Resist Newsletter, Sept. 30, 1975
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Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Resist Newsletters Resist Collection 9-30-1975 Resist Newsletter, Sept. 30, 1975 Resist Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/resistnewsletter Recommended Citation Resist, "Resist Newsletter, Sept. 30, 1975" (1975). Resist Newsletters. 62. https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/resistnewsletter/62 a call to resist ···••tr illegitimate authority September 30, 1975 - 720 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 4, Cambridge, Massachusetts #96 Considerable interest has been expressed by readers of the June 30, 1975 issue of the RESIST CHOMSKY: Newsletter on the article by Mike Honey, of the National Committee Against Repressive Legisla tion (NCARL),on the Criminal Code Reform Bill THE MIDDLE EAST (S.l). The interest is timely, as the bill moves ON inexorably toward passage by the Senate. The bill, now before the Senate Judiciary Committee, may be reported out onto the Senate floor at any time, and, with administrative backing, is (The following article, slightly revised, is virtually assured of passage. reprinted from the September 1975 NAM Newspaper.) UPDATE The recent flurry of reports about nuc s.1. lear weapons in the Middle East, and in general the extraordinary and still rising level of A groundswell of opposition is beginning to armaments, has appeared only to underline the arise against the bill as its repressive measures urgency of the US government's efforts to bring and police-state mentality are, at last (after about a separation of forces agreement in the two years in sub-committee hearings), receiving Sinai. The next war, should it come, would prob the attention of the media and responsible public ably achieve new levels of brutality. It is agencies. Editorials and articles denouncing unlikely that Israel's cities would again be various sections of the bill have appeared in spared, and the devastation of Arab civilian the New York Times, the Washington Post, the targets is likely to go well beyond the destru Memphis Commercial Appeal, the St. Louis Post ctive attacks of the past. And, given the Dispatcb, the Miami Herald, the San Francisco international stakes, a regional conflict might Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe, well explode into a general conflagration. among other Newspapers. CBS radio and television stations have run commentaries expressing the Therefore it would se~m thaf Kissinger's dangers of the bill. efforts to turn aside the threat of immediate conflict are to be welcomed, as they may buy Concerned civil libertarian organizations time to heal the wounds that remain. But a are mounting a campaign against the bill. The closer analysis suggests something quite diff American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has pre erent. pared a careful analysis of the offensive measures included in the bill, particularly those which To be sure, for the tenure of the agreement violate rights assured by the Constitution. In Israel's southern front will be neutralized and some instances the ACLU advocates dropping whole the threat of another "October War" significantly segments of the bill; in others it proposes alleviated. Such an agreement serves the short modifications. But the basic strategy of ACLU, run interests of Egypt and Israel,as well as of as of NCARL, and of the Society of American Law the US. But what are its likely consequences in Teachers (SALT) is to prevent S.l's ever reach the long run? ing the Senate floor at all. With the reduction of the military threat, The American Bar Association has endorsed Israel will be free to pursue the policies to the bill "in principle", but with the addition of which the major political forces are committed. 39 amendments. Attempting to nimprove" the bill There are three sources of evidence concerning by amendment, however, is a dangerous route. these policies: statements of political spokes It is opposed by such consitutional authorities men, actual programs in operation or projected, as Thomas Emerson, of Yale Law School, and Vern and the historical record. Evidence from these Countryman, of Harvard, who has said: "The bill sources converges. Israel will continue its is inherently unamendable and should be recotI111it development projects in the occupied territ ted for complete overhaul and redrafting •••• ories, leading to integration and eventual The enactment of S.l would constitute an un annexation. The political leadership has paralleled disaster for the system of individual repeatedly insisted that under any long-term rights in the United States •••• " In a pub ,agreement, Israel will retain the Gaza Strip, lication distributed by SALT, Professor Carole (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 7) (On the Middle East, continued) adjoining areas of Northeastern Sinai, Sharm Thus, Israel can regain the position of