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Page 4 Portland Observer. Julv 7, 1982 EDITORIAL/OPINION Jews, Arabs seek peace by John Blank Protect direct democracy Tuesday, July 6th, was the final day for fil ing initiative petitions—citizen efforts to effect legislative or constitutional changes by a direct vote o f the people rather than through the Leg islature. As usual there is an outcry by certain o fficia ls and members o f the press that the process often leads to bad legislation. The people o f Oregon adopted the initiative (placing a measure on the ballot through peti tion) and the referendum (calling for a vote on legislation already passed by the Legislature or another governing body) in 1902—the first in the nation. These rights—along with the direct prim ary and the rig h t o f re ca ll— became known n a tiona lly as the “ Oregon System” and became a model for other states. From 1902 through 1980, the initiative had been used 237 times and the referendum 55 times. Some o f the measures adopted through the initiative since 1960 are: nuclear plant li censing requirements: authorize licensing o f denturists; limitations on u tility rate bases; re pealed governor’s retirement act; veteran loan bonding; prohibit sale o f steelhead; scenic wat erways; set salaries o f state legislators, etc. This does not sound like a gross misuse o f the democratic process. The initiative and referendum are the only op p o rtu n itie s fo r citizens to d ire c tly affect legislation. Many find the legislators and other elected officials do not represent their point of view or their interests. The o rdina ry citizen cannot a ffo rd to hire a lobbyist or to spend large amounts o f money to elect representa tives or influence elected officials—but he can sign or circulate a petition. In spite o f com plaints and ridicule to the contrary, the initiative and referendum are val uable rights and must be protected. Bill of Rights under attack .Another Fourth o f July has come and gone— celebrated with fireworks, picnics, rodeos, pa rades and recreation o f all kinds. Only momen tarily do we pause to remember why the day is set aside as a national holiday—a day to cele brate the birth o f our nation. The freedoms we hold dear— the B ill o f Rights that protects our personal freedoms o f speech; o f the press; o f religion; o f security against unlawful detention, search and seizure, are under siege. The Reagan adm inistration has launched a two-fold attack: to eliminate the Freedom o f In form ation act which ensures citizen access to government files; and to authorize the C IA and FBI to spy on American citizens and infiltrate and disrupt their lawful organizations. The Freedom o f In fo rm a tio n A ct was strengthened in 1975 as a response to Watergate and to the illegal war in V ietnam —both ex amples o f the dangers o f government secrecy. Through the A ct many individuals and o r ganizations have obtained documentation o f il legal government activity against them. Light was shed on Cointelpro and other official FBI infiltra tion s and manipulations o f civil rights and other organizations. Now this access to information is in danger of being closed. A second Reagan action against freedom is Executive Order 12333, which allows the C IA and the FBI to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States, infiltrate and manipulate organizations, and carry out “ special activities” described by Reagan as “ dirty tricks.’ ’ Unless the Am erican people wake up and fight for their rights, future July 4ths w ill not bring much to celebrate. Try state lottery W hy not an Oregon lotte ry? W ashington State’ s lo tte ry is almost on the books. They don’ t want to tax their people anymore. They must find a way to close their 23 m illion defi cit. Arizona is celebrating its first year o f lottery action with a gross o f 43 m illion dollars. New Yorkers are beaming about their system with the best educational system in the country. A ll their lottery money goes to education. Why not an Oregon state lottery to save us from more cuts and dim inishing social p ro grams? Write your Legislators now. l£ T we GKPIA1N OUR VUlNfcRABluTN- W US. 6ETS H tt BY A SCMET FIRST STRIKE THE sew e r iNlON is obliterate © BN THE us. RETALIATORY STRIKE (Í) © M ot BEfORE | i • ■ I Oreqo' S I *«>«•. : i;.e' ■V Putj' shers ? Association ==l ® ■ IV 1H6 US. IS AWISHED OFF BY THE S o w e r SfciOND STRIKE THEY M J 2TO 1 Portland Observer The P o rtla n d Observer (U S P S 959 6801 i t published every Thursday by E x * Publishing Company. Inc.. 2201 North Killings worth. Portland. Oregon 97217, Post Office Box 3137, Portland. Oregon 97206 Second class postage paid at Portland Oregon aa««X»APf* ¿•»DA’ Subscriptions HO 00 per year in the Tri County area Post m a ster Send address changes to the Portland Observer. P O Box 3137. Portland. Oregon 97206 member NÊWA pep Association - Founded IMS A l McGilberry, Editor/Publisher 283 2486 National Advertising Representative A m alg am ated Publishers. Inc N e w York A l Williams, Advertising Manager Subscribe today! Receive your Observer by mail. Only $10 per year Portland Observer Box 3137 Portland, OR 97208 W hile the media has m ainly fo cused on the war in the Middle East, there has been less focus on (he peace forces, both Arab and Jewish (including Israeli and U.S. Jews). It is convenient for the Reagan A dm inistration to have the Jewish community portrayed as solidly pro- Begin. That