Said Hamad & Arab Ambassadors: Whose Interests Are You Serving?

Open letter to Said Hamad “Chief Representative of the Palestinian General Delegation” and the “Honourable” Arab Ambassadors in Ottawa

الترجمة العربية للرسالة
January 16, 2014

Open letter to Said Hamad “Chief Representative of the Palestinian General Delegation” and the “Honourable” Arab Ambassadors in Ottawa

The Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird met with the Council of Arab League Ambassadors on Thursday, January 9, 2014 at the offices of the Palestinian General Delegation (PGD).
The subsequent (and shocking) press release in the name of the Palestinian Delegation stated:
• The PDG was pleased to receive the Hon. John Baird.
• The Council of Arab League Ambassadors “thanked Canada for its productive role in the Middle East and North Africa.”
• Said Hamad “expressed his appreciation for Canada’s advocacy on behalf of the two-state solution and conveyed his eagerness to welcome Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his forthcoming visit to the West Bank.”

We ask the “honourable” Said Hamad and the Arab League Ambassadors the following:
1. Are you thanking Baird for all the support the Canadian government has been giving to Israel? Are you thanking him for all the “17 Votes Against the Palestinian and Arab Peoples (at the UN General Assembly), And In Support of Israel Aggression and Apartheid”?
2. Does the “productive role” you are talking about include the recent appointment of Vivian Bercovici, the staunch anti-Arab Zionist, as the Canadian Ambassador to Israel? “It won’t be a huge shock to anyone that Canada is a strong supporter of Israel,” Baird answered in response to a question when announcing her appointment. Vivian Bercovici also alleged: “…the PA and just about every government in the Middle East make no secret of their collective ideological commitment to the total destruction of the state of Israel”.
3. Are you thanking him for cutting the Canadian government funding to the Canadian Arab Federation and Palestine House?
4. Mr. Hamad, are you welcoming Harper on our land for supporting the racist “Jewish National Fund” (JNF) and for accepting their project named after him “Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitor and Education Centre” that will be built on ethnically-cleansed and destroyed Bedouin villages? The JNF is responsible for the infamous Canada Park that is built on the rubble of three Palestinian towns in the West Bank and also supports illegal Israeli settlement building. It seems you don’t know or don’t care to know that the JNF receives Canadian tax-deductible status.

Mr. Hamad, you should know better than to sabotage the Palestinian solidarity work in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle. A campaign was started after Harper’s speech at the racist JNF dinner to educate Canadians about their government’s complicity in Israeli war crimes; several articles were posted on the campaign page showing this complicity and the petition stated: As Palestinians and Arabs, we tell you Mr. Harper – “You are not welcome in our homeland.” As Canadians, we tell you – “Not in our names.” As international supporters of justice and peace in Palestine, we tell you – “Shame on you…Stop supporting 21st century Israeli Apartheid!”
At the press conference for the new Israeli ambassador, John Baird (and not for the first time) said “I would say the state of our relationship with the Arab world is strong, getting stronger every day. We have a good relationship with the Palestinian Authority.” It seems he is right about the Arab regimes/dictatorships and their representatives; you are all in his pocket!! (The only other explanation is that you are woefully uninformed and/or totally incompetent.)
Our people, in the name of its heroes, martyrs, prisoners, disabled and the orphans that have been robbed of their childhood, have the right to ask you Mr. Hamad and the “honourable” Ambassadors: who are you serving, your people or their enemies?
I would like to quote a verse from “Jerusalem is the bride of your Arabism”, a poem by the Iraqi poet Muzaffar al-Nawab: ”In all the capitals of the Arab homeland… You killed my happiness”.
في كل عواصم هذا الوطن العربي قتلتم فرحي”
Hanna Kawas,
Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association