Category: CPA Statements

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

CPA sent the following message to Jack Layton questioning him about Canada Israel Committee’s claim of investment in the NDP. Again, as of the posting date of this letter March 1, 2009, we did not receive even an acknowledgment from Mr. Layton.

Dear Mr. Layton:

Here in B.C., 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 New Democratic party leader Jack Layton has, along with Gil Duceppe, “agreed not to make Israel a wedge issue in Canadian politics”. He also asserted that the CIC have “invested in all of the political parties..” http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Dec0 8/archives08Dec19-01.html

We in the Palestinian support movement invest in principles, truth 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 it comes to Israeli violations of human rights and the Fourth Geneva Conventions? We would like to draw your attention to Mr. Ronen’s statement about what kind of peace he envisages for the Palestinians 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.” Interestingly, the same paper in an editorial on Dec. 12, 2008, under the title “Coalition cold comfort” described your Party as “the notoriously oppositional NDP”, claiming that “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, born and raised in Bethlehem, Palestine, 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, Vancouver www.cpavancouver.org
Co-host, Voice of Palestine www.voiceofpalestine.ca

A statement of direction by the CPA, Voice of Palestine, and other supporting groups

With the fighting over the mirage “Authority” in Gaza winding down, the Palestinian people are once again faced with the only two alternatives currently available to them, either supporting the non-secular movement Hamas or the new collaborationist Fateh-controlled government. (Neither choice will bring the Palestinian people the future they so desperately need and deserve, and have sacrificed so much for over the years.)

The Oslo process has proved to be a disaster for the Palestinian struggle. Instead of achieving their rights in five years from the signing, it made it impossible for them to even maintain control over the 22% of what is left of Palestine. It also produced the “Authority” that the Mahmoud Abbas-led Fateh and Hamas are fighting over, even while Palestine is still under occupation.

The godfathers of the Oslo process, represented by Mahmoud Abbas, rather than admitting this pet project is a miserable failure and resigning a long time ago, insist on continuing to support the Oslo process. A process that Israel has been violating daily, even before the ink was dry on its signatories. Abbas has also been embracing the U.S.-Israeli collaborators, and by so doing, he is destroying and discrediting the Palestinian secular movement that had been led by Fateh over the past 42 years.

The U.S. and Israel are publicly supporting Abbas and his new government for that very reason, to destroy the secular movement for years to come and set back the Palestinian struggle for decades.

The U.S. and Israel admit that what they are doing to Abbas is giving him a “bear hug”, a “bear embrace” and a “kiss of death”. They find it easier to sell their “war on terror” to the American public if the fight is against “Islamic fundamentalists” and not against democratic secular forces (which doesn’t mean they won’t try anyway.)

In an article in the Canadian Zionist paper the “Jewish Independent”, reporting on a recent meeting sponsored by the Canada-Israel committee, Prof. Hillel Frisch clearly exposed the U.S.-Israeli agenda:

“Frisch believes that Israel has two main objectives on its road towards peace. In the short term, he said, Israel seeks to divide and conquer its enemies by increasing the differences between Gaza (Hamas) and the West Bank (Fatah).

“In the long term … he believes Israel hopes to ‘bring an end to the Palestinian state option … draw in the Jordanian and Egyptian states and restore, more or less, the political order that prevailed before 1967.’” http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/June07/archives07June22-03.html

We say enough is enough.

We call on Palestinian leaders, intellectuals and organizations to reclaim the proud history of the democratic, secular and independent Palestinian national movement and to:

• Call on our Palestinian masses under occupation to renounce the Oslo agreements and its manifestations resulting in the division of the Palestinian territories into Gaza and the West Bank, into areas A, B and C, and the stillborn “PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY”; and to start re-building the popular committees to confront Israeli occupation on the same principles as during the first intifada.
• Call on all other Palestinian secular organizations to admit their mistake in supporting the Oslo process, and to start mobilization for the convening of the Palestine National Council (PNC), with the understanding that the original charter is the basis for any convening. Any changes to it must take place in a democratic atmosphere and not under the dictates of the Israeli gun and U.S. tutelage.
• Call on Mahmoud Abbas to resign immediately, as he no longer has the confidence of the Palestinian people, and further, call on the PNC to convene an independent Palestinian tribunal outside the occupied Palestinian territories to decide his political future.
• Call on Farouq al-Kadoumi as a leader for Fateh to take steps to dismiss all senior officials who are hurting the Palestinian struggle and destroying Fateh, and to implement the recommendation of Marwan Bargouthi, West Bank MP and Fateh leader, issued from his Israeli jail cell, to “dismiss all the leaders of the security services and appoint new leaders capable of reforming and developing the security institutions, relying on professionalism.”

We call on individuals and organizations to support this statement by sending their endorsements to info@cpavancouver.org and we will update our website regularly with further endorsers.

In Solidarity,
Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver, Canada https://cpavancouver.org/
Voice of Palestine, Vancouver http://www.voiceofpalestine.ca/

Endorsed by the following groups:

Canada Palestine Association, Halifax, Canada
1. International Solidarity Movement-Vancouver
2. Jews Against Zionism, London UK http://www.freewebs.com/jewsagainstzionism/
3. One Democratic State Association – Gaza Chapter
4. Siraat, Vancouver
5. The National Campaign for the Boycott of Apartheid Israel – Gaza
6. The Palestinian Association of Hamilton, Canada
7. The Victoria Central America Support Committee, Canada
8. Vancouver Peace Committee

Endorsed by the following individuals (organizations listed for identification purposes only):

1. Afaf Shasha – Ankara, Turkey
2. Anne-Marie Brun, Kelowna, Canada
3. Chris Leadbeater, Ashford, Kent, UK
4. Dalia Levy, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
5. Dorinda Moreno, elders of 4 colors 4 directions, USA West Coast
6. Dr Bucker Dangor, Emeritus Reader in Physics, Imperial College, London, UK
7. Dr. Abdullah Shaban, Vancouver
8. Dr. Ghada Karmi, UK
9. Elizabeth Block, Toronto
10. Erin Wade, Seattle, WA
11. Joel Kovel, USA
12. Lawrence Boxall, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
13. Lawrence Davidson, Professor of History, West Chester University Pa, USA
14. Les Levidow, Jews Against Zionism (JAZ), London UK
15. Magid Shihade, Palestinian, Galilee, University of California, Davis, USA
16. Martha Roth, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
17. Martin Roth, Jews for a Just Peace, Vancouver
18. Meria Heller, Producer/Host of The Meria Show www.Meria.net, New York
19. Mohammed Abu Assi, Montreal, Canada
20. Mona Baker, Professor of Translation Studies, Manchester, UK http://www.monabaker.com/tsresources/
21. Noah Lepawsky, ISM-Vancouver
22. Roland Rance, Jews Against Zionism, London
23. Ron Benner, Independent Visual Artist, London, On.
24. Sami Joseph, UK
25. Smadar Carmon, Toronto
26. Tony and Stephanie Ali, Vancouver