. The rabbinate ruled that territorial concessions violate the Torah. In August two Knesset members entered the dispute by petitioning the Israeli Supreme Court to rule that the rabbinate had exceeded its authority in espousing political views.

Pakistan To Participate in Iraqi Reconstruction:

Pakistan plans to take an active role in Iraq's reconstruction effort, according to Pakistani officials quoted in the government-run Alaf Baa magazine. Key to the reconstruction effort is a reported $50 million export credit to Iraq.

Israel Honors US Firms For Debt Bail Out:

US investment firms have been honored at a state of Israel bonds dinner for refinancing Israel's military sales debt to the US. The firms sold $4.8 billion in Israeli securities, guaranteed by the US Treasury, to the US public. The agreement reduced interest rates paid by the Israeli government on its military sales debt to the US, and, in case of an Israeli government default, had the effect of shifting responsibility from Israeli to US taxpayers. The investment banking firms included: Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc.; Bear Sterns & Co. Inc.; Chase Manhattan Capital Markets Corporation; Citicorp Securities Market Inc.; Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc.; First Boston Corporation, Kidder, Peabody & Co. Inc.; Manufacturers Hanover Securities Corporation; Merrill Lynch Capital Markets; Salomon Brothers Inc.; and Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

Israel's Hotels Under Price Controls:

Amid criticism from hotel owners throughout Israel, the Ministry of Tourism in August announced price caps and rate reductions in an attempt to revive Israel's sagging tourist industry.

Arafat Receives Mandate For Continued Diplomacy:

Members of Al Fatah, the largest component group in the Palestine Liberation Organization, voted overwhelmingly in August to support the decision by its leader, Yasser Arafat, to negotiate with Israel for a diplomatic solution to the Arab-Israeli dispute. Arafat advisor Nabil Shaath told the New York Times that although Arafat won 90 percent of the vote, "There were some tense debates on political questions, brought about by hard-liners." Dissenting voters pledged to abide by the majority decision.

Iranian Executions Continue:

Some 79 people were executed in 22 cities across Iran on August 19, the anniversary of a US-supported coup that restored the shah to power 36 years earlier, according to the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin. Mojahedin spokesmen said the Iranian government has resumed mass executions of political prisoners, many of them mojahedin supporters, under the guise of punishing drug-traffickers, in order to conceal "the heightening power struggle among the ruling mullahs themselves."

Faisal's Statue Returns:

Thousands of onlookers in Baghdad's main square in August witnessed the restoration of a statue of the first king of Iraq, Faisal I, a leader of the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire, who fought on the side of the British in the World War I and founded the modern state of Iraq.

Senegal Undertakes Refugee Census:

Senegalese authorities are working with the UN High Commissioner For Refugees to register an estimated 145,000 Senegalese refugees who fled neighboring Mauritania after communal violence erupted in both countries earlier this year.

Iranian Opposition Leader Arrested:

A senior official of the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin, traveling under an assumed name, was arrested in Los Angeles in August for a visa fraud. Dr. Aladdin Touran, who was using a valid Swedish passport, said that this trip to the US was his sixth while using the same pseudonym and with the knowledge of the Swedish government. The People's Mojahedin said Touran's arrest was a result of US concessions to the Iranian government, including cessation of US support for the Iranian opposition in return for the release of US hostages in Lebanon. Touran was freed on $252, 500 bail after his release was delayed by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service, which wanted to make his entry "an administrative case."

Former Hostage Criticizes Obeid's Abduction:

The Rev. Lawrence Jenco, who spent 19 months in captivity in Beirut, condemned Israel's July kidnapping of Sheikh Abdel Karim Obeid in Lebanon, saying: "I find Israel's position most difficult to understand." He told the Daily Journal of Kankakee, Illinois that "no matter who kidnaps, does an evil. You can use all the reasoning you want; kidnapping is an evil, violent act."

Herzog's Pardon Criticized:

Israeli President Chaim Herzog is drawing criticism from the American Jewish community in expectation of a decision to commute the prison terms of three Jews who led a 1983 raid on the Islamic College of Hebron, firing automatic weapons at random and killing three students and wounding dozens. The three Israeli settlers, who all received life sentences, will probably be freed next year under a practice which the Washington Jewish Week said "reinforces the worst elements among the settlers and within the government itself."

Israeli Infant Killed By Patrol:

An Israeli army patrol, responding to fire from an Israeli settler, mistakenly shot and killed the settler's one-and-a-half-year-old son in the occupied territories outside Ariel. The baby, who died in August, was the first Israeli killed by Israeli soldiers since the beginning of the intifada.

