Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 13, 1991, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press january 1991 Page 7 palestinian pro Blem is key to Mideast peace by Bill Roberts special to the free press if you want to extinguish a fire in your you dont fight the flame in Small you go to the source of the fuel and close it these Are the words of Moha mad Hasan a confident of Yasser a key member of the Palestine liberation organizations executive head of the department of the occupied and an acknowledged he has even been awarded a plaque by Canadas National defence College and is a trusted Contact of the Canadian embassy in i recently visited Jordan and met with a number of jordanian and palestinian senior civil servants and political leaders like i did this in a private and to investigate for myself what was at play in the George bus Saddam Hussein i was alarmed at the rapidity of military confused by Canadas Quick Alliance with military options and absolute Gulf and disbelieving that High principle was the Lone motivation pushing us to Mohamad Wilhems unedited Story Doest make it into Many of our Western newspapers and to nevertheless it is key to understanding the history and interconnections of the current and perilous Gulf before a gust asserts Israel had started to prepare itself for a preemptive strike against that is Why Saddam Hussein said publicly eight or nine months ago that if Israel attacks Iraq will retaliate with everything in its a Iraq upsets the established balance of Power in the Middle East where million israelis dominate 200 million and Saddam was pushing hardest for a palestinian there was always link As Canada ventures closer to this strikingly different ver Sion of current events deserves a Fuller do you really think that those weapons in saudi Arabia Are there to simply liberate a people ruled by a hereditary Emir who dissolved parliament in or defend the absolute monarchy of the saudi family where no one has the right to asks the Emir has a new wife every thursday and a personal family Bank account of Are these reasons to put blood in your petrol Western and israeli interests in Power and control Are very much at stake and Iraq new role in the Arab world would negatively affect those inter vital key for history is the vital key to an educated appreciation of the Gulf the original Post 1948 Diaspora of he was israels Hope of dissolving the palestinian despite this denial of Milhem says that palestinians waited 20 years for the United nations and the West to Aid the Justice of our enter Saddam a Man with no particular affection for is especially following its 1981 Surprise air raid on iraqi nuclear while the Plo was strongly criticized by Syria and Kuwait for offering too Many concessions to Israel and the Iraq was the Only Arab country to fully agree with the Plo Saddam repeated this As recently As eight months says after two years of discus Sion there is still no International conference on the palestinian there is still no israeli withdrawal or partial withdrawal from occupied and there is no dialogue on a period of nor on with two years this Plo peace initiative has received no signal of Hope nor supported Plo Milhem says that the key to linkage is that Saddam Hussein blessed the moderate Plo peace but Iraq is viewed by Israel As the strongest Arab with discipline and military Israel wants that iraqi strength and with it the Hopes of Plo there have been Ira Kuwait Bor Der problems for 60 to 70 years thanks to the arbitrary mine in the Sand drawn by colonial Kuwait was a District of says and no one disputes that Kuwait and the saudis were rescued from Iran fundamentalists by Iraq bloody 10year there is provocation in slant drilling someone else Oil and sell ing it at a lower Price after he has saved your on August 2 Saddam Hussein said Kuwait was now part of Iraq and had come on August 12 he said lets put All the in resolutions on the table and Deal with them evenhanded by and Hon my personal thinking is that if there Are True intentions to return Kuwait to its people to decide their own future this is easy to achieve lets implement the resolve of the in 100 per cent As Bush but All the we need to create a stable Middle East without conflict and under the comprehensive umbrella of International be Israel is in South Lebanon and the Golan Syria is in but the festering Core of Middle East trouble is the denial of we must be dealt there is still a Chance for peace according to for both the Gulf crisis and the palestinian but Only if the and Arab radicals and fundamentalists realize the True dimensions of any ensuing peace has a considerable place in palestinian he and War now will destroy Modera Tion and reestablish terrorism and the impossibility of stable Western and Arab we have a Chance to seize peaceful and in that Case Isra Els Safe Borders will be the same Arab Safe As the consignments of body bags and mortuary equipment continues to arrive in the i Hope some one is listening to this palestinian View and tallying our own Price of blood in that Bill Roberts is a Toronto based broadcast executive who visited Jordan in iraqis show support for Hussein he cannot quit Kuwait without finding a Way to save High concept of Honor governs Arab life by David Lamb los Angeles times an Arab is a Man who will pull Down a whole Temple to have a Stone to sit proverb saudi Arabia iraqi president Saddam Hussein is fac ing what could be the biggest military offensive since the Day invasion of Normandy 47 years he has been Cut adrift by even his closest there Are reports that support within Iraq May be utterly he re Mains a victim of the Arab culture that values Honor More than we Are a proud said Iraq foreign Tarik during his press conference in Gen Eva following wednesdays failed talks with Secretary of state James we have our his we have our contribution to human and we would like to be treated in a dignified and just to an Arab in the Middle Honor is often less a matter of what one does or says than it is of How he thinks others View Honor is showing strength even when the cause May be Honor is the ability to inflame passions with fiery even if the words cheat ones the iraqi Hussein de Fence minister Are ready to crush any aggression against great the land of Pride and that arabs do not believe that is they know Hussein has violated every islamic and Arab Standard by invading and they understand that for him to waiver or show weakness now would be to deny the very essence of his though Hussein May Well be willing to risk his Temple to Salvage one Stone of it seems evident that the last thing he wants is confrontation with the 28nation coalition facing avoid provocation his order transmitted Perso Nally via radio telling iraqi captains to allow americans to Board the vessels they interdict in the persian Gulf was not the Man Date of a Man seeking nor was the release of Western hostages the act of a country wanting Iraq certainly seeks a peaceful solution and is willing to pay the Price for it but not any Price and it will not accept any settlement that sullies its said Sid Ahmed the algerian foreign because he is beyond the influence of apparently oblivious to advice from Arab leaders or iraqi the course Hussein follows Between now and the expiration of the