[tadamon-l] Call in to MAYOR TREMBLAY: Montreal does not support war crimes

[Tadamon!]

Call in to MAYOR TREMBLAY: Montreal does not support war crimes

MONTREAL DOES NOT SUPPORT WAR CRIMES

**Monday and Tuesday: PLEASE CALL MAYOR TREMBLAY**

On Thursday, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay participated in a public event 
named the "Blue and White Rally for Peace", called by the pro-Israeli 
organisation B'nai Brith. It was a pro-Israel rally which portrayed Israel 
as acting in self-defence and its attacks on people in Lebanon as 
legitimate. La Presse reported that Mayor Tremblay defended his 
participation in the rally by saying that it was a gathering for peace. At 
the same time, he refused to call for a cease-fire and or to acknowledge 
the disproportionality of Israel's actions.

Even as Mayor Tremblay stood amidst the Israeli flags at the "rally for 
peace", the Israeli Justice Minister was calling for further acts of 
terrorism against the civilian population of southern Lebanon. In a 
security cabinet meeting, he argued that, if necessary, villages should be 
"flattened" in southern Lebanon (Globe and Mail, 28 July 2006, A1). In the 
UK paper the Telegraph he was quoted as saying, "Everyone in southern 
Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hizbollah" 
(www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/28/wmid28.xml).

Less than three days later, Israel hit Qana, killing over 55 civilians, 
mainly kids. Qana was the site of a similar massacre at the hands of 
Israel in 1996, when Israel bombed a UN base and killed more than 100 
civilians taking shelter there.

PLEASE call into Mayor Tremblay TODAY and TOMORROW and politely let him 
know that Montrealers will not tolerate a mayor supporting war crimes.

Ask him to make a public statement:

* calling for an immediate ceasefire;
* condemning the war crimes Israel is committing in Lebanon and Gaza; and
* calling for a swift and proportionate humanitarian response from Quebec
and Canada to the disaster in Lebanon.

In your call, please remind Mayor Tremblay of the following facts:

-- Hezbollah, a political party with seats in Lebanese parliament and 
roots in a popular movement which led the successful resistance against 
the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, has called for a ceasefire. 
Israel and its backers have refused the offer, despite calls from the UN 
and the government of Lebanon for an immediate ceasefire.

-- Israel has one of the top militaries in the world (often ranked as the 
fourth most powerful) and includes nuclear weapons among its arsenal. It 
is inaccurate to pretend that Israel is threatened by Hezbollah.

-- Latest estimates on the situation in Lebanon are that over 650 
civilians have died, 1800 have been wounded, and between 500,000 and 
800,000 been forced to flee their homes. An unknown number of homes in 
villages, apartment buildings and civilian and commercial vehicles have 
been destroyed. Sixity-six bridges have been destroyed, 80% of the 
country's main roads damaged, 3 seaports hit, the Beirut airport was 
incapacitated, two hospitals were hit, a water treatment plant bombed, a 
power station and an electricity generator hit, as well as schools, 
telecom sites and TV towers (50% broadcasting capacity destroyed), a milk 
factory, paper mill, paper factory, medical supplies company, and 
warehouses (as of last week).

-- Israel is bombing in majority civilian areas. There are persistent 
reports that it is using chemical weapons, cluster bombs and depleted 
uranium weapons. Such conduct constitutes war crimes, as UN High 
Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour reminded the world on July 
20th. These actions and statements made by Israeli cabinet ministers are 
consistent with the following definition of terrorism: "the use of 
violence against civilians for political means."

-- The context for the conflict is that Israel is continuing to expand its 
occupation of Palestine, is building an apartheid wall, is refusing 
Palestinian refugees displaced in 1947 and in 1967 the right to return, 
and is holding hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in their 
jails. The context is that Israel has consistently refused to abide by UN 
resolutions to address these injustices. The context is that Israel has 
carried out countless air raids on Lebanon and committed clandestine 
assassinations inside Lebanon in contravention of international law for 
years. The capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah with the explicit 
purpose of bargaining for the release of Lebanese prisoners held in 
Israeli jails, was not the beginning of the current bloodbath.

CONTACTS

Gerald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal
275 Notre Dame E.  Montreal, QC  H2Y 1C6

Phone : (514) 872 3101
Fax: (514) 872 4059
maire at ville.montreal.qc.ca

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