“Working Together for Peace and Justice in the Middle East” Amnesty International Canada English-Speaking AGM, June 13-15 2008.
Presentations included below.
Amnesty International (AI) recently invited several activists to speak at the Amnesty International Canada AGM in Toronto on the topic of "Working Together for Peace and Justice in the Middle East". Our Presentions are included below.
The panel was chaired by Ellen Shifrin, and panelists included Smadar Carmon from Not In Our Name who is a Jewish Israeli peace activist born on a Kibbutz next to Beit Gibrean; Karin Brothers who volunteers with the United Church and who has spent time in Palestine; Jim Joyce co-chair of the Amnesty International Middle East portfolio; and myself, Susan Howard-Azzeh (Resouce List of opportunities for AI members to work in solidarity with Palestine at bottom of this email). The presentations were followed by an active 45 minutes of question and answer, including much of what was not covered in the presentation portion, and by policy discussions with AI staff and volunteers. Amnesty has stated that it looks forward to on-going dialogue and consultation on these issues.
Recent AI positions on Palestine:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17763
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=11288
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From Smadar Carmon smadarcarmon@... :
The main reason I chose to become an activist around the Palestinian issue is because I am concerned about human rights. Since I happened to be born and raised in Israel and already knew a little bit about it, it made a lot of sense for me to get involved with Palestinian human rights.
As an activist my main passion has been around informing the media and the general public about what has really happened and still happening today in Palestine. What I will do this morning is talk about the crucial missing information, which will explain why we are kept in the dark. The Israelis and the Jewish community around the world have been extremely successful in repressing information regarding the history of how Israel was created. Most of the time, what is happening in Palestine is usually presented as a conflict happening between two almost equal partners; Ilan Pappe, a well known Israeli historian, has called this phenomenon a "conspiracy of silence." He has written an excellent book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” which gives us very detailed information about the Nakba, the Palestinian Holocaust. The information about the Nakba is what the Israeli government, with the cooperation of the main Jewish community, has been successful in suppressing. The Nakba or the “cleansing” (from the Israeli perspective) was mostly carried out during 1948 and 1949. The principles of it are still being carried out up until today. The Nakba was a not a spontaneous outburst but was well planned by 11 Zionist veteran leaders headed by Ben-Gurion. The main objective was and still is, to take over land while getting rid of the Palestinians living on it. During the 48 war, Palestinian villages, towns and parts of cities were cleansed of its Palestinian residents. This was carried out by a Jewish military power attacking a village, town or a neighbourhood and expelling their inhabitants. During these attacks some of the men were executed, there were instances of rape, and the Palestinians were stripped off any money or even food they would try to take with them on their journey. Many of these places once they were cleansed of their inhabitants were destroyed. Just to give you an example - my kibbutz were I was born, exists on land taken from two Palestinian villages.
In Israel of today there is very little evidence of these villages ever existing, besides a few rows of cactus and some rubble, most of it has been covered by new settlements or has been turned into big parks by planting trees on top of them. Some Palestinians are internal refugees inside of Israel proper, their villages have been destroyed, their homes, land and bank accounts stolen. The ones who were driven out were not allowed to take any of their belongings and many have ended in refugee camps in other countries like Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. There they found themselves under the harsh conditions of not only being penniless but also under harsh government policies, governments who were not interested in their integration.
Some of the refugees have been uprooted from their homes more than once; after the 67 war many Palestinians had to flee or were evacuated from their villages. For example: Canada Park, Established in 1973, has been built on the land of three Palestinian villages which were forcibly evacuated after the “Six Day War”. The funding for building the park came from the of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), an organization which posses as an NGO and has a charitable status here in Canada and in most of the world.
Today Israel is continuing in their efforts to cleanse more land of its original inhabitants the Palestinians. After the 67 war, the Israeli government realized they could not practice the same methods used to cleanse land like at the 48 war, since by now the world was watching. So for the last 40 years Israel has come up with many creative ways to expel or kill Palestinians. They have managed to turn their lives into a living hell: Palestinians are living inside an open prison where every movement is monitored by checkpoints, road blockades or special roads on which Palestinians are not permitted to drive or even cross by foot. They are constantly being checked for papers. On top of this, Palestinians are subject to constant incursions by the Israeli army which assassinates or arrests them, takes over houses and/or totally destroys what's inside. This includes government offices and just recently there was a girl orphanage taken over and stripped of everything it had sending its inhabitants into the streets. Houses are being demolished on a continuous basis, also houses of Palestinians living inside Israel. Also, olive trees are uprooted or burned and other means of living being destroyed. As you might know a monstrous wall has been built with its route creating a new border, confiscating even more land. There is much more to this list, but we would have to be here for a very long time in order to cover it all. The main reason for all of this is to grab more land.
