In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
The Canadian Islamic Congress Friday Bulletin
Friday, March 3, 2006 - Safar 3, 1427, Year:9 Vol:9 Issue: 35
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THIS FRIDAY BULLETIN HAS SEVEN ITEMS:
1. ELECTION 2006: A SURVEY FOR CANADA'S ARAB-MUSLIM VOTERS
2. IRAN'S NUCLEAR ENERGY DILEMMA
3. APARTHEID LABEL "NOT ANTI-SEMITIC" SAYS ACTIVIST U.K. ACADEMIC
4. A FRIGHTENING "STRATEGY FOR ISRAEL"
5. "PROCESSED LANGUAGE" MISLEADS AND BURIES TRUTH OF MIDEAST CRISIS
6. UPCOMING EVENT: TORONTO COALITION TO STOP THE WAR, MARCH 18
7. E-MAIL RESPONSES
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THE CIC & FRIDAY BULLETIN WISH OUR CHRISTIAN READERS A BLESSED LENT
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1. ELECTION 2006: A SURVEY FOR CANADA'S ARAB-MUSLIM VOTERS
[By Ed Corrigan -- Special to the Friday Bulletin]
===========================================================================
As the smoke cleared after Stephen Harpers Conservatives defeated the
Liberals in the January 23 election, Paul Martin announced his resignation
as Prime Minister and party leader. Despite the Sponsorship Scandal and a
series of campaign gaffes, the Liberals still managed to elect 103 Members
of Parliament, down 30 from the 2004 election.
Stephen Harpers victorious Conservatives elected 124 MPs, up 26 from 2004
and enough to form a minority government. The Bloc Québécois elected 51
MPs, compared to 54 in 2004. Jack Laytons New Democratic Party increased
from 19 to 29 seats. One independent, popular Quebec City shock radio show
host André Arthur, was elected in Portneuf- Jacques-Cartier.
In all, 14,815,680 ballots were cast out of an eligible electorate of
22,812,683 -- a 64.9% turnout. The Conservatives took 36.3% of the popular
vote; the Liberals, 30.2%; the NDP, 17.5%; and the Bloc, 10.5%.
With 665,940 received, the Green Party took 4.5% of the popular vote, up
0.2% from 2004. They ran candidates in all 308 ridings but did not elect a
single MP, a powerful illustration of how the first-past-the- post system
does not favour smaller parties unless the voters are as concentrated as
the Bloc's constituency in Quebec. Yet the Green Party easily passed the 2-
per-cent threshold to be eligible for federal election financing of $1.79
per vote. This level voter interest indicates that environmental issues are
important to many Canadians.
While Harper's Conservatives won the support of only 36.3% of Canadian
voters, and were shut out of several major urban centres -- Toronto,
Montreal and Vancouver -- the election results ordain that a new government
is to be formed under the Conservative banner. However, they did make a
surprising breakthrough in Quebec, winning 10 seats at the expense of the
Bloc. The Bloc in turn also picked up seats from discredited Quebec
Liberals.
As the Conservatives take on the reins of power, expect a strong shift to
the right and policies more in line with George W. Bush's policies in
Washington.
Harpers Cabinet, announced on Feb. 6, includes three ministers who served
in Mike Harriss Ontario Conservative government. Also, former Progressive-
Conservative Leader Peter MacKay received the post of Foreign Affairs;
Monte Solberg was given Citizenship and Immigration; and Stockwell Day
takes on Public Safety. And David Emerson who was elected as a Liberal in
Vancouver, crossed the floor in a very controversial move, to become
Minister of International Trade.
As the Jerusalem Post article declared on Jan. 25: "Jews look for pro-
Israel turn as Conservatives win Canadian vote." MacKays views on the
Middle East are largely unknown but Day, who will be in charge of the
Canadian Border and Public Safety portfolio, is a strong supporter of
Israel.
Calgary Conservative MP Diane Ablonczy, who has shown some understanding of
Arab views, was surprisingly shut out of the Cabinet; she was made
Parliamentary Secretary to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. Jason Kenny, a
strong supporter of Israels right wing, was made Parliamentary Secretary
for Multiculturalism. Deepak Obhrai became Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, along with Peter Van Loan, MP for York-Simcoe.
