TRUDEAU TOLD OF ATROCITIES Lebanon victim of Israel's _ One of eight Canadians who recently visited the rav- aged Lebanese capital, Beirut, has called upon Prime Minister Trudeau to work for a conference of all the governments concerned, to establish norms of human rights, land rights, and a cessation of war, intervention and occupation in the region. . Hazel Wigdor, vice-president of the Congress of Canadian Women, representing her organization at a conference in Beirut in mid-September, in Solidarity with the Lebanese and Palestinian People, returned as- tounded at the contrast between what she had experi- enced as an eye-witness, compared with Canada’s media reports. As a ‘‘witness to the ruins left by the Israeli bombard- _ ment of Beirut, I consider it urgent to report to you on our experiences,” she wrote to Trudeau. mes ‘In a Beirut hospital we met patients suffering from their wounds since July, including the baby whose pre- gnant mother was killed in the raid. When her mother’s uterus was torn by shrapnel, a rescuer rushed the infant to the American University Hospital, where she sur- vived in an incubator. As I touched her.curled fingers and asked her age, the nurse said: ‘It’s her birthday today — she’s two months since July 17. I am her mother now.” *“We have held hands with children who still play and live in the rubble where their humble homes disappeared in a split second,” Wigdor told Trudeau. “We have heard from a young woman survivor — our interpreter — what it is like to be on the fifth floor of your apartment building when you hear and feel the explosions and the collapse of the apartment building next door. __ Israeli Intimidation ‘“We ourselves have been awakened early in the morn- ing by the sonic boom of Israeli aircraft flying over Beirut,’ Wigdor said, ‘‘as if to intimidate the city popu- lation with the threat of another explosion. We have been welcomed in the one-room hut of a refugee family of 12, their home — and every other one in that south Labanese camp — damaged by Israeli action-two months ago. “We have crossed the Litani River at a new‘spot, since the Israelis destroyed the vital bridge link with the southern orchard lands, and we learned how our young translator swam there, along with 300,000 others who fled north at that time. The CCW representative went on: “On our way to that refugee camp, we drove through Sidon. Our West- ern press reports the ‘‘military headquarters of the south for the Palestine Liberation Organization” was hit by explosions on Sept. 17. What utter nonsense! There is no military command in sucha city. No wonder all the dead _ reported were civilians.”’ Wigdor spoke of farther south, passing through Tyre, its “City of Antiquity’’, with centuries-old graceful pil- lars a target for Israeli rockets. ‘‘Did Mr. Begin think that was a military target?’’ she asks. ‘‘Even an American-owned oil storage base was mis- sed by only a few yards, (on the coast about half way between Beirut and Tyre),”’ the letter to Trudeau reveal- led. ‘‘While it is a holding centre for gas coming via Trans Arabian Pipelines from Syria to European con- sumers, no doubt, if hit, it would have been a blow to the Lebanese economy as well. Instead, residences, shops and people were hit.” Recognize PLO The Conference of Solidarity, with delegates from all continents, sought to investigate the conditions “‘right on the spot, of this war-torn Lebanon, which used to be so lovely.”’ The visitors heard representatives of the Pales- tinian and Labanese people, and some 200 international delegates, including the Canadians, who expressed sol- idarity. The General Union of Palestine Women, one of the 18 organizations forming the PLO, and the Lebanese Women’s organization showed the guests much of their daily lives. ; In her letter to the Canadian prime minister, Wigdor, expressing the point of view of the CCW, urged Trudeau, ‘and our government, to recognize the Pales- tine Liberation Organization as the sole legitimate rep- resentative of the Palestinian people, and to work for a conference of all the governments concerned, and in the first place, the PLO.”’ The aim of such a conference would be to: . e Guarantee the right of the Palestinians to their self- determination in their homeland — a democratic state of Palestine. e Enforce the fourth Geneva Convention, in particu- lar Articles 33, 53, and 49 to stop Israeli confiscation and ~ destruction of Palestinian territories, the mistreatment, imprisonment and torture of Palestinians, including chil- dren, and the expulsion of Palestinians from occupied territories. e Condemn the Israeli military attacks on Lebanon — half hour of Israel bombing. dissociate Canadians from Mr. Haig’s comments thatt Israeli action is ‘‘now behind us’’. e Develop agenuine, just, and peaceful solution to e Support the proposals for making nuclear fi zones in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the I ! Ocean. (The CCW had earlier expressed the view t Canada should be declared a nuclear-free zone.) At the end of the conference, delegates had a half-ho’ interview with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, who told the) — emphatically: ‘‘We do not want to drive anyone into the sea.” In her letter