Archived Articles for April 2006
April 29, 2006
SUSAN HOWARD-AZZEH VS THE ST CATHARINES STANDARD - ACCUSATION OF ANTI-SEMITISM USED TO SILENCE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL
Friends of Susan Howard-Azzeh and the Niagara Palestinian Association call upon your help to restore the good name of long-time human rights activist, Susan Howard-Azzeh after she was falsely portrayed as an anti-Semite & holocaust denier in the St. Catharines Standard, April 20, 2002. This case is ongoing. At the time, the newspaper was owned by Izzy Asper's CanWest Global Holdings. (The Izzy Aspers are well known for their staunchly pro-Israel Zionist ideology.) Mrs. Howard-Azzeh's reputation was destroyed and a promised fulltime executive position was lost as a result.
Montreal Planet - Canada's Pro-Israel Lobby: Criticism Causes Terrorism
I kid you not. In a fairly transparent ploy, the pro-Israel lobby is trying to bring pressure on the government to silence Canadian's criticism of Israel's actions and to also provide financing for their private security above and beyond what the RCMP and local police provide to all of us.
TorStar - Palestinian crisis looms
Palestinians are "taken aback" that Canada has fallen in step with the Bush administration and cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority following the election of Hamas, says prominent Palestinian human rights activist Hanan Ashrawi.
LISTEN TO INTERVIEW WITH HANAN ASHRAWI ON CBC's "THE CURRENT".
April 27, 2006
Chicago Sunday Times - Palestinian Christians suffer, too
ABOUD, West Bank -- On Good Friday, I stood atop the remnant of the Santa Barbara shrine, destroyed by the Israeli army, and observed the picturesque village of Aboud. I could see properties confiscated to make room for the Israeli security wall, at the cost of centuries-old olive trees. Nearby are two enclosed, heavily guarded Israeli settlements, with four times Aboud's Palestinian population.
PCHR - Punishing the Victim
Canada and the United States of America (USA), followed by the European Union and Japan, have suspended their financial aid to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).....
This paper outlines the position of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) regarding these rapid developments, which will have severe repercussions in the upcoming period on humanitarian and living conditions for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). The paper expresses PCHR's dissatisfaction and disappointment at the double standards displayed by the afore-mentioned members of the international community, as well as their politicization of international law in order to employ it according to narrow interests and certain political considerations.
April 24, 2006
Torstar - Refugee raised family, lived here for two decades
Supporters of a local Palestinian activist are protesting a deportation order issued by Canadian authorities that calls for his imminent expulsion from the country.
Mississauga News - Family man fights to remain in Canada
Efforts to deport a 50-year-old Mississauga man for alleged ties to a
terrorist group intensified yesterday when the federal government ordered him to turn in his travel documents and landed immigrant papers.
Support continues to grow for Issam Al Yamani, a married father of two and executive director of Mississauga's Palestine House, a cultural and educational centre for the city's Palestinian community.
SIGN THE PETITION TO STOP THE DEPORTATION OF ISSAM AL YAMANI.
Vancouver Palestinian Community Centre - Picket against the JNF and Solidarity Message from Uri Davis
The Palestine Community Centre held a successful picket today against the Jewish National Fund (JNF) Negev Dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Vancouver, Canada.
April 23, 2006
SF Chronicle - Israel Preparing to Retake Gaza Strip
In a growing barrage of Israeli pressure against Hamas, a senior military commander said Israel is actively preparing to reoccupy the Gaza Strip and a powerful lawmaker said the entire Palestinian Cabinet could be targeted for assassination after the appointment of a wanted militant to head a new security force.
Felton - Globe resorts to disreputable ‘Dershowitz defence'
On March 29, The Coalition of Arab Canadian Professionals and Community Associations (CAPCA) served the Globe and Mail editorial board and publisher with a petition signed by itself and numerous individuals and associations. ..... After much delay Deputy Editor Sylvia Stead replied on behalf of the Globe ; unfortunately the response did not address the substance of the complaint or respect the intent of the petitioners.
April 21, 2006
Bahour* - Innocence killing innocence
The statement said, “The burden of responsibility for preventing terrorist attacks such as this one rests with the Palestinian Authority (PA).” The sentence, I'd bet verbatim, has been repeated dozens of times in past White House press releases every time a Palestinian perpetrates an act of violence against Israelis. No link is made between this unachievable demand from the Palestinian Authority and the international sanctions the U.S. is leading to collapse this very same Authority.
(Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian city of El-Bireh, the sister city of Ramallah.)
Shihadeh - The “amazing” Abu-Mazen
It did not take long after the Tel-Aviv operation by Al-Jihad, when Abu-Mazen appeared on the world media to condemn the Palestinian operation in the strongest possible terms and even calling it “a despicable act” that would jeopardize the higher interests of the Palestinians.
A few hours before the operation hoards of Israeli tanks attacked several West Bank cities, blasting homes and people, targeting anything that moved..... Before this latest attack, frequent unprovoked Israeli bombings of Palestinian civilians in Northern Gaza were taking place without targeting any military installations.
April 20, 2006
Al-Ahram - Commentary: Peace can only be the fruit of justice
Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Ismail Haniyeh outlines the basis for comprehensive peace...
As result of that wanton injustice, we find ourselves today as prisoners in our own homeland, enslaved and tormented by an illegal and immoral occupier who is treating our people as children of a lesser God, or even as if we were animals.
Alison Weir* - Least we forget
In the last two and a half weeks (since the previous suicide bombing) Israeli forces have killed at least 26 Palestinians -- at least 5 of them children -- and injured 161 Palestinian men, women and children. A college student lost her right eye today after being shot by an Israeli sniper last week.
There have been 369 raids by Israeli forces, mostly into the West Bank. Gaza has undergone sustained shelling by Israeli forces and continued closures, resulting in increasing lack of food and medical supplies. According to UN reports, between March 30 and April 12th, Israeli forces launched 2300 artillery and tank shells and 34 missiles into Gaza.
(Alison Weir is a journalist and founder of If American Knew.)
Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel - Roger Waters Refuses to be Another Brick in Israel's Wall
Ramallah -- Reiterating his opposition to the Israeli occupation and expressing his support for the Palestinian people in “their struggle to be free,” the internationally renowned rock star Roger Waters has announced that he is relocating his Israel performance in recognition of the problematic nature of the previously planned Tel Aviv venue, particularly at a time when Israel is escalating its repression and apartheid designs to further dispossess, ghettoize and ultimately ethnically cleanse Palestinians from their homeland.
April 19, 2006
Yahoo News - Canada condemns 'senseless, brutal' Tel Aviv attack
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay condemned as "senseless" the Tel Aviv suicide attack which killed at least nine people, and called on the Palestinian government to "live up to its responsibility to prevent terrorism."
(CPNO commentary - Having been the first Foreign Minister of a western nation to cut off funding to the Palestinian Authority, MacKay now fulminates on its' inability to police the occupation of it's own people.)
April 12, 2006
ACTION ALERT - Canada seeks to deport Palestinian refugee after 20 years, 2 Canadian born children
Canadian authorities recently issued a deportation order on Issam, asking him to leave Canada on Thursday, 20 April 2006. The deportation of Issam Al-Yamani is the most recent example of attempts to silence and deport Palestinian refugees in Canada. Issam has lived peacefully in Canada for over 20 years. All those who know him attest to his tireless efforts on behalf of the Palestinian and Arab community in Mississauga and Toronto. Issam graduated from York University and he has two Canadian born children currently attending high school and university.
Torstar - Cash freeze to Hamas called `stab in the back'
"Let's face it, this was simply a symbolic decision, because Canada is not a major donor when it comes to the Palestinian Authority," he told the Toronto Star . "So what did it prove? That Canada is tough? The only purpose this decision served is to weaken the people's faith in Canada as a calm, balanced voice in this conflict."
