In your statement, after meeting Mr. Ariel Sharon yesterday, you refused to describe Israeli settlements, in the illegally occupied territories, as illegal. Articles 47 and 49 of The Fourth Geneva Convention catgorically prohibit the expropriation of occupied territory and the transfer of the civilian citizens of the occupying power to the occupied territory. Security Council resolutions state categorically that these settlements are illegal. Do we now understand that you are now re-writing international law?

You state: " I do not see how an Israeli government could sustain a unilateral cessation of the hostilities without something reciprocal." The largely stone-throwing hostilities, that are mostly carried out by Palestinian Youth and children, are a direct response to the oppressive and brutalising illegal occupation that they are subjected to. As you well know, international law allows all peoples, including even the Palestinian people, the right to resist foreign occupation of their land. That is not to mention the brutal aggressive response that Israel engenders by demolishing their homes and practicing extra-judicial murder using rockets and missiles, all in violation of international law.

If the Israeli government genuinely wants "cessation of the hostilities", the answer is simple. All that is required is complete withdrawal from all the illegally occupied territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza, in compliance with iternational law and repeated Security Council resolutions. This illegal occupation has been allowed to stand for 34 years. It is the responsibility of all nations that claim to uphold the UN Charter, including Canada, to enforce these outstanding UN and Security Council resolutions.