I am a geologist, and following the euphoria after the singing of the Oslo Agreement, it has been my role to bring people down to earth! And it has been my business to detect the slight precursors of an earthquake to come.
But here I'd like to discuss you guys - and girls - in the media. An oppressed press - for all its problems - is an easy case, because everyone knows that it is oppressed, dictated to by the higher echelons. It becomes trickier to discern whether, in free democracies, the press is really free.
From my very narrow vantage point from the experience over the past three years, I believe we should be greatly concerned, not with the oppressed press but with a press which exercises self-suppression of news and articles which editors or editorial boards think do not fit the agenda. I would like to cite two examples. One concerns the fascinating phenomenon in the Israeli and world press. The press normally thrives on bad news. But what we saw with the Oslo Agreement was that news and op-ed articles containing bad news hardly saw the light of day, while the good news circulated very rapidly.
About three weeks, ago, after the series of suicide attacks here in Jerusalem and in Tel Aviv, Yasser Arafat - the Nobel Peace Prize laureate - finally outlawed the terrorist organizations in Gaza, apart from the PLO. As far as your readers are concerned, all those organizations were outlawed from the beginning of March.
Right? Wrong! It never happened. Arafat never outlawed those terrorist organizations, whether it be Hamas or Islamic Jihad. So what happened? What happened was that people were quick to pick up what fitted their theory and agenda. The only official statement we had emerging from the so-called Palestinian Authority concerning the inability from a certain date of some terrorist organizations to be active under law in Gaza and other areas under Arafat's official concern, states the following:
"The Authority decided to continue examining, taking all necessary and immediate steps, including the forbidding of activity of all paramilitary organizations..."
Be careful. They said they would further examine the question, and afterwards, then maybe they might try to forbid the activity of these organizations, not outlaw them.
So that is a vivid example of good news circulating widely. For the bad news, you have to come to Jerusalem and wait for the Israeli opposition's point of view.
Now for the bad news. This has usually been suppressed voluntarily. Nothing to do with governments, but all to do with the goodwill of reporters, commentators and editors.
I would be surprised if many of you told me that your newspapers last week ran a most important statement, not by a politician, but by an expert, the chief of staff of the Israeli military, General Amnon Shahak, who said on Israeli radio that, since Arafat came to Gaza and assumed authority there, it has become much easier for terrorist organizations to have a handle on explosives.
He also said that, in the past two years, "the operational ability of Hamas, especially in the realm of execution of suicide bombing in Israel, is not what it used to be two years ago." Now, I don't think you will interpret that as meaning that it had diminished - as was evidenced by the five terrorist attacks we suffered here weeks ago.
General Shahak's statement is not an accusation. It is a verdict. So how did we arrive at such a situation? Let me cite another example of a piece of bad news which did not circulate around the globe.
On April 18, 1995, in the Knesset, our late Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, declared:
"I would like to clarify that any arrangement or de facto agreement between the PLO and Hamas concerning the possibility of the continuation of terrorism by Hamas with the approval of the PLO shall prevent the achievement of an Israeli-PLO agreement and shall prevent its implementation."
That was one month before Arafat assumed control over Gaza and Jericho.
Using that statement as a yardstick, let's look at a momentous event which took place just three months ago in Cairo: on December 22, 1995. On that date, the PLO and Hamas, despite previous warnings from the government of Israel, reached an agreement/understanding/ de facto agreement/arrangement - whatever you like to call it - and signed a joint statement under which Arafat's PLO gave Hamas the license to kill. According to the agreement, Hamas would not embarrass the Palestinian Authority and would refrain from carrying out "military operations" in and from areas under Arafat's control - meaning that, in all other areas, we Israelis are free prey, free game.
Who knew about this joint statement? Who knows about this statement? In January - a week or two later - I tried to inform the citizens of Israel about this milestone, running in total contrast to the spirit and, of course, the letter of the Oslo Agreement. I was told by the corps of corespondents here in Israel that this piece of news did not interest their editors. This was a season for tranquility, I was told.
Even after the series of attacks which vindicated our interpretation of the PLO-Hamas joint statement and license to kill, it was very difficult to penetrate the press and break those very bad news stories through the media.
It is still difficult. Last week, I tried another strike: I promised to resign my position, in the Knesset and never run again for any public office in the Knesset if it is proven that I have been deceiving the citizens of Israel on this crucial issue. There was almost no echo in the press.
I will conclude this litany by relating another story. Last Friday, in a rather remote, modest-circulation, Hebrew-language newspaper in Israel, an article appeared sighing emphatically that there was an agreement between the PLO and Hamas along the lines I described. Was the writer a friend of mine? Does he belong to the Likud? No. He is a world-renowned professor of Middle East studies. And if the Meretz liberal party had won one more seat in the Knesset four years ago he would have been a Knesset member.
Is it not at least an interesting story that he lent support to my view, to the Likud view? But nothing happened.
Why not? Because it runs contrary to international opinion, and therefore against the grain of editorial boards and editors? This is, of course, a guess on my part.
In a leading United States newspaper, a reporter came to the editorial board with the story about the PLO-Hamas agreement. The board said they weren't going to print it. Why? "Because this article is inflammatory." And the next rhetorical question to the reporter was: "Don't you want peace?"
That story is very telling. The Oslo Agreement reached the White House lawn on September 13, 1993. It was dead on arrival. It was proclaimed officially dead on December 22, 1995, with the agreement between the PLO and Hamas allowing Hamas to kill us here in Israel.
The only question remaining is when the free press will enable people to know about it?
Sri Lanka's Ambassador in Saudi Arabia has made a strong appeal to the government to take all steps to protect Sri Lankan workers especially women in West Asian countries as their annual remittance of Rs. 42 billion is the largest foreign exchange source.
Ambassador Javid Yusuf, who was in Colombo recently said the government of Sri Lanka must do everything possible to help Sri Lankan workers in West Asia.
"These workers are a mainstay of our economy. They send in as much as we spend on the war. They must be looked after and any problems related to them solved expeditiously. Those employment agents who cheat employees by misleading them about the nature of the job, the terms and conditions of employment etc. should be severely dealt with. Unfortunately this does not seem to be happening.
"We have several times reported complaints made to us by employees against such errant agents. We have not been informed of the outcome of inquiries against such agents and we find those agents continuing to operate. Presumably no such inquiries have been held", Mr. Yusuf said.
In a small embassy in Riyadh, the ambassador and his staff of twenty can do little to help Sri Lankan workers in the oil rich kingdom. Mr. Yusuf is a worried man, as it is we hear of molestation, beatings and non payment of wages to Lankan workers in Saudi Arabia and other West Asian countries.
Mr. Yusuf says harassment and bodily harm is faced by many workers particularly women because no proper screening of would-be employers is done in Colombo. Screening he emphasized must be done in Colombo. He suggests a procedure where the maid is told all about her prospective employer such as the number of people in that household, type of work and other details. Merely being trained to handle electrical appliances won't do. They must be briefed on the employer. In this way they can make up their minds on whether or not to take the job.
Who would lay down the procedure? Mr. Yusuf was quick to reply that it must be the Bureau of Foreign Employment which must see that job placements are done to suit the maids that go out there. The Bureau has a hold on the Agents since licenses to send maids or other workers are given by the Bureau.
Mr. Yusuf also suggests a socio cultural orientation for the maids in particular, since they are venturing into a tradition and culture different from our own. It is this strangeness that baffles an unprepared maid. For example, Mr. Yusuf says, in Colombo women can move around in most places. But in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries their movements are restricted. That is Saudi culture. Even Saudi ladies do not venture out freely. So the maids have to live within the house and are not allowed to go out. What is clear and should be told to them is that it is not a penalty imposed on them but an integral part of the traditions of that country. Maids not told about it will feel they are prisoners within and hence try to escape by running away even at midnight. Maids would then adjust to the Saudi culture.
