2 — THE BULLETIN — Thursday, November 15.1980
The PLO comes to Vancouver
Dr. Raymond Cohen, Hebrew University lecturer In international relations, is guest lecturer at University of British Columbia this year. Professor Cohen, who is also engaged in research at UBC, writes for The Bulletin for the first time with this ¥/eek*s Perspective. He has authored two books and numerous scholarly articles.
A PALESTINE LIBERATION Organization (PLO) spokesman, Abdallah Abdallah, has recently been in Vancouver.
Under sponsorship of the so-called * Palestine Solidarity Committee,' which gives a post office box in^ Vancouver as its address, Abdallah was invited to speak at SFU, Capilano College, UBC, on CKVU T. V. and on the radio. He concluded a week of activity Nov. 2 with a public meeting at Tupper Secondary school.
Against a background of growing Ku KIux Klan activity and wider latent anti-Semitism than is sometimes admitted, this is a disturbing phenomenon which must be kept under close surveillance. • •
In Western Europe legitiihization of the PLO and surrender to terror over the past decade — in the face of the Arab oil weapon — have brought in their wake a series of atrocities against local Jewish communities.
Two recent examples only are:
*March 27,1979 — 33 people were injured, two seriously, when a bomb shattered the canteen of a hostel for Jewish students in Paris. An anonymous telephone call to the French news agency Agence France Presse said the bomb was placed by the ^Autonomist Intervention Group Against the Zionist Presence in France and Against the Peace Treaty.' The caller said the treaty between Egypt and Israel overlooked all problems facing the Palestinians.
Paris has become Europe's terror-capital. French authorities, reluctant to endanger their Middle East policy, have not only failed to actVJ5ut also have time and again indicated compliance with PLO methods: ln^;I97»the'^6tdrrolisteTF6^is^^ Abu Daoud, among those responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli athletes, was set free from custody on government orders; and French President, Discard d'Estaing, before an official visit to Arab oil states this year, ostentatiously invited PLO chairman Yasser Arafat to dine at Elysee Palace.
*Juiy 27,1980 — A group of Jewish children on their way to summer camp were victims of a grenade attack on Antwerp's streets. One boy died and 20 other children were injured. Two members of Al Fatah, largest group within the PLO, were arrested and confessed to the attack. One of them admitted they were under orders from Al Fatah to go to Belgium and attack Jews. They were free to choose their own target.
After both the Paris and Brussels attacks, local PLO offices were quick to deny any complicity. In this way they could maintain a ^moderate' front while terrorizing local Jewish comniunities.-
THE SAME SINISTER FACADE of *modera-tion' was adopted by Abdallah Abdallah here in Vancouver. Not a word passed his lips on the subject of Palestinian terror. No hint that at the very basis of the PLO is the aim of politicide — the destruction of the State of Israel.
His case was a classic exposition of scape-goating: The Zionists are repsonsible for all the ills that have befallen the Palestinians in particular and the Middle East in general; the Palestinians themselves, their leaders and their Arab allies, are responsible for nothing.
Abdallah's visit would be of passing concern only if there was not evidence that it is part of an overall PLO strategy and possibly the beginning of a concerted campaign.
In May of this year the fourth Fatah Congress,
meeting in Damascus, reiterated its determination to ^'liquidate the Zionist entity." it also resolved on increased diplomatic activity by PLO representatives in Canada and Japan.
The PLO was to "intensify political action... by making use of the support of the democratic progressive forces with the aim of curbing, and eventually stopping these countries'backing of the Zionist entity and winning their recognition of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."
Three groups can be identified as immediate targets of PLO propaganda:
• Democratic progressive forces i.e. leftist and extremist elements. Hence the meetings at Vancouver institutions of higher learning where such people might be expected to be found.
• Fifeeww/er/wMc, but especially that sector of liberal opinion (with a small M') th^t has proved susceptible to PLO propaganda in Western Europe. Hence Abdallah's appearances on radio and television.
• Jews. In the first place Jewish endorsement of the PLO is especially valued and a useful weapon. Second, the PLO has obviously long been interested in inserting a wedge between Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora. Encouragement in this effort has doubtless come from the incidence of Jews among extremist groups.
(Incidentally, evidence for this assumption comes from the receipt by the Jewish Community Centre of a notice about the public PLO meeting at the Tupper school. It would also be possible to
. .,ideduce froirti^this tKat the PLO Was concerned to, test the strength" of ^the lix^I'Jewi^
, '^Mn this indicates that we are at the start of a long-term c£^mpaign.)
