Category: Media Watch

The following letter was sent to Sarah Efron, a freelance journalist, regarding reporting about the “Peace It Together” camp held this summer in Vancouver. The camp brought Israeli and Palestinian teenagers to Vancouver from the Middle East and received alot of attention in the local media as a step towards reconciliation in the region. It was also well received by local Zionists. Our letter explains why most of the local Palestinian community had reservations about this camp and similar initiatives.

Dear Sarah:

Thank you for the report you did for CBC Radio about the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Camp (http://www.sarahefron.com/stories/peacecamp.shtml ). In your print edition, you quote me as saying that “As long as there is no equality (my emphasis ), dialogue is nice but doesn’t lead anywhere…”.

In a large part of your interview with me, I talked about the preconditions for any dialogue which included the importance of equality among peoples in Israel/Palestine if there is any hope for a peaceful solution. By putting the sentence “As long as there is no equality” you captured the essence of my reasoning as to why I have doubts about “Peace it Together”. Unfortunately my opinion was not reflected in the CBC Radio on air report (The Early Edition CBC Radio, August 25, 2004 Listen to the Story )

I was disappointed that you did not inform me that you are going to use the same interview for an article in the Zionist paper The Jewish Western Bulletin (JWB) (http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Sept04/archives04Sept17-02.html). This article also does not include any reference to equality as precondition to dialogue. The JWB supports Israeli war crime against the Palestinian people and is complicit in these war crimes (please see our positions which were reported by JWB:

(http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Aug03/archives03Aug01-01.html) and (http://www.jewishindependent.ca/archives/Nov02/archives02Nov29-22.html)

I would like to re-state, for the record, the preconditions for any successful dialogue amongst Palestinians and Israelis, which might lead to fruitful results and help the process of forgiveness, healing and coexistence. In addition to agreeing to the obvious, that the 37 year old Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Jerusalem should be terminated completely and unconditionally, the following are essential for any future dialogue.

1. Recognizing the injustice that befell the Palestinian people in 1947/48 where over 400 Palestinian villages and towns were wiped off the map of the world and where over 75 percent of the Palestinian people became refugees. Without recognizing “the original sin against the native Arabs”, as the Israeli author Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi put it in his book Original Sins:Reflections on the History of Zionism and Israel, THERE CAN BE NO DIALOGUE.

2. As long as there is no agreement on a coordinated and vocal opposition to the racist laws, where discrimination between Jew and non Jew is institutionalized in Israeli society, there is no basis for any fruitful dialogue. An example of this is the Israeli law of return which applies to any Jew (Israeli or not) while the same law does NOT apply to Palestinians with Israeli citizenship because they are Muslims or Christians (they are not from the “chosen people”). Without recognizing the racist dimension of such laws and having the commitment of all to reverse them, THERE CAN BE NO DIALOGUE.

3. As long as 93 per cent of the land in Israel is controlled by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) and as the Israeli scholar Uri Davis said, “is reserved under law for Jewish citizens only. If the apartheid distinction in South Africa was between white and non-white, the apartheid distinction in Israel is between Jew and non-Jew”. Without recognizing the injustice of these Israeli apartheid land policies THERE CAN BE NO DIALOGUE.

4. Israeli-born Adam Keller from Gush Shalom in his recent trip to Canada stated “The demand of Palestinian refugees to come back to where they lived in Israel before 1948 is a morally justified demand. (One would think) the first to sympathize with this would be a Zionist. ” The Palestinian Right of Return should be recognized, and most objection to it is based solely on supremacist ideology that does not recognize the humanity of Palestinian Christians and Moslems. Without this recognition of this sacred collective and individual “Right of Return”, THERE CAN BE NO DIALOGUE.

