October 11, 2000
OPPOSITION LEADER STOCKWELL DAY
FAX: 613-943-8727
Dear Mr. Day:
We were outraged at the “Alliance” statement issued in your name and
the name of the opposition Foreign Affairs critic Monte Solberg on Oct.
9, 2000, criticizing the Canadian Government for voting with UN
Security Council Resolution 1322. Resolution 1322 condemned the
“acts of violence, especially the excessive use of force against
Palestinians, resulting in injury and loss of human life” during the
last two weeks.
It seems to us, Mr. Day, that you see the situation through Israeli
goggles. We did not hear your concern about the many Israeli violations
of the “peace” agreements or breaking the many deadlines, the latest
being Sep.13, 2000. We did not hear your concern about the many Israeli
violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention as an occupying power. We
did not see your indignation at the refusal of Israel to implement the
hundreds of UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions for
the past 53 years, including resolutions 194 and 242.
It seems to us that ignorance of the situation is not behind such a
press release. Your Deputy Critic for Foreign Affairs, Mr.
Gurmant Grewal, visited Israel / Palestine and made balanced statements
about the plight of the Palestinian people. So if it is not ignorance,
then we have to conclude that it is electioneering. If this is so, it
is the most immoral kind of electioneering that has NO conscience.
Building empires on the skulls of innocent children and the
dispossession of a whole nation is not civilized, democratic, ethical
nor human.
Mr. Day, we agree with you: “Canada should avoid taking sides and
work toward peace.” However, this has not been the case beginning
with the 1947 partition plan, where Mr. Lester Pearson played an active
role in securing its passage. The Zionists called him the “Balfour of
Canada” for his efforts on their behalf. It is enough to look at
“Canada’s Position on Key Issues” issued by the Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade (Dec.1996) to realize that an Israeli
pen wrote this paper. The Oct. 3, 2000 “equating the victim with
victimizer” statement by the same department shows clearly where this
current government stands. Canada always supported Israel concretely
and only paid lip service to Palestinian human and national rights.
Mr. Day, the Palestinian people are sick and tired of unimplemented UN
resolutions, 1322 is yet another resolution which will become dusty on
the shelves of the UN. The Palestinian people are also sick and tired
of UN, US and Israeli empty promises and they are also sick and tired
of the many manufactured lies. They are sick and tired of being treated
as sub humans. And finally they are sick and tired of the hypocrisy of
the west led by Washington when it comes to implementing UN
resolutions. They are asking why UN resolutions against Israel are not
implemented with the same vigor and speed as they are implemented
against Iraq and Yugoslavia.
Mr. Day there will only be peace in the Middle East when a JUST
solution is reached that recognizes the historic injustices against the
Palestinian people, and not a solution that victimizes them more.
In the next federal election we will make sure to vote for a party with
a social justice agenda, and for a candidate with conscience and human
compassion, and not for a candidate who sells himself / herself to the
highest bidder.
Thank you for your consideration,
Truly yours
Hanna Kawas
Information Officer
Arab Palestine Association.
c.c. Prime Minister Jean Chrietien
Palestine representative to Canada
Dr. Baker Abdel Munem
Since you say you are a “Good Christian”, we enclose two statements by
Christian leaders in Palestine who know the historic facts and names.
1] Letter of Patriarch Michel Sabbah
about the actual situation
4-Oct-2000 -- EWTN Feature Story
To our brothers, sons and daughters, priests, religious, men and
women, and all our faithful.
Brothers and Sisters,
Peace upon you from God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Savior,
and may the love of the Holy Spirit fill your hearts and
minds. Amen.
We read in the Gospel of Saint Luke about some bloody
incidents which took place in the time of
our Lord Jesus Christ, as follows: "It was just
about this time that some people arrived and told him
about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of
their sacrifices. At this he said to them: Do you
suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than any others,
that this should have happened to them? They were not,
I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish
as they did" (Lk 13:1-3).
The lesson is clear: penitence will
save from bloodshed. Penitence means to see God and
all God's children; it means to imitate God in his
love and justice in all relations between
persons and peoples.
