Israeli warplanes raided suspected Palestinian targets in southern Lebanon today, a day after a grenade attack near Jerusalem's Wailing Wall. NPR's Deborah Amis reports. "This afternoon four Israeli jets streaked over the Palestinian refugee camp of Miamia near the south Lebanese town of Sidon within the Palestinian targets. According to reports from Sidon, one Israeli Phantom jet was shot down by a Sam-5 missile during the raid. Two of the crewmen on board parachuted out. One died; the other was captured by Amal, the Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim group. The Israeli military spokesman in Jerusalem would only confirm that a raid had taken place in south Lebanon, but wouldn't comment on any of the other details coming from Lebanese reports. Meanwhile in Israel, a government crisis that has riveted the attention of most Israelis was resolved today, but hardly noticed in the unfolding drama of the day's events. In a rotation agreement made by the two major political parties, Yitzhak Shamir will become the new Prime Minister of Israel on Monday. For National Public Radio, this is Deborah Amis in Jerusalem."
Nigerian playwright, poet and novelist Wole Soyinka was named today as the first black to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Soyinka has published about twenty works that denounce racism and fascism, and praise everyday man of every color. And at the news conference in Paris today, Soyinka said the award represented world recognition of the long misunderstood culture and traditions of Africa. The winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize for Economics was also named today. James Buchanan of George Mason University is recognized for discoveries demonstrating the link between political decisions and a nation's economic performance.
Congress approved another emergency funding bill to keep the government operating another day, while lawmakers continued debate on an overall spending package for the year. NPR's Cokie Roberts reports. "Big orange and white buttons reading 'Free the 99th Congress' have sprouted on the lapels all over Capitol Hill. Members of Congress, ready to hit the campaign trail, just don't seem able to get out of Washington. The big five hundred and seventy-six billion dollar spending bill needed to keep the government functioning through this fiscal year is being debated on the Senate floor. The House passed the measure last night. But the other must-pass piece of legislation, the measure to allow the government to keep borrowing in order to pay its bills, is now not expected before tomorrow. Two other big bills still need one house to act on them. The House passed immigration reform yesterday. The Senate will deal with it tomorrow. The Senate passed a drug bill yesterday and now it looks like it will be tomorrow before that measure reaches the House floor. I'm Cokie Roberts at the Capitol."
Israel reacted swiftly today both diplomatically and militarily to a grenade attack in Jerusalem last night. The Palestine Liberation Organization claimed responsibility for the attack from its office in Cairo. Today, according to reports from news agencies in Lebanon, Israeli war planes bombed and shelled a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon. From Jerusalem, Deborah Amis reports.
Event unfolded quickly today. According to reports from Lebanon, Israeli jets bombed and shelled Miamia, a Palestinian refugee camp near the Lebanese port city of Sidon. According to witnesses there three civilians were wounded as the planes hit their targets. Sidon and the refugee camp nearby have become a stronghold for Al-Fatah guerrillas, loyal to Yasir Arafat, Chairman of the PLO. The raid today appears to be in retaliation for yesterday's grenade attacks in Jerusalem. Although other groups claimed responsibility throughout the day, the Israeli government chose to take the PLO claim seriously as shown in their choice of targets. According to reports out of Lebanon tonight, an Israeli plane was shot down in the raid, and one crewman was captured; the other one died. The Israeli military spokesman would only confirm that a raid had taken place in south Lebanon, but would not comment on any of the other details. On the diplomatic front earlier today Mohammed Basuni, Egypt's Ambassador to Israel was summoned to the Foreign Ministry. There a senior Israeli official presented him with a formal protest. Basuni was told that the PLO office in Cairo was incompatible with the terms of the peace treaty with Israel. This morning, when the PLO claimed responsibility for the grenade attack in Jerusalem, the statement was made from the Cairo office. Fizo Awada, the PLO representative, was interviewed on Cairo radio. Ambassador Basuni said today that Egypt condemns terrorism and that Egyptian authority has summoned the PLO representative for an explanation. However, the fact that Egypt is the only Arab country to have an Ambassador in Israel and a PLO representative in Cairo presents some problems. Today, some Israeli military authorities were making the semantic distinction on last night's grenade attack. Some called it "a guerrilla attack" rather than "a terrorist one." Yitzhak Shamir, Israel's Prime Minister, said he saw no difference. "Civilians or military, the PLO was out to kill Jews," he said. Clearly, that was the reason for today's raids on Palestinian refugee camps in south Lebanon. For National Public Radio, this is Deborah Amis in Jerusalem.
