SOUTH BEND, IND. — When President Reagan holds negotiations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev next month, he should insist that the Soviet Union begin to deal with its Jewish population in a more just and humane fashion. Two reasons for this are prominent, the one that comes to mind first being our responsibility as inhabitants of the free world to protect the human rights of those oppressed in other lands. The other reason, however, directly affects every American whom Mr. Reagan will be representing, as it pertains to our ability to trust agreements with the Soviets.
In the Soviet Union, every resident is given a nationality identification (e.g., Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, etc.). ``Jewish`` is one of these designation. Roughly 2 million Jews live in the Soviet Union today. They are permitted neither to practice their religion nor to leave the country. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Helsinki Final Act, both ratified by the Soviets, emigration must be permitted for purposes of repatriation. If the Soviet government acknowledges these people`s nationality as ``Jewish,`` it must allow them to be repatriated to the Jewish state (Israel) under these agreements. Nevertheless, Soviet Jews are constantly denied permission to emigrate.