“Feedback on Evil Brain’s Wall”, letter to the editor of The Westender

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

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. The Foreign Enlistment Act, 1967 was enacted after the start of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. My brother was jailed, I believe, under that act because he went to Spain in 1936 in support of a duly elected democratic government. Why has your government not applied this act to the 278 Canadians enlisted in a foreign army?

I quote here from my information about the Act, which I feel is relevant. Your staff can verify.

“2. (d) “Illegally enlisted person” means a person who has accepted or agreed to accept any commission or engagement, or who is about to quit Canada with the intent to accept any commission or engagement, or has been induced to go on board a conveyance under a misapprehension or false representation of the service in which such a person is to be engaged with the intention or in order that such person may accept or agree to accept any commission or engagement contrary to the provisions of this Act;

“5. If any person induces (emphasis mine) any other person to quit Canada, or to go on board any conveyance within Canada under misrepresentation or false representation of the service in which such a person is to be engaged, with the intent or in order that such person may accept or agree to accept any commission or engagement in the armed forces of any foreign state at war with a friendly state, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.”

The English language is famous for allowing multiple interpretations of a document. I cannot believe, however, your government would resort to such a tactic to defend an army clearly in defiance of United Nations resolutions and International Law. You have the power to stop this injustice and order those Canadian citizens to return home.

We will Cc this letter to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and others.

John and Elizabeth Beeching

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. Nest is a well known advocate of hard-line Zionism, which discriminates against the Palestinian people inside and outside Israel. When he was the Executive Director of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region in 1987, he tried to “muffle” the Voice of Palestine on Coop Radio 102.7 FM, the community radio station in Vancouver (see www.voiceofpalestine.ca under history, Province Article). He also sent an official letter of complaint to the CRTC. All of his allegations were baseless, and the proof is that Voice of Palestine is still on the air and celebrated its 16th anniversary just this month.

To build united communities, the city should look for people (from all faiths) who promote understanding, peace with justice and treat all fellow humans as equals.

If you are interested in people that promote such concepts (again from all faiths), we can supply you with many names.

We think it is offensive and outrageous to have a Zionist that advocates and supports Israeli racism and war crimes against the Palestinian people as a chair for a committee on cultural communities. We fail to comprehend how the presence of such a person on any city committee “promotes cultural sensitivity” and we feel you may not realize the immediate alienation this appointment invokes amongst many Arab and Moslem Vancouverites.

We, along with many peace-loving Canadians including Jewish Canadians, oppose Israeli apartheid practices and all those who support them, because they contribute to prolonging the suffering of the Palestinian and Arab people and also because they stand as an obstacle to a just peace in the Middle East.

If you want to know why we strongly oppose dealing, dialoging or associating with such representatives, please see our website www.cpavancouver.org ,follow “statements” and check the following two articles: CJC Chair misleads the public, and Is it Liberalism or Normalization?

We regret that a progressive city council, such as yours, still has Mr. Nest as an advisor. We are sure that council would be outraged if an advocate of South African Apartheid or any other kind of racist proponent was in any capacity associated with Vancouver. We urge you and council to reconsider the appointment of Mr. Nest, and to take into account the chilling effect his appointment has on other cultural communities.

Yours truly,
Hanna Kawas
Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association
Host, Voice of Palestine, Vancouver
C.C. Heather Deal Chair, Vancouver Board of Parks & Recreation