The recipient of this year's Nobel Prize for Literature was announced today. He is Wole Soyinka, a fifty-two-year-old Nigerian playwright and an author. Soyinka's best known work in this country is probably Ake , his childhood memoir. Soyinka is the first African and the first black to win the distinguished prize for literature. And he was in Paris today when he heard the news. Melodie Walker reports.
Wole Soyinka is in Paris to attend a meeting of International Theatre Institute, a non-governmental organization at UNESCO headquarters. Appearing somewhat annoyed by the crowd of reporters who cornered him in a lounge at UNESCO, the Nigerian writer confessed that he wasn't really prepared for the onslaught of instant Nobel prize fame.
"I am not really enjoying it, honestly. It's ... I had no psychological preparation. You know, I'm just into it like that, you know. If I'd had some notice and I'd been able to, you know, prepare myself, you know, like an athlete going into combat, into competition perhaps, but this was rather sudden. You know, really, really sudden, totally unexpected."
Soyinka says he accepted the news of the Nobel Prize for Literature with the deep sense of honor, but not for himself alone. He says the award goes beyond his individual work and honors all African writers.
"I don't believe in literally prizes. And therefore when I view the literary prize, I tend to see the prize in a much larger context than the individual writer, because how do you judge works of literature? How do you compare works of literature from different cultures? It's an almost impossible task. So certain contradictions must go into the choice of somebody to receive an award of this kind. And that, those contradictions must go outside of the person himself. It has to do with the context. Without any compromise in literary qualities, I do not believe that I'm considered a bad writer; that's why I've been given this prize. No, don't misunderstand me. But I'm saying that it's more than just being an acceptable writer who gives some kind of literary pleasure to discerning, sophisticated people. It goes beyond that. It has to do with the significance of this occasional symbolic event. And it is very much a symbolic event. It's for all the African writers, for even the third would, for even the universal literature, because it opens the universe to the literature not merely of the recipient of the prize, but of the society from which his literature comes. It opens, then, certain nuggets, literary and artistic nuggets which they have taken for granted, which they have relegated to the exotica. So it's a symbolic prize, and I view it as such ..."
Wole Soyinka writes poetry, plays and novels in his native Yoruba and in English. He studied theatre in England in the 1950s after attending Leeds University. Then he returned to Nigeria in 1960 to form a highly successful and popular theatre group. His works, including political satire sketches, have been translated into many languages and performed all over the world. Soyinka says he is a writer for the theatre above all else, and he feels perfectly comfortable writing in both his native tribal language as well as in English.
"In the history of the world, there have been many writers, in fact, who ended up writing in a language which is not their first language. I think it's possible to evaluate the angst which goes with this kind of imposition, which becomes almost second nature. But I think if one examines the question of translation ... and African, the works of African writers have been translated into all languages (the works of Chinow Tado, like mine, have been translated into Japanese, Arabic, Russian, Bulgarian, and of course, African languages as well) —then the problem becomes much smaller."
Soyinka was reluctant to talk about his work amid the microphones, clicking cameras and glaring TV lights. With a smile, he criticized reporters for preventing him from attending his UNESCO meeting today, and said he hoped to return to Nigeria as soon as possible where he can have some peace and quiet and time to write. For National Public Radio, this is Melodie Walker in Paris.
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