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July 19, 2002
Critics maintain stance
Ad urges changes in Canada's Middle East policy.
PAT JOHNSON REPORTER
A recent full-page ad in the Georgia Straight, an alternative
Vancouver weekly, was critical of Israel and called on Canada to
alter its foreign policy on the Middle East. But several of the
signatories deny that the context was anti-Israel or that they are
placing blame exclusively on the Jewish state.
The ad, which was sponsored by the Canada-Palestine Support Network
and ran in the June 27-July 4 issue, was endorsed by a long list
of supporters, including Canadian politicians, labor leaders, community
activists and artists. It blamed Israeli actions for creating "fertile
soil for the growth of brutality and the perpetration of atrocities"
and accused Israel of a "systematic violation of the Palestinian
population's basic human right to live free of military coercion
and violence."
Signatories to the ad included top union leaders, including George
Heyman, president of the B.C. Government and Service Employees'
Union, New Democratic party MPs Libby Davies and Svend Robinson,
as well as journalists, authors, environmental activists and even
the support organization Rape Relief.
Patsy Kolesar, a spokesperson for Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's
Shelter, said the decision to sign on to the ad represents her organization's
commitment to the plight of women around the world.
"Our goal is for the liberation of women worldwide, so we work
with women locally and women worldwide," she said. "We
are supporting the resistance to war and in support of peace."
Kolesar denied that Rape Relief was choosing sides in the conflict.
"We're definitely not one-sided about it. We have some Jewish
women who are on our collective. We are in support of peace between
the Palestinians and the Jewish Israelis. That's why we signed on."
The possibility that Jewish or Israeli-Canadian women might hesitate
to approach her organization knowing the group's publicly stated
position was not considered before the decision was made, Kolesar
acknowledged.
"It wasn't something that we discussed," she said. "We
hopefully would be able to talk with the person if that was an issue
... hopefully they would call us and get to talk to us and get our
perspective."
David Cadman, who ran for mayor of Vancouver on the COPE-Green ticket
in the last election and is likely to run for mayor or council this
fall, also signed the ad.
Cadman said he was motivated in part by his experience as a former
national president and international vice-president of the United
Nations Association. He was in Israel and Jordan in the summer of
2000 and is enormously disappointed that the peace process that
was evolving at that time has collapsed.
"There was an agreement that was able and available,"
he said. "I think in many ways Sharon destroyed it [by visiting
the Temple Mount]. His actions were calculated and they set off
now a whole reaction that I think has taken us back to the point
where ... I don't see a way out."
Cadman said he does not believe the ad represents a biased view
of the Mideast nor does he see his signature on the ad as any sort
of support for the Arab cause.
"I don't characterize placing my name on this as an affinity
toward the Arab world. I know that part of the world a little bit
and what I'm looking for is to defuse what I think is a very, very
dangerous world situation. What I hope is that we can come to an
agreement where an Israeli state can live in security and a Palestinian
state can live in security."
The Israelis are demonstrating bad faith, he said, by expanding
settlements in the occupied territories, something he sees as undermining
the eventuality of a two-state solution. He also views the settlements
as part of a larger Israeli policy that frustrates Palestinians
and may lead to terrorism.
"I don't condone [terrorism] in any way, shape or form, but
I understand where the seeds of that kind of fanaticism are being
fuelled," he said.
David Diamond, a Vancouver theatre director, was also a signatory
to the ad. He wants Canada's federal government to exert diplomatic
pressure on Israel to alter the way it deals with Palestinian aspirations.
He compares Israel's place in the Middle East with the United States'
role in the world.
"Israel's behavior at the moment, just like the behavior of
the United States on the planet, needs to be checked," said
Diamond.
Who started the conflict or who perpetuates it is irrelevant, he
added.
But Naomi Frankenburg, co-chair of the local Israel Action Committee,
said the ad distorts historical facts because Israel has repeatedly
attempted to make peace but has been met with opposition.
From the day the state of Israel was declared, Frankenburg said,
the Arab people have totally disregarded Israelis' right to live
in peace. Moreover, Israel defended itself against repeated Arab
attacks and was still amenable to genuine offers of peace, as demonstrated
by the peace agreement with Egypt, in accordance with which Israel
handed over the Sinai peninsula. Israel has tried similar land-for-peace
offers with other Arab neighbors, but no co-operation has been reciprocated,
she said.
The demand that Israel "end the occupation now," which
the ad repeats, flies in the face of international law, she added.
"Israel is the only country in the entire world that has been
asked to give back land that was won in a defensive war," said
Frankenburg. "I don't know why the world doesn't see that it's
the same for Israel."
The signatories may be ignorant, biased, anti-Semitic or misled
by propaganda, she said.
"I don't know these people. I can't understand what motivates
them, but I certainly find it very disappointing and very sad. I
think they're buying the Palestinian propaganda."
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