Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 21, 1986 Page: 2 of 20
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TEXAS JEWISH POST THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 1986 PAGE 2
bTSS SX**'"9 Edge pLO's Washington Office
BY EDWIN BLACK
The Palestine Liberation Organization's liaison
office in Washington DC has long been funded by
a special $280,000 annual appropriation directly
from PLO headquarters. An examination of how
that money is spent reveals that the PLO office
in America is engaged in far reaching political
lobbying throughout the Arab American
community, and among key Communist bloc
diplomats in Washington in its efforts to
influence American policy. As such, it may be
exceeding its legal basis for existence, an
informational effort hoping to promote better
understanding between the Palestinian and
American peoples.
The office's effectiveness revolves around its
director Hasan Rahman, technically an employee
of the Arab League, who maintains a busy and
expensive schedule of meetings and luncheons
across the nation. Last year alone, Rahman spent
approximately $34,700 in travel expenses. His
1985 itinerary included visits to the Arab
community of San Juan, Puerto Rico January 4
and March 26, the Arab community in Boulder,
Colorado May 16, and a July 6 gathering of
Detroit-based Ramallah Palestinians in
Knoxville, Tennessee.
Rahman is also a frequent speaker at
numerous Arab conventions in Washington.
During one six-week period last year, for
example, Rahman was invited to speak to the
April 30th U.S. Arab Chamber of Commerce
annual meeting, the May 4 National Association
of Arab Americans convention, and the June 7
General Union of Palestinian Students
convention, all held in the nation's capital.
INFORMATION ONLY
the PLO's Washington office is permitted by
the Justice Department under the guise of
attempting to promote better understanding
between Palestinians and the American people.
But in fact, the office makes little effort to reach
any groups other than Arab Americans, and
functions chiefly in the Arabic language. The
purpose is to maintain moderate Arab American
solidarity with PLO activities, including "the
armed struggle" against Israel. As such, the
office is less of an "information office” than a
lobby-cum-diplomatic mission for the PLO.
In its diplomacy, the PLO office pursues an
equally narrow clientele - almost exclusively
senior officials of Arab and Communist bloc
embassies. For instance, during the summer of
1985, Rahman held a June 11 luncheon meeting
with Hungarian press counsel Bela Juszel at the
Bacchas restaurant. Two days later, and then
again July 2, Rahman met with Czech counselor
Zdenek Sokol at the Shazam restaurant. Sokol,
reached at the Czech Embassy expressed outrage
that his private meetings with Rahman would
become known. The Czech diplomat declined to
characterize his talks with Rahman, except that
they involved "a fellow in Prague.”
But Rahman’s most frequent Communist bloc
contact is with Oleg Derkovsky, first secretary of
the Russian Embassy. They met July 15 and
September 24 last year, and several times this
year. They usually dine either at Joe and Moe's
restaurant or Bacchas.
The bulk of Rahman’s other meetings are
devoted to briefings for journalists and campus
representatives. Among journalists, Rahman’s
most frequent contacts are Washington Post
columnist Richard Cohen and David Ignatious of
the Post' Sunday pages. Two notable meetings
earlier this year include a luncheon date with
British author Alan Hart, Yasser Arafat's
biographer, and an office party for East
Jerusalem newspaper editor Hanna Seniora,
whose close liaison with the PLO is well known.
Recent campus lectures include two at
Washington’s American University February 28
and March 18 of last year, and a third April 11,
1985 at Suffolk University in Boston. Briefings
are generally held in Rahman's office, include
one June 4 last year for 22 students from
Monroe Community College and faculty and a
second one ten days later for students of Duke
University’s Islamic-Arabic Organization. Rahman
generally limits his campus efforts to programs
arranged or controlled by Arab Americans.
The profile of the PLO's office activities
resembles that of any diplomatic mission. But as
one Israeli diplomat expressed it, "That is
precisely the point. They are functioning with
their colleagues as diplomats - business as
usual.” State Department sources however
denied that the PLO office’s diplomatic activity
constitutes de facto recognition. And the Justice
Department was uncertain whether such
activities went beyond the narrow public
information operation the office is permitted by
the Foreign Agents Act. _
But Senator Jeremiah Denton (D-Alabama),
chairman of the Senate Committee on Terrorism
and Security, when notified by this reporter of
Rahman’s regular meetings with Communist
block senior diplomats, responded, "This new
information is of extreme importance in
evaluating just what the PLO does, and the
Justice Department must take this into
consideration.” A Denton staffer asserted flatly
that the PLO bureau was not authorized to
engage in diplomacy
CASH FLOW
Combining the office’s domestic communica-
tions with its acknowledged role as a conduit to
the PLO infrastructure overseas, it is no wonder
that the major expense of the office after
salaries is telephone, postage, telex and
telegram. In the last twelve months alone,
Rahman’s office has spent more than $45,500 in
communications. That figure can almost be
doubled if the rental cost of photocopy,
facsimile, telephone and telex machines is
added. Those expenses dward all other office
expenditures, except salary. Rahman is paid
$2540 monthly by the League. Five or six other
employees, some working part-time, draw a total
or between $75,000 and $80,000 per year.
Automobiles registered in Virginia are at the
office's disposal to facilitate Rahman’s busy
schedule. Shuttling between appointments costs
the office as much as $150 per week just in
parking costs.
