Israel-U.S. talks continue, MOSCOW — “It’s high time Washington Understood that a long-term solution to the prob- lems in the Middie East can only be achieved with the participation of all parties concerned, the USSR included, and that anti-Soviet patterns can- Not bring stability to the area,” the Soviet news agency Novosti writes of the recently-concluded -Begin talks in Washington. The agency notes that “the political patronage of Israel by the U.S. is on the upsurge. Hardly anyone doubts that without U.S. support the Israeli &0vernment would have been unable to pursue its . €Xpansionist policy, rapidly colonize occupied Arab lands and carry out aggressive acts against its Neighbors.’’ The story continues: _ “Relations between the biggest Western power and Israel have no parallels. They are not even’ Officially backed by a ‘treaty on mutual assurance of security,’ as are U.S. relations with all other Partners. “On the eve of the just ended Reagan-Begin Meet, journalists talked at length about Israel’s Ss and obstinacy. Not infrequently such behaviour on the part of Israel is explained by the Power of the pro-Israeli lobby in Washington. In- deed, Zionist circles and their allies enjoy no small wence on Capitol Hill. However, the main reason for special relations between the USA and Israel lies in the faulty strat- “ey Carried out by the USA in the Middle East. . Having proclaimed this area ‘a zone of U.S. Vital interest’, Washington makes no secret of its intention to ensure control over the oil riches of the East by force. This course is-being justified by a mythical ‘Soviet threat’ to the area, although it 18 Crystal clear that the Soviet Union was not and 18 Not going to attack Israel or any other mid- Castern state, for that matter. “It should be recalled that the U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Egyptian separate treaty has not brought Peace to Mid-Eastern nations. It is the persistence Cannot bring Mid-East peace of the Arab-Israeli conflict that is the main cause of heightening tensions in the Middle East. ‘*Responsibility for this situation rests with the USA. Statements by the leaders of the current administration that the U.S. priority task is not settling the Arab-Israeli conflict, but achieving an anti-Soviet ‘strategic consensus’ in the area, have just given Begin a free hand for new acts of aggres- sion. The Arab nations, including those whom the USA wants to draw into the ‘strategic consensus’ realize that they are threatened by Israeli expan- sionists rather than the Soviet Union. “The Reagan-Begin talks centered not on envigorating the stalemated ‘Palestinian auton- omy’ negotiations, but on plans to deploy U.S. matetial on Israeli territory, conduct joint man- oeuvres and broaden the exchange of intelligence data. One gets the impression that the U.S. admin- istration is still reluctant to face reality squarely instead of discussing far-fetched questions and to acknowledge the need for an early settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict all along the line. Only a return to a collective search for an all- _ round-settlement can bring a just and lasting peace to the Middle East. Regrettably, Washington, as before does not want to consider realities. The Reagan-Begin talks show that the U.S. continues associating its Mid- Eastern line with full support for Israel’s diehard stance. Moreover, U.S. leaders who have pro- claimed ‘combatting terrorism’ a goal of their pol- icy, have openly identified themselves with those ~ who are called the ‘‘fathers of terrorism in the Middle East”’. ‘*Menachem Begin headed the terrorist organi- zation Irgun Zvei Leumi in the 1940s, his Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir belonged to another ter- rorist group — the Stern Gang, and in the 1950s, Defense Minister Arik Sharon was the commander of Special Unit 101 set up in the Israeli army for carrying out terrorist operations against neighbour- ing countries. 8th anniversary of Chile coup SANTIAGO — Chilean dictator Pinochet, in a speech on the 8th anniversary of his military coup, warned that anyone opposing his regime ‘‘will pay the consequences’’. He told the country he will continue to ban all political acitivity and expressed satisfaction that relations with the U.S. since Reagan took office have improved. Using the ‘‘war against Soviet communism’”’ ploy, Pinochet said he hoped the ban on U.S. arms sales to Chile would soon be lifted. Joint USSR-France space venture PARIS — A French airforce pilot, Lieut-Col. Jean-Loup Chretien, was chosen last week to participate in a joint USSR-France space flight scheduled for 1982. The USSR’s program has so far included eight other nations. Indian and Romanian cosmonauts are in training for future space shots. Springbok tour in U.S. opposed CHICAGO — Public protests against the visiting South African Springbok rugby team have forced mayor Jane Byme to cancel a permit allowing the match to be held in a city-owned stadium. Despite a world-wide call to iSolate the apartheid regime, the Reagan administra- tion issued visas for the Springboks. More than 30 groups in the Chicago are are pressing for a ban on any matches in Illinois and marched on Sept. 12 (also the first anniversary of the murder of Stephen Biko). : The Springbok tour of New Zealand recently resulted in the largest mass demonstrations and violence in the country’s history. U.S. Senator defends Minefields SAN FRANCISCO — Republican Senator S.I. Hayakawa, recently retumed from an Asian tour, said at anews conference he has asked the U.S. to defuse and remove mines and bombs still left in Laos. Asked if he would extend that to Vietnam, Hayakawa replied, “‘No, we hope they kill some Vietnamese still.” Asked if he thought it okay that innocent Vietnamese farmers die, the senator said, ‘‘It wouldn't break my heart.’ The Soviet news agency TASS called Hayakawa’s remarks “extraordinarily cruel and cynical”’ and said the U.S. has the maps of minefields where hundreds of thousands of mines are buried and “could show a minimum of responsibility and humaneness by handing them over to Vietnam.” With God A dangerous ' CUPW president Parrott in resolution urging all nations 1979. “to cease forthwith individu- On their side... Maybe he wrote the piece ally and collectively, all deal P after reading numerous Globe _ings with South Africa in order ~ Gehan oy ao bea & Mail editorials counselling _ totally to isolate it politically, fired PATCO air controllers in Ottawa to take the strike economically, militarily and the United States when he | Weapon away from public ser- culturally. wrote his encyclical last week. Vice workers. Or could it be the Canada abstained. “Workers should be assured encyclical was prompted by Our two-faced policy toward the right to strike without being the Toronto Star’s cutesy let- apartheid continues, and can subjected to personal penal ters page’’ in which it mar- be explained in part by the fact Sanctions for taking part in a _Shalls all the anti-union senti- that South Africa-Canada Strike.”’ ment during strikes and __ trade has almost doubled since Or, perhaps the pontiff was thinking’ about the Ontario 0vernment’s jailing of CUPE’s Grace Hartman... . or the firing of hospital workers - Or Trudeau’s jailing of e of the 16,000 fired U.S. air Controllers. parades it as ‘‘public opinion’. One wonders if there are any catholics in the Reagan administration which compells . its civil servants to sign no strike papers to be hired. Or if the Pope’s message will melt the tender heart of Chile’s Pinochet, Haiti’s Duvalier or other friends of Canada’s who outlaw unions and ban strikes. It will be interesting to see what Canadian judges do with injunction requests against strikes brought before them by God-fearing employers and governments. We suspect, however, that religious conviction in such cases will be a flexible matter. Remember Nixon who bombed the hell out of Viet- nam? He was a Quaker. Blood money and cheap talk The United Nations General Assembly voted 117-0 with. 25 abstaining on Sept. 14 for a . 1977 when Canada withdrew its trade commissioner from there. Trudeau pompously lectures the world on “‘north-south dis- parity’ and Foreign Affairs minister MacGuigan lectures the Chinese on Canada’s tradi- tion of fair play, and demo- cratic traditions. Here’s part of that: South africa is Canada’s 12th largest trading partner. We exported $201.9-million in goods to that country in 1980 and imported $349.9-million worth. Giants like Alcan, Massey- Ferguson, Falconbridge Nic- kel and Ford (Canada) lead the pack, Canadian firms write off as tax deductions here, ex- penses for providing armed white militia units to guard their operations against the South African liberation forces. As our trade with the apar- theid regime grows, so does the hypocrisy of Ottawa which mouths phrases of ‘‘equality’’ and ‘‘justice’’. Middle East axis The “‘spirit of Camp David"’ has really come home to roost. Fresh from his visit with Reagan in August, Egypt's Sadat returned home to launch a country-wide crackdown on all opposition. In what Time magazine . euphemistically calls ‘‘demo- cracy with a bite’’, Sadat ar- rested 1,600 people, closed mosques, newspapers and car- ried on a rigged referendum in which 99.9% of those voting backed his actions. He then announced a new ‘“‘cede of conduct”’ to come into effect October 1 reminiscent of what Chile’s Pinochet has done to maintain power. What is Sadat’s reason? A “*Soviet plot’’ gets dragged out in government controlled newspapers. It’s a very con- venient but not too original ex- cuse. < * * * And, while Sadat is cleaning house, Israel’s Begin takes his turn in-Washington where his country’s raids against Iraq and Lebanon were never raised. ‘‘We view thése as cir- cumstances that are behind us,’’ says Secretary of State Haig. That’s fine, and it clears the way for more fighter sales to Israel, and the hammering to- gether of a U.S.-Israeli agree- ment for military cooperation PACIFIC TRIBUNE—SEPT. 25, 1981— Page 7 é fs 4 i “ Sadat and Reagan: democracy with a bite. which gives the U.S. naval bases and access to Israeli ter- ritory. The reason? To block “Soviet military moves’’ in the Middle East. So the “spirit of Camp David”’ turns out to be the in- Stallation of U.S. presence in Israel and Egypt and the arm- ing of these two countries to the teeth to defend “‘western values’’ (oil, tanker routes, etc.) against the rising Arab liberation struggle. We are witnessing the forg- ing together of expansionist, militaristic Israel with an Egyptian dictatorship both bought and paid for by Washington. And the strategy is explained away to the world ‘under the *‘Soviet threat’ um- brella from which Reagan and Haig have launched their all- out assault on détente.