Meanwhile Israel presents itself to the world as a victim, constantly under threat of being attacked by Palestinians. Nothing can be further from the truth. The reason why most of the world does not know about the Nakba is because Israel has done everything in their power to keep this as a secret. At the same time Israel has been hiding behind false attempts of making peace, this is just a successful PR smoke screen which portrays Israelis as peace lovers, keeping public opinion at bay, while they are busy with destroying Palestinian and other innocent people’s lives.
My activism revolves around bringing the truth of the situation in Palestine to anyone who is interested in human rights. Many Fridays I stand with other activists in front of the Israeli consulate here in Toronto in a silent vigil were we pass out information of the recent events happening there. Since it is a very busy corner this action is quite successful in reaching the general public. Another successful action I am involved with is Zatoun: Zatoun is a group selling fair trade Palestinian olive oil. The sales have been very successful and by selling the oil we manage to bring in a piece of Palestine into many homes in North America. When one buys a bottle there is an educational flier that goes with it and we also have a website with information about Palestine (www.zatoun.com). We
use the olive oil to educate the public about the “different” Palestine which is entirely different from what we usually hear on the news - about suicide bombers and terrorists. Another aspect of Zatoun is that it creates a respectful means of survival for Palestinian farmers. Part of the money goes to plant olive trees to replace the ones that have been uprooted or burnt. Also, it supports a youth centre in Nablus that serves as an oasis of sanity for Nablus youth traumatized by the occupation. I'm also a member of a non Zionist
Thank you for inviting all 3 of us to present at the Amnesty AGM. It is a great opportunity to speak out about the grave and constant human rights violations inflicted on Palestinians. I hope that what we were able to cover in the short time available will serve as an opening for further discussion and most importantly - action regarding Palestine.
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From Karin Brothers k_brothers@... :
People ask me why I have been so involved with this issue as I am not connected personally to a Jewish, Israeli or Arab community. One of the things that upset me the most was the silence about the level of abuse. People could speak freely about the apartheid in South Africa and not be embarrassed about demanding boycott, divestment or sanctions. Yet, while South Africans claim that their situation was like "a Sunday picnic" compared to what Palestinians face today, people are not prepared to act or even to speak out for justice. It is the silence that has compelled me to speak out and it is this lack of understanding that I hope that we can work on together.
First, realities of this situation must be understood: This is not about politics, but about human rights. . Israel must be understood, as Israeli historian Ilan Pappe notes, as a colonial enterprise. It is not about religion, as the Zionist founders were secular - but about land possession. Communication is not the answer because understanding is not the problem. The great facilitator, of course, has been western guilt over their past shameful treatment of the Jewish community; sadly the Palestinians are being made to pay the price of the west’s collective guilt. But I suggest, that they have paid enough and its time for us to stop turning a blind eye to this situation. We are creating another crime that will cause us more guilt in the future. We must all work for peace and security for all Israelis and Palestinians, and for a just peace based on the requirements of international law, rather than the law of the jungle. I know that this is what we are all about.