Ed Kormarnicki is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of
Citizenship and Immigration and Oxford MP Dave McKenzie was made
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety.
There are no Muslims or Arabs holding positions in Cabinet or as
Parliamentary Secretaries. Japanese-Canadian Bev Oda is Minister of
Canadian Heritage and Status of Women, while Michael Chong, of Chinese
descent, is President of the Queen's Privy Council, Minister of
Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Sport, providing representation
from Canadas visible minorities in Harpers Cabinet. Bill Casey, who has
been active on the Palestinian issue in Ottawa, was re-elected as
Conservative MP for Cumberland-Colchester- Musquodoboit Valley in Nova
Scotia.
Only three Arab-Canadian MPs were elected: Liberal Paul Zed, of Lebanese
descent, was re-elected in Saint John, New Brunswick; and another Liberal,
Omar Alghabra, a Syrian born in Saudi Arabia, won in Mississauga-Erindale,
a riding formerly held by the outspoken Carolyn Parrish. Maria Mourani, a
Lebanese Christian, was elected in Quebecs Ahuntsic riding, representing
the Bloc, beating Liberal Eleni Bakopanos by 662 votes; the riding had
5,725 Muslims and 6,550 Arabs.
To this writer's knowledge only four Muslims were elected in the 2006
Canadian election. They were Liberals Omar Alghabra in Mississauga-
Erindale, Wajid Khan in Mississauga-Streetsville, and Yasmin Ratansi in Don
Valley East. Rahim Jaffer in Edmonton-Strathcona was elected as a
Conservative.
Omar Alghabra, a past-president of the Canadian Arab Federation, overcame
many obstacles to become one of the few Canadians born in the Arab World to
be elected to Canada's Parliament; he is Syrian and was born in Saudi
Arabia. Senator Pierre Debane who as a Quebec MP served as a Minister in
Pierre Trudeau's government, was born in Haifa, Palestine. Mac Harb, born
in Lebanon, served as a Liberal MP in Ottawa and was appointed to the
Senate of Canada in 2004.
Other Liberal ridings of interest to the Canadian Arab and Muslim
communities include the re-election of Colleen Beaumier (Brampton- West),
head of the Canada Arab World Parliamentary Association. Joe Fontana, a
strong supporter of the Palestinian and Arab communities, was re-elected in
London-North-Centre. Andrew Telegdi who has worked closely with the
Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) and spoken out against security
certificates, was re-elected in Kitchener-Waterloo. Former Foreign Affairs
and Defense Minister, Bill Graham, was re- elected in Toronto-Centre; he is
a former professor of International Relations.
The defeat of Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew in the
Montreal riding of Papineau may have been due to displeasure of Montreal
Arabs and Muslims over changes in Canada's policy toward the Palestinian
issue. Pettigrews riding has 3,464 Arabs and 9,635 Muslim voters, and he
won the 2004 election by only 468 votes. This time he lost by 1,153 votes
to the Bloc.
In Brossard-La Prairie, which has 1,860 Arabs and 3,830 Muslims, Jacques
Saada also paid the price for his pro-Israeli views, losing to the Bloc by
2,077 votes. Liz Frulla, a member of Liberal Parliamentarians for Israel,
whose Quebec riding of Jeanne Le Ber has 2,000 Arabs and 4,020 Muslims,
lost her seat to the Bloc by 3,188 votes. Liberal Eleni Bakopanas lost her
Ahuntsic riding, which has 6,550 Arabs and 5,725 Muslims, by 662 votes.
For the NDP, Alexa McDonough was reelected in Halifax, Joe Comartin in
Windsor-Tecumseh and Libby Davies in Vancouver East. Svend Robinson, a
strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, was defeated in his bid to
return to the House of Commons after having resigned in disgrace following
a shoplifting scandal. NDP candidate Ian Waddell lost his election bid to
David Emerson who was elected as a Liberal, but defected to take a position
in Harper's Cabinet. The Conservatives placed a poor third in Vancouver
Kingsway and there has been a major uproar in the riding over Emerson's
defection to the Conservatives.
