Deadly Stalemate

Five minutes after visiting hours ended at Belfast's Crumlin Road jail, where more than 100 suspected Irish Republican Army terrorists and other activists were being held without trial, a bomb blasted the prison's 15 ft. teak-and-iron gates off their hinges. Two guards and two prisoners were injured. Three days later, fire alarms sounded at the headquarters of the Electricity Board of Northern Ireland, and the office staff trooped down the back stairway--just in time to catch the full force of a gelignite bomb hidden in a ground-floor locker. One man was killed, and 35 other employees, mostly women, were slashed by flying debris. A few hours after that, an incendiary bomb was found in Belfast's new $5 million Europa Hotel.

Last week's incidents brought the three-week death toll to 30. The tough "provisional" wing of the I.R.A. admitted responsibility for the electricity-board bombing and claimed it had given the board's management time to evacuate all employees. But to the firebrand Protestant extremist, the Rev. Ian

Paisley, the bombings were proof that Prime Minister Brian Faulkner's government had failed to provide stability and protection for Northern Ireland's "loyal"--that is, Protestant--majority. "As Ulster burns," charged Paisley, "Faulkner fiddles."

In Dublin, the Irish Republic's Prime Minister John Lynch held an unprecedented meeting with 16 opposition members of the Northern Ireland Parliament and announced his support for the continuing campaign of civil disobedience--rent and tax strikes and one-day shutdowns by shopkeepers in Ulster's predominantly Catholic border towns. The action demonstrated to Lynch's own voters his concern about their Catholic brethren in the north, but it will have little effect on the deadly stalemate in Northern Ireland.

For God's Sake. Throughout the north, meanwhile. Protestants were calling for the formation of locally based militia units organized along the lines of the B Special police auxiliary that was disbanded following the riots two years ago. Clearly, the Protestants saw more trouble ahead. While all but about 800 of the 7,000 Catholic refugees who fled to the south three weeks ago returned to Ulster, 900 more Protestants were preparing to take refuge in Scotland and England.

At week's end, Britain's Labor Party leader, Harold Wilson, broadcast an eloquent appeal on behalf of his notion for tripartite talks between Belfast, London and Dublin. "For God's sake forget the past," he pleaded. "Forget William III. Forget about a long-dead Dutchman and remember you're living in the reign of Elizabeth II. Forget about the struggles of 50 years ago. Forget about the Easter Rising."

Powerful words, but probably a vain hope. Ulstermen were as preoccupied as ever with their ancient grievances as they waited to see what Brian Faulkner would do next to break the impasse. The answer will come next week if not before. By Sept. 8 he is required by law to decide how many of the 240 internees presently held on 28-day detention orders should remain in custody indefinitely.

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