The whole question of PLO assets and cash
flow in the United States has recently been
raised by lawsuits such as the one launched by
relatives of Leon Klinghoffer who are seeking
millions in damages for Klinghoffer's murder on
the Achille Lauro last fall. In recent years, the
PLO’s annual stipend of $280,000 has been
transferred to Washington via two $140,000
disbursements made at six month intervals,
tunneled either through the PLO's Information
Office or the Palestine National Fund. In the
past, these have been more than enough to cover
the office’s expenses, leaving a $5000 to $7000
cash reserve each year. But several months ago,
the bi-annual stipend was cut to $104,000, and
according to Justice Department documents, the
PLO's Washington office was compelled to
obtain a $50,000 bank loan.
This development comes amid conflicting
published reports about the PLO's finances. No
one knows how many billions the PLO's world-
wide business empire is worth. However, its annu-
al operating budget is in financial chaos as a result
of factional disputes within the PLO itself, and
declining oil revenues and rising antagonism
trom such states as Libya, Syria and Iran, which
traditionally tithe to the PLO. According to a
recent report in Forbes, the Palestine National
Fund allots $50 million annually for all its
diplomatic missions around the world, including
its UN Mission in New York, and the liaison
bureau in Washington.
Such missions consume sixteen percent of the
PNF’s total 1986 $310 million budget. At the
same time, income from investments,
Palestinian taxes and subsidies from Arab
nations amount to only $156 million.
Palestine National Fund director Jaweed
Ghussein was quoted earlier this year in the
London newspaper Voice of the Arab World as
conceding that the PNF suffers from a growing
deficit, currently some $300 million. The PLO's
unwillingness or organizational inability to
liquidate assets to erase the deficit has become
a potential threat to operations, according to
informed sources. Arafat himself has called for a
25 percent cut in monies spent on diplomatic
missions until the cash crunch is resolved. This
might explain why the Washington PLO office
was compelled to borrow $50,000 to make ends
meet.
PROPAGANDA OR INCITEMENT
Of course, the greatest concern of government
officials reviewing the PLO office’s status is
whether they are directly or indirectly engaged in
any terrorist activities. For example, eighteen
months ago, Force 17 was reorganized from
Arafat’s personal bodyguard detail into an elite
commando corps operationally based at PLO
representative offices throughout Europe. Fears
that the PLO might use their Washington office
for the same purposes have prompted PLO
critics such as Senator Denton to press for a
Justice Department cancellation of the PLO
bureau’s status under the Foreign Agents Act.
Thus far, no definitive action has been taken.
But Denton insists, "We are continuing our
investigation, and our efforts pressing the
Justice Department to force full disclosure by
See Cutting Edge Page 18
Canadian Committee On Yiddish Helps Preserve Language
BY BEN GALLOB
(Copyright 1986, Jewish
Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Development of Marne
Loshen and Friends of Yiddish
groups is listed by the National
Committee on Yiddish of the
Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC)
as one of its proudest
accomplishments.
Members of these groups are
mainly second and third
generation Canadian Jews
looking for a milieu in which to
speak or brush up on their
Yiddish, according to the
Canadian Jewish News.
A national conference on
Yiddish, convened in 1969, led
to creation of the national
committee. The theme of the
conference was "Why Yiddish
— Let Us Reason Together,”
implying that there were more
than sentimental reasons for
keeping alive the ancient
language of European Jews.
Joe Kage, committee vice
chairman, said at the
conference that "I firmly
believe that Yiddish has been
and can continue to be one of
the chief instruments in
creating a bond between Jews
and their Jewish traditions,
and an important means of
combating the waves of
deculturalization that
represent a grave danger to
Jewish life."
From its Montreal
headquarters, the committee
serves as a resource and
referral center for the training
and recruiting of teachers of
Yiddish; assistance to Yiddish
authors; and organization of
lectures and entertainment for
groups throughout Canada.
Open-air festivals in Yiddish
are held annually each summer
in Montreal and Toronto. In
1985, the committee was a co-
sponsor of a trans-Canadian
tour by Lea Koenig and Zvi
Stolper, two stars of Israel's
Habimah Theater.
The committee has had its
budget cut substantially during
the past three years. Sara
Rosenfeld, the committee's
long time director, now does
double duty as director of the
CJC National Holocaust
Remembrance Committee. J.B.
Salsberg of Toronto, a Canadian
Jewish News columnist, is
president of the committee.
Most of the members of the
Marne Loshen and Friends of
Yiddish groups knew Yiddish as
children but do not use it
regularly as adults and are not
formally affiliated with any
Jewish organization. Their
activities are mainly social and
cultural. Last November, the
groups held their first national
gathering at a Thousand Island
resort.
Such groups now function in
Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa,
Winnipeg and other Canadian
cities. Some have membership
in the hundreds.
A recent development is the
creation of a foundation to
help projects related to the
preservation of Yiddish. The
foundation was named in
memory of the late Jacob
Zipper and Shloime Wiseman,
principals of the Jewish
People’s Schools and Peretz
Schools in Montreal. The goal
of the foundation is to support
literary, cultural and
educational projects.
The Yiddish committee has
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 34, Ed. 1 Thursday, August 21, 1986, newspaper, August 21, 1986; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth753157/m1/2/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .