Notebook

BACK FROM THE DEAD: Every time Saddam gets excited, so too does his loyal band of Australian supporters. Last week saw the loyal regiment cranking up the campaign down-under with unashamed fervour. But nothing came close to Senator Dee Margetts of Western Australia whose motion before the Senate last week MUST win the Saddam apologist of the year award.

The Margetts motion parrotted the spying charges that the Iraqi regime levelled against US weapons inspectors and called on the Australian Government "to withdraw its support for UNSCOM unless the US government agrees to withdraw all US nationals from the UNSCOM inspection team in Iraq." We’re sure Alexander Downer is breaking his neck to comply. But it raises the more vexing question of how it is possible that blind supporters of one of the most brutal and cruel regimes in the world today are popularly elected to the Australian Senate. Even more relevant perhaps is whether Senator Margetts’ green constituency appreciates her relentless efforts to support Saddam’s acquisition of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

AND FRIENDS: Hot on the heels of the Good Senator comes the young David Spratt. Spratt popped up in the Herald Sun last week arguing that what "Israel’s hawks want" is the assasination of Saddam Hussein in order to "provoke a new cycle of regional violence." Ho hum.

Netanyahu and Co already have their hands full with their last assassination fiasco, but the truth is that a successful attempt on Saddam’s life would probably win Israel a standing ovation from the Arab Gulf states. Young David billed as a "Middle East peace activist" by the Herald Sun would probably never concede that, however. Why? Well for the past 20 years he has been variously National Co-ordinator of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, National Secretary of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign and Chairman of the Palestine Human Rights Commission.

THAT PRESELECTION: As the Battle for ALP preselection in the federal seat of Melbourne Ports assumes blood sport dimensions, the Jewish community gathered to pay tribute to retiring member and Jewish community stalwart Clyde Holding MP. Leading the tributes at the Jewish National Fund send-off was Opposition leader Kim Beazley who got away with one of those great ‘I’m going to mention the unmentionable’ anecdotes which articulated what was on the minds of more than a few antendees: "As I was flying down today, I was reminded of one of the conversations I had with Clyde in the first Parliament I served in, during which Clyde was educating me on the subject of the Labor Party outside Western Australia - about which I needed a great deal of education.

"He referred to his earlier experiences as a young Labor leader with a chap named Pat Keneally, and it struck me that it sort of has a certain resonance in contemporary political terms.

"Pat Keneally was discussing with Clyde a MP’s funeral that he had just attended. Clyde, in order to make conversation with a great man - Clyde himself being only 18 or 19 at the time - felt constrained to ask him about the funeral he’d just attended. Pat had a stutter which he used very effectively so it’s not mocking him to include it: ‘Well, well Clyde, it, it was, like this. There, there was a hu.hu.uge ga..a.thering of ma..ma..ny hundreds of people.

The clouds opened up and at the opening of the coffin, the..the..re wa a..s a g..g..g..gentle drizzle, it was as th..th..ough the ve...very angels were weeping and there was bbbbut one th..th..thought on the mi..minds of everybody in attendance - who’s gonna win the preselection!’"

FLYING HIGH: When earlier this year the Palestinian Authority decided to start its own national airline, El Palestina, it turned to Imad el Kabloi, the leading pilot in the new Palestinian entity. Kabloi received orders to train 10 pilots, but when the young trainees turned up for their first day of flight school Kabloi was shocked to learn that they had already been issued with commercial pilots licences. The trainees then claimed that since they now outranked him they would not take any orders or instruction from Kabloi, who in turn went to the chief of the Flight Authority, Fair Zaidan, to complain. But to his surprise, Kabloi was told to certify the young trainees anyway, even though most couldn’t fly a light plane, let alone the commercial airliners they had just been authorised to handle. Kabloi complained but was told that it was a political issue because the Palestinian Authority wanted to open an airline and establish facts on the ground with the Israelis. When Kabloi pointed out that placing untrained pilots at the controls of commercial airliners may well create certain facts on the ground but not the sort anticipated he was duly reported to the Palestinian security forces. "It’s just a matter of time before a Palestinian airliner crashes", bemoaned Kabloi last week from his hiding place in Sweden where he has sought political sanctuary from the Palestinian Authority. The Authority claims that its planes are safe and flying high.

BROKEN RECORD: It should have been an open and shut case. Sixty-one tourists are murdered by Islamic extremists at Luxor, Egypt. The killers distribute literature claiming they are from the Egyptian Islamic fundamentalist movement Gama’a al-Islamaya, whilst the leaders of the terrorist group - who for the past decade have been crippling Egypt’s tourist industry with similar attacks -proudly claim responsibility for the horrific incident. But not in the Arab world. Politicians, religious leaders and newspapers lined up to blame Israel.

Leading the charge were Egypt’s inventive newspapers, particularly those closely associated with the Mubarak government. An unsourced rumour that a group of Israeli tourists had changed travel plans to visit the site of the attack at the last moment led quickly to the conclusion that Israel must have planned the attack in advance.

Not surprisingly, Iran News carried an Iranian government spokesman describing the attack as a "Mossad-CIA plot", while the Syrian government daily, Tishreen, made similar allegations. The official Palestinian paper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, editorialised that the timing of the incident was "not accidental" and designed to coincide with the Doha conference by "enemies of the Arab nation".

The semi-official Al-Quds newspaper was also quick to declare the incident part of an "American-Israeli plan" to "bring the Arab people to its knees." The pro-Arafat Al-Bilad paper came to similar conclusions.

It is a little hard to see how Arab-Israel peace can ever move on while Arab leaders continue to sanction the time-honoured ‘Israel is the source of all terror and violence’ nationalist dance. Commenting on Arab efforts to demonise both him and Israel, Netanyahu joked to his aides "Don’t you know there is Saddam Hussein of the East and there is me, Saddam Hussein of the West." For his trouble the Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday November 29, ran a headline across the entire length of the page: Netanyahu: ‘Saddam Hussein of the West.’

MICHAEL KAPEL