[antiwar-van] CJC Chair Misleads Public

[hanna kawas]

CJC Chair Misleads Public


Statement by Canada Palestine Association and Arab Palestine Association
June 12, 2003


Recently, in an article titled “Still much on CJC’s Plate”, the chair of the
Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC), Pacific Region, Nisson Goldman was quoted as
saying:



“Congress has done a good job of meeting with the leadership of the
Palestinian and Muslim communities in British Columbia, he said, though he
regrets that more members of those communities have not attended some of the
events organized to bring them together with Jewish British Columbians.”
(Jewish Western Bulletin JWB, June 6, 2003,

http://www.jewishbulletin.ca/Archives/June03/archives03Jun06-03.html )



We in the Palestinian community and in the Palestinian support movement
would like to clarify the following points.



We are not aware of any meetings (official or otherwise) between either the
leadership of the Palestinian community and the CJC or between any of the
Palestinian support organizations and the CJC. If an individual Palestinian
met with the CJC, then it was nothing more than that – an individual who
represented only him/herself and not our community. We cannot speak for the
leadership of the Muslim community, although we think if such meetings do
occur they should be public, especially to the communities of those involved
and should not be kept secret behind closed doors.

Furthermore, to claim that the purpose of some of the events the CJC had
organized was to bring Palestinians and Muslims together with “Jewish
British Colombians” is totally misleading. It implies that there is a
problem between Palestinian and Muslim Canadians on the one hand, and
“Jewish British Columbians” on the other. We in the Palestinian community
and in the Palestinian support movement have never had a problem with Jewish
Canadians. Actually more “Jewish British Columbians” than Palestinian and
Muslim British Colombians are involved in Palestinian support activities
locally.



What we do have a problem with is Israeli occupation, Israeli war crimes and
Israel’s Apartheid policies and practices against the Palestinian people. We
also have a huge problem with Canadian Zionists (Jewish, Christians, Muslims
or non believers) who support Israel financially, politically and
militarily, including sending Canadian assassins to participate in war
crimes against the Palestinian civilian population.



Zionism has been using Jews and Judaism to carry on its settler colonialist
project in Palestine and has been trying to dispossess the Palestinian
people from their homeland, identity and dignity for the past 100 years. By
attributing to all Jews everywhere, every crime and atrocity the Zionists
commit against the Palestinians, the Zionist movement is guilty of
contributing to the growth of anti-Semitism, which in the final analysis
serves the Zionist project.



In a crude attempt to justify his personal failure as a regional chair of
the CJC and the failure of Zionism as an ideology, Goldman blames his woes
on the Canadian left whom he accuses of alienating “Jewish people”.  As if
the left does not include Jewish Canadians or as if Jews are not Jews unless
they are Zionists and support Israeli Apartheid practices!!



He also blames his failure for not having a “more effective Israel campaign
within the general population” on the lack of “the necessary resources”; and
“Pro-Palestinian activism is well organized and well funded, he said, and
that has had a very effective impact on the discussion here in Canada (our
emphasis).” JWB June 6/2003

While we are flattered by his testimony to our organizational skills and his
admission of our “very effective impact on the discussion here in Canada”,
we would like to state that we do not receive any money from any government
(including the Canadian government), institution, company or trade union.
Our finances come solely from our Canadian supporters and our strength lies
in the righteousness of the Palestinian cause and its internationalist and
humanist dimensions.



Finally we would like to state our position:-

We will not meet, hold a dialogue with, or communicate with any kind of
Zionist representatives (except in certain cases and then only publicly to
debunk their bankrupt arguments).



Those who support Israel should realize that they are directly responsible
for every atrocity, human rights violation and act of dispossession that has
been carried out against the Palestinian people.

We feel that to meet with them at this point in history is a betrayal of the
aspirations and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. It also
absolves Israel’s supporters from their responsibility in the crimes against
humanity and reduces the conflict to “just another point of view”.

Nobody should ask us to endorse our enslavement, legitimize our oppression
and accept our dispossession.

It is imperative on the Zionists to change their inhumane ways towards
others and especially the Palestinians who have been the direct target of
their chauvinist, exclusionist and supremacist project. To save their
humanity, Zionists need to admit and recognize:



1-     The original sin committed against Palestine and the Palestinians in
1948.

2-     The Palestinian right of return to all of historic Palestine, as per
U.N. Resolution 194.

3-     The necessity to treat Palestinians as equal human beings inside
Palestine, Israel and wherever they reside.

4-     And abolish all discriminatory and racist laws in Israel that exclude
Palestinians with Israeli citizenship just because of their religious
background.

Only then can the healing process begin.



Whatever reason prompted Mr. Goldman to claim that he had “done a good job
of meeting with the leadership of the Palestinian” community, we affirm that
his claim is neither factual nor honorable.



Hanna Kawas

Chairman,

Canada Palestine Association

www.cpavancouver.org



Khalid Barakat

President,

Arab Palestine Association
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