to Trudeau, Wigdor made the pot “Since some of us, myself included, had family me bers, Jews exterminated by the Nazis 40 years ago, we realized anew that the interests of the Jewish people 0) not coincide at all with the policies of the present Israe® Government.” i INTERNATIONAL FOCUS ‘By TOM MORRIS" Reagan’s dilemma in El Salvador The White House and the El Salvador military regime were playing a game of musical chairs last week. While the head of the milit- ary regime, Jose Duarte was touring Washington begging for understanding (and more economic and military aid), U.S. Deputy Assistant Secre- tary of State Everitt Briggs was in San Salvador trying to knock together a foremat for ‘free elections” c : The U.S. administration would prefer-to have some semblance of an election in El Salvador to offset heavy criti- cism against its support for a murderous regime. The prob- lem they face is obvious: there’s nobody to run against. The army and death squads conduct a reign of terror, kill- ing everyone suspected of anti-regime sympathies. The real opposition, some 150 organizations brought to- gether under the Democratic . Revolutionary Front, rep- resents 80% of the people and is fighting the military and Duarte. : The liberation forces control PACIFIC TRIBUNE—OCT. 9, 1981—Page 8 for that. vast areas of the countryside and have argued that elections are simply not possible under conditions where the army rules by terror. : Ignoring warnings that U.S. support for Duarte is doomed to failure, Reagan is staking his administration’s prestige be- hind the regime — as well as pouring millions into arming its forces. And now they’re hay- wiring together an ‘‘election” in which only one side can win. Military advisers, piles of weapons, millions of dol- lars ... and now a Made-in- © USA pre-packaged election. There’s no end to Washing- ton’s generosity. Trudeau in Korea, money not rights Prime Minister Trudeau’s visit to South Korea could well be described in polite terms as untimely. In straight talk, his visit to that vast prison is ob- scene. Since the smashing of the citizens’ uprisings in June, 1980, human rights there have vanished. Questioned about this gently by the press on the eve of his departure for Seoul, Trudeau admitted he hadn't read his briefing papers, but promised to do so. Whether.he did or not on the flight from Ottawa, only he would know. But he’s quoted as saying he wouldn't raise touchy matters with the dicta- torship there. He’s interested in trade. The fact that thousands of people sit in prisons is none of | his business. The absence of the most elementary of civil rights won't stand in the way of making a buck. The military regime has tier upon tier of repressive ap- paratus to keep dissent down. Its internal security force (in- cluding informers) approaches 420,000. - The army security arm is almost 200,000 strong. Some 15,000 ‘‘judicial officers’’ ad- minister drumhead justice under draconic laws. Four hundred new restrictions have been added since November, 1980 under which nearly 750,000 people have been pro- cessed. : All official opposition lead- ers are in jail. So are academics, editors, student and labor figures who oppose the regime. Since July, 1980, 634 journals and 636 publishing - NATO’s doves’’, houses have been closed down. Unions are gone; so are labor laws protecting workers’ rights and living standards. Cheap labor is the norm — and that’s what Trudeau and the ‘‘high-ranking’’ businessmen are doing there. Forgotten are the Prime Minister’s flowery phrases about the strong helping the weak and the rich helping the poor. They will be hauled out a more opportune moment. For now commerce is the name and exploiting cheap labor is the game. © Andthenthere’s Mark MacGuigan ... The press, Sept.- 30, is re- porting Canada will call for ‘‘a massive Western airlift of food’? to Poland. The report says the idea is being proposed by Canada’s External Affairs _ Minister Mark MacGuigan “known as a brilliant and hard-nosed Western minis- ter: A Before you break out laugh- ing, the report tells us that MacGuigan ‘tis not one of and that ‘other Western diplomats think it is entirely in character ‘for him to be floating this pro- | posal.” Given the incredible stupid- ity of the idea, we agree it’s ‘‘entirely in character’’ for it to come from MacGuigan. 4 The report says the airlift “recalls the Berlin airlift of Jf 1948”’, and that it ‘‘would pose almost a continuous danger of a clash in the air between NATO cargo planes and the Soviet air force.”’ _ And further, the airlift 9) “might change the face of Europe to Western advan-— tage tre a So what we have is not only § stupid, it’s dangerous — and — it’s hypocritical. Is it food for J Poland MacGuigan wants, OF to‘‘changetheface’’ofEurope? Jf If MacGuigan was remotely — interested in feeding the hun- § gry (and willing to risk war to — do so) he could send ‘NATO § cargo planes’’ to Africa, Asi@ — or Latin America. q He could even send some south to the million or so food | stamp recipients in the USA — or north to Canada’s native ‘people for whom malnutrition — is a way Of life. 7 Perhaps it’s time to add an- | other bird to our political lexi- con: there’s the hawks, the | doves, and the dodos.