Canadian Complicity in Israeli War
Crimes.*
By Dr.
Ismail Zayid
*
Lecture given at
Simon
Fraser
University,
Vancouver
November
21, 2oo8
Canada, together with
other countries, including primarily
Britain and the
US, played a
significant role in supporting the Zionist agenda and bringing about the ethnic
cleansing and dispossession of the Palestinian people from their homeland,
resulting in the continuing Palestine/Israel conflict that we encounter
today.
The
Palestine-Israel conflict is frequently described as a very complex one, and I
want to submit before you that the problem is fundamentally a very simple one
which was summed up, in the words of a simple Palestinian farmer in Jericho,
quoted by the late Frank Epp, the then President of
Conrad Grebel College of the University of Waterloo,
who told Frank Epp:
"Our
problem is very simple. A foreigner came and took our land, took our farms and
our homes, and kicked us out. We have in mind to return. It may take a hundred
years but we will return."
This,
in a nutshell, is the Palestine problem and
the essence of this conflict. A country,
Palestine, has been
dismantled, its people uprooted from their homeland and replaced by an alien
people gathered from all corners of the globe and a new state,
Israel, created,
in its place. This tragedy and the ensuing conflict that brought about repeated
wars in the Middle
East is a direct
outcome of the introduction of political Zionism into the
Middle
East.
Inevitably,
some history is relevant here:
It
was the 2nd of
November 1917, when
Arthur
Balfour, the British Foreign Secretary, issued his
infamous declaration in the form of a letter written to an English Jew, Lord
Rothchild, it read:
"His
Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in
Palestine of a
national home for the Jewish people... it being clearly understood that nothing
shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing
non-Jewish communities in
Palestine".
It
is interesting to note that the four-letter word "Arab" occurs not once in this
document. To refer to the Arabs who constituted, at the time, 92% of the
population of Palestine and owned
98% of its land, as the non-Jewish communities is not merely preposterous but
deliberately fraudulent. I do not need to tell you that this letter has no shred
of legality, as Palestine did not
belong to Balfour to assume such acts of generosity. The words
of Dr.
Arnold Toynbee describe the British role, in
issuing this document accurately:
"We
were taking it upon ourselves to give away something that was not ours to give.
We were promising rights of some kind in the Palestinian Arabs’ country to a
third party".
Similarly,
the well-known Jewish writer, Arthur Koestler,
summed it up aptly when he described the Balfour Declaration as a document in
which "one nation
promised a second the country of a
third".
Incredibly,
Canada played
a role in advancing the Zionist agenda, at the
Versailles Peace
Conference in 1919, by calling
for the fulfillment of the Balfour Declaration , i.e.
the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.
Canada went on
to play a major role in the formulation and the passage of the UN Partition
resolution # 181 on Nov. 29,
1947. This
resolution was formulated by the United Nations Special Committee on
Palestine [UNSCOP],
in which Canada played a
very active role. Justice Ivan
Rand, an ardent Zionist, was
Canada's
representative on this committee. Lester
Pearson, the then Canadian Undersecretary for
State for External Affairs, headed the Canadian delegation and was elected
Chairman of the Assembly's First Committee dealing with this issue. This
Committee proposed to the U.N. General Assembly [UNGA] the partitioning of
Palestine into a
Jewish state in 56% of the country and an Arab state in 42% and An international zone in
Jerusalem over the
remaining 2% of Palestine. It is
interesting to note that the Jews in Palestine, at that
time, constituted 31% of the population, including a very large number of recent
and illegal immigrants, and owned 5.6% of the land. This clearly shows how unjust was this resolution and why it was opposed
by the Palestinians. The passage of this resolution was effected by
US pressure
and intimidation to bring coercion on many countries in
Latin
America,
Asia and
Africa to support
the resolution. US Under-Secretary of State, Sumner Welles stated: "By direct
order of the White House, every form of pressure, direct and indirect, was used
to make sure that the necessary majority would be
gained."
Mr.
Pearson, in
recognition of his diligence and devotion to the Zionist cause, was awarded in
1968 the position of Honorary
Fellow of the Weizmann
Institute and in 1969 was awarded, by the Zionist
Organization of America, the Theodor Herzl Award for his "commitment
to Jewish freedom and Israel." For all
his efforts he was also dubbed by Canadian Zionists as the Balfour of Canada,
for his decisive influence in the acceptance of the partition plan.
