Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 13, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnipeg free press tuesday july 13, 2004 Freedom of Trade comment editor Terence Moore 697-7044 Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorials defending the Fence o n Friday the United nations International court of Justice declared that Israel a Security Barrier a Fence designed to keep the country Safe from pales Tinian suicide bombers was illegal under International Law. It demanded that Israel reroute the Fence in some places dismantle it others. According to the ice the construction of such a Wall. Constitutes breaches by Israel of various of its obligations under the applicable International humanitarian Law and human rights that was part of the ruling in a 14-1 decision to condemn Israel and the Security Fence. Only the United states voted against it. Canada had earlier abstained from a in vote to give the court authority to hear the Case although the Canadian position was ostensibly that the Issue was purely political. Earlier this year for eign affairs minister Bill Graham argued sensibly that its not time for the court to take this As a Legal question. Its better that it remains for discussions Between the even so the government of Canada did not stand up for Israel or for its own position on this Issue. As usual Ottawa does not so much directly Side with the palestinian authority As it cedes the issues to them. Israel a own judicial system had already recognized a problem with the Fence on july 1 when the supreme court ruled that a Short stretch needed to be rerouted but said that the Fence itself was a justifiable defensive measure. Israeli authorities indicated they would obey that ruling in keeping with the country a tradition of the Rule of Law. The ice ruling on the other hand would Compromise Israel a Security by rerouting or dismantling most of the Fence according to a palestinian diktat. Palestinians welcomed the International courts ruling As a vindication of their cause. Israel and its few remaining friends in the West rejected it As the travesty that palestinian terrorists quickly proved it to be. Hardly was the Ink dry on the courts ruling than a palestinian suicide bomber celebrated it with an attack in Tel Aviv that left 30 people dead or dying. The Al Asa martyrs brigade an offshoot of palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat a Fatah movement claimed credit for the attack. The ice was silent As were its supporters. The forces of the Intifada seem determined to demonstrate their contempt for the International organizations the Western governments that give them moral financial and even As in the Case of the ice a preciously Legal support. But although the Rul Ings of the ice Are unenforceable they Are not with out moral Force. Or. Arafat and the arabs can use them As diplomatic clubs with which to beat Israel. Nations such As Canada need to approach International courts More carefully than they have for precisely this reason. As the ices ruling on the Security Fence shows they can be As easily hijacked by their members As the in general Assembly and its assorted International bodies. That kind of hijacking is morally wrong and politically Short sighted. In the Wake of last weeks ruling and this weeks attack israelis Are again under attack and they have in response begun to regroup with the ruling liked and opposition labour parties negotiating a coalition that can respond from strength domestically and internationally. Paging or. Martin prime minister Paul Martin needs to respond Dur ing the next few months to provincial demands for health care Grants and to United states pressure for a Continental missile defence system. His responses on these two Points will command a great Deal More attention once he shows that his government enjoys the Confidence of parliament and is Likely to be in Power for a while. Both questions Are Likely to be highly contentious in Canada. Or. Martin wants to use the Promise of stable predictable health care funding to win provincial participation in a National drug program a drive to shorten Waits for medical care and improved reporting of medical outcomes. Provincial govern ments Are Likely to resist curbs on their Freedom of action and demand that Ottawa massively increase its payments to them with no questions asked. They Are unlikely to pay much heed to a Federal govern ment that has never met parliament and May not survive Long enough to carry out its grand plans. Joint defence of Canada and the . Against mis Sile attack will irritate Canadian nationalists who see the . As an arrogant and Bellicose country. Or. Martin tiptoed around the missile defence debate in the election Campaign by saying his government would have nothing to do with weapon Iza Tion of outer space. He never said what joint missile defence he would support because some in his own party oppose any military collaboration with the . But the Bush administration has asked this country whether it wishes to be inside or outside the missile defence shield and it deserves an answer. Or. Martins evasions cannot continue indefinitely. At this moment the Bush administration cannot be sure what weight to attach to expressions of Canadian policy on this Point. It is not Clear that or. Martin will survive in office Long enough to carry out a joint missile defence policy. Nor is it Clear what policy would be approved by parliament since the bloc sub Cois the new democrats and an unknown number of liberals oppose missile defence. The sooner or. Martin meets parliament and passes a Confidence vote the sooner these doubts can be assuaged. Women a rights vital for Iraq by Trudy Rubin Knight Ridder newspapers when people ask me what can be done on an individual basis to help iraqis i respond help the a key measure of Progress in Iraq will be whether women keep or lose their rights. Iraqi women Are among the most advanced in the Arab world with a Long tradition of higher education and professional jobs even in the Saddam Hussein Era. But during my recent trip to Iraq Middle class women spoke to me about their fears of moving backward after the . Invasion. A temporary code of Law drafted by american lawyers guarantees women a rights in coming months. But an elected iraqi government could Cave to growing religious pressures to curb those rights. I think women Are left naked after july 1,? when sovereignty had reverted to iraqis said Manal Omar of women for women International. Her group based in Washington helps women in Post conflict