During the 2004 election campaign, the Canadian Islamic Congress had urged
Muslims to "hold their noses" and vote Liberal to stop the Conservatives,
which certainly helped the Liberals form a minority government. But for the
2006 election the CIC told Muslims to vote for the best local candidate on
Muslim community issues. Disenchanted with the Liberals, CIC chose not to
endorse a political party.
CIC's Political Action Committee claimed success with their Election Report
Card, saying it had an impact on the election outcome. The CICPAC campaign
to "vote candidates, not parties" reportedly helped MPs from all parties
get elected in 2006. According to CIC election exit polls, more than 70% of
eligible Canadian Muslims cast ballots. Among candidates who received a
positive "A" or "B" grading by CICPAC, 73% were elected. Of candidates who
received an unsatisfactory "F" grade, 33% were defeated. CIC's report card
is posted at
www.canadianislamiccongress.com/election2006/election_results.php
MPs who received a Grade of F and were defeated included Liberals Liza
Frulla, Jacques Saada and Sarmite Bulte in Parkdale-High Park. Bulte lost
to the NDPs Peggy Nash who was endorsed by the CIC.
It is clear that the Canadian Arab and Muslim communities are becoming more
politically involved, but most would agree that much needs to be done to
have their concerns more effectively addressed by Canadas political
institutions.
(Ed Corrigan is an Immigration lawyer with offices located in London and
Mississagua, Ontario. He can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED] This article
was edited for the Friday Bulletin. )
===========================================================================
2. IRAN'S NUCLEAR ENERGY DILEMMA
[By Sumaira Shaikh -- Special to The Friday Buleitin]
===========================================================================
Eight speakers and at least 500 spectators gathered at the Islamic Society
of York Region on Feb. 18 to mark the 27th anniversary of the Islamic
revolution in Iran and to discuss that country's current nuclear dilemma.
The conference focused on Peace and Justice in the Age of Imperialism, and
opened with an address by Zafar Bangash, director of the Institute of
Contemporary Islamic Thought.
Bangash talked about the "demonization of Iran in respect to its nuclear
program," asserting that Iran is in full compliance with the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty. It has not violated any NPT articles, yet is depicted
internationally as if it had. In fact, in December 2003, Iran voluntarily
agreed to additional safeguards and inspections in order to facilitate the
resolution of the ongoing dispute, and made it absolutely clear that this
was only a temporary measure. When international talks went nowhere and
demands by the West continued to escalate, Iran finally said it will no
longer comply with the additional safeguards and protocols.
But Iran's side of the story is never covered in newspapers or Western
media, Bangash said; instead, Iran is somehow presented as an NPT violator.
"It is important to recognize that before Iran broke the seals of any
nuclear facility, it notified the International Atomic Agency inspectors,
who were soon in place there; the cameras they installed were functional
and only then they broke the seals," he explained.
Bangash also addressed the issue of international hypocrisy over nuclear
weapons and said that while the media condemns Iran, it is actually the
U.S., France, and U.K. that are manipulating the International Atomic
Agency to justify their own aggressive policies against Iran. He noted, for
example, that American secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has publicy
declared that Iran poses the greatest threat to the U.S. and challenged her
statements:
"Have Iranian forces landed in U.S., Canada or Mexico? There are 150,000
American forces in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi
Arabia, you name it; all have U.S. military bases. Every country around
Iran is occupied by American forces, and they say Iran is a threat to
America? It is mind-boggling hypocrisy," he said.
Professor Mohamed Elmasry, national president of the Canadian Islamic
Congress, touched upon this topic as well, noting that Iran signed the NPT
and has followed the book to create nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
He said that countries like Israel, Pakistan and India did not sign the
NPT, yet the U.S. remains mute in terms of their nuclear weapons. "The U.S.
is placing pressure on the Iranian leadership and people in order to
blackmail them," he said.
James Clark from the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, talked about Iraq,
Iran, and the upcoming protest on March 18, marking the third anniversary
of the U.S invasion of Iraq.
He analyzed American imperialist mentality, saying that as the U.S. sinks
deeper into "a quagmire situation" and Iraqis continue to resist, one would
expect the aggressor to back down and head home, but the U.S. would never
do that. "The U.S., like an animal backed into a corner, will likely lash
out somewhere else, and that is why we have been hearing so much about Iran
these days," Clark said.