While AI reports are typically excellent, they do not state the fact clearly that Palestinian deaths for almost 2 years now, come to over 98% -- according to figures given by the Israeli B’tselem. And this 98% does not include their excess deaths from lack of food, lack of running water, lack of potable water, lack of access to medicine and lack of access to medical care, all of which remain Israeli responsibilities under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Israeli treatment of Palestinians is characterized by total impunity to all international law: With Convention of the Rights of the Child: Israel refuses to recognize the standard age of majority for Palestinians kids; children are targeted for particularly rough treatment by Israel as they want to turn kids into frightened, submissive adults. The convention against Torture; It has been estimated that 80=85% of Palestinian prisoners have faced torture. Contractors hired for Abu Ghaib stopped over in Israel for expert advice on culturally-specific Arab torture; the so-called " Palestinian (torture) position" was used to kill the Iraqi general in CIA control; The Convention against Apartheid, a crime against humanity; the definitions of apartheid reads like a description of virtually every aspect of Palestinian life The Convention against genocide: it is clear that the Israeli treatment of Palestinians meets the legal definition, as life has been made intolerable with the ultimate purpose of eliminating the Palestinian population. This is especially clear with the horrific siege of Gaza, where the 1.5 million inhabitants -- who are forced to live in a virtual prison more densely populated than any area on earth -- have not only been prevented from getting adequate food, but now are often prevented from access to running water, potable water, bottled water, and even soap or detergent. Many Israelis continue to call this a slow genocide; it is also a silent genocide, as most of the excess deaths are invisible. On top of the deprivation of normal life, Palestinians face constant attack and assassinations. While the typical excuse is the Israeli need for security in the face of Palestinian homemade missiles, the reality is that there are even more Israeli attacks in the West Bank, which is not the source of missiles. This is happening a long way from Canada; why should Canadians feel obliged to take this issue on? For 3 reasons: First, Our own elected governments have been supporting this oppression politically, economically and even militarily. Canada was the only country at 2 UN Human Rights Council meetings, to vote against asking Israel to end the siege of Gaza. Canada initiated the sanctions of the Palestinian population for voting in a party that refused to be co-opted by Israeli and American power -- that is its real crime. Canada supports Israel through provincial and federal development deals with Israel; the Canadian tax payer supports the charitable tax deductions a) for organizations that support the IDF and that b) deprive Palestinians of their land and resources, as well as c) through tax free status for settlement goods.Secondly, the problem there has migrated here, with censorship of news, education and arts and threats of criminalization of speech and racial profiling. Canada has a pro-Israeli lobby -- well documented by articles by Daniel Freeman-Maloy -- that tries to influence education, to influence and censor media and arts events and to intimidate our politicians from objecting to a foreign policy that violates its own stated demands for international law. Naomi Klein recently described the "war on terror", as "unending war for unending profits", which figures Israel at the center of this paradigm, threatened by demonized Muslims and Arabs. Even more sobering is the recent PM’s claim that "those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada", accompanied reportedly by a joint Canada-Israeli security agreement. When a Canadian who advocates a one-state solution with equal human rights for all who live in Israel is declared a threat to Canada, their problem has become our own.Thirdly, Canada, as a signatory to the Fourth Geneva Convention, has a contractual legal obligation to ensure that the rights of Palestinian civilians are protected. Canada even has the enabling legislation to arrest those deemed responsible for the current crimes. Israeli peace activists such as Jeff Halper see the only solution as an international grassroots demand for a just peace based on international law, esp. The Fourth Geneva Convention. The first step, however, is finding ways to communicate the reality of this situation to the public in the face of such widespread media bias and censorship. ************** I used to be a member of AI’s urgent action network, and was an AI supporter for many years before that. Like others who worked with AI, I came to believe that AI ‘s response to the situation facing Palestinians was shamefully inadequate and that support for AI was a mistake. AI’s credibility and public leadership with human rights issues gives it the responsibility to support victims of oppression commensurate with the severity of the abuse as well as the importance of the situation. When this support is absent or inadequate, the public message is that such coverage is not warranted or deserving. The Palestinian situation, which is genocidal by definition as well as central to global peace, deserves much more -- and much more courageous -- AI attention.
Karin Brothers
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From Jim Joyce aijoyce@... :
AICS(ES) Coordinator for Isr/Palestinian Authority.
Notes from Workshop – “Working Together for Peace and Justice in the Middle East” at AI Canada English-Speaking AGM, 13-15 June 2008.
Amnesty International is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights to be respected and protected. Its research is turned into actions undertaken by its national sections and by groups and members in their local communities.
This year is marked by the state of Israel’s celebrating its sixtieth anniversary and the Palestinians commemorating with sadness sixty long years since the Nakba. To explain this continuing asymmetrical conflict, some often espouse balance, as if the parties are equal. They are only equal in rights.
Amnesty International is on the side of human rights, and bases its reports and actions on international law. Civilians ought not be killed and AI has thus reported for many years, but the names and numbers can be found in its reports, a much greater pattern of Palestinians being arbitrarily killed than Israelis. There are more than ten thousand Palestinians in Israeli prisons, over seven hundred cases of administrative detention, most of whom have never been charged. The Palestinians hold one hostage whose case has been widely publicized. The Israeli military has demolished hundreds of Palestinians houses quite intentionally. Let those who seek true balance consider the facts.