way, the U .S . govern ment can excuse its support o f Be- gin’s adventure— including support ive moves o f U .S. ships in the M edi terranean, refusing to vote against Israel’ s invasion in the U .N ., and continuing arms sales to Israel— by blaming it on the ‘ ‘need” to satisfy the so-called "Jewish vote.” In this way, the Administration can deflect attention from its own interests in having a presence in the M id d le East, while letting the Jews be the target o f the anger many Americans feel for ihc »41 and the U .S. role in it. Peace movement has been report ed to some exten t, how ever. The media has mentioned a demonstra tion against the war, in Tel Aviv on July 4, variously reporting 25,000, 50,000 and 100,000 demonstrators (w ith ou t however m entioning the main demands o f the demonstrators or the range o f Israeli society they represent). A demonstration o f 50,000 in Is rael is equivalent to one o f 3 *z5 m il lion in the U .S .! (By com parison, the highest estimates o f the June 12th peace dem onstration in New York were I million, and most said 7-800.000.) In a d d itio n , the Los Angeles Times reported July 3 on a signifi cant call for peace from the Jewish com m unity, coupled with the view that peace can only be brought about based on mutual recognition by the Israelis and the Palestinians. Quotes from the article follow: "T h re e Jewish leaders appealed Friday for mutual recognition be tween Israel and the Palestine Liber ation Organization in a statement is sued after secret talks between rep resentatives o f the W o rld Jewish Congress and the PLO. " ‘ Israel must lift the seige o f Bei rut to facilitate negotiations with the P L O which will lead to a solution,* the three said in a statement pub lished in the French newspaper Le M o n d e . ‘ R eciprocal recognition must be pursued without letup.’ " T h e appeal came from P h ilip K lutznick, president o f the W orld (Editor’s nota: The following article is reprinted from New O ut look, a magazine published in Tel Aviv, which for 25 years has been printing contributions from prominent Israelis and Palestin ians in the cause of peace in the Middle East. The article is from the March 1982 issue.] The following is the text o f an ar ticle which appeared in Le M onde on January 22nd, 1982, based on a conversation between D r. Issam S a rtaw i and E ric R ouleau, which generated widespread interest. The Arabs, and in particular the Palestinians, encouraged Israel to put its expansionist policy into ac tion: this is the theory that was out lined to us by Doctor Issam Sartawi, member o f the National Palestinian Council (Parliament) and one o f the advisers on international policy to M r. Yasser A rafat, President o f the PLO . " I t is obvious,” he declared, “ that M r. Begin is trying to annihi late the Palestinian people, and take away their country completely, but this is not a reason for us to supply him with pretexts and means to a t tain his goals.” The annexation o f the Golan, ac cording to the Palestinian leader, would not have been possible if the Israeli Peace Movement had at their disposal at least ten M em bers o f Knesset [Israel’s Parliam ent] who, due to the parliam entary d istribu tio n , could have acted as a rb itra tors. "W e did not manage to contri bute to the success o f the democrats and the progressive Israelis w ho, contrary to appearances, have the support o f a c o m p aratively wide electorate.” The Peace Movement according to D r. S a rta w i, is not composed only o f the Rakach Party (Com m unist) and Shelli (socialist], but also groups and personalities, Zionist or not, who accept the fo l lowing principles: Israel’s return to the 1967 borders, recognition o f the right o f the Palestinian people to self-determination and to a sovereign state, with the understanding that the P L O is their sole legitimate rep resentative. I f Shelli— a group animated no ticeably by General Peled and M r. U ri A vnery— did not obtain in the last elections their four or five ex pected seats, stated M r. Sartawi, it is because it was not credible in the eyes o f the Israelis, largely due to the fault o f the Palestinians. " M y secret conversations w ith the p ro gressive Israelis as of Autumn 1976, firstly at the request o f the Execu tive o f the P .L .O ., then with the en dorsement o f the National Palestin ian C o u n cil (M a rc h 1977) should have been publicly adm itted, justi fied and defended in the core o f the Arab world and before Israeli opin io n .” Such a spectacular gesture, audacious as it may seem was indis pensable for the Palestinian leaders: " W e should have invited our Israeli counterparts to Beirut for an ex change o f views directly with M r. Yasser A ra fa t: better s till, they should have been invited to address the N atio n al Palestinian C oun cil, who held its meeting in Damascus last A p ril, two months before the elections in Israel. The P L O could then have demonstarted concretely its willingness to bring about a true peace, acceptable to both parlies, which could have granted a measure o f credibility to the Israeli pacifists in the eyes o f their countrymen.” M r. Sartawi was disavowed im pli citly by his superiors. Not only did the N a tio n a l Palestinian C o un cil not invite him to present a report on his conversations with the progres sive Israelis, but a resolution was adopted forbid ding contacts w it) any Jew who was not an anti-Zionist "b o th in theory and in