Some employers may occasionally take them out and even take them abroad with them. But this is more the exception than the rule, the ambassador says. The maids when not properly briefed suffer from tremendous culture shock. They are caught up in a situation where they cannot even leave for at least two years, having given an Agent up to Rs. 40 thousand often borrowed from a money lender on high interest.
It is ironical that those who earn so much for the country come to the embassy in Riyadh - at least a hundred and fifty a month - seeking relief and a way to escape. Hundreds more cannot even come to the embassy because they are in distant areas and their travel documents are held by the employers.
Mr. Yusuf says it is difficult to help those who come with complaints of beatings, molestation, starvation and the like because the employers do not give an address only a box number with not even the zone marked on it.
When the Saudi Embassy in Colombo issues visas they endorse the telephone number of the employer, his name and address on the passport suggests that job seekers keep photocopies of these on their person at all times so that as and when they come to the embassy in Riyadh he and his staff might be able to establish some sort of contact. Many employers are cussed and refuse to cooperate he says. Some of the maids find their way to the AirLanka office in Jeddah and the staff though they have no official status try to help them, do whatever they can and transfer them to the Deportation camp.
It is a pity these women in search of an economic means to alleviate their dire poverty should come daily with pathetic and sorrowful tales, Some try to escape by jumping from a balcony and break their legs. The employers don't bother. It is the Embassy that has to ask for compensation for these cripples.
Is there sexual harassment? Mr. Yusuf says "if it can be proved severe action will be taken. But it is difficult to prove.
Promiscuousness among women and men is frowned upon. Most often, though salaries have to be paid monthly they are not paid. The embassy has to intervene or ask the Riyadh governor's office to intervene with the employer.
Mr. Yusuf recalls just one case of murder where the mistress killed a maid from Sri Lanka. The mistress was taken into custody and released after compensation was paid.
Why no jail sentence? The relatives in Colombo were satisfied with the compensation paid, Mr. Yusuf says.
Mr. Yusuf was pensive as he remarked, "they send 42 billion rupees the amount spent on the war. Isn't it the duty of the State to look after these wage earners and see that life is better for them?"
He also suggests that Sri Lanka should send mainly skilled and semi-skilled workers to Saudi Arabia. This is better for our image with unskilled labor we have had bad publicity.
Ambassador Yusuf's goal is to make Saudi Arabia a better place for Sri Lankan workers and improve the country's image there. For this he needs the cooperation of authorities in Colombo.
Two weeks ago (Sunday Times 28.07.96) this column predicted that 'the Dehiwala bomb blast victims will be lucky to get two paragraphs in international newsmagazines' (in contrast to say the TWA bombing which attracted cover stories everywhere.
Before the ink was dry on what was written another bomb blast took place in US soil, this time in Atlanta, the venue of the centenary Olympic games. As it was warranted, the Atlanta bomb blast got front page billing in TIME international, for instance. A comprehensive cover story dealt with all aspects of the bombing, while a follow-up story of the TWA crash made several fresh revelations on that incident. No problems with that.
But the Dehiwala bomb victims were not even lucky to get one paragraph, as we had mused. There was in fact no mention of the Dehiwela bomb at all - not that week, not the coming week.
TIME may originate in America, but, since it has pretensions of being an international newsmagazine can we address a query to the Editor of Time international (to whichever part of journalistic nirvana that he resides in ?)
Isn't the explosion in a commuter train, which took over 65 lives, worth a mention in your newsmagazine which purpots to cover international news? We are sure that terrorism in America is of great concern to us citizens of the world. But are the victims of a bomb blast in Sri Lanka so much less human that their death do not merit a cursory mention, even in the Asia edition of TIME international.
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