Late afternoon rain finally forced festivities inside at last weekend’s Burke Moun- tain Labor Festival but even there, the hundreds of people who turned out didn’t go short on entertainment as (left) Fillet of Soul — Kim Zander (I), Heather Keely, George Hewison and Pat Gidora — took to the makeshift stage in Hewison’s base- ment. Earlier, before the rains descended, the entertainment bill brought people \ from as far away as Britain as Kevin Pratt (top right), the chairman of one of the most popular — and political _ | Rain fails to dampen labor festival folk clubs in Birmingham, England ¢ ‘cole aim at Maggie Thatcher and the oil crisis in his topical songs. And there were more: me O’Neill and Paul Newman; Jan Hakesly and Wayne Iggulden; KoKoho Rose Prohib- ited and George, Leah, Tim and Ross Hewison. Providing the continuity, and dréss ed up in what he thought was a Newfoundland fisherman’s outfit was MC = Keeton (bottom right). Voices for peace ‘a majority’ in Israel today Simha Flapan is the editor in chief of a prestigious Tel Aviv monthly magazine who describes himself as ‘‘one of the majority”’ in Israel today. Yet a few hours before he was to speak to a public meeting at the Peretz School in Vancouver this week, he and host Sylvia Fried- man, editor of the Canadian Jew- ish Outlook, were unsure of the re- sponse from the Jewish commun- ity. Most Jews in Canada, they ex- plained, hear only the ‘‘official”’ news from Israel and are totally un- aware that most people in Israel are opposed to the Begin government and want a fundamental change in policy. Vancouver was the last stop in a Canadian tour for Flapan, editor of New Outlook, a liberal pro- gressive Israeli journal said to ‘‘rep- resent the dove camp at its best.”’ Flapan spoke to meetings in Mont- real, Toronto and Winnipeg before Vancouver, and then left for an ex- tensive speaking tour in the U.S. — all designed to bring to the North American Jewish community the news about the new situation in Is- rael, the crisis of the Begin coalition . government, and the growing ma- jority for peace. The overwhelming majority of Israeli citizens, he told the Tribune in an interview Tuesday, want an early election to throw Begin out, and they want an end to the annex- ation of the West Bank by Israel and a settlement of the Palestinian question which is the key to a last- ing peace in the Middle East. Begin is a sure loser in the next general election, which must be held by November of 1981, Flapan predicted, with all opinion polls giving a coalition of the Labor Par- ty and MAPAM a clear majority. But the growing crisis in the Be- gin government may bring the gov- ernment down sooner. The dead- lock with Egypt over the Palestin- ian issue is only part of the all-sided crisis besetting the government, he said. ‘‘The crisis is the inability of the government to cope with the political and economic situation.”’ On the economic front; 120 per- cent inflation ‘‘and the consequent strikes, demonstrations and social unrest’’ has the government reel- ing, he said. There is also what he termed ‘‘a crisis in immigration”’ with entry into the country at al- most a standstill and a growing number of young Israelis emigrat- ‘And the only answer to the eco- nomic crisis — peace — is being sabotaged by Begin ‘‘who is doing everything he can to keep the West Bank and transform it into part of the Jewish State. “The peace process cannot be consummated without the resolu- tion of the Palestinian issue,’’ he warned. But far from resolving the issue, the Begin government’s continuing settlement program in the West Bank, and its paltry offering of ‘‘a certain cultural autonomy”’ — lan- guage, education, municipal af- fairs — to the 1.2 million Palestin- ian Arabs living on the West Bank, is only inflaming the situation. The situation polarized further this week with the bombing attacks on three West Bank mayors — Fla- pan knows each of them — who were outspoken critics of Israeli settlements on the West Bank. All three mayors, he said, ‘‘declare that the PLO is their leadership.” And all three, like the Communist Party of Israel which is strong on the West Bank, favor the establish- ment of a Palestinian national state on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, which would co-exist with the state of Israel. Flapan couldn’t say who was re- sponsible for the attacks, but ‘‘it is not unlikely that a group attached to the Gush Emunim group was in- volved,’’ he said. The Gush Emunim is a Zionist, right wing ex- tremist group which considers that even Begin is selling out Israeli in- terests. The group already has‘a history of terrorist violence and on- PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JUNE 6, 1980—Page 10 ly recently one of its spokesmen promised to take ‘‘two eyes for every eye’’ in its struggle with the Palestinians. © But most Israelis reject the ter- rorists, as they do Begin’s annexa- tionist policy. Egypt is correct when it charges Begin with violat- ing the Camp David peace treaty, he said, which set a date, passed two weeks ago, for the fulfillment of ‘‘Palestinian autonomy’’ which would guarantee the “‘legitimate rights”’ of the Palestinians. “Tf there is a legitimate right of a people, it is the right to self-deter- mination,’’ Flapan declared. And self-determination must mean con- trol over resources, internal secur- ity and overall legislative power, he said, all of which is being blocked by Begin. The flouting of that condition in the Camp David agreement is the root of the ‘‘deadlock”’ in the peace process with Egypt, he added, which will not be overcome until Is- rael changes its position. While the PLO, almost all Arab countries, the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of Israel, to- gether with the World Peace Coun- cil, have condemned the Camp Da- vid agreements, Flapan’s magazine has a more liberal view. ‘“Camp David can lead in two directions, to a comprehensive peace, or to a re- alignment of forces in the Middle East without peace,’ he said. It will lead to peace if Israel ac- | cepts Palestinian self-determina- tion and if both the U.S. and the Soviet Union are involved in a guarantee of collective security. “‘Carter and the U.S., however, want to use the peace process as a Pax Americana instrument,’’ he admitted, to forge an Israeli-Egypt axis ‘‘to confront Soviet influence in the Middle East.”’ But that plan will fail, he predict- ed. “‘Sadat and Begin may both want alliances with the U.S. But that doesn’t mean that Sadat and Begin can set up a military alliance. They are divided by the Palestinian issue. And Egypt will not resign it- self for long to its present isolation in the Arab world.”’ Flapan’s optimism is based on the hope, and belief, that the “‘peace camp”’ will sweep the next election. He includes in the peace camp, the Labor Party, MAPAM, the Communist Party, and a “broad mass movement, mainly of the young generation.”’ - The Labor Party is a dubious member of a ‘‘peace camp;”’ after all, this was the party which led the Six Day War and which still refuses to recognize the PLO. But Flapan points out that the Labor Party has renounced annex- ation of the West Bank and favors Palestinian autonomy under Jor- danian rule, even though the so- called ‘‘Jordanian solution’’ is re- jected by both the PLO and Jor- dan, and Jordan will not negotiate Palestinian rights with Israel unless the PLO is involved. As Flapan TRIBUNE PHOTO—SEAN GRIFFIN SIMBA FLAPAN . Israel to North American Jews. - will force a Labor government : saw it, this is the inevitability w l recognize the PLO. Whatever the scenario that ( velops, including a possible fr to the Geneva Conference, ¥ PLO must be a full partnet,? agreed. But to make that possi0® a dialogue between Israelis Palestinians must be opened ups said. New Outlook intends to play! role in developing the dialogue an in September it will sponsor 25? cial conference in Israel of and West Bank Palestinian leat Jews outside of Israel and i0 UP country must also be a part of th: dialogue, Flapan said with the ing assurance that the major view in Israel would soon bé¥ flected here. ‘‘The voice of is growing,’ he said, ‘‘and soon will be heard publicly in ae red Wis . Israeli journalist bringing news of the crisis in