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Folder Title: National Conference on Soviet Jewry (2) Box: 32

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al Conference on Soviet Jewr

FROM REMARKS BY MORRIS B. ABRAM, CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOVIET JEWRY, PREPARED FOR DELIVERY ON SOLIDARITY SUNDAY, MAY 3, 1987 NEW YORK, NEW YORK

In our program to resolve the plight of Soviet Jewry, are now joined as never before, by the entire organized world Jewish community.

We approach the rescue of Soviet Jewry not as supplicants, but as aggrieved parties, and we are det ermined to address the issue in all of its aspects so that it may be removed as an item of contention between the and the west.

We are aggrieved at substantial and continuing Soviet violations of human rights.

We are aggrieved at the ongoing Soviet refusal to comply with the human rights prov1s1ons of international convenants to which it is a- signatory;-rh-e late-sr c:rr tbese oeingthetlelsinkT Accords, signed in 1975.

We are aggrieved because the Soviet Union is the only world power to attempt forced assimilation.

We welcome the news that the number of seeking to leave the USSR for repatriation to and family reunification has begun to increase. We hope this will rise in short time to accommodate all those who wish to leave. At the same time we are fearful that the Soviet Union may be trying to deceive the west by increasing Jewish emigration modestly, so as to placate world opinion prior to reaching new agreements and a possible summit conference.

And because we are aggrieved and apprehensive, we press the Soviet Union to implement the following, as a high priority:

1. The immediate release of Prisoner of Conscience Alexsey Magarik.

2. The prompt issuing of exit visas to all , in a process that allows the longest term refuseniks and the former prisoners of conscience to leave first.

3. The cessation of the crude and false use of "national security" grounds, among others, to forbid the release of those they seem determined to keep in the Soviet Union.

4. The issuing of exit visas to allow Jewish emigration to Israel and reunification of families, in the broadest sense, in accordance with the Soviet Union's international obligations.

We also press that Jewish cultural and religious institutional life be permitted in the Soviet Union. These points are nothing more than what is acknowledged as rights freely granted in Hungary and Rumania -- states allied with the Soviet Union.

If the Soviet Union moves quickly to normalize its treatment of its Jewish population especially in regard to emigration, it will find that the Jewish communities of the world, and their friends, will respond affirmatively.

Until that time, such matters as trade restrictions, which are part of American domestic law, must remain intact. Any annual waivers should be based on very substantial and sustained emigration. Fundamental changes should not be considered until the problem of Soviet Jewish emigration has been completely resolved.

[Solidarity Sunday in New York was organized by the Coalition to Free Soviet Jews.] -over-

A coalition of forty-five national organizations and over three hundred local commun