Page lO-Thc Canadian Jewish News, TTiu^r^^ September II. 1986
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Long-held national consensus about Jewish state
Costa Rica: one of Israelis most steadfast friends
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SHELDON kiRSHNKR
TRES RI03, Costa Rica ^
In 1948.. when Israel came into betnj:. Jose (Don Pepel Figueres was fightini; the political , battle of his lite in his native Costa Rica.
Costa Rica, which has since become Central America's most stableaiiil socially progressive country.-was torn by civil war. and Figueres was ■one of its leading protagonists, . In the midst of this chaos, probably the worst crisis in Costa Rica's modern history. Figueres. . the nation's provisional president, was called upon to recognize an old new countrv thousands of niiles away frqm the soaring mountains and steamy jungles of Costa Rica.
Fisiicres. who would be elected to 4-ycar presidential terms in 1953 and ag;iinin 1970. did not knov> much about Israel back in 1948.; But.thanks to him, Costa Rica extended ofTiclal diplomatic recognition to the Jewish state.
"Of the little 1 knew about Israel. I was convinced that the cause was just and that the Jewish people had a right to a homeland." explained Figueres, now Costa Rica's elder statesman.
"We'.ve deliberately cultivated our relationship with Israel." he added.
Figueres. who formed personal ties with such Israeli leaders as .David Ben-Gurion, Moshe; Sharett andGolda.Meir; retlected on Israel at his -chalet in the cixil. verdant, hills near San Jose, the capital.
/Figueres. a .>;vvial democrat,"was not merely; e.xpressing an opiniiin about a iand he admires, but giving voice to a long-held Costa Rican consensus on Israel. ' .
Father Benjamin Nunes; his cor^lradc:.-in-arlhs' and contldunt, and twice Costa Rica's ambassador to Israel, elaborated; "Our t'riendship with Israel is bipanisan. and we want to keep itthaf way."
Costa Rica,, hoixie to the largest Jewjsh community in Central .America., is one of Israel's most steadfasf friends in the world, and. has been so consistently:
■ "VVe have, had close, friendly relations 'with . Costa Rica since 1^48."' said the Israeli ambassador. Sinion Moratt:
"israel, here. IS the gi.>.->d gu\," noted Rafael Eldad. the first secretary in the Israeli embass).
In actual fact, as Morait pointed out. .sympalh\ for Israel in Co.sta Rica preceded us declaration of statehixxl: Costa Rica was one of 33 countries that voted for the momentous Nov. 29, 1947 United. Nations. Palestine partition pbn. Leon Uris. in his best-selling novel FLxdJus. describ-: ed the scene as UN.nienibcr states prepai^ed to • vote oh the historic.resolution;
''■'•the.Cost-a'-Ricjan deliigaie hiid'bcen-apprixich-ed by the Arabs who tried to bribe his vote bv. ■ a promise to supp«.irt him for an imp^irtanf United Nations post. He stoixl arid looked at the .Egyptian delegation. ,■ ' .. \ ^
'Costa Rica, votes in favor of partition.'
".The man who \\ ould not be bviught sat dow n smilingy" ,' ''■.
From ah historical p<iint of view, it. hardly mat-; ..ters whether Uris' desi.:ripiion is entirely accurate. \Vhat really inaifers. and what has always mattered, is that Israel has been able to count on '. Ccisia Rica's friend.ship.
In an.attempt to Understand Costa Rica's un-.wavenngattiiude.Tasked.the Israeli amba.s.sador .fi>r an explanation:.. ■ / ; Costa Rica and Israel, he answered, have in comm(?n democratic traditions and a strong commitment to an equalitarian society characterized by universal ..social welfare policies and cooperative movements.
FatherNunes^ Avho was Costa Rica's'en\'o> fo (he United Nations in the.1950s, approached the
Jose (DoBuEepe) Figueres, former Costa Ri^ can president, seen with reporter Sheldon Kirshner.
Simon Moratt... current envoy
problem trom a different direction..
