Canada has such a long history of complicity in Palestinian dispossession that there is an urgent need for people here to correct these historic wrongs. Our governments helped devise and implement the Partition Plan, our governments have kept silent on Israeli war crimes for decades, and most of the last two decades, Canadian governments have been proud to be one of “Israel’s staunchest/iron-clad friends”.… Read more
Category: CPA Statements
Open letters and statements to the public from the Canada Palestine Association.
#NoIHRA: Bill 168 will contribute to anti-Palestinian racism.
Stop Bill 168, Say No to IHRA in Ontario
(Palestinian Canadian Community Centre – Palestine House and Just Peace Advocates have launched an action call to write to all members of the Ontario legislative assembly to let them know the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is dangerous and that Bill 168 calling for its adoption should not move forward. You can send the form letter supplied or personalize your own.… Read more
Why I oppose Canada’s bid for the UN Security Council seat
(The following letter was recently sent to all UN Ambassadors from Canada Palestine Association chairperson, Hanna Kawas. The vote for non-permanent UNSC seats is set to happen June 17, 2020.)
June 12, 2020
Dear UN Ambassadors:
I am a Christian Palestinian refugee from Bethlehem who can’t return to my hometown because of my identity and because Israel refuses to implement the UNGA resolution regarding “Persons displaced as a result of the June 1967 and subsequent hostilities”.… Read more
Canadian Hypocrisy and the UN Security Council Seat
By Marion Kawas
Recently, a strong movement has coalesced opposing the Canadian government’s attempt to gain a seat on the UN Security Council (UNSC). Although progressive groups and individuals have been laying the foundation for this issue since late 2019, it has been thrust into the national spotlight in the last month with various petitions, statements and media coverage in the #NoUNSC4Canada campaign.… Read more
Canadian Hypocrisy at its Zenith
Today, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau finally spoke out about Israel’s upcoming annexation plans and was quoted as saying that he has “expressed Canada’s disagreement over the proposed annexation directly to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, the country’s ‘alternate’ prime minister under a power-sharing agreement.”
CPA chairperson, Hanna Kawas, responded to the Prime Minister’s comments on Israel’s annexation of the West Bank, with the following statement:
If the Trudeau government truly “favours a two-state solution”, why did it vote AGAINST all resolutions that support the two state solution at the UN General Assembly for the past five years?!… Read more
Western hypocrisy is empowering Israeli annexation!
There is a recent surge of official voices in the West that are alarmed at the agenda of the new Israeli coalition government. Many western liberal governments are offering slightly more than their usual token objections to Israeli policy, including some European threats of sanctions if Israel implements its new annexation plans.
Is all of this because of concern for the human rights of Palestinians?… Read more
Solidarity with Palestinian Political Prisoners
#PalestinianPrisonersDay: Ansar and the Israeli Jailer
Ansar: A Testament to the Ugly Brutality of the Israeli Jailer
By Marion Kawas
April 17th marks a special day in the Palestinian calendar, that of Palestinian Prisoners Day. This year it takes on even more importance as the more than 5000 Palestinian political prisoners are incarcerated with the added threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Palestinian prisoners have long played a unique role in the fabric of Palestinian society and its collective resistance.… Read more
Does the Israeli Military Censor impact our News?
By Hanna Kawas
This week marks the two-year anniversary of the Great Return March in Gaza. Two years since the people of Gaza came out in protest to highlight their right of return and right to live in dignity; thousands paid with their lives or limbs for this protest, be they journalists, medics or children. Coverage of the demonstrations in Canada, and in other Western countries, was skewed and predictably pro-Israel.… Read more
Maiming for Sport: Canada enables Israel’s War Crimes
Maiming Palestinians for Sport is a War Crime
By Marion Kawas
Published in Palestine Chronicle, March 10, 2020
The new Haaretz report entitled “42 Knees in One Day” is a difficult and painful read, and many people of conscience have responded with disgust and rage.
For those few who have not seen the report, it details in chilling fashion the accounts of 6 Israeli snipers who were stationed at the border with Gaza during the Great Return March protests.… Read more