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Editorial

_ Nopeace without PLO

U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz reports that his efforts to push the American so-called “peace” plan for the Middle East is “very tough going.”

In still another try at shuttle diplomacy, Shultz has been unable to sell Washington’s plan to either the Shamir (Likud) or Peres (Labour) camps in Israel. Nor are Syria and Jordan buying it. And the Palestinians, brutalized and besieged in the occupied lands, won’t even talk to Shultz.

Small wonder, and here’s why:

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres agrees with the U.S. idea of an international conference. Prime Minister Yitzak Shamir does not. Jordan’s King Hussein doesn’t speak for the Palestinians, thus is unable to deliver much even if he chose to. He limited himself to asking Shultz a series of questions. Syria’s president Hafez Assad “differed sharply” with Shultz.

So far, nobody has talked with the Palestinian people and their sole representative, the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Herein lies the crux of the issue: the U.S.-Israeli hope is that a “solution” can be found to quell the uprising, guarantee Israeli control of occupied lands, continue the zionist settlements policy, keep the Israeli military predominant in the Middle East — and appear to have conjured up a “peace settlement.”

The U.S. plan rules out PLO participation in the talks. So does Israel. Then, to make sure any chance of real negotiations were deeply buried, Shultz told the media April 5: “We don’t think an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank makes sense.”

Caught between Shamir’s ultra-right, dehumanizing, anti-Palestinian stance (“ ... in our eyes they are like grasshoppers.”’), and Shultz’s denial of their right to self-determination or even to participation in determining their future, the Palestinian people press forward with their heroic rebellion.

Palestinians, through their leadership, the PLO, have made their position clear. They are engaged in a decades-long struggle for human rights, for the right of self-determination and a national homeland. The PLO proposes an international conference in which all concerned parties, including the Israeli government, the PLO, Arab states, the U.S. and the USSR take part. They insist that the Israeli occupation end, and that a political settlement based on guaranteeing the rights of Israelis and Palestinians be achieved.

_ Peace will never come to the Middle East in any deals which ignore the Palestinian people, their chosen leadership and their rights.

8B OU CHARp FORMER MINISTER a

[MIGRATION PRESENTS HIS FiRsT INITIATIVE Ag MINISTER OF TRANS Pory

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VW: recently’ received a _ mailing

regarding the retrial of Nazi sympa- thizer Ernst Zundel. To say that it was unsolicited would be to understate the point.

In six crudely reproduced pages the alleged publication harangued the “media” to give the same attention to Zundel’s appeal trial as it did to the original. (Fail- ure to do so, it argued, would somehow indicate a lack of “freedom of the press.”’) The photocopied sheets, which included reproduced newspaper articles and items from a British racist journal, and a typed commentary, also attacked some journal- ists who argued that Zundel should receive no more sensationalized coverage from the Canadian press.

We concur with those journalists under attack from the anonymous supporter of the anti-Semitic historical revisionist. Zundel’s trial settled once and for all the “question” of the authenticity of the Holocaust — not that there had been any question of the mass murder of six million in the minds of most — and the trial Zun- del won on appeal will not deal with that issue.

Such has turned out to be the case: Zundel’s retrial has been conducted with- out the glare of publicity, and copies of the neo-nazi’s book, The Hoax of the Twen- © tieth Ceritury, have been banned.

Which is fine by us. The Zundels in our midst, while a small minority, have done their part to misinform and miseducate those young enough and gullible enough — witness the Keegstra case — and to promote racism, hate and bigotry as answers to the problems of joblessness,

+ poverty, and political and social impo- tence.

We're left to ponder a couple of ques-

tions. Why did the unknown commenta- tor select us to receive his hate literature? Why did the envelope in which it arrived bear a Kelowna postmark while the return address was that of the aforementioned neo-nazi publication in London?

In answer to the first, we’d have to assume that the sender was far more atten- tive to researching potential media outlets that to producing a tidy-looking publica- tion. To the second question, we'can only offer conjecture: the writer wants us to believe there is an influential international network of Zundel supporters. We’re pleased to note that in this case, whatever influence they have is waning.

* * *

hen we wrote up our Free Trade supplement a month ago we covered in general several sectors of Can- ada’s industry and economy that will be adversely affected by the deal. We also warned about the additional whammy imposed by recent rulings of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), particularly as these affect the Canadian fish processing, and wine and _ grape- growing industries. To wit, free trade will allow California wineries and grapes to flood the Canadian market, while GATT has struck down the higher price imposed on foreign wines. Now The Financial Post, the journal of big business in this country, provides in its March 26-28 issue some up-to-date figures

People and Issues

on just how hard the wine and grape industry will be hit.

Quoting Brian Nash, a grape-grower and chair of the Ontario Grape Growers Marketing Board, the article reports that almost immediately after the free trade pact and the GATT ruling are enacted, at least 8,000 acres of vines — about one- third of the Niagara region’s fields — will be taken out of production. About one- third of the 900 growers will be out of business, and a third of the 16,000 jobs in the industry will end. The income of Onta- rio grape growers will be halved.

In British Columbia, the impact could be worse. Within two years the Okanagan Valley could lose 2,000 of its 3,400 acres of vineyards, according to chair Alan Brock of the British Columbia Grape Marketing Board. Only 90 of the 220 grape growers will survive free trade and GATT, Brock is quoted as saying.

Of course, those to get the axe won’t be the bigger corporations. T.G. Bright & Co., Andres Wines and Ridout Wines all plan to survive the crunch by increasing their imports of bulk wine and cheap grapes from California.

* * *

or much of his pre-retirement, he had been a leading activist in the farmers movement in Alberta. But history has its own agenda, and Ray Garneau wound up finishing his days about 900 miles away from the centre of his life’s activity. Ray, a member of the Vancouver East

club of the Communist Party of Canada, died Tuesday, April 5 at age 88. Remem- bered for his sharp mind and clear political judgement right up to the time of his death, Ray leaves behind him a legacy of progressive involvement in the Alberta farmers movement.

Socialist traditions ran deep for Ray, whose father, a state of Maine resident of French Canadian extraction, was a social- ist and personal friend of the famed Wob- bly leader Big Bill Haywood. Ray himself came to homestead in Wainwright, Alta., some time in the early decades of this century, in partnership with a founding member of the Communist Party, E.R. Fay.

In Alberta, Ray soon gained renown and respect as a district leader and provin- cial executive member of the Alberta Farmers Union. He was instrumental in the 1947 province-wide strike for “parity prices,” by which the struggling farmers fought to achieve a price for their produce that reflected their expenses. Ray also became a member of the Communist Party, serving for some 10 years on the party’s provincial executive.

In the late 1950s Ray moved to Van- couver and settled with his wife, Tillie (who died in September, 1986). For years until the founding of the Committee of Progressive Electors, he worked in the civic front on the Committee to Elect Harry Rankin with his friend of the past 50 years, labour historian and a former leader of the Alberta Communist Party, Ben Swankey.

Ben and Harry Rankin will speak at a memorial for Ray at the Centre for Social- ist Education, 1726 E. Hastings St. in Vancouver on Saturday, April 16 at 11 a.m.

4 « Pacific Tribune, April 13, 1988