Clark also urged anti-war supporters to be clear about the message they
convey to others about Iran. This is an extremely crucial time for the
country, he said, with the U.S. trying its best to create an image of
Iranian violation of the NPT, giving it a reason to plan its attack. "We
have to let people know that Iran is a signatory to the NPT and is not in
violation of it. Irans decision not to enrich uranium was a voluntary one,
and even after [reversing] the decision recently, to begin the process of
enriching uranium, Iran is still not in violation of the NPT," he said.
He also stressed that Israel -- Americas closest ally in the Middle East
-- is the only country in the region possessing nuclear weapons, yet little
or nothing has been said about that. In fact, last year the U.S. delivered
more than 500 bunker-busting bombs to Israel. Currently, there are between
200 and 500 American thermonuclear weapons aimed at Iran and the rest of
that region.
Clark went so far as to say that even if Iran did decide to pursue nuclear
capability, the U.S. should be blamed since it has refused for decades to
disarm its own nuclear arsenal. "How dare they question Iran and the rest
of the world about the NPT and about making the world an unsafe place, when
in fact they are the worlds biggest warmongers. It is absolute hypocrisy."
(This article was slightly edited and abridged for the Friday Bulletin.)
===========================================================================
3. APARTHEID LABEL "NOT ANTI-SEMITIC" SAYS ACTIVIST U.K. ACADEMIC
[By Karen Kawawada and Philip Jalsevac -- KW Record -- Feb. 17, 2006]
===========================================================================
Uri Davis doesn't look or sound like a rabble-rouser. White-haired, dressed
in a sweater that screams Oxford, he looks like what he is -- a professor
and author, an honorary research fellow at the Institute for Middle Eastern
and Islamic Studies at Durham University and at the Institute of Arab and
Islamic Studies at Exeter University, both in England.
But for all his quiet, intellectual manner, the ideas he advanced at a
University of Waterloo talk last night are considered radical in many
circles. Ideas such as: Israel is an apartheid state. Israel is committing
a slow form of genocide against Palestinians.
Davis was invited to speak by the Young Communist League and the K-W
Solidarity Association for International Liberation Struggles as part of
Israel Apartheid Week, which is also marked in other Canadian cities and in
Oxford. In front of a polite audience of about 50, he identified himself as
"a Jew, a Palestinian Jew, a citizen of the state of Israel and an anti-
Zionist."
Although he holds dual British and Israeli citizenship, David was born in
Jerusalem in 1943, in what was then British-mandated Palestine. Today, he
maintained, the country of Palestine coexists with the nation-state of
Israel. This is a similar situation to what occurs in Britain, he said. The
nation-state is the United Kingdom, but England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland exist within it.
The difference, he said, is that in the United Kingdom, at least in law, a
Scottish citizen has the same rights as an English citizen. This is not the
case in Palestine, where non-Jews are segregated from Jews and
discriminated against. It isn't simply that Israel is racist -- Israel is
an apartheid state, he said.
"Singling out the state of Israel as an apartheid state has nothing to do
with . . . expressing anti-semitic sentiment. It is a necessary measure
based on a very cruel factual and legal system." The major difference
between South African apartheid and the situation in Israel is that in
Israel, there's no "petty apartheid."
There are no highly visible discriminatory measures, but "Israel is more
radical in a negative way," he said. At the peak of apartheid, 87 per cent
of land was reserved for whites. In Israel, 93 per cent is reserved in law
for Jews.
"It's only the absence of petty apartheid that allows Israel to project
itself as the only democracy in the Middle East, he said. Regulations
restricting Palestinian Muslim economic activity and movement are
effectively "genocide by strangulation," he said.
Another speaker, Hazem Jamjoum of the Arab Students' Collective at the
University of Toronto, called for sanctions against Israel.
Zainab Amadahy, a Cherokee activist in Toronto, gave a history of colonial
settlement in Canada, arguing First Nations were victims of genocide, both
cultural and literal.
Some members of the predominantly Jewish Waterloo Israel Political Affairs
Club had sent e-mails suggesting members attend, but if any were there,
they didn't rush to ask questions. In a Record article Wednesday, Ariel
Picollo, president of the club at UW, said he was "very sad to see things
like this are supported and promoted."
