Anatoly Shcharansky

Press, 18 February 1986, Page 12

Anatoly Shcharansky

Sir,—l congratulate Mr Shcharansky on his release from Soviet clutches in the recent East-West spy swap. However, by settling in Israel Mr Shcharansky is reinforcing the Israeli military rule which systematically oppresses the Palestanian population still able to reside in their own homeland. Palestinians are being forced out of their homes to accommodate Jewish settlers. The Jewish Quarter in the old City of Jerusalem has grown by one third between 1972 and 1983 (statistical yearbook of Jerusalem). The Armenian, Muslim and Christian Quarters have declined in population over the same period. If Mr Shcharansky really valued human rights he would not be going to live in Israel; thereby pushing yet another Palestinian family out of their home. To summarise his actions would be to say he has moved into the role model of his Soviet jailers. — Yours, etc., V. L. WILSON. February 13, 1986.

Sir,—The misplaced indignation and sympathy of B. G. Wybourne and Hazel Tait (February 14) is based on the mistaken belief that Anatoly Shcharansky is a “scientist” or “human rights activist.” The close contacts that Shcharansky maintained with Western correspondents in order to give his lying about the treatment of Jew in the Soviet Union world-

wide publicity, was a clumsy cover for his spying activities. The futilely symbolic Western gesture of having him exchanged separately from the other spies was nullified by his exchange in a spy-swap. Did his United States mentors really believe that he had been unjustly charged, tried, convicted and imprisoned, would they have publicly compromised him in a spy-exchange? Similarly with all the other “prisoners of conscience” in the Soviet Union, they are common criminals whose relatives know only too well how easy it is to gain the ear of Western agencies, eager to exploit them for propaganda purposes.—Yours, etc., M. CREEL. February 14, 1986.