In light of this penitence, we see that the present events which
we experience in these days, invite us to raise our
prayers to God, and to ask him to enlighten the
minds of those who are responsible of our
government in this land, and to give also to us light and
strength to know how to chose and
to make our destiny as we want it to be, in this confused
and troubled world, where good is mingled with evil, and in which
justice is often lacking in our human society.
The painful and bloody events which
we are living today, following the provocation of
religious feelings in the Haram As- Sharif (the Noble Mosque)
tells one thing: the Palestinian people claims for life and freedom.
And he will have life and freedom, sooner or later. We hope
it will be sooner than later. Because violence cannot be
the guide of life in this Holy Land. Justice is the only
guide and symbol. It is high time for every leader in this land
to understand that. It is not
in vain that the situation came suddenly to this
explosion. Those young and old who are offering their
lives are not doing it to aggress anybody: they are only defending
their holy places, their freedom and
their life. Blood today is crying to God claiming for justice and human
dignity.
The only way of coming back to quiet times is to go back to
the peace talks, and to see how to go back to the situation which was
prevailing before 1967. The way of quieting the situation
is to understand that Holy Places cannot be
touched, and cannot be subject of any bargaining. To
dispose soldiers, military cars and even missiles will not bring
tranquillity and order, only justice will. And the way of justice was
already open in the peace talks, and was on the point to reach
its aim: it should be resumed. Enough
bloodshed. The people should be given his right to
life and to self-determination. The Palestinian State must be born and
have stability which allows it to reorganize its
own affairs, external and internal. The Holy
City should be the city of
reconciliation, after installing justice
in it: Palestinian Jerusalem should be the capital of
Palestine, as West Jerusalem the capital of Israel. And
above all that, it should remain the "holy city", and its
holiness protected and respected by its own governors, and by the
requirements which its sanctity imposes on the entire
international community. We call upon our political
leaders Palestinians and Israelis to continue their search
of a just peace, and we call upon the international community
to help both parties to reach what is just and right
according to the international legitimacy. We hope that the
leaders of this land, as well as the international
community, will understand that: then every one will
enjoy tranquility; all the region will have peace, security
and tranquility, as no injustice will
remain weighing upon the Palestinian people who has so far
suffered so much.
Brothers and sisters, for that we pray, and we call upon
you to pray and to contribute in reaching tranquil times, for
the glory of God and of man in this land which God has blessed.
We ask God Almighty to give you light and strength,
and to give all the leaders in this land light
and strength to do what is right and what is just. For all
we pray, for Palestinians and Israelis, for Christians,
Moslems and Jews, may God inspire
justice and reconciliation in the hearts and minds of all. Amen.
Jerusalem, 2 October 2000.
+ Michel Sabbah
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem
[2] Statement of Their Beatitudes
the Patriarchs and Heads of the Christian Communities in Jerusalem
Dated 30 September 2000
"With a resolute Christian faith that is
predicated upon the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ,
and which calls for love, forgiveness and
fellowship, We express our deep sorrow at the
painful events that occurred at the Haram al-Sharif on midday, 29
September 2000. We offer our sincerest condolences to the
whole Palestinian people in general and to the
bereaved families in particular, and denounce the
aggression on the sanctuary of a holy place in
Jerusalem. We consider that such a violation is
tantamount to a violation on any and all Christian
and Muslim holy sites, and affirm our solidarity with the
Palstinian people, Muslims and Christians alike, in
defending their fundamental rights of worship and prayer in
Jerusalem. In so doing, We also reject any
provocation against the feelings of
the faithful irrespective of its nature, shape or presence.
We re-affirm hereby our Christian position, as we have done time
and again in our previous statements, of the need to ensure
the freedom of movement, access, worship and prayer, as much
as the need to put an end to violations against
all holy places in Jerusalem. We call for the
implementation of all relevant and binding
resolutions that reflect the principles of international
legitimacy, and particularly those related to Jerusalem, in order to
secure a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for the peoples of all
the three monotheistic religions in the Holy Land.
'How wonderful it is, how pleasant, for God's
people to live together in harmony!' Ps 133:1"