practice.” D r. Sartawi’s protest resignation to the N a tio n a l Palestin ian C o un cil was not accepted. But M r. A ra fa t’s advisor im m ediately broke o ff the talks w ith his Israeli partners in dialogue. " I am a disciplined m ili t a n t ," he explained, " a n d I have never acted beyond the directives of the representatives o f the Palestin ian people.” He thinks more or less that his superiors were mistaken in giving way to discouragement. "Th e intransigence o f M r. Bcgin’s coala- tion and the iack o f sensitivity of the L ab o r P arty should have, on the contrary, incited us to double our efforts rather than fall into the trap that the enemies o f peace held out to us." A ccordingly, M r. Sartaw i took various initiatives with a view to re suming the dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians " o n a more solid and wider basis.” He hoped to ob tain firstly the backing o f the PLO , then that o f the Arab League, pref erably on the occasion o f a fo rth coming summit meeting. Does he feel that he is carrying on a solitary battle? No, he said, on the contrary: It is enough to m ention that over a million and a half Pales- City____ t .State Zip i tinians in the occupied territores un derstand, like him, the vital import ance o f Israeli public opinion and highly appreciate the moral and ma terial support given to them by the democratic Jews, when faced with the repression o f the occupying forces. " T h e P L O should take in to ac count the opinion and aspirations of all the sectors o f the Palestinian people, especially, those o f the oc cupied te rrito rie s , otherw ise the P LO would risk its representativity and its function" stated M r. Sartawi vehemently. Is he not afraid to be the next vic tim of a dissident group o f Palestin ians o f Abou Nidal who threatened to k ill the " t r a it o r s , " those who preach, like him a policy o f dialogue and compromise? "C o n trary to ap p ea ra n c e s," replied o ur speaker, " A b o u N id a l is not a m axim alist servicing the cause o f the Rejection Front, but a renegade who is in the service o f Israel. The A ustrian Se cu rity Services have established, without any doubt, that the rig h t hand man o f A bou N idal not only killed the municipal councilor Heinz N itte l, M ay I , 1981, and attacked the synagogue o f Vienna in August, but also murdered on June I, Naim Khader the representative o f the P L O in Brussels. They intended to attack Yasser A rafat during his in tended visit to Vienna the following week. W ho, but Israel, could be in terested in eliminating our leaders? W ho was interested in discrediting the Palestinian resistance by com m ittin g crimes o f such a scandal ously anti-Semitic nature?" " W e do not ask ourselves these questions anymore,” continued M r. Sartawi, "since the members o f the group o f A b ou N id a l, whom we hold in Beirut, adm itted to having been recruited by the Mossad (the Israeli Intelligence) in the occupied territories. Curiously, Abou N idal benefited equally from the help o f certain Arab countries who utilized him for their own aims.” M r. Sartawi refused to name the Arab countries to which he referred, but it is widely known that Syria and Iraq have granted their hospitality and support to the commandos o f Abou Nidal, " In spite o f the advan tages which they derived." conclud ed M r. Sartawi, "w e hope that the A rab countries w ill put an end to their cooperation once the docu ments in our possession, that in criminate their protege, arc brought to their knowledge." Letters to the Editor Considers article biased Conspicuously absent from the June 23rd article in the Observer concerning the Israeli action in Leb anon was any discussion of the rea sons why Israel felt it was forced to take the action that it did. Anyone concerned with human Address D r. S a rta w i, a m em ber o f the Palestine N a tio n a l C o u n c il, has been a consistent voice w ith in the P LO in favor o f a "two-states” so lution to the Israeli-Palestinian cri sis. An earlier statement o f his, in Le Monde, appears elsewhere in this issue. Dr. Sartawi speaks his mind To the editor: Name _ Jewish Congtess and commerce sec retary in the Jimmy Carter Adminis tra tio n , form er French P rem ier Pierre Mendes-France and Nahum Goldmann, former head o f the Jew ish organization. " A n aide to Goldmann, who lives in Paris, said secret talks between K lu tzn ick in C hicago and Paris- based Issam Sartawi, diplomatic ad viser to P L O chief Yasser A ra fa t, were held over the last two days. " ’ This d eclaratio n contains a program to lead us out o f the crisis of Lebanon,’ Sartawi said in a state ment Io Le M onde. H e hailed the appeal as a ‘major contribution to a just and honorable peace in the Middle E a s t,*.. . . " ‘ A n end must be made to the sterile debate in which (he A ra b world contests the existence o f Israel and the Jews contest the right o f the Palestinians to independence,” the appeal said." life is distressed over the killing o f any civilians, however ju s tifia b le this may seem. The June 23rd story makes light o f Israeli soldier losses, which if projected into the United States terms would mean that Israel has alread y lost m ore than the equivalent of 14,000 of her best sol diers. In re reading the article one won ders whether it was truly a news ar ticle or one that belonged in an edi torial section. David Roberts Executive Director, Jewish I edetation of Portland