Sixteen years of suffering In Zionist ‘promised land’ By KHANAN TURGEMAN (Riga, Latvian SSR) I clearly remember the day when my father, a saddler from the Moroccan city of Casablanca were our family lived, came home terribly excited and moved to tears..In the Jewish community synagogue he met with “some people from Tel Aviv.” The envoys of the re- cently-organized state of Israel spoke at the big gathering of ~ the congregation, and father enthusiastically repeated their words: “Once again, after the long centuries of despair and oppres- sion, the Jewish state has been _ Tevived. Now it appeals to you for help. It has to be strength- _ ened. Give us your sons and daughters! We shall teach them different trades and show them how to handle arms. They will go there first: They will. build cities and villages, irrigate de- serts and build roads for you, their parents. Then you will come and spend the rest of your life in the prosperous Jewish Stale. : Soon after that, when I just celebrated my 15th birthday, my father, after another meeting with the envoys of “the promis- ed land” announced his deci- sion: “You are a grown-up man. You'll go to Israel and settle there, and then our whole fami- ly will join you.” YOUTH SACRIFICED © There were more than 3,000 of us, the first of the boys and girls whom the Jewish com- munity in Casablanca sacrificed to Israel. Our departure was kept in strict secret, we were led aboard the ship in the mid- dle of the night. Yet, many parents managed to penetrate into the port. Mothers couldn’t be torn away from their chil- dren. “I won’t give you to them, damn them!” they shouted try- ing to snatch their children from the Zionists at the very last moment, but not many of them succeeded. Casablanca was by no means an exception at that time. The Zionists had global plans and they were realizing them in dif- ferent continents, wherever they” could act legally. It should be pointed. out: in this connection that the world Zionist organization has _ its roots in 60 countries and is now striving to unite the Jews living in different countries on the racial principle, to direct their efforts at the creation of “the national hearth” in Palestine and thus to oppose the progres- sive revolutionary trends and, in first place, -the international workers’ movement. ARMY TRAINING From the first “sorting” camp I was sent to the second militar- ized camp. Our teachers were Israeli Army officers. Under their supervision hundreds of adolescents marched in the drill- grounds, studied weapons, prac- ticed shooting and kept guard. Little by little they persuaded us that such brave fellows as we could conquer any neighbor- ing country. without difficulty, they could conquer any people. Half a year later we were sent _to the third camp. There we be- gan studying. But instead of literature, mathematics or bo- tany, we had to study Ivrit, the official language of Israel, its state structure and the programs of political parties. And, of. course, they showed particular zeal knocking into our heads the “teaching” of the notorious Theodore Herzl. At the end of last century this Austrian poli- - tician who pursued the occupa- tion of a journalist, wrote his pamphlet, “Jewish State”, in which he put forward the de- mand to organize the state of Israel. Hertzl’s “Works” have be- come the second bible for the Zionists. NEGEV DESERT In 1951 we were transferred to Haifa-and‘from there to the Negev desert and placed into the militarized settlements where we were to live until “the great Israel’’ extended its vital space. At whose expense? It was no secret to anybody. “Arabs have too much fertile land,” our. superiors used to say. “We must only wait and prepare .. .” In the meantime there was nothing but desert all around us. We couldn’t breathe or quench our thirst. At night jackals sur- rounded our settlements and howled terribly. We were be- wildered and discouraged. It all had nothing to do with what we expected to find in the “pro- mised land”. I ran away from the desert and after roaming through seve- ral cities, quite by chance met a fellow I knew. He was wear- ing a brand-new uniform and was in an excellent mood. “Volunteers for paratroopers have a wonderful life,’”’. he told me. “Come along with me.. .” BECAME SOLDIER This is how I became a sol- dier of the 890th paratroopers’ battalion. They often used me as an interpreter. In my child- hood I had friends among the Arab boys and I knew Arabic. It helped me to become better acquainted with several officers of the battalion. I was especially impressed by the officer named Bardan. He always talked his head off boasting of his ‘“ex- ploits”. Disguised as an Arab he would penetrate into the Egyp- tian territory, select the places where the civilian population gathered, and then leave a de- layed-action mine in some cor- ner. Once he made an explosion in the market, next time in the middle of the crowd which gathered to celebrate Ramadan. Now, whenever I hear about the Zionists’ atrocities on the invaded Arab territories or read reports about the bombings of peaceful homes, schools and kindergartens, I see the sly and cruel face of. Bardan. Finally, this sadist got his just punish- ment. But he was not the only one. I didn’t want to participate in this bloody slaughter which I was helpless to prevent and I broke away from this gang of scoundrels. And again the sinister ghost of unemployment started loom- ing before mé, I was happy to get a place as printer’s ap- prentice in a private printshop for the term of two months. ZIONIST ‘BROTHER’ As is known, Zionists main- tain that all the Jews are broth- ers and there is not and cannot be any class antagonism be- tween them. Aaron Press, the owner of the printshop in the town of Ramat-gan, was a zeal- ous Zionist. But he never re- garded me as his brother. On the contrary, he made me do more and more work for him with every day. Only once during all these years a ray of hope and happi- ness shone for me. In the town of Petah-Toqva I met a girl with whom I fell in love. We decided to get married and travel our life’s journey together. But then