But Gloria Ichim of the Young Communist League, who has been to the
Occupied Territories, said if Picollo wants to see sadness, "I think he
should go to Palestine and see the families whose land has been confiscated
and who don't have food to feed their children."
Ichim was offended by the article for calling the position of two academics
on Israel inflammatory. "I take issue with 'inflammatory'," said Ichim, an
organizer of the event. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are
among those who criticize Israel for its treatment of Palestinians,
occupation of the West Bank and violence, she said.
(This article was slightly edited for the Friday Bulletin.)
===========================================================================
4. A FRIGHTENING "STRATEGY FOR ISRAEL"
[By Linda S. Heard -- Online Journal -- Nov 30, 2005]
===========================================================================
The other day I was handed the translation of a paper written by Israeli
journalist Oded Yinon back in 1982. Old news, I thought. I'll get around to
browsing through it one of these days. How wrong I was!
Yinon, who was attached to Israel's Foreign Ministry, published his paper,
titled "A Strategy for Israel" in the 1980s, in Kivunim (Directions) a
"journal for Judaism and Zionism." If the Association of Arab-American
University graduates hadn't widely distributed the article, it might have
disappeared down the memory hole.
The basic premises of the plan are these: In order to survive Israel must
become an imperial regional power and must also ensure the break- up of all
Arab countries so that the region may be carved up into small ineffectual
states unequipped to stand up to Israeli military might.
Yinon described the Arab-Muslim world as "a temporary house of cards put
together by foreigners and arbitrarily divided into states, all made up of
combinations of minorities and ethnic groups which are hostile to one
another." He then goes on to predict that some of these states face ethnic
social destruction from within "and in some a civil war is already raging."
He bemoans Israel's relinquishment of the Sinai, with its "oil, gas and
other natural resources" to Egypt under the Camp David Peace Treaty. Yinon
then predicts that if Egypt is divided and torn apart, some other Arab
countries will cease to exist in their present form and a Christian Coptic
state would be founded in Upper Egypt.
Now how about this?
"The dissolution of Syria and Iraq later on into ethnically or religiously
unique areas, such as in Lebanon, is Israel's primary target in the long
run, while the dissolution of the military power of those states serves as
the primary short term target," he writes.
"Iraq, rich in oil on the one hand and internally torn on the other, is
guaranteed as a candidate for Israel's targets," says Yinon. Its
dissolution is even more important for us than that of Syria. In the short
run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest threat to Israel ...
Every kind of inter-Arab confrontation will assist us in the short run and
will shorten the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into
denominations as in Syria and Lebanon. In Iraq, three or more states will
exist around the three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul."
Now remember that Yinon's paper was penned in 1982!
However, he also makes grave mistakes of judgment. For instance, he felt
certain that both Jordan and Egypt would revert to Nasser-style Pan-Arab
philosophies and break their treaties with Israel, which did not happen, or
that Jordan would continue to exist in its present structure for a long
time.
This was because Yinon wanted to see the transfer of Palestinian Arabs from
the West Bank into Jordan. "It is not possible to go on living in this
country in the present situation without separating the two nations, the
Arabs to Jordan and the Jews to the areas west of the river," he wrote.
Was Yinon's paper the precursor of the 1996 "Clean Break: A new strategy
for securing the realm" authored by current and former Bush administration
leading lights, such as Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and David and Meyrav
Wurmser, on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu?
"Clean Break" advised the Israeli government to "publicly question Syria's
legitimacy," contain Syria and strike selected targets, and "reject" the
land for peace concept for the Golan Heights.
It was also proposed that Syria should be isolated and surrounded by a
friendly regime in Iraq, while Arab countries should be challenged as
"police states" lacking legitimacy. Isn't this exactly what is happening
today as part of Bush's democratization policy?
Richard Perle -- who journalist and film-maker John Pilger describes as one
of George W. Bush's thinkers -- pops up again in the 2000 Project for the
New American Century document, which lays out the neocon vision for U.S.
domination of the land, seas, skies and space.
