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affiliate of canpalnet.ca CANADA-PALESTINE SUPPORT NETWORK
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June 20, 2004 Racist comments at "Walk for Israel" raised with Paul Martin By Susan Howard-Azzeh On Friday, June 18th, members of the Niagara Palestinian Association and the Niagara Coalition for Peace (NC4P) attended the breakfast with Paul Martin at Club Roma in St. Catharines, Ontario. One of the reasons for attending the meeting was to express our concerns to Paul Martin regarding racist comments made at the "Walk With Israel - Loud and Proud" rally in Vancouver two weeks ago- which was attended by Liberal candidates and Liberal members of "Parliamentarians for Israel" - as well as the lack of attention by party leaders or the media to the racist comments made at the rally. If these insulting comments had been directed at any other group in Canada, especially during a federal election campaign, one can be certain they would have been widely covered by the media and that all party leaders would have condemned the racist comments as well as those who spoke them or silently tolerated them. I raised our concerns with one of Paul Martin's senior staff members and also gave a note detailing the issues to Mrs. Sheila Martin who promised to pass it to her husband. I outlined to Martin's staff member that at the "Walk With Israel - Loud and Proud" Palestinians were called "barbarians", that it was said that "they did not value human life as others do" and that Rabbi Philip Bergman of Temple Sholom said that Palestinians only resist Israeli occupation out of "hatred" for Jews (rather than out of resistance to colonialism and the continued oppression of Palestinians). Liberal MP for Vancouver-Quadra, Stephen Owen who attended the Walk for Israel rally was welcomed to the stage and introduced as a member of "Parliamentarians for Israel". He brought greetings from the Canadian Government. He did not condemn the racism that preceded his introduction. He did not mention the siege of Rafah which was taking place at the same time, and which destroyed 360 Palestinians homes, made at least 5,000 homeless and resulted in 57 deaths including children (PCHR Press Release, May 30/04). Liberal candidate for Vancouver South, Ujjal Dosanjl also participated in the rally. Neither condemned the offensive and unproductive remarks. I outlined to Martin's staff member our call for the "Parliamentarians for Israel" to be disbanded as it is biased, prejudicial, and unCanadian. At the very least senior ministers of the federal government should not be permitted to sit on this committee as they do now, including the Liberal MP for Mount Royal, Justice Minister, Irwin Cotler. It is our position that participation of senior ministers on such a committee represents a serious conflict of interest in their official duties and to Canada. A resolution calling for the "Parliamentarians for Israel" to be disbanded was adopted last week by the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) at its Annual General Meeting, attended by Bill Graham, Harroun Siddiqui, and Maher Arar among others. The resolution is to be put forward to the government by the CAF after the federal election. Our effort this morning was small, but every little bit, with every other little bit, does help. Silence is not golden; silence is complicity. We await Mr. Martin's response to our concerns and will post them once received. For further information see: www.sevenoaksmag.com www.canpalnet.ca (Activities) www.canpalnet-ottawa.org . |
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