The answer to John Ibbtson's column :{" Is Canada preparing to shift line in the sand?" Oct. 21} is clear. Canada's bias in support of Israeli policies is a longstanding one and the proposed 'shift' is a mere acceleration of this policy. The creation and the proposed policies of the group that call themselves " Liberal Parliamentarians for Israel", six members of which are current members of our cabinet, defies credibility. We assume that we elect parliamentarians to serve our country, Canada, and not a foreign nation.

Canada brags about its support for the UN Charter, international law and human rights. Yet its voting record in the UN and the UN Human Rights Commission speaks volumes of longstanding unquestioning support for Israeli policies. Israeli illegal occupation of Palestinian and Syrian territories has been allowed to stand for 37 years, in defiance of international law and repeated Security Council resolutions. Israeli practices in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are in violation of virtually every article of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and thus constitute war crimes. as defined by international law. Yet, we heard nothing but a deafening silence, from succesive Canadian governments, about these practices.

Mr. Ibbitson speaks of the numbers of Jews, Arabs and Muslims, and their organisation and political influence, in Canada and the impact of this on our government's policies in the Middle East. This is alarming. We were lead to believe that our government's policies are to act in accordance with Canada's reputation as a nation that supports human rights and international legitimacy.