PAJU Montreal Israeli consulate Chapter Indigo

PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) DEFEATS CONSULATE; MOVES VIGIL

Human rights group drives apartheid consulate from downtown, joins national boycott of Indigo/Chapters

Worn down by seven and a half years of weekly protests, the ‘apartheid consulate’ quietly slipped out of the CIBC office tower last week. Officially closed for now, it will eventually reopen in a new location that is less central, less visible to the public and ‘not as convenient for demonstrators’.

The consulate has been the target of protest vigils for the last 389 weeks.

The noon-time protests are for the most part the work of PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity), a Montreal-based human rights group. PAJU was formed almost eight years ago to denounce Israel’s brutal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

International law prohibits the conquest and colonization of territory and the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous inhabitants. Israel’s decade’s-old occupation has been guilty of all these crimes.
International law also condemns Israel’s apartheid system of control in the occupied territories. Israel has established separate roads and legal systems for Jews and Palestinians in the territories and created an occupation so oppressive that it is worse, in many ways, than South African apartheid.

PAJU members first gathered at the consulate on Feb. 9, 2001 and have returned every Friday since then, calling for the boycott of Israel, carrying anti-occupation signs and distributing information leaflets to passers-by.

The vigil attracted extensive media attention and local Zionists used every means possible to end the vigil: harassment, obstruction, threats, obscene insults, counter-demonstrations and even physical violence. All to no avail.

Now the battle is over: The Consulate has slunk away and this Friday PAJU will move its weekly vigil to the corner of Ste-Catherine St. and McGill College, in front of Indigo Books. The vigil will continue to denounce the Israeli occupation and to promote the international boycott of Israel. The vigil will also become part of the Canada-wide boycott of Indigo/Chapters Books until the stores’ owners end their financial support of foreign soldiers serving in Israel’s brutal army of occupation.

Last week the Israeli Consulate denied that its move was influenced by weekly protests at its former location. ("Israeli consulate denies move related to protests", Canadian Jewish News, August 14th, 2008.) This contradicts what your paper and the consul admitted almost a year ago.

At that time only one reason for the move was considered important enough to mention. CJN reported that:

More precisely, the Friday vigils organized by PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity) ran for a total of seven and a half years and took place right at the main doors of the office tower that housed the Consulate.

Every Friday noon for 389 weeks, consular staff and visitors were greeted by banners and signs denouncing Israel's illegal occupation of Palestinian land. The vigils informed tens of thousands of passers-by about Israel's illegal policies of land theft and ethnic cleansing. Media coverage of these highly visible vigils informed even more Quebecers about Israel's crimes.

The longer the consulate stayed in the busy downtown core, the more people learned the inconvenient truth about Israel.

Given that the Israeli consul defined his job as "promoting Israel", this was a real problem for him. He has admitted that "promoting Israel in Quebec is a tough sell" and that one of the reasons for this is that some "community-based groups are actively opposed to many of (Israel's) policies". His job was, he said, "definitely a challenge" and, he added rather ruefully, "We will try the best we can”. (CJN, Sept. 12, 2007)

In the end, moving the consulate was 'the best thing to do'. The new location is away from the downtown crowds, so it limits the number of witnesses to future protests. Westmount Square's numerous entrances on different streets will make it easier for consular staff and visitors to avoid demonstrations. And the building's Israeli owner will doubtless do all he can to shield 'his' consulate from richly deserved embarrassment.

So be it. Montreal is better off for the consulate's move and Westmount is now the worse off.

And what of the vigil? PAJU's core mission has always been to inform the public about Israel's brutal and illegal occupation. Now that we have helped drive the consulate out of downtown Montreal, we have moved the vigil to the heart of the shopping district. The crowds at Ste-Catherine and McGill College are bigger and more diverse than they were at our former location and that's good news for human rights.

Now even more people will learn why they should boycott Israel until the occupation ends.

Daniel Saykaly for PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)

dsaykaly@contact.net

Montreal, August 19, 2008