Finally, any dialogue held without recognizing these basic conditions, no matter how well-intentioned, is just a sham and serves the PR interests of the more powerful side in the conflict (i.e. Israel). This inescapable outcome explains the reservations most Palestinians have towards projects like the “peace camp”. True dialogue can be easily conducted if there is recognition on both sides that we are all human beings with equal rights and obligations. If one side believes that they are a superior race and they are doing it as a charity act or as an insurance policy or as a tactic till objective conditions change, then THERE CAN BE NO DIALOGUE, NO JUSTICE AND CERTAINLY NO HEALING, NO RECONCILIATION AND NO PEACE.

Yours truly,
Hanna Kawas
Chair, Canada Palestine Association: https://cpavancouver.org
Host, Voice of Palestine: http://www.voiceofpalestine.ca

By Gary Keenan

Letters editor, The Vancouver Sun
Dear editor:

Re: Guest Editorial, “In the global war, Islam isn’t the enemy; Islamism is,” Sept. 3.

The Ottawa Citizen guest editorial’s contention that al-Qaida hates the U.S. “because of what it is – namely, a capitalist democracy that embraces religious freedom, women’s rights and MTV” rather than “because of its foreign policy” was rejected by the U.S.
Senate’s 9/11 Commission.

In its recently released report the commission declares that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the “mastermind of the 9/11 attacks” and concludes that his “animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel.”

Yours sincerely,
Gary D. Keenan

By Hanna Kawas

Dear Mr. Holota:

In an editorial on April 23, 2003 in the Surrey/North Delta Leader, under the title ‘What didn’t happen’, you wrote: “Well, there it is then. Nothing left to do in Iraq but rebuild the country, unify diametrically opposed sects of Muslims, create a democracy instead of a fundamentalist theocracy, convince the Kurds they don’t want their own country, convince Syria to show Hezbollah the door, and make peace between Israel and Palestine.” … “If one still believes the anti-American peaceniks and bad-news-is-best television pundits, it’ll never happen.”

When I originally read your article, I could not believe how many distortions, fabrications and false statements could be included in one short editorial. I was tempted to refute all your statements then, but I held back so as not to be accused of being emotional and one sided. Furthermore, people in the peace movement realized even then that less than one year would be enough to expose the truth.

I held onto your editorial hoping after the passing of a year, you would be honest with yourself, your readers and with those whom you attacked unfairly. But NO, not a single word about the new Vietnam, the loss of human life (American and Iraqi), not a single word about the ramifications of this war and the new realities on the ground.

Mr. Holota, your article was totally wrong, misleading and racist. Wrong, because the U.S. is not rebuilding Iraq nor creating a democracy, Iraq is now closer than ever to a fundamentalist theocracy, thanks to the U.S. Though it is true that “diametrically opposed sects of Muslims” are unified, it is currently only in opposition to the U.S./U.K. occupation. Misleading, because Syria cannot show Hezbollah the door. Hezbollah is a Lebanese grass roots resistance movement that showed Israel the door; it also has representatives in the Lebanese Parliament. Racist, because you cannot determine the destiny of any people — the Kurds will determine their own destiny and NO outside force will stop their quest for self-determination.

You continued on with your “political analysis” to inform the ordinary people in Surrey, Delta and beyond (many other community papers published your April 2003 diatribe) by saying that “the Iraq war… should go down in history as the one most notable for what never happened”.

You did correctly list a few things that did not happen. “The Iraqis didn’t use weapons of mass destruction against the coalition forces. Saddam Hussein didn’t fire missiles into Israel.” However, these were never the predictions of the peace movement but rather the predictions of the US/UK “intelligence” which has been proven woefully wrong about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction WMD. You continued your gloating about what “never happened” by stating – “Baghdad did not become a quagmire of urban warfare.” I don’t need to even comment on that prediction.Then you went on a rampage against what you called the CBC-worshipping crowd and informed us “what else won’t occur”: “Iraq won’t descend into anarchy, despite the best efforts of some of its people to put it there.”…”American forces will not occupy the country for ever.”

And then you concluded by saying, “To the chagrin of the Chicken Littles, here are some of the key things that did happen….The U.S. is now helping the Iraqis regroup and rebuild, just as promised.” Have you seen Fallujah lately?

