Today, six B.C. groups sent the following letter to the Honorable Wayne Easter, Solicitor General of Canada, regarding his announcement last week about the banning of three Palestinian organizations. They stated: “We…denounce this biased and politically motivated announcement, the timing of which…was highly questionable.” The groups were Canada Palestine Association, International Solidarity Movement-Vancouver, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, Palestine Community Centre, Palestine Solidarity Group and Stopwar.ca.… Read more
Category: CPA Statements
Open letters and statements to the public from the Canada Palestine Association.
Open Letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs Bill Graham
By John and Elizabeth Beeching
October 7, 2003
Hon. Bill Graham Minister of Foreign Affairs
House of Commons Ottawa,
Ontario, K1A 0A6
Mr. Bill Graham,
I was shocked to learn at a meeting October 4, 2003 that over 94,000 volunteer have gone to Israel to join their armed forces according to the Jewish Western Bulletin A link on the web site indicates that 278 or 3% are Canadians.… Read more
Open Letter to Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell
By Hanna Kawas
Larry Campbell
Mayor of Vancouver
Dear Mr. Mayor:
We received your invitation to participate in the nomination process for the 2003 Cultural Harmony awards; we regret that we will not be able to participate due to our opposition to one of the signatories on the invitation, Mr. Erwin Nest, Chair of Special Advisory Committee on Cultural Communities.
Mr.… Read more
CJC Chair Misleads Public
Statement by Canada Palestine Association and Arab Palestine Association
Recently, in an article titled “Still much on CJC’s Plate”, the chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), Pacific Region, Nisson Goldman was quoted as saying:
“Congress has done a good job of meeting with the leadership of the Palestinian and Muslim communities in British Columbia, he said, though he regrets that more members of those communities have not attended some of the events organized to bring them together with Jewish British Columbians.”… Read more
Whose Interests Will the Abrogation of the ROR Serve?
By Hanna Kawas (in response to Elias Tuma)*
We are witnessing a calculated campaign of highly publicized attacks on the Palestinian Right of Return (ROR), aimed at confusing, demoralizing, terrorizing (physically and politically) and frustrating the Palestinian refugees and people with the sole purpose of forcing them to abrogate this right. It started with the Camp David “generous offer” and continued with Palestinian advocates such as Sari Nusaybeh, pushing to drop the ROR if Israel met other conditions, as if we are in a Bazaar, and as if what is on the line is vegetables to be traded and not inalienable rights for human beings.… Read more
Open Letter to the Canadian Prime Minister Regarding the Banning of Moslem Organizations
Dear Prime Minister:
The Canadian government’s announcement to ban the Palestinian groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and the Lebanese group Hizbollah, as “terrorist groups” is ill advised, biased and outrageous.
The two Palestinian groups were formed 20 years after the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories in 1967. The Hizbollah group was formed after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the subsequent occupation of large areas of Lebanese territory.… Read more
Open Letter to Prime Minister Jean Chretien
Right Honorable Jean Chretien
Prime Minister of Canada
Dear Prime Minister:
Today marks 36 long years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights of Syria.
While the Canadian Government has maintained publicly that this occupation is illegal and must end, it actions speak otherwise and support this occupation economically and politically. Economically the Canadian government maintains a free trade agreement with Israel, and politically it did not support the significant resolutions that call Israel to task on its illegal policies of house demolitions, illegal settlement building, war crimes and human rights violation of Palestinians including the civilian population of the West Bank and Gaza.… Read more
Why ignore the war on Palestine?
By Hanna Kawas
Why did the Vancouver Nov. 17, 2002 Coalition not want to link the war on the Palestinians with the war on Iraq in all of its publicity (amazingly, some of the publicity did not even mention Iraq)?
This decision to ignore the war on Palestine in its publicity was taken at an organizing committee meeting in October, and passed by a majority vote.… Read more
I am Proud to be a Palestinian
By Hanna Kawas. An open letter sent by Hanna Kawas to Canada’s Foreign Minister John Manley.
Dear Mr. Manley,
On Jan. 18/ 2001, Agence France Presse(AFP) reported that Palestinian demonstrators in Balata refugee camp near Nablus denounced Canada and Australia for their offer to RESETTLE the Palestinian refugees, and that they burned an effigy of you during this protest. Perhaps this surprised you.… Read more
Do Not Fail the Palestinian People
An appeal from the Canada Palestine Association to all members of the Arab and Moslem communities
Since we distributed our position paper on Nov. 14, 2000 to the Arab and Moslem organizations, all we have received from these groups is silence or a whole range of excuses. For example, why we should not support the NDP because they are not “ an effective voice.”… Read more