No "Days of Rage" for LA

By Pat McDonnell Twair

As reported in last month's Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, a documentary on the intifada entitled "Days of Rage: The Young Palestinians" was originally scheduled to be shown on PBS stations nationwide June 5. When this was postponed to Sept. 6, Washington, DC, producer Jo Franklin Trout decided to take it to local audiences around the country for direct showings.

In Los Angeles, local arrangements to show the documentary fell through in an eerie parallel to the false start on PBS. Joel Gayman, a member of the Cousins Club set up to promote dialogue between Americans of Jewish and Arab descent, sought to arrange a public showing of the documentary at the beginning of June.

No auditoriums were available at the University of California at Los Angeles, so Gayman arranged to have it shown at Temple Israel of Hollywood. The temple subsequently reneged. Two other temples, Leo Baeck Temple and Temple Beth Sholom of Santa Monica, also agreed, and then declined.

In a final attempt, Gayman rented a hall at the Lowes Santa Monica Beach Hotel for June 7. But again, the managing director of the hotel cancelled two days before the scheduled showing. As a result, the screening was called off, but not Gayman's determination to provide Southern Californians the opportunity to see a documentary that is being shown in other metropolitan areas.

Battling for unpopular causes is nothing new for Gayman, but he was surprised at the reaction to this documentary. "Never, never, have I come up against the sort of opposition that has blocked the Los Angeles showing of 'Days of Rage,"' he said.

Ironically, "Days of Rage" was shown on the UCLA campus on May 16 as part of an Arab cultural week.

Palestinian Mothers' Vigil

It was a remarkable sight on Mother's Day at scenic Palisades Park in Santa Monica as more than 30 women in white staged a vigil for mothers of Palestine.

Streamers in the red, green and black colors of the Palestinian flag drew curious passersby to two large banners that read: "Stop the Arrest and Torture of Palestinian Women-End Israeli Occupation" and "Free the Mothers of Palestine-End Israeli Occupation." Statements handed to the public cited the following statistics: 70 Palestinian women have been killed since the onset of the intifada, 4,000 wounded, 14 detained without charges up to six months, 400 miscarriages brought on by tear gas, and 5,000 Palestinians left homeless due to Israeli demolitions of homes.

Pat McDonnell Twair is a free-lance writer living in Los Angeles.