We are appalled to hear the details of a Propsal, submitted by Ms. Carolyn Bennett MP., together with other members of the House of Commons and Senate, dealing with " Canadian Position on Israel and the Middle East."

The Proposal states that "Canada's policy must reflect realities on the ground." We fully agree with that. The realities on the ground show an Israeli illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, as well as the Syrian territory of the Golan Heights, that has been allowed to stand for 36 years, in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. The practices of this occupation have included detention of thousands of Palestinians,for years, without charge or trial, torture, extra-judicial assassination, collective punishments, daily humiliation, demolition of thousands of homes and expropriation of property and land, for the creation of illegal settlements. All these acts are in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus defined by international law as war crimes.

The Proposal calls for "protection of the integrity of the United Nations." There is,indeed, an essential need for upholding the integrity of the UN, by making it the duty of every member state of the UN, like Canada which claims to uphold the UN Charter, to insist on the implementation of UN resolutions. It is relevant, on this score, to indicate that Israel stands, for decades, in defiance of scores of UNGA and Security Council resolutions. It is also relevant to point out that the admission of Israel to the membership of the UN, per Resolution # 273, in May 1949, was conditional on its compliance with UNGA resolutions # 181, of November 29,1947, and resolution # 194,0f Dec. 11, 1948. Israeli non-compliance with hese resolutions makes it reasonable to argue the legitimacy of Israeli UN membership.

The Proposal states that "Canada should make every effort to promote policies conducive to the cause of democracy and peace in the region." Indeed, that is so. The most compelling need to bring about peace in the Middle East, and provide peace and security for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples, as well the entire region, is to bring about Israeli compliance with international law and UN resolutions by complete termination of Israeli occupation of Palestinian, as well as Syrian territory.

The Proposal speaks of Palestinian terrorism, and describes Israeli state terrorism as self defence. This is the height of hypocrisy and double standards. The Palestinian people are under foreign occupation. The UN Charter and UN resolution # 2787, of Dec. 6,1971, recognises the right of all people under foreign occupation, including the Palestinian People, to resist foreign occupation. The killing of innocent civilians, be they Israeli or Palestinian, is abhorent and must be brought to an end, by termination of this illegal occupation.

Finally, Sir, we call on our givernment to take heed of our committment to international law and the UN Charter and call on Israel to completely terminate its illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land, and comply with international law so that peace and security can be attained gor all the people of the region. The charade of the so-called peace process and negotiation between the occupier and the occupied is unjust . Illegal occupation must be terminated unconditionally.