Pilger writes in December 2002: "I interviewed Perle when he was advising
Reagan; and when he spoke about 'total war', I mistakenly dismissed him as
mad. He recently used the term again in describing America's 'war on
terror'. 'No stages,' he said. 'This is total war. We are fighting a
variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there. All this talk we are
going to do Afghanistan, then we will do Iraq ... this is entirely the
wrong way to go about it. If we just let our vision of the world go forth,
and we embrace it entirely and we don't try to piece together clever
diplomacy, but just wage a total war ... our children will sing great songs
about us years from now'."
Those children that survive, maybe, but I'll bet that Perle and gang are
more likely to go down in the annals of history alongside humankind's most
brutal, ruthless and self-serving.
(Linda S. Heard is a British specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She
can be contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED] This article was
edited and slightly abridged for the Friday Bulletin.)
===========================================================================
5. "PROCESSED LANGUAGE" MISLEADS AND BURIES TRUTH OF MIDEAST CRISIS
[By Muhammad Ali Siddiqi -- Dawn -- February 25, 2006]
===========================================================================
It was exactly 12 years ago today, when Jewish terrorist Baruch Goldstein
entered the tomb of Patriarch Abraham -- Masjid-i-Ibrahimi to Muslims --
and opened fire on believers who were prostrate in prayer, killing 29
Palestinians and wounding 170 others.
No Israeli security guards stopped Goldstein's killing spree; instead,
Israeli soldiers fired on enraged Palestinians outside the mosque, causing
even more deaths and raising the total killed to 54.
The massacre shocked the world, but most unfortunate was the way western
media made every attempt to suppress what it thought were awkward facts
that would have cast Israel in a bad light. The word "Israel" was carefully
avoided, and Goldstein was mainly identified not as a terrorist or an
Israeli, but as a "settler" or at best an "extremist." The media even
suppressed the fact that Goldstein was both a doctor and an Israeli army
officer. In sharp contrast, however, a Muslim committing such a crime would
immediately be identified with his nationality.
Baruch Goldstein belonged to Kach, a Jewish fundamentalist movement founded
by Meir Kahane, a fanatic rabbi who was convicted by an American court for
instigating his followers to attack "anti-Semitic" targets in New York.
Once back in Israel, Kahane won a seat in the Knesset and also began a
quasi-fascist movement. In his book, They Must Go, he pleaded for the
ethnic cleansing of Israel and for driving all Palestinians out of the
occupied West Bank and Gaza.
A mass murderer being portrayed only as a "settler" or "extremist" is part
of what Palestinian intellectual Hanan Ashrawi calls "processed language."
This is the insidious way in which news about the Arab- Israeli conflict is
presented to the West, and the same way in which Israeli prime minister
Ariel Sharon has been described following the stroke that has left him near
death.
In its Jan 7, 2006 issue, The Economist calls him "a tough and popular
leader" -- "tough" for a man who was involved in several massacres,
including the carnage at the Palestinian refugee camps at Sabra and
Chatilla in 1982, and at Jenin.
He also murdered Hamas leaders, including founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, and
his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantissi. The most brutal murder, however, was
that of Hamas leader Salah Sheheda; the missile that struck his home also
killed nine children. Most western wire agencies and TV channels refer to
these murders as "targeted assassinations."
The Economist said of Sharon that "the Arab media more often calls him a
war criminal," which means the paper itself does not believe it.
Then there is this myth about Israel making "concessions" to Palestinians.
According to The Economist, Sharon was thinking of making "painful
territorial concessions" to the Palestinian Authority. At the failed 2000
Camp David summit, Ehud Barak and former U.S. President Clinton were making
"territorial concessions" to Yasser Arafat, while in fact they were asking
the Palestinian leader to surrender more land to Israel.
What happened at Camp David is a story unto itself. Clayton E. Swisher, in
his book The Truth About Camp David, says that die- hard Zionists,
including Madeleine Albright, Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk acted as an
Israeli delegation and wanted Arafat to sign an agreement in which no
mention was made of Jerusalem or the right of Palestinian refugees to
return. Arafat rejected what would have been an obvious sellout and so was
portrayed by the American media as "intransigent."
And what are "concessions" supposed to mean? Israel already has 78 per cent
of Palestine as it existed under the British "mandate." When therefore
Israel and its media supporters speak of concessions, they mean Israel
pulling out of bits of the remaining 22 per cent which have been under its
occupation for 37 years. "Territorial concessions" actually means that the
Palestinian Authority should concede even more land to Israel.