in deadline 15 May be defined More by primitive instincts than by Deduc in his there Are no Fine shades of Only Black and and in his justification for dismantling Kuwait he seems to exemplify the Arab characteristics that once mystified their Lawrence wrote of the arabs in were at ease Only in they inhabited superlatives by sometimes inconsistencies seemed to possess them at once in joint Sway but they never they pursued the logic of several incompatible opinions to absurd without perceiving the Inco Grui there is incongruity in Hussein Call linking the invasion of Kuwait with palestinian rights and a redistribution of Arab Oil wealth and a holy War in defence of although All strike responsive chords in the hearts of frustrated the concerns of the secular Hussein traditionally have been directed toward and his invasion of an islamic directly Vio lates at least three verses from the the holy Book that governs the lives of True muslims fight in the Way of Allah against those who fight against but begin not to Allah Loveth not Surah verse it is not for the believer to kill a Surah verse Whoso Layeth a believer of set his Reward is hell for Surah verse Ever since taking absolute Power in Hussein has been a master at finding face saving ways to explain his miscalculations and unpredictable actions to his he gave for every thing gained in his wasteful eight year War with Iran a War that dragged on so Long that most iraqis could not even remember what was at Issue Between the two countries in order to keep there was hardly a murmur of Surprise in the Arab he had merely traded a smaller prize for a bigger need to save face if he does want to avoid there is every reason to believe he could conjure up a face saving rationale to explain his withdrawal to the Arab he could say the framework for an International conference on Palestine had now been Laid or that a Deal with Kuwait for Access to the persian Gulf was in the works or that he was responding to the will of the iraqi he could go Home with his Power and military having achieved a sort of Honor merely by having stood up to the West As no Arab had done since Egypt Gamal Abdul but Hussein is no he knows the list of enemies he has made would fill a and he real izes the consequences of showing if i he told King fahd of saudi Arabia last according to a saudi at the you will not find much of my body left because it will be chopped into Little province faces Tough year in wage negotiations j too Mannocci fared a three ear Deal which it Spring if their funding d finance minister Clayton Man Ness should have known when he told those who Are employed by or receive funding from the government that there would not be much Money on the table and demands should be that it was like waving a red Cape in front of a the desire to control spending is no during negotiations with the Manitoba medical association last manness said the government was facing Tough Deci Sions and urged everyone not to make unwarranted demands on the the doctors disagreed and eventually held a on Day after which they settled for a guarantee of modified compulsory arbitration and a three percent that figure has become the level above which the government does not want to As indicated in the october Tough measures were required to ensure the Provin Cial deficit did not get out of major recipients simply cannot be guaranteed in creased support at the rate of Infra Arlene Billinkoff under the dome manness those reliant on government funding should pay close attention to this the minister urged All involved in Public sector negotiations to recognize fiscal any settlements above the provinces Revenue growth about three per cent could Only be financed by reductions in staffing or the nurses asked the province for a 30percent wage while Peter president of the Manitoba govern ment employees said his Union was unwilling to Bear the Brunt of the governments fiscal remained Ada Mant and on the last Day of the session prior to presented the governments position on funding for Public sector wage set Over the next two True spirit of cooperation and partnership among us All will be essential if Manitoba is to Success fully meet the fiscal and economic challenges before he we need to pull together and share the Burden through moderation initially the government would put its own House in he because of Flat revenues and the premiers Promise not to increase personal it intended to keep the deficit in Check through responsible Wise spend ing and choosing priorities careful with Public sector salaries of More than billion last without including Crown corporation pm the government believed it was fitting to show restraint in wage negotiations and established a three percent average wage recognizing relative How some groups would receive greater increases from the fixed Pool of while others would receive manness Only nurses whose salary Levels had dropped to eighth in the country could expect a settlement in excess of All we have listened to their manness but others would be required to share in making them the number one exactly what the government in tended to offer the nurses was not and unhappy nurses voted 91 per cent in favor of strike the first in Manitoba his we do not want to be used As said president Vera the Mega president agreed As he accused the govern ment of not bargaining in Good Faith and trying to play one Union against his members would not accept the threepence Norless for they wanted a fair Settle but what is fair Mega demands Are not yet but the nurses latest proposal is a 27percent in crease Over two Manitoba health organization the governments bargaining offered a three year Deal which it maintained would increase salaries by an average of 20 per cent Over the life of the the Manitoba nurses How said it was a compounded figure and increases would really be Between per cent and per along with pay equity incentives which were Long overdue and should not have been included As part of the there was also concern about the Lack of any in crease for licensed practical nurses in the first As a the which began january would by this week operating engineers who keep hospitals joined the nurses on the picket lines because of their contract problems after being offered Zero for the first year and two per cent for it May be part of the governments plan to control but the engineers want so does the which has indicated it will not Settle for three per social workers have Al ready threatened strike action in the Spring if their funding does not in the piece de came from provincial judges who will not but want a 58percent increase about 000 which would be retroactive to with interest on Back so much for heeding the finance ministers plea for modified de manness could scarcely speak about the judges request but indicated there was no Way the govern ment would have the funds available for such a no Public service including should expect a greater percentage salary increase than the he and everyone knows what the nurses think about the governments last Gary Filmon said had been hoped to avoid confrontation by informing employees ahead of time about the need to it did not Mart Ness had called for a spirit of cooperation and stressed the need to pull there is a Lotof pulling in opposite it should be quite a year ;