Month: February 2011

Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver and Voice of Palestine, Canada endorse the call by solidarity groups and civil society organizations to the Egyptian Military and government to immediately open the Rafah crossing. The crossing opening seems to be the last thing on the Egyptian military rulers’ agenda. Thousands of Palestinians are stranded at the Cairo airport, and all over the world. Some have gone on hunger strike and the last decision taken by the deposed Mubarak government was to ban Palestinians from entering Egypt.

Consequently, we call on you to sign the attached letter and fax and/or email it to the Egyptian embassy in Canada (or your country of residence). Demand action now.

Send letters in Canada to:
Wael Ahmed Kamal Aboul Magd,
Ambassador of Egypt to Canada
Fax: (613) 234 4937 & (613) 234 4398
Email: egyptemb@sympatico.ca
Or Phone: (613) 234 4931 & (613) 234 4935

---

Feb. 16, 2011
OPEN THE RAFAH CROSSING

The situation for the hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children in Egypt who have been trapped at the airport since Jan. 25, 2011, the beginning of the Egyptian Revolution, is dreadful and getting worse each day. Most people don’t have money for food or medicine. Some of them went on hunger strike for some days. The vulnerable are getting sicker and some are in urgent need of medical treatment. There are also more Palestinians waiting elsewhere in Egypt to cross into Gaza, not to mention those waiting in other countries.

It has come to our knowledge that on Feb.8, 2011, the deposed government issued new travel regulations with regard to Palestinians effective immediately and till further notice. The following categories of passengers are NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER EGYPT, even if they are holding visa or security approval or resident permits:

• Holders of Palestinian Passports.
• Holders of Jordanian Passports without national number.
• Travel documents for Palestinians issued by Egypt.

This is unacceptable. All the Palestinians at the airport and those using the Rafah Crossing, the only exit Gaza has to the external world, are civilians. Under the Geneva Conventions they are entitled to freedom of movement and protection from collective punishment.
The great sacrifices of the Egyptian people were for human rights and democracy. These demands are supported by all freedom loving people, who also oppose the suppression of Palestinians by Israel. It is time for the new rulers of Egypt to annul the decision taken by the previous government and open the Rafah Crossing immediately so that people and goods can pass.

OPEN THE RAFAH CROSSING NOW.

Signature,

Bring Their Murderers to Justice

While the people all over the Arab world are rising up against their U.S.-Israeli puppet regimes, the current Fateh leadership represented by the so-called Palestinian Authority (PA) is sending messages of support to these dictatorial regimes. The PA is also trying to prevent and suppress the Palestinian popular expression with the Tunisian and Egyptian uprising against these brutal dictatorships.

It is clear that this Palestinian leadership is serving US and Israeli interests and working against not only the Egyptian and Arab peoples’ aspirations but also against the liberation of the Palestinian people. Even the former Israeli Knesset member, Uri Avnery, figured it out when he stated: “The turmoil in Egypt was caused by economic factors: the rising cost of living, the poverty, the unemployment, the hopelessness of the educated young. But let there be no mistake: the underlying causes are far more profound. They can be summed up in one word: Palestine.”

Nonetheless, as recently exposed by the Palestine Papers(1), the present Fateh leadership is choosing to be on the side of the U.S. Empire and its allies, especially Israel, who are directly responsible for the war crimes against the Palestinian people. The PA is using the Egyptian regime’s tactics to suppress free speech; they are using “Dayton’s babies” (an elite PA security unit), that are financed by the U.S. and Canadian governments and trained by their intelligence services, in a desperate attempt to keep the Palestinian people chained.

This leadership is also betraying all the Palestinian martyrs especially Yasser Arafat (Abu Ammar) and Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad).

1. Yasser Arafat: Over six years have passed since Arafat’s death, and the Fateh leadership has not pursued any serious attempt to expose the murder of Arafat. It has not asked the UN to investigate and expose his murderers, even though there have been signs from the beginning as to possible U.S.-Israeli complicity in his murder (see the article in COUNTERPUNCH “ The Revelations of Uri Dan”(2) “Dan claimed Sharon got approval from George Bush by phone early in 2004 to proceed with his plan after he told the US president he was no longer committed to “not” liquidating the Palestinian leader”.) There is a lot of evidence to support this view, including statements from his personal physician Ashraf al-Kurdi, Arafat’s former Cabinet secretary, Ahmad Abdel-Rahman, the former Fateh chairperson Farouq Qaddoumi (Abu Lutoff) and Bassam Abu Sharif, former senior advisor to Yasser Arafat. We tell Mahmoud Abbas and his Fateh leadership that silence on Arafat’s murder is complicity.
2. Khalil Al-Wazir: Here is a chance for the Fateh leadership to demand justice for Abu Jihad and bring the former president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidin Ben Ali, one of the conspirators in his murder, to justice. But what does Mr. Abbas and his puppet regime do? He phones both Ben Ali and Mubarak to show solidarity with them. (For details of Ben Ali and his regime’s involvement in the murder of Abu Jihad, please see our letter(3) sent to the Tunisian Ambassador in Ottawa, or David Yallop’s book “To the Ends of the Earth” pages 224-226.)