While Amnesty International does not work on root causes or future outcomes, it assumes its reports on events from the point of view of human rights will help make concrete concerns about justice. The Palestinian claim to a right to return is no different that the rights held by any political refugee, of course exacerbated by the fact that for sixty years now the rights of these Palestinians who lost their homes as well as their rights as inhabitants in their land, whose dreams of being citizens in a country of their own, remain unresolved.
Amnesty International also has campaigned that settlements built in the Occupied Territories by the Israeli government since 1967 are illegal. The wall/fence now being built in the West Bank, could be legal if it was built on the green line. However most of it thus-far constructed is on Palestinian land, further constricting their freedom of movement and access to education and medical services. The Israeli government claims the settlements and the wall and the roads with their military checkpoints which connect them together protect the security of Israelis. However the cost is paid with additional losses of freedoms by all Palestinians subject to Israel’s military presence in their daily lives. The Palestinian call for justice can be translated into the language of
human rights, the same language which AI uses to describe grave patterns of human rights violations wherever in the world.
While Amnesty International does not work directly on the root causes, it is quite able to document in its reports the proximate causes. The Israel government should lift immediately the arbitrary and disproportionate blockade it has imposed on the Gaza Strip and which has fueled a humanitarian crisis. It is a form of collective punishment on the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza, including hundreds of thousands of children who bear no responsibility for the violence and who are living in a dire situation of enforced poverty.
Amnesty International in turn has no view on the future outcomes, how peace might come after the now sixty-year long conflict, whether the answer will be a two-state solution, one-state Israel either democratic or Jewish, one-state Palestine whether democratic or Islamic, or even idealistically a binational two-state solution, as various parties to the conflict or hopeful others have advocated. Amnesty International is quite confident that, if a just and lasting peace is to be achieved, it will be measured by adherence to the same set of human rights based on standards of international law which have been so violated in the past sixty years.
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From Susan Howard-Azzeh susanha103@... :
OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK IN SOLIDARITY FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE IN PALESTINE. NOTE: This list is far from complete. Once I began to compile it, I quickly knew that I would not be able to include all the campaigns and organizations currently working on the Palestine/Israel issue in Canada. And I’m sure I’ve even forgotten some important ones. Exploring the key websites listed below will reveal to you multiple opportunities for solidarity work at home and abroad. Or contact me for more info. EVENTS AND NEWS LISTS (listed in order of local to national): Niagara Palestinian Association (Toronto and national) Most events around the country are posted here. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/niag_pal_news/ , Niag_pal_news-subscribe@yahoogroups.com , susanha103@... *Coalition to End Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) (Toronto and Universities in Ontario and Quebec) (Website also lists groups and campaigns in Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg) http://www.caiaweb.org/ , endapartheid@... Key contacts: Rafeef, Kole, Hazem, Katherine Brick by Brick Building Labour Solidarity with Palestine. labour@... Students Against Israeli Apartheid saia@... and Zainab zainab.abdel@... Highschoolers Against Israeli Apartheid haia@... Jewish Women’s Committee to End the Occupation (Toronto and international)(Smadar Carmon contributes here) Jwceo-subscribe@yahoogroups.com , http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jwceo/ Tadamon! (Montreal) Deals with Palestine and Lebanon tadamon@... , http://tadamon.resist.ca Palestine House particularily for al Nakba events (Toronto) ialyamani@..., http://www.palestinehouse.com/ SPHR-McMaster & Jamile Ghaddar (Hamilton) sphr.mcmaster@... , jam33ila@... Canadian for Peace & Justice in the Middle East mainly Montreal http://www.cjpme.ca/ *Palestinian Canadian Congress (national, must be a member to subscribe) National umbrella organization for all Palestinian organizations in Canada. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Nidah/ . For regional member organizations across Canada contact: susanha103@... *Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians (ACJC) (national umbrella)(NION is a member) Contact Diana Ralph at dianar@... in Ontario, and Sid Shniad shniad@... in BC. (June 15, 2008 co-hosted a Jewish Muslim Forum at the aric Islamic Centre 99 Beverly Hills Drive, North York) Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights SPHR (national) There are chapters in many Canadian Universities. http://sphr.concordia.ca/ , http://carleton.sphr.org/ , Students for Palestinian Rights SFPR-Waterloo www.sfpr.uwaterloo.ca , majd.al@... *Al-Awda Coalition for Palestinian Right of Return (USA and international) http://www.al-awda.org/ contact info@... or Zahi Damuni zdamuni@... Canadian Arab Federation A third of their member organizations are Palestinian (about 13).Weekly Bulletin available by contacting info@... , http://www.caf.ca/ *International Solidarity Movement (international) (excellent work) Huwaida Arraf, Adam Shapiro. Non-violent direct-action Summer tours of Palestine available. palsolidarity-subscribe@googlegroups.com , http://www.palsolidarity.org Free Gaza, Popular Committee Against Siege freegaza.ps@...