He .said that the Nalional Liberation Partv (PLN). which ha.s won nearly every election since' the civil war. is ideologically in favor of self-determination for all people and. against col-oniali-sm;- It was therefore natural for. the PLN to oppo.sc British colonial rule in Palestiiie and synipathize with the aims of Zionism, the national'. liberation movement of the Jewish people in Palestine, he said.
Furthermore. Costa Rican leaders forged in-. . timate contacts with the Israeli leadership. Jose Figueres was one, of the first to do so. and Luis Monge, CiKsta Rica's tlrsi anibas.s.ador to Israel and later its president, strengthened the existing relations. ' . : ' : V
Ronald Fernandez, the C.osla. Rican ambassador to Israel froiii J978 to 1981;explained that the relationship has been bolstered by vinue of the fact that thc.PLNand.the Israeli Labor Party share a similar political philosophy and are biuh riiembers ot-the ScKialisl Internatiorial.
.Another factor in the equation, he .said, is that Israel and Costa Rica are staunchly pro.-American.. ■
Oscar .Arias, who succeeded Luis Monge as president several months ago. seenis as cgmmit-; ted as his predeces.sor to maintainingC'^-'^tii Riea's . friendship, with Israel.'. " . .; ■ ■
'.As a token, of its, appreciation. Israel s'ent Foreign Minister; and Vice Pi'emier. Yitzhak Shaimir to Arias' inauguration. At the conclusion, of his go^xlwill visit. Shamir deposited $7 million in Co.sta Rican banks to help Costa Rica's beleaguered economy.
The present Costa Rican government has, every intention of keeping its embassy in Jerusalem. Costa Rica, in line with a UN resolution, transferred its embassy to Tel Aviv : in July of 1981, after months of deliberation.; Costa Rica, then under the presidency of Rpdrigo Gairazo, was one of several countries to take such action. Within two days of takr ing over from Carazo in 1982, Luis Monge moved the embassy back to Jerusalem. Today, Costa Rica and El Salvador — that embattled Central .American repiiblic are the Only nations with embassies in Jerusalem,
Observers believe .that Carazo. whose g;rahd-father was reportedly Jewish. hxi\ed the enibass> out of Jerusalehi in a desperate effort to impro\e Costa Rica's .sagging economic fortunes.
- 'Carazo hoped to get aid and cheap oil froin Saudi Arabia," said Father Nunes. Fernandez, who received biit never carried out the order to transfer the enibas.sy, .said Carazo made that decision to lure .Arab inveslment capital to Costa. ■ Ris;a:
. . Nluch tiVCarazo'.s disappi)intment, the Saudis did not come through. Father Nunes is not sur-. prised. '.'The .Arabs promise everything and do not deliver." ■ ■
Father Nunes said that if the PLN had been in . po\ver during the Carazo years.Cosia Rica would never have transterred its embassy.
According to Fernandez, currently dean ,of Costa Rica University's political scieiice depart ment; the new .opposition leader. 'Rafael Calderon. al-so* believes Carazo erred in playing the Arab card.. ., ; ■■
Despite the embassy tiff, Israel's relations with Costa Rica remained "good, though less .vvarni," during this somewhat>feensc period, said Rafael Eldad^
Father Nunes told me that Monde's decision
Luis Monge... moved embassy back
to mo\ e the einbass\' back to Jerusalem was a ■."verv personal one backed bv most members of ,the;PL!^/:".
The Arab backlash was not long in coming. Eg\:pt and Morocco, Whose non-resident envoys were stationed in Mexico City, broke diplomatic relations with Cqsta Rica. TodayC given the fact that Egypt and Slorocco were the only Arab states to have had official ties with the Costa Ricans, Costa Rica has no formal, relations with the .\rab world.,
By contrasts Costa Rica's bilaterarrelations with Israel are excellent. With a.trade;balance in its fayor- Israel .sells a variety of manufactured products; including fertilizers, to Costa Rica, and buys mainly coffee, beef and textiles in return. .. Asfar as can be ascertained. Israel dcx;s not sell.military equipment to Costa Rica, which has. a.national guard but .no army. .
