HJewist? f/cridlian
Off Tampa
Illume 4 Number 45
Tampa, Florida Friday, December 24,
1982
 f nd ShoctHt
Price 35 Cents
In Jerusalem and Beirut
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46
Israel Drops Its Demands
That Talks With Lebanon
Be Held Alternately
\khael Levine, president of the Tampa Jewish Federation; (on
dderf, with the help of (from the left) Leah Davidson, co-chairman of
he Community Menorah lighting; Rabbi Kenneth Berger, Congrega-
Jan Rodeph Sholom, Rabbi Lazar Rivhin, Chabad House; and Isadore
Irw/er. kindled the fourth light of Chanukah on the huge menorah at
i (immunity service held in the breezeway of the Jewish Commu-
Ifv Center December 13.
By DAVID LANDAU
And HUGH ORGEL
JERUSALEM (JTA> -
The Cabinet announced that Is-
rael has dropped its demand that
negotiations with Lebanon be
held alternately in Jerusalem and
Beirut and stated that "the
venue of the negotiations will be
determined in contacts between
the governments of Israel and
Lebanon."
The announcement appeared to
remove a major obstacle to the
start of formal negotiations be-
tween the two countries for the
withdrawal of foreign forces from
Lebanon and security arrange-
ments. It followed a statement by
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon
that he had personally achieved a
"breakthrough" on negotiations
in talks with undisclosed Leba-
nese leaders in Beirut last Thurs-
day.
It also followed comments to
the media by President Reagan in
Washington over the weekend
characterizing the armies of
Israel, Syria and the Palestine
Liberation Organization forces
still in Lebanon as "armies of oc-
cupation," a description which he
seemed to apply most emphatic-
ally to the Israeli army. In addi-
tion, U.S. special envoy Philip
Habib delivered a letter from
Reagan to Premier Menachem
Begin in which the President
forcefully urged Israel to pull out
of Lebanon without further
delay.
The contents of Reagan's letter
were not disclosed, but informed
sources said it put the onus pri-
marily on Israel for the negotia-
tions impasse of the past few
weeks.
Sharon Summoned
Before Commission
By DAVID LANDAU
JERUSALEM, (JTA) -
The commission of inquiry into
the Beirut refugee camps
massacre has summoned Defense
Minister Ariel Sharon to reap-
pear before it at the request of
another witness, chief of army
intelligence Gen. Yehoshua
Saguy, a commission spokesman
announced.
Sharon and Saguy were among
the nine top Israeli officials
notified by the commission last
month that they may be harmed
if the panel reaches certain con-
clusions on the basis of their
original testimony. The law
provides that any person so noti-
fied may reappear to give addi-
tional testimony, examine the
evidence and cross-examine other
witnesses.
Sharon informed the commis-
Continued on Page 12-
Nevertheless, there was optim-
ism in the Cabinet that negotia-
tions could begin shortly. Habib
and U.S. special envoy Morris
Draper, just back from Beirut,
confirmed to Israeli officials that
there seemed to have been a
major advance and indicated that
formal talks between Israel and
Lebanon might begin in a few
days and could be concluded suc-
cessfully within a short time.
After meeting with Habib and
Dra|H.'r this morning, Begin con-
vened his Cabinet to announce
the government's change of posi-
tion on the issue of venue. While
some ministers wanted to blur
what they saw as a backing down
by Israel, Begin insisted, accord-
ing to Cabinet sources, that the
announcement be made straight-
forwardly, and clear.
He insisted that the national
interest required that Israel make
the concession so that agree-
ments already concluded infor-
mally with Lebanon can be for-
malized without delay.
Israeli sources did not reveal
Continued on Page 12
Emigration Down to a Trickle
?ascell Gets Grim News About Soviet Jews from Shultz
By DAVID FRIEDMAN
WASHINGTON (JTA) -
migration by Jews from the
met Union continued to be just
trickle during the last sue
nths while repression of activ-
ts and discrimination of Jews
niinued to increase in the
SSR, according to a State De-
rtment report.
"The repression of Jewish
tivista have paralleled the re-
ression of other dissenters," it
as noted in the 13th semi-an-
ual report by the President of
the Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe on the
Implementation of the Helsinki
Final Act.
"The precipitous drop in Jew-
ish emigration which began in
1980 has continued, and current
emigration levels are so dras-
tically low that emigration has all
but ceased to be a practical
option for Soviet Jews," the re-
port said.
THE REPORT, which covers
the period from June 1 to Nov.
30. was submitted by Secretary
of State George Shultz to Rep.
Dante Fascell (D. Fla.) chairman
of the Commission. It noted that
emigration figures for Jews,
ethnic Germans and Armenians,
the three groups that have been
allowed to emigrate have dropped
sharply.
"Only 2,207 Jews were allowed
to emigrate in the first nine
months of 1982," the report said.
"If projected to the end of the
year, this would result in the emi-
gration of less than 3,000 Jews in
1982, compared to 51.300 in 1979,
when emigration from the USSR
reached its zenith."
The report added that "there
are reports from a number of
areas in the USSR that local
offices of visas and registration
(OVIR) officials have been telling
prospective emigrants that 'Jew-
ish emigration is coming to an
end.' Many Soviet Jews attribute
this decline to the deterioration of
East-West relations in the past
several years and to Soviet fears
of a Jewish 'brain-drain.' Soviet
Continued on Page 12
Rep. Dante Fascell
Iraq-Iran War Front
00 Jews Down from Once-Splendid Baghdad Community
By PERCY GOURGEY
Umdon Chronicle Syndicate
With the advance of
Iranian troops to the en-
virons of Basra, in the two-
ir Iraq-Iran War,
Jncern is felt for the Jew-
ish families in that city.
The majority of the remain-
ing Iraqi Jews, numbering
about 400, live in the
capital, Baghdad, which
has been subjected to
several air attacks by the
Iranian air force.
The mainly elderly Jews who
live in Baghdad or Basra are a
pitiful remnant of a splendid
community of over 150,000 when
Israel was established in 1948.
They are almost entirely self-sup-
porting and fairly comfortably
off, having been, or still being, in
business for themselves either as
import-export merchants, shop-
keepers and local traders and also
owning various properties.
VERY FEW are now in the
professions of the large number
prior to the mass emigration.
Owing to the paucity of numbers,
communal activity is reduced to a
minimum. though two
synagogues still hold religious
services.
Members of the community are
permitted to have correspon-
Continued on Page 5