Here are some of the things that have actually happened, none of which you correctly predicted or you are now talking about.

An increase in violence against and resistance to the American imperial project and its allies all over the world – from the Philippines/Malaysia in the East to Spain and Morocco in the West.

The violation of Iraqi human rights occurring on all levels with the torture of Iraqi prisoners by US/UK forces being just one example.

The U. S. administration’s deception and cover up about WMD and the “war on terror”.

The institutionalized racism against refugees and Arab and Moslem citizens in Canada and the U.S.

The disastrous effects of this war on the U.S. and Canadian economies and its manifestations on the American and Canadian people.

The escalation of hatred against the U.S. due to the war in Iraq and the U.S. support for Israeli war crimes against the Palestinians. Do you think Mr. Bush and his government are still wondering, “Why do other people hate us?”

The Palestinian Intifada (uprising) forcing the Israeli war criminal and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to seek a hasty retreat from the Gaza Strip.

And finally, oil resources are less secure than ever and oil prices are at a record high. And just to set the record straight:

Hezbollah is still in Lebanon; no-one showed them the door. There is no peace in Palestine/Israel. Nobody convinced the Kurds they should not have their own country.

Mr. Holota:

While I was waiting for an editorial from you to admit your ignorance and distortions, I saw your new editorial “HEU Strike Biting the hands that feed” (April 28, 2004). I realized from what you wrote that you would never admit nor recognize that you were wrong on the U.S. aggression on Iraq. You are serving the hand that feeds you, that is big business and their representatives in Victoria and the U.S. Both domestically and globally, your editorials are not meant to reflect accuracy but rather to serve a very specific political agenda.

It is a cheap shot when you say that the union is “holding sick people hostage” and that the union struggle for better wages and working conditions is “most reprehensible”. It is the government in Victoria who are holding most British Colombians (including sick and poor people) hostages. It is your dishonest positions and motivations that are the most reprehensible. I leave you to your conscience (if you have any left) and to the intelligence of the public that will decide on your future.

Hanna Kawas
Member, Stopwar.ca: www.stopwar.ca
Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association: www.cpavancouver.org

By Gary Keenan

Dear editor,

Kudos to columnist Brian Peterson for his insightful and much needed column regarding Israel’s construction of an apartheid fence or wall around the occupied Palestinian West Bank.

Apart from inspiring increased armed resistance, including terrorism, by illegally encroaching on more Palestinian land and water resources, the fence also demonstrates the utter bankruptcy of Zionism.

It is now 107 years since Theodor Herzl et al. held the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland and 55 years since the first mass expulsion of Palestinians and the creation of Israel. After all the suffering it has brought to the Middle East and the hundreds of billions of dollars expended on its behalf, all Zionism can offer Jews is another ghetto. How bitterly ironic.

Yours Sincerely,
Gary D. Keenan

By Gary Keenan, published in the Vancouver Sun, Tuesday, September 23, 2003 in reply to “Forget about peace until Arafat and Sharon are out of the way, Norman Spector, September 19th, 2003.”

Arafat’s fate should rest in Palestinian hands

Columnist Norman Spector neglected to mention the extremely important fact that Yasser Arafat is the democratically elected leader of Palestinians in the occupied territories.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have no right whatsoever to insist that Mr. Arafat be removed from power, especially when it is obvious he enjoys the overwhelming support of Palestinians.

The real reason Messrs. Bush and Sharon want Mr. Arafat replaced is his refusal, as demonstrated at Camp David in 2000, to betray his people by accepting a deal that does not meet the minimum requirements of international law. Nor will Mr. Arafat precipitate a civil war in the occupied territories by ordering the disarmament of Hamas and other militant groups.

The only solution is Israel’s full withdrawal from all lands it occupied in 1967. The vast majority of Palestinians are willing to sign a peace treaty in exchange for a viable state comprising a mere 22 percent of their original homeland. With plummeting immigration and increasing emigration of Jews, Israel should accept this generous offer before it is too late. Time and demographics favour the Palestinians.