“If one Palestinian survives, he will be PLO,’ declares mayor _ “Nobody can wipe away the "Name of Palestine. If one Palesti- Nan survives, he will be the PLO (Palestine «Liberation Organiza- tion) and he will be Palestine,’’ declared Mohammed .Milhem, a ' Palestinian West Bank mayor, br- Inging over 200 people to their feet in Vancouver Saturday. Milhem, in Canada to speak about his illegal deportation from » the West Bank town of Halhoul, addressed a public meeting in Van- -COuver sponsored by the Canada Palestine Association. -“T was not the first or the last Palestinian to be expelled by the Israeli authorities,” he said, citing Fahd Qawasmeh, mayor of Hebron, who was deported along with him, as well as the previous ex- Pulsion of Rashi Al Khatib, ’ “mayor of Arab Jerusalem.” Qawasmeh and’ Milhem are Specifically named and referred to ~ in no less than three resolutions Passed by. the United Nations Security council - ‘‘a first in the . history of the UN” - calling on the ~ Israeli government ‘‘as the occupy- _ Ing power to rescind these illegal Measures and facilitate the im- | Mediate return of the expelled - /Palestinian leaders.”’ “All the world decided that the two mayors: should return, but” Begin decided ‘no,’’’ Milhem said. It was on May 2, 1980 that _ to raise by June 21 Milhem; Qawasmeh and a religious judge from Hebron were told by Israeli soldiers who came to their homes, that the minister of defense wanted to speak to them in Tel Aviv. “We were taken away in a helicopter. By the dawn of the next day, we found ourselves in south Lebanon.” There, in the no-man’s land of Israeli-occupied south Lebanon, ° the order of expulsion was read out to them. Except for a 52-day imprison- ment in an Israeli jail when Qawasmeh and Milhem unsuc- cessfully appealed their deporta- tion before the Israeli supreme court, both mayors have not been allowed to step foot on the soil of their beloved homeland. “T would prefer to go back to” prison in Palestine, if that option was even open to me,”’ Milhem said, the pain of exile clearly writ- ten on his face. Prior tohis deportation, Milhem : had actively resisted the encroach- ‘ment of Israeli settlements on~ Palestinian land. He, along with all the mayors of the occupied Palesti- nian towns that dot the West Bank and the Gaza strip, made a joint public statement declaring the PLO as the “‘sole legitimate represen- tative of the-Palestinian people. ON SALE NOW —. ‘Tickets for the Tribune Victory Banquet $8 each, or $6.50 for old age pensioners. | - Available at Co-op Books and the Tribune office COME TO THE BIGGEST TRIBUNE _. EVENT OF THE YEAR at the Italian Cultural Centre, 3075 Slocan, Van. — Starts at 6:30. Banquet, musical program, speakers and dance. GREATER VANCOUVER Belogiannis 950 394 Bill Bennett 1,200 460 Building Trades 3,200 1,315 Burnaby 4,500 1,783 Coquitlam 2,400 1,177 Kingsway. 5,700 - 2,424 ~ Niilo Makela 1,200 ~ 631 North Van 3,700 1,989 ‘Nigel Morgan. 800 532 Olgin —° 324 ‘Richmond ~ 1,200 970 Seamen 400 749 Van. East 7,500 5,946 N. Westminster 1,400 — 868 West Side 2,500 1,127 “N. COAST/INTERIOR Correspondence 1,200 5,54 Creston ~ 300 400 Powell River 500 210 * Sointula 150 - Trail 800-211 Terrace — 148 Prince George - 182 Here is where we stand Delta 1,100 20 Fort Langley 600 450 Surrey 500 2,410 White Rock 1,000 394 EAST FRASER Fraser Valley -350 394 Maple Ridge 27650 964 OKANAGAN ‘Kamloops. 1,000 222 Notch Hill . 400 134 Penticton . 600 313 Vernon 1,100 951 SOUTH FRASER VANCOUVER ISLAND Comox Valley 1,300 1,111 Nanaimo 1,900 . 720 Port Alberni 1,500 587 | Victoria 1,800 1,147 Miscellaneous — 2,009 TOTAL: $35,033 ‘We said it because all the peo- ple who elected us, everybody, even our trees there, say the same In Halhoul, situated 25 kilometres south of Bethlehem, Milhem had been vigorously seek- ing funds from ¢he Israeli authorities to implement a number of sorely-needed civic projects “since his election in 1976. “Our town is underdeveloped and needs the most elementary ser- vices - schools, streets, water and power systems, and health care. Failing to receive funds from the Israelis — ‘“‘they only take our taxes’’ — Milhem, like many of his colleagues, sought funds from the Arab world, ‘‘mainly Saudi Arabia;?