IN THE AFTERMATH of the Abdallah visit several conclusions can be drawn. The spokesman himself was of a low calibre: Confused, incoherent and too obviously evasive; he also wears his inferiority complex very close to the surface. He has certainly made few conversions by his eloquence alone.
Furthermore his meetings could not be considered a success. At UBC barely a dozen people turned up. At Tupper there were about 60 people in the audience. But of these two-thirds were probably Palestinians and about one-quarter, Jewish opponents. Few uncommitted people were present.
On the other side of the balance the PLO can note two achievements. It has acquired a nucleus of support in Vancouver and it has been provided a local platform by the universities and the media.
A willingness to listen is the first stage in any process of conversion.
The lessons for the Jewish community are clear: ..
• /rmifs/moM/2e to ensure that the PLO is not permitted to strengthen its toe-hold in Western Canada.
• It must bring to the attention of the wider community the truth about the PLO — what its aims are, what methods it uses, who its friends are and how it is run. This requires education; and first of all self-education.
• Finally, the surest way the community can frustrate the aims of the PLO is by strengthening itself and reaffirming its solidarity with Israel.
If these lessons are taken to heart the Abdallah visit to Vancouver may yet prove to boomerang against the PLO.
mm
BY HENRY LEONARD
80ARP. OtWCTORS
ill
'in our temple. Rabbi, you may spealc on any subject... as long as it isn't controversial/'
Ihought tor the Week
from the TALMUD
The day on which the Torah was translated into Greek was a mournful day unto Israel: It was like unto the day when the Golden Calf was made. Why? Because the Torah cannot be translated exactly as it ought to be.
(Soferim, chap. I.)
Social Caiemiar
:^u^«yitch Family
SyRaposium Nov. 19,15« 46 Hebrew Teachers
Workshop Nov. 16,17
CZF Israel Luhcheon
Club Nov. 18
Centre Plate .
Dinner Nov. 18
Beth H&imidrash
Bazaar Nov. 25
Centre Annual
Meeting Nov. 24
Hebrew Assistance Annual
Meeting Nov. 25
BBW Art Auction Nov. 26
^Network* Symposium Nov. 27 Weizmann Institute
Dinner Nov. 27
Beth Tikvah Party Nov. 30
Soviet Jewry Rally Nov. 30
Chelm CuHural Gub
Film Dec. 1
Lubavitch
Concert Dec. 2
Youth Aliyah
Evening Dec. 3
B.I. Men*s Club
Dance Dec. 6
NCJW Israel
Brunch Dec. 10
Kadima P.W. Tea Dec. 10
Talmud Torah
Dinner Dec. 10
Beth Israel
Party Dec. 14
Habonim Rally Dec. 21
- DEATHS -
VERA SAFIR November 4
As another BulMIn comhtunity service feature. Deaths will be published weekly as they are registered,    THE PUBLISHER.
Remember the Sabbath
Sabbath begins, light candles
Friday, November 14,4:12 p.m.
Sedra Vayetze (Genesis) Shabbat ends, HavdaU
November 15, 5:12 p.m.
Friday, November 21, 4H)4 p.m. Sedra Vayishlach (Genesis) Shabbat ends, Havdala
November 22, 5:04 p.m.	
JEWISH CALENDAR	
5741	
Chanuka	Dec. 3-10
5741	- 1981
Tu B*Shvat	Jan: 20
Fast of Esther	March 19
Purim	March 20
Pesach	April 19-26
Yom Hashoa	May I
Yom	
HaAtzmaut	May?
Lag B*Omer	May 22
Yom	
Yerushalayim	June 1
Shavuot	June 8-91
Shiva Asar	
BTammuz	July 19
Tisha B'Av	Aug. 9
Alt hoiidays begin preceding day al sundown
"Shalom" from Ravenna
ROME — "Shalom,*' the traditional Jewish greeting, engraved on an amphora found in Ravenna, is believed to date from the Fifth Century CE.
It is one of the most ancient examples of Hebrew writing after the Dead Sea scrolls and inscrip-
tions discovered in Egypt.
This is the view of Professor Gino Pavan, the State superintendent of fine arts for the Emilia-Romagna region in Central Italy, who announced the fmd.
The portion of the amphcra with the Hebrew inscription was dis-
covered by Professor Colette Sirat. of the Sorbonne in Paris, among exhibits at the Ravenna National Museum excavated in the area after the Second World War. Professor Sirat is a member of the Committee for Jewish Paleography.
The presence of Jews in Ravenna in Roman times is documented by several Fifth Century historians, like Sidonius ApoUinaris. JCNS.
THE JEWISH WESTERN BULLETIN
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