Canada's
role in this conflict did not stop there but continues to this day in a variety
of manifestations including governmental actions, political leaders' activities,
voting at the UN and not to mention the blatant bias encountered in many of
our media sources.
One
major activity, that should be of concern to every Canadian, is the creation of
the infamy called Canada
Park built by Canadian tax-deductible dollars on the
ruins of the three Palestinian villages, Imwas, Yalu and Beit Nuba [my own hometown], by the
Jewish National Fund of Canada [JNF], which was and remains a
Canadian registered charity. These villages were occupied, without a single shot
being fired, on June 6,
1967, in the war
of naked aggression that Israel planned and
effected against Egypt, followed
by occupation of the West
Bank and the
Syrian Golan Heights. These villages were then systematically dynamited and
bulldozed, by the Israeli army, on the direct orders of Yitzhak
Rabin, the then chief of staff of the Israeli army,
and later prime minister and, incredibly, a Nobel Peace laureate, to the dismay
of anyone who has any notion of humanity or peace. In the
village of
Beit Nuba 18 people,
who were old or disabled and unable to escape before their homes were
demolished, were buried alive.
The
destruction of these villages was witnessed and described by the Israeli
journalist Amos Kenan, who was a reserve soldier
in the occupying force in Beit Nuba. He gave this account to the Israeli newspaper Ha'Olam Hazeh, which was
prohibited by the censor from publishing it. It was sent to all members of the
Knesset, and to the Prime Minister and Defense minister, but no response was
received.
"The
unit commander told us that it had been decided to blow up three villages in our
sector; they were Beit Nuba,
Imwas and Yalu ... We were
told to block the entrances of the villages and prevent inhabitants [from]
returning .... The order was to shoot over their heads and tell them not to
enter the village."
Uri Avnery, then Knesset member,
described the destruction of these villages as a war crime and
Canada was giving
a cover-up for a war crime. This act is in direct violation of the
Fourth
Geneva Convention 1949, to which
Israel and
Canada are
signatories. Article
53 of the Convention states
:"Any
destruction by the occupying power of real or personal property belonging
individually or collectively to private persons, or to the state, or to other
public authorities or social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited."
International law defines any violation of any
article of the Convention as a war crime.
It is now
difficult to spot the ruins and the rubble. Today there stands on the spot the
infamy called "Canada
Park", picnic areas for Israelis,
built with Canadian tax-deductible dollars provided by the Canadian Jewish
National Fund (JNF).
It was in
1973 that Bernard Bloomfield of
Montreal, then
President of the JNF of Canada, spearheaded a campaign among the Canadian Jewish
community to raise $15 million to establish
Canada
Park, so as to provide a picnic area
accessible to Israelis from
Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
At the
entrance of Canada
Park, just off
John Diefenbaker
Parkway (opened by Diefenbaker
himself in 1975), is a sign that reads: "Welcome to
Canada
Park in
Ayalon
Valley-a project of the Jewish
National Fund of Canada."
The JNF,
responsible for the upkeep of the park, has removed all signs of the villages
and their inhabitants from the area. It would seem that only the Canadian donors
are worthy of being remembered; their names are engraved in the bronze plaques
which cover an entire wall. Interestingly, these donors are not directly
informed that the park is built on the site of the demolished villages, once
part of what was called the Latrun salient. Over
10,000 people lived there; they had schools, mosques, agricultural land and many
centuries of history. It was in Imwas (Emmaus) where
Christians believe that Jesus Christ first appeared with his disciples after the
Crucifixion. The villagers were expelled and remain as refugees denied the
return to their land.
As a new
Canadian, my personal pain was compounded when I read on Dec. 4,
1978, in our local newspaper, The Halifax
Herald, that Peter Herschorn, a past chairman of the
Atlantic branch of the JNF, was honored by the JNF for his humanitarian work and
"choosing the right goodness" in his participation in the building of Canada
Park. The Lieutenant-Governor of Nova
Scotia, the Premier of N.S. and the Mayor of Halifax
were in attendance and offered their greetings. I was mortified that political
leaders in my new country,
Canada, would
consider the erection of recreation centres on the
site of ruins of criminally demolished peaceful villages, illegally occupied, as
a humanitarian act.