= Milhem was successful in secur- ing outside financial support to build a fruit and vegetable market -a project which had the potential of bringing in an annual income of $100,000 for Halhoul. However, the Israeli military governor used his veto power to squash the pro- ject, as he did Qawasmeh’s plan to build a water wellin Hebron. _ “T was told that if I shut my big mouth and stopped talking to the press about the problems of the Palestinians, then approval for the market would be given.” The political crisis came to a head after the signing of the Camp David actords by president Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Israeli presi- dent Begin at the White House. -Theaccords, which, while giving the Palestinians’ ‘‘autonomy,”’ still didn’t give them the right to dig wells or build market places. ‘‘Autonomy in this case, was a perpetuation of occupation,’’ Milhem noted. Anti-Camp David demonstra- tions occurred throughout the oc- cupied territories, including — VANCOUVER CITY. Hosts and Presents . IN CONCERT from 1 p.m. ® Singers & Musicians @® Dancers - from ODESSA Sunday, June 7—2 p.m. QUEEN ELIZABETH THEATRE Tickets $3 plus advance booking fee at Vancouver TickCentre, all Eaton’s stores, Info Centres in major malls throughout the Lower Mainland, and Co-Op Book Store, 353 W. Pender St. or at the door of G.E. Theatre _ FABULOUS ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY Produced by Canada-USSR Association Halhoul, where a demonstration Mar. 15, 1980 was fired into by right-wing. Israeli settlers, killing two Halhoul students. 3 The settlers responsible for the deaths were arrested but later released on the grounds that they had fired in self-defense. A month and a half later, on May 2, 1980, Milhem heard over the news that six Israeli settlers had been killed and 15 injured in Hebron. That-was at 7:30 p.m. At midnight the same night, he and Qawasmeh were ‘‘kidnapped.”’ The UN security council passed its first of three resolutions shortly aftet, on May 8, unanimously sup- porting the mayors’ bid to return to their families and their elected posts. It passed a second similar /motion May 20. Although the Israeli supreme court turned down Qawasmeh’s and Milhem’s appeal Oct. 14, the court did recommend, significant- ly, that their expulsion be recon- sidered by the political leadership in Israel because it was a political deci- sion. Begin -answered by throwing them out again, Dec. 5. The next day the mayors went to Beiruf, and then back to the UN security coun- cil where they began a hunger strike to*focus attention on Israel’s refusal to comply with the UN resolutions. ‘They stopped after 10 days when UN_.secretary-general Kurt Waldheim promised -at- tempts to change Israel’s mind. The third resolution supporting their return was passed Dec. 19. For the past 13 months, Milhem has been ‘pursuing one cause, the cause of my people,’’ by speaking around the world. ‘Although I have a Jordanian- passport now,”’ he said, ‘‘one day I will have a Palestinian one.’ @ F.R.C. Choir ® Acclaimed Kobzar Dancers @ The Only Leo Aquino, Western Canada’s Concert Accordionist CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING COMING EVENTS MAY 31 — FRC Concert, 2 p.m. 600 Campbell Ave., Vancouver. Variety program; all welcome. Sup- per after- concert. JULY 12 — Keep this date open for COPE Garden Party at the Rankin’s. JUNE 14 — Bar-be-qued Steak Dinner for $6, from 4 p.m. on, at 13969 - 113th Ave., Surrey. For di- rections, phone 581-4870. All wel- come. Proceeds to the Tribune. | COMMERCIAL CONDOR’S PAINTING & build- ing maintenance. Free estimate. Phone 433-1145.:A progressive firm owned and operated by Chilean Canadians. Reasonable rates. ELECTRICAL, plumbing, appli- ance repairs. Don Berg. 255-7287. ROOF REPAIRS — Reasonable. New roofs and alum. gutters, 277-1364 or 277-3362. GRAMMA PUBLICATIONS. Complete printing’ services. Brochures, menus, leaflets, etc. Special rates for the progressive movement. A union shop. 1595 W. 3rd Ave., Van. 733-6822. USSR TOUR. Leave Vancouver Sept. 5. Visit Moscow then Black Sea resort cities of Odessa and Yalta, on to the Central Asian cities of Tbilisi, Yerevan and Ashkabad, ‘then Sochi and Volgograd and leave via Moscow, Oct. 5. For info. contact William Mozdir, 324-1490, weekday mornings, or Globe Tours, 2679 Hastings St., Van. V5K 1Z5, 253-1221. READERS IN SURREY with ar- ticles of value to donate to Tribune for garage sale, should phone Tony at 596-1355 or Dave at 581-7995. TRIP TO RUSSIA Aug. 5, plus cruise on Alexander Pushkin. For info. phone 261-4772 a.m. Yellow cedar lawn chairs, con- toured & folding, $25. Crafted by Harry Bird. For orders, phone 590-1248. Proceeds to Tribune. Cedar net floats, 15c a piece, or 13c ea. per 100. Phone 526-5226. LEGAL SERVICES RANKIN, STONE, McMURRAY & BOND, Barristers and Solici- tors. 500 Ford Building, 193 East Hastings St., Vancouver 682-7471. HALLS FOR RENT RUSSIAN PEOPLE'S HOME — Available for rentals. For reserva- tions phone 254-3430. "WEBSTERS CORNERS HALL — Available for banquets, meetings, etc. For rates: Ozzie, 325-4171 or - 685-5836. UKRAINIAN CANADIAN CUL- TURAL CENTRE — 805 East. Pender St., Vancouver. Available - for banquets, weddings, meetings. Ph. 254-3436. ~ J. Fabian| Painting and Decorating - 681-0089 : For free estimate, everything: inside & outside, commercial & residential, painting & wall- papering, drywall, plastering & repair, spray-tex ceilings. Guaranteed work & Contract PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 29, 1981—Page 11