IMEMC - Israeli Army storms the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Church in Jerusalem
Israeli armed police force and intelligence officers broke into the Greek Orthodox Patriarch's headquarters in the Old city of Jerusalem, Tuesday morning.
The soldiers targeted Archbishop Atallah Hanna's house, and delivered a military notice from the Intelligence Bureau, ordering Hanna to report to Al-Maskobiya detention center west of the city for interrogation.
The Patriarch, in an urgent statement, pointed out that this event is a dangerous development which shows that the Israeli authorities are engaging in harassment and provocation of the Christian churches and their leadership.
Haaretz - IDF to continue shelling despite civilian deaths
A 12-year-old Palestinian girl was killed yesterday by Israeli shelling in the Gaza Strip. Thirteen other members of her family, including toddlers, children and teenagers were injured. Nonetheless, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer last night told Haaretz that the widespread shelling of Gaza would continue.
April 10, 2006
Elmasry - Why Israeli Apartheid and South African Apartheid are so similar
"Israel is rapidly constructing a parallel network of West Bank roads for Palestinians, who are barred from using the many existing (and superior) routes reserved for Jews only. B'Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, describes this system as bearing clear similarities to Apartheid's exclusionary and isolating alternate road system that existed in racist South Africa."
York U Excalibur - Student wins right to sue
York University president Lorna Marsden can be sued by a student for malfeasance in public office according to a Court of Appeal ruling which reversed a previous court decision. ...
Freeman-Maloy was suspended from the campus for three years in April 2004 because of his use of a megaphone in Vari Hall during protests against Israeli Middle East policies. His suspension was eventually rejected by the court in July of last year, but Freeman-Maloy subsequently launched an $850,000 lawsuit against Marsden, York University and its Board of Governors (BOG).
April 6, 2006
Michael Neumann - The Israel Lobby and Beyond
Just imagine if the US stopped backing Israel and gave even moderate support to the Palestinians. Suddenly Islam and America would be on the same side. The war on terror would become a cakewalk. The credibility of American democracy would skyrocket in the Middle East. And it would all be a hell of a lot cheaper. This seems a tad more important than which Jewish neocon said what to whom.
April 4, 2006
Torstar - We stand on guard for the powerful over the weak
We now know where the Harper government stands on the Arab-Israeli issue: squarely with Israel and the United States.
Early this month, Canada was the only nation to join the U.S. in voting against a resolution on Palestinian rights at the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Now it has become the first nation after Israel to cut off contacts with and aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.
Haaretz - UN aid workers - Gaza on verge of disaster
In the last two months, as a protest against the Hamas government, Israel has been withholding the transfer of some NIS 200 million a month in tax funds to the Palestinian Authority, and the United States and several other countries have frozen monthly financial aid payments coming to some $45 million.
April 1, 2006
Torstar - Israeli Unilateralism won't produce peace
The Israeli rationale for unilateral action is said to be based on the notion, repeated ad nauseam , that Israel does not have a negotiating partner. In fact, President Mahmoud Abbas, who secured a ceasefire last year, has been begging for negotiations, only to be spurned (which, in turn, helped the militant Hamas win the Palestinian election).
Dutch Delagation Statement - Church Action for Peace in Palestine and Israel
It surprises us a lot that the Israeli government can continue illegal measures unhindered . The Palestinian Authority does not have the means and the mandate to bring these measures to an end and to provide protection to the Palestinian civilian population. Therefore, we do not understand why the international community does not stop the colonization of Palestinian land and the dehumanisation and suppression of the Palestinian population. Specifically, we were surprised about the absence of international criticism in response to the Israeli raid in Jericho, which took place during our journey.
Guardian (UK)- A just peace or no peace
(Article by Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh)
The problem is not with any particular Palestinian group but with the denial of our basic rights by Israel. We in Hamas are for peace and want to put an end to bloodshed. We have been observing a unilateral truce for more than a year without reciprocity from the Israeli side. The message from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority to the world powers is this: talk to us no more about recognising Israel's "right to exist" or ending resistance until you obtain a commitment from the Israelis to withdraw from our land and recognise our rights.
