Speech #1010027495

May 13. 1989] BUSHS SoviET TRADE STANCE HAILED (By David B. Ottaway) American Jewish groups yesterday generally welcomed President Bushs conditional support for a temporary waiver of JacksonVanik restrictions on U.S. trade with the Soviet Union. and predicted the issue will now be at the forefront of debate within the entire Jewish community. But at least one organization. the American Jewish Congress (AJC). expressed disappointment that Bush had not immediately ordered a waiver of the 1974 JacksonVanik Amendment. which deprives the Soviet Union of tariff and credit privileges because of its curbs on Jewish emigration. "We call on the president to waive the JacksonVanik Amendments application to the Soviet Union as expeditiously as possible." said Phil Baum. AJC associate executive director. Stephen Silbiger. an aide to Baum. predicted the Bush statement would put the waiver issue "on the agenda of every Jewish group and stimulate a lot of activity." Bush said in a Texas speech he is prepared to work with Congress for a temporary waiver of JacksonVanik. a step toward restoring Most Favored Nation tariff status to the Soviet Union. "should the Soviet Union codify its emigration laws in accord with international standards and implement its new laws faithfully." The Jewish community is already in ferment over whether to support a waiver in light of the recent increase in Jewish emigration. and out of concern that it failed to respond positively in the late 1970s to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnevs liberalization of Soviet emigration policy. "In 1979. a large number of Jews [51.000] were coming out and nobody responded to encourage it continuing. and then it stopped." said Warren Eisenberg. a spokesman for Bnal Brith International. "There is a concern we do have to encourage them to continue." Silbiger said it was ironic that the Jewish community had pressed Yasser Arafat. leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization. to "codify" his recognition of Israel and renunciation of terrorism without first insisting on "deeds." In the case of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. it was the reverse. he said: "Gorbachev gave us all the deeds but the Jews say they wont move until he codfles it.. More than 4.557 Jews were granted exist permits in April. and 14.018 Soviet Jews arrived in the west or Israel in the first four months of this year. Richard Schifter. assistant secretary of state for human rights. said yesterday the Soviets told him this week they gave out 57.000 emigration permits between Jan. 1 and May 1. the highest since 1979. and that "the trend Is upward." These include permits for Germans. Armenians and Pentecostals as well as Jews. but Schifter said the figures for Soviet Jews and Pentecostals would Indicate that as many as 63.000 would get permission to leave this year. At the height of Jewish emigration in 1979. 51.000 left the Soviet Union. Schifter said Soviet officials had shown him the test of draft legislation for a new emigration law that responds to many U.S. objections made in the past to Soviet emigration practices. About 40 Soviet Jews who attended the 1987 Passover Seder in Moscow with thenSecretary of State George P. Shultz have all received permission to leave the Soviet Union. he said. Silbiger noted a widespead feeling in the Jewish community that "if we give up JacksonVanik. were giving up the Soviet Jewish issue." The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ). the main Jewish group concerned with Soviet emigration. issued a statement welcoming bo shs insistence on the codification of Soviet emigration law as prelude to a temporary waiver. "The presidents criteria are consiste it with those set forth by the NCSJ in the continuing reassessment of Its position." said NCSJ Chairman Shoshana S. Cardin. His group has also been demanding progress on exit permits for longterm refuseniks and a redefinition of the "state secrets" law under which many Jews have been refused passports. The Issue of whether to support a JacksonVanik waiver comes up at the NCSJ executive committee and board of governors meeting here June 1213. In preparation. a NCSJ delegation goes to Moscow May 2328 to sound out Soviet officials on possible changes this year in Soviet emigration law. Former representative Charles A. Vanik (DOhio). who was the coauthor of the JacksonVanik Amendment with the late Senator Henry A.