The Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver (www.cpavancouver.org) and the Palestine Community Centre of B.C. (www.palestinecommunitycentre.com) issued the following statement on June 24, 2006.
It has come to our attention that the World Peace Forum (WPF) is regrettably associating with supporters of Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people. Following are examples of support given to Israel by the individuals in question. Peace without justice or peace without principles is of no use to the oppressed peoples of the world. Amnesty Int’l, B’tselem and many other groups have meticulously detailed various war crimes of the Israeli government and military. We remind the WPF and these personalities that such support is directly against the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and international law.
- Vancouver’s Deputy Mayor David Cadman brought greetings to the Walk for Israel held on Sunday May 28, 2006.
- The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia Iona Campagnolo attended the Hadassah-WIZO (Women’s Int’l. Zionist Organization) Convention in Vancouver in November 2005 as an honoured guest.
- Vancouver’s Mayor Sam Sullivan attended the “Jewish National Fund” Negev dinner April 23, 2006 and was honoured for supporting Israel and the “greening” (read ethnic cleansing) of the Negev.
- Beverley Jacobs, President, Native Women’s Association of Canada, was part of the much-criticized AFN delegation to Israel in Feb. 2006.
- MP Alexa MacDonough is a member of Canada-Israel Interparliamentary Group. When she prepared her NDP report on violation of human rights in the world, she totally ignored the Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights.
We call upon all people interested in a genuine peace in the Middle East to challenge these individuals and the WPF on this issue. Let us follow the brave example of unions and church groups world-wide that have stood up and clearly stated it can no longer be “business as usual” with the Israeli state.
A peace and justice or anti-racist group would never invite a supporter of South African Apartheid, or an anti-union or sexist politician. And rightly, they would expect all of the progressive movement to support them in that decision.
Why is Israel an exception?