.A handful of Israeli technicians arc'posted to Costarica, helping the Costa Ricans grovv apples and cotton, maintain buses and handle the refugee, inflow from neighb<.iring Nicaragua and El Salvador.
Fiffv to 60.Costa Ricans iio to Israel annuallv .
Father Benjamin Niines... ex-ambassador
. for training in agriculture, health and education. .A reliable source i.nt"omied me that Israel has also instructed Costa Ricans in anti-terrorism .methods.
Father Nunes, whose, tours of dutv in Israel .were in 1970-7: and 1977-7.8,. said "that Costa Rica has taken no special position on the Israeli (.x:cupationof.the West Bank. Gaza Strip or Golan Heights. "However." he said, "we in the PLN say that any .settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute should, take into account the survival and ex-; istence of Israel as a 'sovereign, nation ..with definite, recognizable borders.." : The PLN. he vycnl on to .say. has no'concrete position regarding a Palestinian state."Personally, I.don't think there's ri.xim for one in the West Bank and Gaza."
Father Nunes' pro-Israel attitude, vvhich is widely supported here, includes condemnation of the 1975. UN Zionism-is-.racism resolution. .'■■passage of this resolution was an irrational, im-moraI criih.e\" he said indignantly. ■ "I have.been fighting to re verse, it." ; -. He may not succeed in eradicating it from the UN record, but he is trvins:.
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or eating dirt-burgers
■■. Bv '.-••
ELAINE KAHN
Two inreresting news reports cro.ssed niy path one lazy sumtuer.coffee, break, .when the warrnvveaiher I had prayed for all winter finally arrived, forcing me indoors with the central air;;.
The fifst item stated that most of the world's inhabitant.s regularly include clay . and dirt in their diet. The second piece .s;iid most of the residents'of Metro Toronto do
. not believe there is a local hunger problem: Putting one and one together, I realized excitedly,that L finally. kncNv what happens to all the dirt from all those nasty road repajrs. This was the most inifxirtant thing
■ I learned on my summer vacation.
. It was also a lot niore fun to read about than Fergie and Andy. Ronnie andTiitu . or the \yild and often misguided debate on one Ontario school board's decision to move the teaching, of T)h' Merchaiii of. Vcnict' from the junior to the senior high scho^-il grades. Yawn.
.As with many other boring issues that refuse to go away such a.s nature vs. nature or Beta vs. VHS, people on both sides of theMerchant debate are passionate, deadly .serious and ne\ersa\; anything that hasn't been s;iid before. I hope someone has been, tafiing the.current debate; so next time Jt surfaces we can justrent the video - or .not. ■ ' '
My husband is the only person 1 know to have said .something original on the topic. Luckily, he Is asking only 257c royalties ^ you can't beat true love-
Speaking as one who would like to see ' theMerchant not taught at all in high school, he said, in part aind expletive deleted: "Shakespeare wrote 38 plays. High school has five years. \yhy was The Merchant of Venice ever picked as part of the core English curriculum in Ontario to begin with? And why is nobqdy eVen asking that question'.'"
Those who defend using the Nlerchaht in high school say jl is a way of teaching students about prejudice and anti-semitism and why. those things are horrible. What I'd like to see now;is. documentation that, when the Merchant was first brought into
■ the standard curriculum, it was for those lofty reasons — and not for others. ;
I don't remember my bvvn teachers Using Shakespeare to teach, us any kind v.>f moral lessons in any of the plays we studied — I remember Shakespeare being. taught as an end in itself. .For most ■' student.s. it .was'torture. For the rest of us. it was like a challenging new language — gorgeous, historic and culturally
'.,nece;ssary-;' • ■■;
Buf it was hard enough to get.to the sur-
■ face meaning; without going beyond to. larger fessotis. And the surface liieaning. ot ShyliKk is. I've been told, pretty obvious. You see, I've never actually studied, the Nlefchant myself, not even during the full year course in Shakespeare I took at university.
Between sips of coffee. I wondered how I ever survived without it or without eating dirt-burgers or with iio flamingoes anywhere in the house. But you make do.
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