CPA sent the following message to Gilles Duceppe questioning him about Canada Israel Committee’s claim of investment in the Bloc. As of March 1, 2009, we did not receive even an acknowledgment from Mr. Duceppe
Dear Mr. Duceppe:
Here in BC, on Dec. 19, 2008, the “Jewish Independent” quoted Moshe Ronen, the chair of the Canada Israel Committee (CIC) and the vice-president of the World Jewish Congress as saying that: “the Bloc Quebecois’ Gil Duceppe ‘is a strong friend of Israel, who identifies more with Israel than with the Palestinians.’ The two were in Israel recently and ‘he [Duceppe] agreed not to make Israel a wedge issue in Canadian politics’.” Ronen also said that the CIC had “invested in all of the political parties.” http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Dec08/archives08Dec19-01.html
We in the Palestinian support movement invest only in our principles, truth, and the Quebecois and the Canadian people and would like to ask you whether Ronen’s statements are true or not, and whether you will speak out when Israel violates human rights and the Fourth Geneva Conventions? Also could you tell us what kind of investment, aside from free trips to Israel, did the CIC allocated to the Bloc? And when you were in Israel, did you visit Gaza the largest ghetto in the world? Did you see the illegal colonies Israel built on stolen Palestinian land and the Palestinian communities affected by the illegal Apartheid wall? For that matter did you visit any Palestinian city or refugee camp under the brutal Israeli occupation?
We would like to draw your attention to Mr. Ronen’s statement about what kind of peace plan he envisages for the Palestinian people, and what kind of humiliation he has in store for the Palestinian people when he says “the Palestinians will be talking to a wall for a long time.” For your information the same paper in an editorial on Dec. 12, 2008 under the title “Coalition cold comfort” stated: “Whether it was the idea of a separatist party propping up the federal government or the vision of the notoriously oppositional NDP sitting on the government side of the house or simply the idea of the Liberal party, so recently and so roundly rejected by voters, leading a government, there was something in the coalition plan to disgust everyone.” http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/ Dec08/archives08Dec12-13.html
We hope you will not be deceived by Ronen and the lobby he represents. As a Palestinian from Christian background, who was born and raised in Bethlehem, Palestine, it is very difficult to accept the betrayal of universal human rights from progressive parties or parties that claim to represent the true interest of their people and those of humanity. I believe, especially at this time of year, that respect of all peoples’ human and national rights worldwide is the only path to peace.
Waiting to hear from you
Yours Truly Hanna Kawas
Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association www.cpavancouver.org
Co-host, Voice of Palestine www.voiceofpalestine.ca