Canada Palestine Association,
P.O.Box, 1085,
Halifax,NS, B3J 2X1
April 15,2004.
The Editor,
The Chronicle Herald
Dear Editor:
Re
article: { "Bush backs Sharon plan: President says Israel should be able to
keep parts of West Bank",April 15}
In granting Sharon and Israeli settlers the right to annex
Palestinian territory, Mr. Bush is acting in the same manner as Arthur Balfour
did in 1917. Those who do not own give a free generous gift to those who are
not entitled. The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza are under
oppressive illegal Israeli occupation that has been allowed to stand for 37
years in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council
resolutions. Full Israeli withdrawal is an imperative requiring no
negotiation.
The statement, in your article, :" But Bush said there now
are 'new realities' on the West Bank. Major Israeli population
centres make it 'unrealistic to expect....a full and complete return' to
the pre-war borders..", is a license for renewed Israeli expansionism in
neighbouring Arab territories to create new realities. The settlements are
illegal and stand in violation of Security Council resolution #465, of 1980,
and the the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus tantamount to
war crimes. For interest, the armistice lines of 1949 are, in
themselves, illegitimate and in violation of the UN resolution # 181 of
1947.
The Right of Return for the Palestinian refugees
to their homes, which Mr. Bush chooses to annul, is an inalienable right fully
affirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and
repeated UN resolutions.
Yours sincerely,
Ismail Zayid,MD.
President, Canada Palestine Association.