military el-Sheik (Israeli "Ophira") and an access to security and regional hegemony that it enjoyed, it, most of the Golan Heights, a considerably so it was thought, after the overwhelming military expanded Jerusalem, parts of the West Bank victory of 1967. (Judea and Samaria), including a region along the Jordan River that will be Israel's eff ective border with the Arab world to the east. But the real world is likely to evolve along Since 1967, substantial resources have been quite a different course. There is little reason devoted ·to development projects in these areas, to e~pect that the effectiveness of "Arab black and despite the severe economic crisis, these mail on the industrial societies will diminish projects have been accelerated. Under conditions For the US, the problem is not primarily depen of relaxation of the military threat,there is dence on Arab oil, but rather the danger that its every reason to believe that these efforts will industrial rivals might get privileged access to continue. the vast energy resources of the Arab world. Fox the present, business and financial circles in In the region west of Gaza, thousands of the US are not displeased with the course of Arab peasants have been expelled to clear the events. The US currently has a favorable trade area for Jewish settlement, and plans for a balance with the Arab world, and the US-based deep water port (Yamit) are in progress in a energy corporations retain their positions of regd.on that is universally regarded outside of international dominance. Israel as Egyptian territory. As a large portion of Arab oil income has These programs ensure that there wi.11 be returned to the US in purchases and investments, no las ting peace between Egypt and Israel. while Europe had depended for a much greater Civilian settlement and industrial development proportion of her energy needs on Middle Eastern in the Golan Heights guarantees that there wi.11 oil, the major effect of Arab "oil politics" so be n~ peace between Syria and Israel. Compar far has been to compel European and Japanese cap able projects in the West Bank and the environs italism to subsidize US economic recoverv. It of Jerusalem spell the end of any hopes for even is for such reasons that one hears littl~ from a quasi-independent Palestinian nationalism,and business circles about military intervention in thus guarantee that terrorism will intensify, the Persian Gulf. Rather, these notions are the since all alternatives will have been blocked. province of liberal ideologists for the moat part, Correspondingly, the harsh Israeli repression for reasons that deserve an independent discussion. in the West Bank and Israel's military operations Investment prospects in the region are promising. in Lebanon will continue, further embittering There are also excellent prospects for sale of relations. military equipment; an area where the US has a major competitive advantage in foreign trade. Europe and Japan have no realistic alternative Israel hopes that the "facts" built in this to reliance on Middle Eastern oil in the foresee way will eventually be accepted by the Arab able future, and will continue to maintain as states, or at least that the Arab world will be much of a role as the US permits them in the dev powerless to alter them. The political leadership eloping economies of the region. seems to believe that "responsible" Arab polit ical forces will accept some kind of home rule The major oil-producing states will be able under Iaraeii military control in areas of the to mount significant pressures, if they so choose. West Bank that are not directly integrated or Whether they do or not, they will continue to annexed, perhaps under Jordanian civil adminis increase their military capacity, encouraged by tration; that Egypt will abandon Northeastern the international arms producers, with the US far Sinai and "ophira" and return to its pressing in the lead. lsrael does not have to match them internal problems; that Syria will fume in impo gun for gun, and can rely on its own rapidly tent silence; and that Israeli force will be able expanding armaments industry. But to maintain to restrict the Palestinian threat to tolerable some sort of military balance, Israel's economic limits. After the "seven lean years," the Israeli resources will have to be devoted to the purchase political leadership argues,alternative energy of rapidly obsolescing advanced military tech sources will undermine Arab economic pressures. nology and materiel, a crushing burden. ••• IN CONCLUSION, F&LlOW ~MEMS.le' ~E Ga.CE AiA~,LET ME s~s 2.JLc ••• WE MUST ALL '"Tl-l•~OFCR LIVE fi1'r' '™E GOLDEN ~LE. ~ ANO H.42MONV. 2 (On the Middle East, continued) Immigration to Israel has dropped signific I Af"\ PA.E5(NTL'( ENGAGf:D IN antly, while emigration, particularly of the educated and increasingly native born, has in SoME ';{E~~ DELICATE"' NE~OTJ~0NS creased to record heights, a further drain on WITH THE" OTl-lE"R SUPERPOWERS •.