There are confirmed reports of Israel sealing off cities in the West Bank, including Ramallah, Jenin and Jericho, by digging trenches around these cities and demolishing their access roads and denying hundreds of thousands of people access to health care and any semblance of human life. This armed siege is creating concentration camps in the occupied territories.

As you well know, collective penalties are prohibited under Article 33 of The Fourth Geneva Convention, and as you also know Article 1 of the same convention makes it the responsibility of signatory members to the convention, including Canada, to act to prevent the violation of the convention.

However, all this goes on and we hear nothing but a deafening silence from our government. This is contrary to the claims we continue to hear about our country's committment to human rights, international law and the UN Charter. This deafening silence contrasts clearly with our stand when other countries commit violation of human rights. We recall clearly few years ago when Canada took a leading role in condemning Nigerian violation of human rights and called for its expulsion from the Commonwealth.

Israel has been in illegal occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan Heights, for over 33 years, in complete defiance of repeated Security Council resolutions and international law. This illegal occupation has been going on hand in hand with the systematic practice of violation of human rights and The Fourth Geneva Convention, as documented by many human rights groups, including the UN Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International and Israel's B'Tselem human rights group and the Israeli League for Civil and Human Rights.

Surely it is time for our government to practice what it preaches and at least make its voice heard. Why must Israel be allowed to remain above international law?