Drug Problem in Israel Too:

Drug usage in Israel grew 25 percent since last year, according to Israeli Health Ministry reports. The August figures estimate 18,000 hard-drug addicts and an additional 36,000 regular drug users in Israel, reflecting a 137 percent increase in total drug usage since 1987.

Israeli Consular Officer Transferred:

The Israeli government plans to recall the only Muslim in its foreign service, Mohammad Massarwa, from his position as consul-general in Atlanta after his two-year tour is completed. His appointment had been a bone of contention among US Jews in the Atlanta area, some of whom objected to having a Muslim represent a Jewish state. Israeli officials described Massarwa's work as "exemplary" and acknowledged that his recall would likely damage Israel's image in the Atlanta region.

Saudis Export Food to Refugees:

Frozen carcasses of ritually slaughtered sheep donated by pilgrims to Mecca this year were shipped to various countries as part of an ongoing Islamic program to help the needy. This year 15,500 head of sheep went to Jordan for Palestinian refugees and 12,852 to Pakistan for families of Afghan mojahedin fighters.

Arabs on Talk Radio With Arens:

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens was the guest on a radio call-in show broadcast by the Arabic service of The Voice of Israel in August. According to the Jewsih Telegraphic Agency, listeners from around the Arab world called in to talk with Arens, asking questions like the one posed by a listener from Kuwait, who asked, "Why don't you meet with Arafat and resolve the problem?"

UAE Census Planned for 1990:

The United Arab Emirates next year will undertake its fourth census since 1971. The last census, taken in 1985, estimated that the resident population in the UAE was 1.6 million, two-thirds of whom were foreigners.

Smoking Regulations Considered:

Representatives from Arab countries will meet with officials from the World Health Organization in Amman in October to discuss restrictions on smoking. The three-day conference follows a Libyan decision in July to ban smoking in all public places and prohibit cigarette advertisements.

Iran Assumes Direction of Arab Radical Groups:

Representatives of several terrorist organizations met in July with then-Iranian President Ali Khamenei in Tehran, according to the Queens (NY) Jewish Week. The newspaper said the meeting represented Iranian assumption of control over some Syrian-backed extremist groups, including Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) and the Fatah-Provisional Command, whose leader, Musa Said (Abu Musa), broke with Yasser Arafat and supported a Syrian drive to force the PLO out of Lebanon in 1983.

Israel Developing Spy Satellites:

Dr. Jeffrey T. Richelson, a Washington-based reconnaissance satellite expert, reported in the September Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists that Israel's Ofek I satellite, launched in September 1988, has characteristics which suggest "it was a crucial step in the development of an Israeli photo-reconnaissance satellite." Israeli authorities have described the satellite as a demonstration model designed for testing radio transmission from space and measuring the Earth's magnetic field. According to the New York Times, Israeli officials have hinted that future satellites, including Ofek 2 and 3, which are already being planned, will have military applications.

Jackson Visits Injured Palestinian Children:

Former presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, in Cairo to address a July meeting of the US National Council of Negro Women, visited Egyptian hospitals to meet with severely injured Palestinian children from the Israeli-occupied territories. Jackson criticized US media coverage of the Arab-Israeli dispute, saying, "There is almost no focus on the children, the maimed, the injured."

State Department Requests New Immigration Category:

The congressional Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and International Law, with strong backing from US Jewish organizations, is considering a bill backed by the State Department requesting a new emigre category for people who, as individuals, neither qualify as refugees nor meet immigration requirements. The classification, designed primarily for Soviet Jews and Vietnamese, would allow entrance of 20,000 to 30,000 emigres whose arrival "is deemed to be in the national interest."

Israeli Army Releases Suicide Figures:

Israeli Major General Matan Vilnai told Haaretz newspaper in July that 35 Israeli soldiers committed suicide between April 1988 and April 1989. The Israeli army rarely releases suicide statistics because of the anticipated effect on soldiers' morale.

Higgins' Execution May Have Been Planned Eight Months Before Announcement:

A confidential bulletin was circulated in Iran's parliament in December of 1988 calling for the execution of "the most important Western hostage, namely Colonel Higgins," so that "as Bush's presidency approaches, this act can accelerate the change in the position of the White House on the hostages, and this be beneficial," according to an Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin.

Largest Jewish Population Centers:

The ten largest Jewish-American communities as ranked by the American Jewish Date Bank, according to The Jewish Times, are: New York City Metropolitan Area (including northeastern New Jersey) with 2,094,600; Los Angeles Metropolitan Area with 501,000; Philadelphia with 250,000; Chicago with 248,000; Miami/Dade County with 238,000; Boston with 228,000; San Francisco Bay Area with 196,000; Washington Area with 165,000; Baltimore with 93,000; and Detroit with 70,000.