Word: canals
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...help of a tutor, he studied at night by the light of an oil lamp, and he remains fiercely proud that he skipped several grades after entering school. He traces his political consciousness to the late 1950s. "Everything was happening," he says. "Arab nationalism was exploding. The Suez Canal had been nationalized by the Egyptians in 1956; Algeria was fighting for its independence. The monarchy had been overthrown in Iraq. In Libya, nothing was happening. We had only a simple old King, a fool of a crown prince and a corrupt government...
...still believes that the first step should be an interim settlement allowing the reopening of the Suez Canal; this would be followed by negotiations toward an overall settlement. But Egypt maintains that "proximity" talks-in which Egyptian and Israeli teams would position themselves in separate rooms of the same building, with an American mediator running back and forth between them-can only take place if the Israelis will first give an assurance that they will withdraw to the pre-1967 borders. The Israelis reply that they are not going to assure any withdrawing in advance of negotiations...
Panama is also seeking increased traffic payments in proportion to all the economic benefits that the U.S. and other nations derive from the Canal's geographic location (a saving of $8.5 billion projected for this decade, according to a recent U.N. study). Washington has agreed to increase the current $1.8 million annual payment (a bargain negotiated in 1914) to about $25 million a year. Panama rejected this offer...
...most Panamanians, however, the Canal is a far more serious worry than the politics of the Torrijos regime. As a former member of the government put it: "The manicured lawns and flower gardens of the Zone, the 50,000 Americans with a better living, the old degradations and racial discrimination -these are the causes of this claustrophobic frustration we Panamanians suffer. I'm with Omar...
...will be most of his countrymen -provided he can squeeze major concessions out of Washington. Despite the length and isolation of the Canal Zone, there is little danger of the U.S. being pushed out by force, but Washington does want to avoid accusations of Yankee imperialism. It is the U.S. Congress, however, and not the U.N. Security Council, that holds the power over ratification of any new Canal treaty, and Congress is adamantly opposed to anything suggesting a giveaway. "The whole shooting match will go down the drain unless Torrijos and Tack [Juan Tack, Panama's foreign minister] stop...