From: Ismail Zayid

To: Globe & Mail

Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 1:14 PM

Subject: Apartheid in its true colours.

Canada Palestine Association,

P.O.Box 1085,

Halifax, NS. B3J 2X1

Tel: 902 429 9100

June 4, 2006

The Editor,

The Globe & Mail

Dear Editor:

Rex Murphy, in his article: {"Sid Ryan's apartheid smear" June, 3} contests CUPE's recent resolution supporting the boycott of Israel for its racist policies, and its erection of its apartheid wall.

Whatever Mr Murphy may state, Israeli racist policies are manifest to anyone who cares to look at Israeli policies and practises, as enacted in its legislation and practised on the ground. These policies are not only practised against the Palestinians under occupation, but are also enforced against Israel's own Muslim and Christian citizens. These practises have been condemned by all international human rights bodies, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israeli human rights groups, including B'Tselem. The catalogue of these practises is lengthy but The late Professor Israel Shahak, a Holocaust survivor and Chairperson of the Israeli League for Civil and Human Rights, sums it up accurately in his statement: " It is my considered opinion that the state of Israel is a racist state in the full meaning of this term. In this state, people are discriminated against, in the most permanent and legal way and in the most important areas of life, only because of their origin. This racist discrimination began in Zionism and is carried today mainly in cooperation with the institutions of the Zionist movement."{"The Racist Nature of Zionism and of the Zionist State of Israel", article published in Pi-Ha'aton, the weekly newspaper of the students of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Nov.5, 1975}.

Denis Goldberg, an Israeli thinker, stated : " The official policy of the government[of Israel] is unequivocal. Arabs,like the Jews in Nazi Germany, are officially 'class B' citizens, a fact which is recorded on their identity cards." Archbishop Desmond Tutu, during a Christmas visit to Jerusalem in 1989, stated: " I am a black South African, and if I were to change names, a description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, could describe events in South Africa."

Finally, if Mr Murphy is concerned about the security of Israelis and the bringing to an end the abhorent killing of innocent civilians on both sides, it is incumbent on him and our political and media leaders to face the facts and stop making excuses for Israeli policies and call on Israel to end, completely, its longstanding illegal  oppressive occupation and comply with international law.

Yours sincerely,

Ismail Zayid, MD.

President, Canada Palestine Association.