CAMPAIGNS Stop the Wall Campaign www.stopthewall.org , lists@... Christian and Inter-faith organizing Karin Brothers "Palestinian Network" palnet@... Zatoun Olive Oil sales support Palestinian farmers; educational brochure and activities educates Canadians, Smadar Carmon smadarcarmon@..., http://www.zatoun.com/ Educators for Peace and Justice (and Academic Freedom) (Toronto and area) Jason Kunin freedomtoteach.registration@... , epj.elementary.secondary@... Secondary and post-secondary chapters Academic Freedom UK DEFENDING-ACADEMIC-FREEDOM@... Contact Sue Blackwell s.a.blackwell@... *Boycott Israeli Apartheid – academic and economic boycotts plus Boycott Chapters/Indigo & Heseg Lone Soldiers http://caiaweb.org/indigoboycott Weekly picket of Chapters/Indigo in Toronto; frequent pickets in Montreal and Vancouver. Israeli Apartheid Week mainly on University Campuses www.apartheidweek.org Protest Jewish National Fund charitable status in Canada & activities/awards on University Campuses. No one organization is specifically focused on this issue right now, though BC is planning to take it on as a focus for this year. Sid Shniad sid.shniad@...; Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network, Abla Abdelhadi at abla_a76@...; Montreal Planet, Ron at humanite@... ; Neturei Karta, Rabbi Dovid Feldman NY 845-538-5761and Mr., Markus, Montreal 514-290-0413 http://www.nkusa.org/ Letter Writers Campaign list-serve focus on writing letters to media & politicians re Palestine/Israel http://groups.yahoo.com/group/letter-writers/ , Letter-writers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com CUPE Resolution 50 alimallah@... (also CUPW, ASSE’ hazem.jamjoum@... ) Boycott of Israeli apartheid. *HOME FILM SCREENINGSThere are currently many excellent films available about Palestine. Google these film titles for contact info, screenings, and support campaigns.I encourage you to host a screening & discussion in your homes, community centres & campuses. Occupation 101 by Sufyan & Abdullah Omeish; Arna’s Children by Juliano Mer Khamis; Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land by MEF; The Nakba Archive by Dianna Allan dallan@...; Jenin Jenin by Mohamed Bakri www.arabfilm.com ,Raised to be Heroes by the National Film Board of Canada;Just Vision recommended by a friend http://www.justvision.org/en/about_the_film and Encounter Point http://www.justvision.org/en/news#a28;Divine Intervention, a surrealistic film in Arabic by Elia Suleiman.See their websites for more information about purchases and screenings.Also, Toronto Palestine Film Festival www.tpff.ca , updates@... Main festival October 2008 in Toronto and Mississauga. Also July 12 "33 days" by Mai
Masri. 416-516-2331.ALTERNATIVE BOOK SOURCES Toronto Women’s Bookstore www.womensbookstore.com 73 Harbord St, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1G4 Left Books leftbooks@..., Leftbooks-subscribe@..., www.leftbooksweb.com RECOMMENDED BOOKS Just looking over what I have on my shelves at home these are some titles I recommend: In Search of Fatima by Ghada Karmi; A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird; Three Wishes, Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis; Stolen Youth, The Politics of Israel's Detention of Palestinian Children by Catherine Cook, Adam Hanieh, Adah Kay; The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe; Palestine and Palestinians Guidebook by Alternative Tourism Group Beit Sahour; Peace Under Fire, Israel/Palestine and the International Solidarity Movement by Josie Sandercock etc.; Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter; Palestine and International Law by Henry Cattan....... lots more out there.
NOTE: This list is far from all inclusive. Feel free to contact me for more information.
Susan Howard-Azzeh Chair, Niagara Palestinian Association Chair, Niagara Coalition for Peace Founding Member and Board Member, Palestinian Canadian Congress.
susanha103@... St. Catharines, Ontario. |
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