Canada
continuously brags about its reputation for upholding the UN Charter,
international law and human rights, yet allows its taxpayers' dollars to sponsor
such a war crime. Over many years, I have written repeatedly, to Revenue
Canada ministers
expressing concern about this, and receiving only vague unhelpful answers.
My
activities on this issue, on the other hand, received the characteristic Zionist
insolence and callous disregard for humanity, by sending me a certificate, from
the CJNF, stating that: "
A tree has been
planted in Canada
Park,
Israel, in tribute
to Dr. I.Zayid." I responded to
this insult by rejecting their inhumanity, stating: " The trees
that my forefathers and I have planted on our land have been uprooted, together
with our homes, by Zionist bulldozers in my village Beit Nuba after the 1967 war. You
may be assured that I shall plant my own trees on my own land when we return to
Palestine, our homeland, and WE WILL RETURN
Father
Louis, who worked at the Latrun Franciscan Monastery
for 40 years, said, "Every time I go by
Canada
Park, I still get angry. Why does the
Canadian government allow it to be called
Canada
Park? It is built on the ruins of
people's homes".
Every
Canadian should be asking: why should our country's name be associated with this
infamy?
As I stated
earlier, there were and are many manifestations, as to
Canada's
actions in relation to the Palestine
question and in support of
Israel and its
crimes and acts of violation of international law that we must discuss here:
Canada/
Israel
Agreements:
There are a
number of agreements that
Canada
holds with
Israel providing
Israel with
economic and political support:
1:
Canada-
Israel Industrial
Research and Development Fund [CIIRDF], established in
1994.
2: Canada- Israel Free Trade Agreement.
[CIFTA], implemented in January 1997.These agreements
contribute billions of dollars in bilateral trade and foreign direct investments
linking Israel
and Canada.
3: Canada-Israel Public Security Agreement
[Security Accord], initiated first in October 2007,
in Tel Aviv, by Mr. Stockwell Day, Canada's minister
of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and Avi
Dichter, Israel's minister of Public Security. It was
formally signed on March 23,
2008. The two governments agreed to exchange secret information on
security matters.
Governmental Policies and Statements by Political
Leaders:
1:
Canada
was scheduled to hold in Sept. 1975 a UN Crime
Conference in Toronto. In accordance with its Observer
Status at the UN, the PLO had the right to attend. However Premier
William Davis of
Ontario, in a blatant effort to
win Jewish votes in a forthcoming provincial election, challenged the PLO
attendance and pressure was applied on the federal government to bar entry of
PLO delegates. Accordingly, the conference was transferred to
Geneva.
2:
Canada
and the US
condemned the UN resolution calling Zionism a form of racism. On Nov. 12, 1975, the House of Commons
unanimously condemned the resolution. The racist practices associated with
Zionism are blatant and condemned by Israeli and international human rights
organisations.
3: In June
1979, Joe Clark, as prime minister of
Canada,
called for the transfer of the Canadian embassy in
Israel from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem, a proposal that
was not supported by any other country and stands in defiance of UN Charter.
4: Prime
Minister Trudeau refused to make any statement
against Israeli invasion of
Lebanon
in 1982 and the resulting Sabra and Shatilla massacre.
5: In 1988
the European Community endorsed the right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination, followed by la Francophonie. However, while all 41
other Francophonie states endorsed the Palestinian
right,
Canada
alone did not.
6:
During his state
visit to Canada, Israeli President Chaim Herzog
was invited to address the Canadian parliament on June 27, 1989. He was introduced by
Prime Minister
Brian Mulroney with these words:
“Canada played a part in that
process by participating in the United Nations Commission that proposed the
partition of Palestine, by voting for Israel's membership in the UN and by
contributing to the Middle East peace-keeping forces in the hope of stabilizing
the region and of bringing peace to your country. Most of all, in the daring and
difficult period of
Israel's infancy, when your nation needed
friends – true friends –
Canada was there.
Canada was there over 40 years ago and our
friendship and support remain with you
today.”
7: In April 2000, Prime Minister Jean Chretien toured
Middle East and condemned violations of human
rights in Syria and
Saudi
Arabia, but made no mention of Israeli blatant violation of
human rights, condemned by all international and Israeli human rights
organizations. He refused to set foot in East
Jerusalem, in deference to Israeli concerns. And when asked
why he did not visit East Jerusalem, he, evasively, said that he did
not know the West, East or North in Jerusalem.