societies. In Afghanistan you saw a bit of easing on women a right but in Iraq we re going Back wards. We Are fighting for the status yet what is fascinating in Baghdad is that educated women Are organizing to hold their ground. I visited is Omar in the Mansour women Scenter one of nine such centres set up with funds from the . Agency for inter National development. In one room female leaders of fledgling non governmental organizations talked about How to organize on issues such As violence against women. Is Omar also teaches Job skills to women in a Baghdad slum who at first told her it was forbidden to encourage women to work or study. The Gutsy is Omar went to the office of the leading shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Al Sis Tani and asked for his opinion. He said verbally that it was Correct even required for women to study and work is Omar recounted. Her Job training seminar went on. But new iraqi government ministries Are jealous that women a groups get foreign funds they want Job training Money to go to men. They May try to commandeer buildings used As women a centres. A bomb was found in the Mansour centres Yard before it exploded and is Omar expects More such attacks. The Fate of women a rights will rest heavily on the outcome of iraqi elections. Even under occupation the former iraqi interim governing coun cil nearly pushed through Resolution 137. It would have rescinded a 1959 Law that banned arbitrary divorce and polygamy and protected women a interests in child custody and inheritance. Family status matters would have been put under restrictive Muslim sharia codes. Public protests by women a groups and pres sure from . Occupation Czar Paul Bremer cancelled Resolution 137. But the Issue of fam ily status is sure to re emerge during elections for a constitutional Assembly Early next year especially since the strongest political parties Are based on religion. So women a groups Are already discussing How to participate in politics. Twenty five per cent of the seats for the Assembly Are supposed to be set aside for women but Many of these seats May go to women selected by religious parties. While in Baghdad i attended a .-funded conference on women and participation in democracy. The Buzz among clusters of women some heavily veiled some in Western dress was How to get women to vote. Salma Jabbou a senior official at the ministry of Industry and minerals with Blond hair uncovered bemoaned the Lack of Security which she said made the situation much tougher for women. She said iraqi women a rights had taken a quantum leap in the late 1950s. When she attended Baghdad University in the 1970s, she wore a miniskirt and to shirt and everyone wore the but now is Jabbou says because of the bad economic and Security situation there is a social today nearly every woman at the University is covered from head to toe. If the Security improves society will develop More has Sima Abbas mayan a mechanical Engi Neer from Hilla Babylo said that women like her were forced to cover starting six or seven years ago when Saddam started encouraging religion As a distraction from sanctions. She and others from the South said women were now being pressured to resign their jobs and stay at Home. They fear the extremist religious movements that have grown powerful since Saddam fell. But there was something inspiring about these women. Clearly they Are willing to take risks to prevent the loss of their rights. They will be Able to articulate what they need and . Women a groups should help them As iraqi elections get nearer. Meantime its Worth checking out , where $25 a month sponsors a needy iraqi woman. Manal Omar says we be Only gotten 600 sponsors in Iraq where we got 2,000 in Afghanistan in a that ought to change. a Birds Eye View inspired by Joyce i had thought of postponing my visit to Ireland until the month of june in order to be on hand for the one Hundredth anniversary celebrations of blooms Day that imaginary event of 1904 in which characters in James Joyce a famous novel Ulysses spend 24 hectic hours performing the dance of life drunk and sober in various parts of the old City of Dublin. Irish friends however urged me to get my visit Over Well in Advance of the Day warning that blooms Day painful enough most years would be a Nightmare in this anniversary year an event Well calculated to turn the stomach and make the Shade of James Joyce himself flip Over screaming in his grave. My wife and i went to Ireland in March instead and had a Lovely time. And in these troubled times a Good party is not altogether a bad thing but lets face it Dublin is not the town it was in 1904. In those Days a few pounds went a Long Way. The last time i was there the bed and breakfast Cost $145 a night and there was no hot water in the Shower and the toilet would to flush. Leopold Bloom could not afford blooms Day 2004. The first blooms Day of modern times i am informed took place in about 1950 when several Dublin writers including Flann Obrien the author of at swim two Birds and the poets Tony Cronin and Patrick Kavanagh decided to Start the Day at the Martello Tower at Sand Cove where the first scene of the novel is set and then spend the Day on a pub crawl through the streets and places alluded to in Joyce a Book. According to reports the first fist fight took place in the very Shadow of the Tower and by the time the pilgrims reached mid town Dublin they were so drunk that most of them had forgotten the purpose of the Days Outing. The famous Martello Tower at Sand Cove saw and Felt when he looked out to sea on that historic morning. My Irish wife and i like thousands of oth ers Over the years visited the Martello Tower in a warm june Day just before the modern Giddy manifestation of blooms Day took off. There were about a dozen other visitors at the Tower that Day most of them women and we paused at various Levels to look at Joyce Memorabilia and listen to what a guide had to say. There was a picture of James on the Wall and a few Early editions of his books on display. People spoke in whispers that echoed off the Stone Walls. And then we went on top the roof where Mulligan shaved that morning in 1904. Most of the women were already there and had rushed to the Edge of the parapet. Cameras were snapping away and a movie camera was humming. Everyone was laughing. I went Over to have a look at what was amusing them. We All had a Birds Eye View of the crowded men a nude bathing Beach just below the Tower. It was a scene ? 2004 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 ;