On June 30, 2007 in our statement “What is Next for the Palestinian Secular Movement?(4)”, we warned of the dangers of the Abbas leadership regarding the Palestinian struggle and we called for his resignation.

We now call on:

1. All the Palestinian people, and particularly Fateh members, cadres and leaders, to disassociate themselves from Abbas’ practices and policies and to topple him, and to declare loud and clear that Abbas does NOT represent the Palestinian people nor their cause.
2. The UN to immediately appoint an objective tribunal to investigate the murder of Yasser Arafat headed by Richard Falk, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights.
3. The new Tunisian government to investigate the complicity of Ben Ali and his police and intelligence forces in the crime of murdering Abu Jihad, in addition to the many crimes they committed against the Tunisian people.
4. All progressive forces to support the Tunisian, Egyptian, Palestinian, Yemeni and all other Arab peoples in their struggles for freedom, democracy and independence.

We demand justice for Abu Ammar and Abu Jihad and all the Palestinian and Arab Martyrs.

---

(1) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2011/1/23/introducing-the-palestine-papers
(2) https://www.counterpunch.org/2006/12/30/did-sharon-order-the-assassination-of-arafat/
(3) https://cpavancouver.org/2011/bring-ben-ali-and-his-police-and-intelligence-officers-to-justice/ 
(4) https://cpavancouver.org/2007/06/what-is-next-for-the-palestinian-secular-movement/  

By Hanna Kawas. A letter to the Tunisian Ambassador to Canada regarding the Murder of Palestinian Leader Abu Jihad.

Tunisian Ambassador to Canada
Mouldi Sakri

Dear Ambassador:

We in the Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver, would like to request that your government charge the former president of Tunisia Zine El Abidin Ben Ali, his police and intelligence officers, with complicity in the murder of the beloved Palestinian leader Khalil El Wazir (Abu Jihad) in Tunis by an Israeli death squad on April 16, 1988. This is in addition to the long list of crimes he and his regime have committed against the Tunisian People.

David Yallop, the British investigative journalist, in his book “To the Ends of the Earth”, exposed the complicity of the U.S. and Tunisian governments in the murder of Abu Jihad.

Waiting to hear from you,
Sincerely Yours

Hanna Kawas
Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association

---

Following are some quotes from Yallop’s book (pages 224-226).

“When the Washington Post headlined its front page story on Jihad’s death with ‘High Backing Seen for Assassination’, it was absolutely correct but in view of the fact that it merely detailed the Israeli Cabinet decision to unleash its forces against Jihad, the Post got only part of the story.

The ‘High Backing’ also included the President of Tunis, Ben Ali, and the United States government, specifically the State Department.” Page 224

“On the night of April 15th, the American Cemetery close to the embassy was ablaze with light and activity. Normally in total darkness with a maximum of two Military Police patrolling, on this particular evening it was manned by thirty Military Police and a marine back-up. As part of the joint American/Israeli operation it had been agreed that the cemetery would serve as a fall-back position if the Israeli unit ran into heavy opposition.” Page 225

“Despite the fact that a neighbour to Jihad phoned the police at least twice, first to report the intruders, second to report hearing and seeing gun-fire in Jihad’s garden, the Tunisian police declined to send a car… By a curious coincidence on that evening virtually all members of the Tunisian police force had been taking part in a large exercise between nine in the evening and midnight. At midnight they had all been stood down and appear to have been on a mass collective meal break. The killing of Jihad took place at one-thirty in the morning. The Israeli unit were wearing Tunisian National Guard uniforms.” Pages 225-226

“The assassination of Jihad was not quite the flawless operation that the myth gives one to expect from the Israelis. The telephone jamming had failed and without the Tunisian complicity so would have the entire operation.”

“In the journey back to the Tunisian beach … one of the retreating units took a wrong turning and ripped the bottom out of the vehicle. Again without Tunisian connivance, the entire unit could so easily have been caught.” Page 226

Yallop concludes by saying “This, based on my research, is how the democratic nations of Israel and the United States, aided and abetted by Tunisia, disposed of the problem of Abu Jihad.” Page 226