The Historical Context of the Palestinian Maps: Fact and Fiction

Speaker: Dr. Hani Faris
Adjunct Professor, UBC Department of Political… Read more

Speaker: Dr. Hani Faris
Adjunct Professor, UBC Department of Political Science

Friday, January 24, 2014, 7:00pm
Rm. 1700, SFU Harbour Centre
515 West Hastings St.

In fall 2013, the Palestine Awareness Coalition posted four maps on Vancouver`s TransLink buses and SkyTrain stations entitled Disappearing Palestine. This ad campaign received wide attention & media coverage at both the provincial & national levels.

The Zionist organization StandWithUs attacked the maps and the Coalition, called on Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) to remove the ads &, together with other Israel lobby groups, threatened to take the Coalition & TransLink, Vancouver’s public transportation authority, to court. When threats did not work, StandWithUs ended up initiating a counter ad featuring three maps.

Dr. Hani Faris, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, President of the independent American think tank Trans Arab Research Institute (TARI), & internationally recognized expert on the Palestine-Israel conflict will comment on the historical context of the maps.

Questions? Please contact palestineawarenesscoalition@gmail.com. Sponsored by the Palestine Awareness Coalition. Endorsed by Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Building Bridges Vancouver, Canada Palestine Association, Independent Jewish Voices – Vancouver, Seriously Free Speech Committee
Facebook Event
See Video of the event

Mr. Baird: Stop Slandering Richard Falk

Dec. 20, 2013
Open letter to John Baird, Canadian Foreign Minister
Mr. Baird:… Read more

Dec. 20, 2013
Open letter to John Baird, Canadian Foreign Minister
Mr. Baird:
Your latest call for the removal of Richard Falk, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, smacks of hypocrisy and racism; it also exposes your (and your government’s) blind support for Israeli war crimes and Apartheid.
While your government officially claims that “Canada does not recognize permanent Israeli control over territories occupied in 1967 (the Golan Heights, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip)”, you are nonetheless supporting not only settlement building but also settlement products that are not exempt under the “Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement (CIFTA)”. You, your Prime Minister and your government also support unconditionally the discriminatory policies of the “Jewish National Fund” (JNF), which is financing illegal Israeli settlements and the infamous Canada Park that is built on the rubble of three Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank. By doing so, you are violating the Fourth Geneva Conventions to which Canada is a signatory.
Your comments not only “undermine the fundamental values of the United Nations”, they also deny the terrible suffering and the slow genocide of the Palestinian people since the Zionist ethnic cleansing started in 1947/48. Recently, your spokesperson Rick Roth dismissed the new mini-genocide, the “Prawer Plan” which the Israeli government is planning for the Bedouin Israelis, as an “internal Israeli matter”.
You called for Prof. Falk to be fired “for his numerous outrageous and anti-Semitic statements”. However, it is your statement that is outrageous and libellous considering that he is a Jewish international law scholar that fought all his life for the truth, justice, equality and peace (contrary to what your government stands for). Once again it is you Mr. Baird that is promoting anti-Semitism by claiming that everything Israel does falls on the shoulders of all Jews. We asked you previously, clearly to no avail: “Mr. Baird: Don’t Equate Zionism with Judaism”‏.
Stop taking your marching orders from Tel Aviv and start, if you care for your dignity and humanity, listening to the vast majority of Canadians who yearn for peace and justice.
Hanna Kawas,
Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association

DON’T BUY SODASTREAM! Protest in front of London Drugs

Sodastream Boycott Campaigns are growing around the world, an attempt … Read more

Sodastream Boycott Campaigns are growing around the world, an attempt to pressure Israel to obey international law and respect Palestinian human rights. Here in Vancouver we are asking London Drugs to remove these products from their shelves. Our next protest will be:

SATURDAY DECEMBER 21, 2-3 P.M.
In front of LONDON DRUGS, 525 W Broadway, Vancouver
BROADWAY JUST WEST OF CAMBIE

Solidarity Notes Labour Choir will be singing

Join Facebook event

SodaStream is an Israeli company whose main factory is situated in the West Bank near the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim, under conditions of military occupation, outside the internationally recognized borders of Israel. Israeli companies operating in the West Bank enjoy cheap land and water confiscated from the indigenous Palestinian owners; a captive Palestinian labour force under severe restrictions of movement and organization; vast tax incentives; and lax regulation of labour and environmental protection laws.

The International Court of Justice, the U.N. General Assembly, and the UN Security council all agree that Israel is occupying the West Bank in violation of international law that forbids the colonization of occupied land by citizens of the occupying power. Despite all the talk of peace negotiations, construction of new homes in these illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank jumped by 70% in the first half of 2013 over the same period in 2012. These homes are built for the exclusive use of Jews.

This demonstration is part of the Canada-wide SodaStream boycott campaign of the Canadian Boycott Coalition for Justice in Palestine and Israel. The primary strategy of the coalition is to support the member groups in their efforts to call for boycotts of goods produced in Israeli settlements (colonies) in the occupied West Bank. For more info, see: Canadian Boycott Coalition for Justice in Palestine/Israel. To join the coalition, contact Tyler@ijvcanada.org

The Vancouver event is endorsed by the Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, the Canada Palestine Association, the Canada-Palestinian Support Network, Independent Jewish Voices (Vancouver), and the United Network for a Just Peace in Palestine and Israel.

Videos from previous picket in front of LONDON DRUGS Nov 3, 2013: Boycott SodaStream – Vancouver Protest Nov 3 and Solidarity Notes Serenade SodaStream Display – Boycott Now!

Interview with Tyler Levitan from the Canadian Boycott Coalition on the campaign against Sodastream.

The Bankruptcy of the US Empire…and the PA

The Bankruptcy of the US Empire Displayed in a Keynote Address by US Secretary… Read more

The Bankruptcy of the US Empire Displayed in a Keynote Address by US Secretary of State John Kerry to the Saban Forum.
In the speech Dec. 7, 2013, Kerry described the US as “the honest broker”. However, in explaining his own record as just such an “honest broker”, he stated: “I have spent almost 30 years in the United States Senate, and I’m proud of my 100 percent voting record for Israel”.
He talked about Mandela’s legacy: “The world is mourning the loss of a great leader right now, Nelson Mandela. Mandela was a stranger to hate” but then went on to say that, “The only way to secure Israel’s long-term future and security will be achieved through direct negotiations that separate Palestinians and Israelis” (this is APARTHEID, Mr. Kerry). He also described Palestinian Israelis as a “demographic time bomb” and an “existential threat to Israel”.
And the Palestinian collaborators in Ramallah continue their futile journey to the abyss! In fact, their leader Mahmoud Abbas chose to declare in South Africa this week his opposition to the general boycott of Israel, even though it is similar to the boycott that brought down S. African Apartheid.
Hanna Kawas
Chair, Canada Palestine Association