8: Prime Minister Jean Chretien, on
Aug. 9, 2001, expressed outrage at
Palestinians' attack in Tel Aviv but no mention of scores of Palestinians killed
by Israel.
9: Foreign minister Bill
Graham, in Jan. 2003, expressed similar outrage at
another attack in Israel and condemned Palestinian terrorism
and stated Israel had the right to defend itself. Yet
in the weeks before scores of Palestinians were killed but there was no mention
of Israeli continuing state terrorism.
10: In Jan. 2004, 12 Liberal MPs
formed the group:"
Liberal Parliamentarians for
Israel", led by BC. M.P.
Stephen
Owen, Minister of Public Affairs, together with six
cabinet ministers. Their declared policy was to shift Canadian policy
further towards Israel. On Jan. 9, 2004, Western Jewish Bulletin
reported: "The
Jewish state has friends in new Martin
government."
11: On Nov. 3, 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin
stated, at a meeting of "Jewish Advocacy Group for
Israel": "
Nothing will shake
Canada's commitment to
Israel". I wrote to him, as I have written
repeatedly to all of them, asking Mr. Martin: "Do I understand you correctly that nothing will
shake
Canada's commitment o
Israel no matter what crimes
Israel commits?"
Two
weeks later I received a phone call from him assuring me that
Canada's support for the economy of the
Palestinians will remain. I told him that the Palestinian economy, no matter how
terrible it is, remains irrelevant. It is merely a symptom of a disease, namely
the illegal occupation, and, speaking as a physician, it is the disease that
must be tackled and not the symptoms. I told him few other things over a 30
minute conversation. His policies did not change!!
12: Prime
Minister Paul Martin stated, on
Nov. 13, 2005, at a meeting of United Jewish
Communities in Toronto, that "Israeli values are Canadian
values." He was, in essence, insulting the values
that Canada usually claims.
13: The Harper government was the
first, in Jan. 2006, to cut aid to Gaza, as a reward for the Palestinian
audacity in freely electing a government that he and George W. Bush did not
like.
14: Mr. Stephen Harper, Canada's
prime minister, described Israeli invasion of Lebanon in July 2006, killing over
a thousand Lebanese, mostly civilians, and destroying the infra structure in
Lebanon, as "A
measured response".
15:
September 23, 2008 "Israel now has no better friend in the world than
Canada", so said Jason Kenney, Secretary of
State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, to Tamar Yonah on Israel National
Radio's Weekend Edition
show on Sunday.
16: On Jan. 19, 2008, foreign minister Bernier
removed Israel and the
US from the Torture
Watch List. The Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem, objected
to this action.
17: on Jan. 23, 2008, Jason Kenney,
Secretary of State
for Multiculturalism declared Canadian abandonment of
the 2009 Durban World Conference Against Racism. Bnai Brith applauded the government
for this action.
18: In May, 2008, Mr. Harper,
lavishly celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary and promising
Canadian "unshakeable support" for
Israel.
19: Ms. Elizabeth
May, leader of Green Party of Canada stated:
"We need to
recognize that
Israel is the bulwark of democracy and
healthy society in Middle
East" [Canadian Jewish News, Oct. 2, 2008.]
20: Now magazine, Oct. 1-8
issue, reported that Ken Dryden, Liberal MP,
and former leader candidate stated at a Jewish gathering that: "Canada must stop all aid that flows
into Gaza. While that may seem a harsh measure that will hurt Palestinian
civilians, it is the right thing to do." Protests to
Mr. Stephane Dion, leader of Liberal party, to
take action against Mr. Dryden, for his call plainly for genocide in
Gaza, brought no result. That was in
contrast to Dion's expulsion of Liberal candidate
Lesley Hughes for making a simple statement, reported by many sources, about
some Israelis' prior knowledge of the event of 9/11. Furthermore, Mr. Dion refused to allow the distinguished barrister, Edward
Corrigan, to stand as a Liberal candidate in
London Ontario in the 2008 federal election,
because of his views in support of the Palestinian people.
Canada's Voting
Record at the U.N.
Canada's voting record at the UN displays
extraordinary contradiction with
Canada's claims of support for UN Charter
and human rights issues. Few examples are listed here:
1: In May 1968, Mr. George Ignatieff,
Canada's delegate at the UN opposed a UNGA
resolution condemning the actions of
Israel with regard to
Jerusalem and its illegal
annexation.
