December 23, 2006

Mr. Prime Minister,

I am writing to object to your ignorant and slanderous comments about  two resistance and political organizations which for years have been struggling against the aggressive, criminal policies and actions of the state of Israel toward their people.

You clearly have chosen not to inform yourself of the truth of the situation of the Palestinians and Lebanese under the boot of the aggressive, militaristic apartheid  regime of Israel. At this point I hasten to tell you I am a Jew with a long history of participation in Zionist movements and the institutional Jewish community. I have lived in and visited Israel many times and in the last three years have visited the occupied Palestinian territories of The West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

I will not list the many crimes Israel has committed since before its establishment in 1948 starting with the massacre of over one  hundred  Palestinian civilians in Deir Yassin, a Palestinian village which had signed a peace agreement with it Jewish neighbours. Many Israeli Jewish scholars have written books detailing the innumerable crimes Israel committeed and continues to commit against the Palestinians. The history of Zionism and Israel is littered with slanderous lies against the Palestinian people, their organizations and Arabs in an attempt to throw the blame on the true victims. It is Israel which has constructed an apartheid state both within the state of Israel and even more egregiously in the occupied territories of the West Bank , Gaza and East Jerusalem. It is Israel which is engaging in genocide and ethnic cleansing of the people of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Hizbollah and Hamas came into being in response to Israel's aggressions and the lack of will of the world to force Israel to force Israel to adhere to the many many UN resolutions which it has routinely ignored. Though the two organizations, particularly Hamas, have been guilty of  killing civilians, their crimes pale in comparison to Israel's. For one thing those killings are of individuals and in no way threaten the existence of Israel while Israel's killings are part of a deliberate policy and of destroying the whole fabric of Palestinian society, of genocide. It is about time you read something other than the propaganda produced by the Canadian Jewish Congress, B'nai Brith and that sick excuse for a human being, Alan Dershowitz, the plagiarist.

Canada deserves a prime minister who uses his intelligence instead of abusing the intelligence of others.

Judith Weisman
Toronto, Ontario

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Christmas Message to the Prime Minister of Canada

From: Hanna Kawas, a Bethlehemite and a descendant of the First Christians

Mr. Stephen Harper

I am a Christian Palestinian who, like the rest of my people, has been denied by your friends in Israel for the past thirty-nine years to go back home and live in my hometown Bethlehem (where we still have our own property).

• My family, relatives, friends and the whole population of Bethlehem are enduring the most repressive and discriminatory regime the town has ever experienced and that includes the hated Roman (western) occupation of the city 2000 years ago.
• A 25 ft. high concrete wall, in addition to the military check points, are putting the population of the city behind an iron curtain and rendering the city an open prison, similar to what successive Israeli governments have done to the rest of the Palestinian villages, towns and cities.
• Unemployment in Bethlehem is over sixty-five percent.

• Between the years 2000 and 2004, 357 Christian Palestinian families (10 per cent of the Christian population) emigrated from Bethlehem alone, due to the Israeli economic and repressive military measures.
• Freedom of movement, freedom of association, freedom to work and freedom to worship are all curbed by the thirty-nine years of Israeli occupation.
• Theft of the land from Bethlehem and its adjacent towns and villages has been taking place at an increasing pace.

All this and more about the desperate situation of the Palestinian people can be learned and obtained from your representatives in Israel and is wildly available on the Internet.

Mr. Harper:

I am writing to you to make you aware of all these facts. I thought you might not know all this information, and you might open your heart and mind to the suffering of my people. So you will not say in the future that you did not know.

Your unconditional support for Israeli occupation, apartheid and war crimes is “ultimately genocidal” (to borrow your phrase).

Israeli occupation and repression of the Palestinian nation and people is genocidal. The Israeli war against Lebanon last summer, the dropping of four million cluster bomblets and your support for that war is all also genocidal.

The Prime Minister of Israel was quoted recently as saying:

“ One of the best friends in Canada is also the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Harper.  Canada has been absolutely incredible, friendly and supportive to us since the first day that Mr. Harper took over as Prime Minister.  And I request, I ask, on behalf of my government, Gerry (Schwartz), that when you will talk to the Prime Minister of Canada, tell him that we thank him for his friendship, and that we thank Canada for its support, for the soldiers of Israel, for the fighters of Israel and for the people of Israel,” [Source]

The first believers in Jesus Christ, his people, his descendents and the guardians of the holy places are not celebrating his birthday this year. They are starving, thanks to yours and George Bush's support for their oppressors and cutting Canadian and U.S. aid to the besieged Palestinian people and nation. Even President Jimmy Carter called your action “a crime.”

Mr Harper:

On this Christmas day, I, in good conscience, cannot wish you a merry Christmas, while you are in solidarity with the people who are trying to ethnically cleanse the Holy Land of the descendants of the first Christians. Since you and Mr. Bush claim to be Christians, I would like to remind both of you and your rich friends all over the world with the following quote from the Bible.

"It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" ( Matthew 19:24 ).

Hanna Kawas

Chairperson, Canada Palestine Association – Vancouver www.cpavancouver.org

Host, Voice of Palestine www.voiceofpalestine.ca

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Dear Prime Minister:

If Hamas is `genocidal', as you allegedly state in a CTV interview,
then what does that make the lethal US-Israeli war machine that has
wreaked havoc in the Middle East for decades?

If deeds were words, then by any measure Israel's actions come closer
to approaching the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial,
ethnic or political group. (If you doubt this assertion, I urge you to
watch a broadcast of the documentary Bil'in, My Love, scheduled to be
broadcast on TVO's Human Edge program, Wednesday, January 3 at 1:15
A.M. The film, made by an Israeli, shows Israelis and members of the
International community demonstrating with Palestinian villagers
against the construction of the infamous "security wall").

I regret having to say this, sir, but your comments reflect a lack of
responsible understanding of the tragic history of this region.

Veteran war correspondent Robert Fisk of the London Independent
newspaper might well have captured the essence of your position when,
in his keynote address at the sixth annual convention of the Muslim
Public Affairs Council, he stated: 

"Do we in fact really understand the extent of injustice in the Middle
East? When I finished writing my new book [The Great War for
Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East], I realized how amazed
I was that after the past 90 years of injustice, betrayal, slaughter,
terror, torture, secret policemen and dictators, how restrained
Muslims had been towards the West, because I don't think we Westerners
care about Muslims. I don't think we care about Muslim Arabs."

In my opinion, your recent comments do not help to advance the cause
of peace and justice in the Middle East for both sides.

Frank White
Windsor, ON

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Dear Mr. Dion:

I have just received your letter requesting a contribution to the Liberal party in preparation for the election.  I am most anxious for the defeat of the Conservatives especially in light of Mr. Harper's  latest pronouncement that Hamas and Hezbollah are genocidal and that he will not talk to them. 

However, I am not inclined to give my hard earned money to a party that will not speak out against Israel's violations of International law and human rights.   I will contribute to the Liberal party when I hear a statement from you condeming Israel's ongoing theft of Palestinian land, the imprisonment of elected members of the Palestinian authority, restriction of movement of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, etc. etc.

My campaign contributions will go directly to the campaign offices of MPs that speak out against Israeli agression.

Yours truly,

Linda Belanger

Ottawa, Ontario