Washington Report, December 26, 1983, Page 5

Lobby Activities

For Arabs:

As new evidence comes to light that Israel is still holding many of the Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners it captured during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon—and that it re-arrested a number of prisoners whom it was supposed to have freed in accordance with a recent prisoner-exchange agreement with the PLO—several Arab American groups are redoubling their efforts to bring the issue before the public.

At a strategy session called in mid-December by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, Arab American leaders met to discuss ways of utilizing a recently completed study containing the names of close to 8,000 persons—mostly Palestinian and Lebanese—who have been arrested by the Israeli army in Lebanon since the start of the invasion in June, 1982. The list, which is thus far the most comprehensive ever made available to Arab Americans, was compiled by an ad-hoc committee in New York called "ACCOUNT for Prisoners and Missing in Lebanon."

Meetings were also held by the ACCOUNT representatives and Abdeen Jabara, Arab American activist and attorney, with leaders of various church and peace groups, including the American Friends Service Committee, Amnesty International, the Institute for Policy Studies, the Mennonite Central Committee and the U.S. Catholic Conference.

Although several thousand Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel November 24 in exchange for six of its soldiers held by the PLO, ACCOUNT says it cannot know for sure how many others are still being held until it can match its list against one drawn up by Israel containing the names of persons Israel has already released. ACCOUNT also compiled a second list of over 2,800 names of persons taken prisoner by either the Lebanese army or independent militias operating inside Lebanon.

Also discussed at the meeting of Arab American leaders were various ways to publicize Israel's failure to release all of the Palestinian prisoners it said it would under the exchange agreement with the PLO that was mediated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). According to the ICRC, one of those re-arrested by Israeli soldiers after being checked out by its officials was Ziad Abu Eain. An Israeli official has said that clerical errors caused Mr. Abu Eain not to be released, but the official did not say when, or even if, he would be freed. Mr. Abu Eain's fate is a particularly sensitive issue among Arab Americans, who fought a highly publicized—but ultimately unsuccessful—battle for over two years to block his extradition from the U.S. to Israel in 1981, where he has since been sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of blowing up an Israeli bus. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has obtained affidavits from Mr. Abu Eain and two other Palestinians which describe their release and subsequent re-imprisonment. The affidavits were taken by their lawyer, Felicia Langer, in Israeli prisons. James Zogby, executive director of ADC, has written to Secretary of State George Shultz requesting an investigation into Israel's failure to free Mr. Abu Eain.

For Israel:

Jewish American groups wanting to express their views formally to the Reagan Administration will now be going through a new point man at the White House, following the recent selection of Dr. Marshall Breger as special assistant to the President for public liaison. He will be the White House's go-between for Jewish organizations and individuals, as well as for academic groups and institutions.

Before taking over his new responsibilities in mid-December, Dr. Breger was a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington where he examined issues in constitutional law while on leave from his associate professorship at the New York School of Law.

The liaison post itself was also upgraded somewhat, at least in name, with Dr. Breger's appointment as special assistant. His predecessor, Michael Gale—who had held the position since June, 1982—had been given the title of deputy special assistant. Dr. Breger becomes the third person to have the job during the current Administration. It was held for the first year by Jacob Stein, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Meanwhile, in a move that pleased many Jewish American supporters of Israel's settlements policy in the West Bank, the mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey announced earlier this month that his city had "adopted" the Jewish settlement of Tekoah in the West Bank and would implement cultural and economic exchange programs with it.

Mayor Gerald McCann proclaimed that Jersey City—with a population of over 200,000—was adopting the Tekoah settlement as "our twin city with the hope and intention that we shall enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship..." Mr. McCann made the announcement in a speech at a forum sponsored by the Herut Zionists of America—a group which claims a membership of 120,000 and says it has "close conceptual ties" with the Herut political party in Israel.