2: On Nov. 22, 1974,
Canada abstained on a UN resolution
declaring that the Palestinian people have the right to independence and
sovereignty.
3: In March 2002,
Canada undertook to protect
Israel at the Human Rights Commission
[UNHRC] in Geneva, and undertook to be
"Israel's voice" at the
Commission.
4: On March 16, 2002
Canada voted against a UN vote condemning
Israeli war crimes and massacres in its vicious attack on Jenin refugee camp and massive destruction of the town of
Jenin.
5: On March 11, 2004,
Canada abstains on a resolution, calling
for the improvement of the conditions of Palestinian women, at the 49th.Session
on the Status of Women. 39 nations supported the resolution and only US voted
against it, and there was one abstention by
Canada.
6: July 2004,
Canada abstains on UN resolution calling
to refer, to the International Court of Justice [ICJ], the Issue of the
Separation [apartheid] Wall that
Israel was building in the
West
Bank. The ICJ ruled later that the wall was illegal and
must be dismantled.
7: On Dec. 1, 2005, the Paul Martin Canadian
government, in its continuing shift in further support for
Israel, flipped on 3 UN
resolutions:
a: The UNGA in its annual
resolution urging Israeli withdrawal from territory occupied since 1967, voted
156 for and 6 against with nine abstentions: Canada, Cameroon, Costa Rica,
Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, Uganda and Vanuatu.
b:
Canada also reversed itself on a
resolution supporting the UN organs [UNRWA] working in support of Palestinians.
Only 8 states opposed the resolutions:
Australia,
Canada,
Israel,
Marshall
Islands, Micronesia,
Nauru,
Palau and the
US.
c:
Canada also voted against a resolution
calling on Israel to withdraw from the
Golan
Heights. The vote was carried by 106 votes and just 6
against: Canada,
Israel,
Marshall
Islands, Micronesia,
Palau and the
US.
Haroon
Siddiqui, in article in Toronto Star, Dec. 4, 2005,
asked: "What do we have in common with
Micronesia,
Nauru,
Palau,
Tuvalu and
Vanuatu?"
8: In Nov. 2007,
Canada abstained from endorsing the
"resolution on the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination"
[Document A/C. 3/62/L.63], which was approved by 172 in favour, 5 against and 5 abstentions
[Australia,
Cameroon,
Canada,
Equatorial
Guinea and
Fiji].
9: UNGA Resolution # 10670: On
Dec. 10, 2007. By a wide margin, the Assembly
adopted a resolution on the peaceful settlement of the question of
Palestine by a vote of 161 in favour, 7 against [Australia Micronesia, Israel Marshall
Islands, Nauru,
Palau, US], and 5 abstentions:[Cameroon,
Canada,
Cote
d'Ivoire, Tonga,
Vanuatu].
Another resolution adopted at that
issue was the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights
of the Palestinian People, adopted by 109 votes in favour and 8 against: [Australia, Canada, Micronesia,
Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, US].
A resolution on the Syrian Golan
Heights, adopted by a vote of 111 in favour and 6
against[Canada,
Micronesia,
Israel,
Marshall
Islands, Palau, US].
10: Jan. 2008, a resolution
condemning the Israeli war crimes in Gaza, after an attack killing around 120
Palestinians, was passed unanimously by the UN Human Rights Council
[UNHRC] except for a single opposing vote by
Canada, 46 in favour and 1 against.
11: On March 18, 2008, the UNHR Council voted on a
resolution "expressing grave concern regarding continuing Israeli settler
activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories". These settlements contravene
international law and block any progress to peace. The vote was 46-1, with
Canada casting the only vote against the
resolution.
To sum up, we have seen a lengthy
catalogue of Canadian support for Israeli violation of international law,
defiance of UN resolutions and violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Such
violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention are identified by international law
as war crimes and Canada stands in refusal to comply with
Article I of the Convention which calls on the High Contracting Parties to take
action against any state that violates any of the Convention's
articles.
It must be the duty of all Canadians
to call on our government to live up to our claims of upholding international
law and human rights and to stand for justice in the resolution of the
Palestine/Israel conflict.
The Palestinian people who have been
subjected to a policy of ethnic cleansing and dispossession, are calling for a
modicum of justice, for without justice there will be no peace for Arab or
Jew in this tortured land