Hearing the words of Riva Feldman. whose twin sons are cruelly kept beyond her reach. and Anatoly Michelson. who has not seen his family in 30 years nor met his young grandson. brings the pain of such injustice closer. and strengthens our resolve to oppose it. Thousands are denied their basic rights despite General Secretary Gorbachevs summit meeting sensibility "on the importance of resolving humanitarian cases in the spirit of cooperation." We are pleased by the Soviet Unions recent decision to allow 200 Soviet citizens to be reunited with their families in the West. and we hope that this signals the beginning of a new human rights policy in Moscow. Yet. the omission of Soviet Jews from the list of those receiving visas to emigrate indicates this may be merely a gesture. The Soviet Union has made only a token response to its obligations as a signatory of the Helsinki Accords. Today I have been fasting on behalf of Soviet Prisoner of Conscience losef Berenshtein. an innocent man presently languishing in a Soviet prison. losef was arrested in 1984 on his way to purchase a monument for his mothers grave.
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