we discovered a monstrous thing. Mr. Katz, chief rabbi of the town, summoned me and said: “Your bride is not a pure- blooded Jew. Her mother is of a different nationality. Our law prohibits mixed marriages.” FLIGHT FROM ‘EDEN’ My bride and I were deeply shocked. We sought justice, ap- pealing to higher authorities, but all our efforts were in vain. We decided to revolt against this racist law but the rabbis kept their vigil. They declared that our child would be illegitimate. Sixteen bitter years spent in Israel showed me the whole bankruptcy, fallaciousness and utterly reactionary nature of Zionism. That is why when I had an opportunity to leave Israel with my wife’s family and to go to the Soviet Union I was happy. Only in the country of Lenin have-I learned the meaning of true internationalism, friendship and fraternity between peoples, felt the beautiful flavor of free- dom from social oppression and injustice. That is why I consider the great Soviet Union my true Motherland. (Uchitelskaya Gazeta) . Thatcher's tricky figures Plumbers not doctors REGINA “The Thatcher Government’s use of its anti- labor legislation, Bill 2, to break the plumbers and electricians’ strike is part of the Trudeau staged attack on the sandards of living of all working people,” provincial CPC leader Fred Schofield stated this week in a press release. “In times of economic crisis the capitalists always claim that the workers are already getting too much and are seeking for too much. In contrast, high mono- poly profits and heavy govern- ment war spending are defend- ed as sacred rights. “The charge is made that a plumber gets more for a house call than a doctor. Where is the plumber in all of Canada whose average earnings approach the $30,000 average annual income made by the doctors? Such a PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FRIDAY, JULY 24, 1970—Page 4 plumber can’t be found. “In his anxiety to do the bid- ding of big business and to at- tract big monopoly investment in Saskatchewan,: Thatcher cur- ‘tails the law, lowers living stand- ards and at the same time his policies shortsightedly create a shortage of skilled labor. There is an exodus of journeymen from Saskatchewan. Tens of thousands of working people are leaving the province to seek work. — “Instead of less democracy, the working people of our coun- try need more. Instead of anti- labor legislation, we need a Charter of Worker’s Rights which would guarantee every Canadian a well-paid job, a good | education and a good home, and plenty of leisure time, as a democratic right.” the Globe & Mail. The article says it’s a great mystery. on the head, remarked, “My, what a strong girl you are.” ie oa a” A =e % F — eat The Assabe oil refinery, the firstling of Ethiopian heavy indust situated on the Red Sea shore. Built with Soviet assistance, this onl modern refinery allowed Ethiopia to discontinue the import © . to oil products. A thermal power station was built to provide POW tion the refinery. One-third of its power goes for industrial consumP and two-thirds for communal and construction purposes. ey WE 4 “Meat prices show sirloin steak up from 1969 price despite hee tion in prices paid farmer for cattle” reads a streamer headin Hell, that’s no mystery at all. Ask Trudeau and his Troubadout They'll tell you it’s all on account of the cows getting too ™ hay and the bulls — well, anyhow, that’s what causes inflation. Isn’t that what they say about workers’ wages? . 3 * * ae i q ‘The Swedish newspaper Expressen thus describes a churchmen’ convention recently held at Jonkoping: “Two thousand dele 400 guests, sumptuous dinners and cocktail parties, speakers or | the United States . . . Total cost one million crowns. Profes George Borgstrom (USA) gave a talk on hunger-in the world. * * * ; The U.S. Senate has voted to repeal the Tonkin Bay resolutio® ; which gave President Johnson the authority to invade Vietnam. ‘et? resolution was based on fake reports that there were North Vier | namese gunboats in Tonkin Bay. 000 Can the U.S. Senate make that repeal retroactive for the ger GI’s who were killed in Vietnam? Or the million Vietnamese * were killed? Or the most of Indochina that has been destroy defoliated and devastated? . _And why is Nixon continuing the war? * * * The U.S. spent $28 billion 800 thousand on the war in southeast Asia during the one year 1969 alone. You can bet somebody did killing and somebody else “made a killing.” * * * i e SPORTS NOTE: A union paper describes how a famous cone coach picks his offensive line. It seems that on the first day of Pf tice he takes all the linemen out into the woods and on a 8! signal they start running. ins; “The ones that run around the trees are guards,” he expla “and the ones that run into trees are tackles.” * * am A man watched a little girl pull out a big weed and, patting her a was ’ “Yep, I know it,” the child agreed, “and the whole worl hanging on the other end of it.” : * * a rf The poem below by Leon Fox appeared in the Australian pape Common Cause on the bicentenary of Captain Cook’s discovery the island continent. It is the Australian aborigine that is speaki#2 but it could just as well have been one of Canada’s Native People THE WHITE MAN CAME We saw the white-winged birds out on the blue, We saw the white-faced men who trod our land; We thought them dead men come to give us life; We found them live men come to bring us death... * * * We thought until now that veteran labor cartoonist Avrom te the prize punster of them all, but an anonymous rival has supplie us with the following outrageous piece, which we print only bring a smile to the lips of some holidaying pun-lover: ; “Pike-Cod, salmon’s going to get off their perch soon or there is going to be a whale of a big strike in Nova Scotia on a scale 10 seen for some time. sae “When asked for a comment, a fishermen’s spokesman said, “These two-bit shrimps are going to have to give in or feel 0U mussle. The herring now taking place had better give us our rig or we'll show those suckers who really counts.” : “In the meantime the workers are going hungry — and that the halibut!” ae