A conscious attempt is now being made to avoid using the word "occupied,"
the idea being to claim that the West Bank and Gaza are instead "disputed"
territories. In their coverage of the Sharon hospital story, both Time and
Newsweek conformed faithfully to this suppression of geopolitical facts.
Newsweek (Jan. 16, 2006) refers to the Gaza strip and the West Bank 13
times in the main story without using "occupied" at all. Time (also Jan.
16) refers to Gaza seven times and the West Bank six times, but everywhere
the word "occupied" is again missing.
Is Palestine a lost cause? The only hope is total faith in the ultimate
triumph of truth. The tragedy is that the Muslim world has been thrown
challenges to which it cannot respond. The domestic scene is monopolized by
mediaeval-thinking clerics, angry with and jealous of secular leaders in
power. If they cannot burn enemy armies in occupied territories, the least
they do is to burn restaurants, and fellow citizens cars and scooters.
(This article was substantially edited and abridged for the Friday
Bulletin.)
===========================================================================
6. UPCOMING EVENT: TORONTO COALITION TO STOP THE WAR, MARCH 18
===========================================================================
When: Saturday March 18, 2006 at 1:00 p.m.
Where: U.S. Consulate, 360 University Avenue, Toronto
What: A demonstration on the 3rd Anniversary of the War on Iraq -- Stop the
War, Troops Out of Iraq and Afghanistan, War Resisters Welcome Here
Who: Toronto Coalition to Stop the War
Contact: 416-795-5863
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.nowar.ca
===========================================================================
7. E-MAIL RESPONSES
===========================================================================
Letter to the Editor [published by Toronto Star and K-W Record, Feb 23,
2006]
Re: Richard Gwyn on Afghanistan (Feb 21)
I agree with Gwyn that "Canada is at war these days (in Afghanistan)" but
disagree with his unsubstantiated assertion that the war is "worthwhile" to
Canadians.
Afghanistan poses no threat whatsoever to Canadas security. Zero, zilch,
nada. And to those who naively think that Canada's military is only there
to help the poor Afghanis, Canada spends more than $600 million annually on
its military operations so far, and has committed only $200 million to
Afghanistan (how much has actually been spent is unknown).
Ask yourself how many new universities, schools, libraries, hospitals,
roads, factories, training centres, clean water plants, sewage treatment
facilities, etc. does Canada intend to build in Afghanistan? And what plans
has Canada developed to help Afghani farmers switch from opium cultivation
to more beneficial crops?
Canadians traditionally have been proud that their country has often been
the first to work under the UN peacekeeping banner in many hotspots around
the globe. But Canada's involvement in Afghanistan is not, and has never
been, peacekeeping.
Canadians are finally waking up to the fact that there was no real debate
over the decision to send our military to Afghanistan. Nor was there any
discussion of concrete objectives, or how to measure our success there.
When will we even know our mission is over?
Our government would do the right thing by all Canadians if it brings our
troops home, because our mission in Afghanistan lacks purpose.
Dr. Mohamed Elmasry National president, Canadian Islamic Congress
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Do you think this is a cycle of sectarian violence? I believe this is all
done by defeated occupants to start civil war, in order to show the world
they have to stay for Iraq's own interest and protection.
Tariq Nasim
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Re: ISLAMIC CONGRESS CONDEMNS PAKISTANI CLERIC'S "IRRESPONSIBLE, DANGEROUS"
ACTION IN OFFERING REWARD FOR CARTOONIST'S DEATH
Dear Dr. Mohamed Elmasry and Mrs. Wahida Valiante;
I just wanted to express my gratitude for your vigorous work on behalf of
Canadian Muslims. Its incredibly unfortunate to see a minority of "so-
called" Muslims world-wide tainting our peaceful religion, but it
definitely helps to see the work you are putting in to counteract these
ignorant positions. May Allah (swt) bless you.
Regards,
Katral-Nada Hassan
* * *
Dear members of the Islamic Congress;
Congratulations for this well-worded and well-intentioned press release.
Some people love to hate, and to spread more hatred in the world. That is
easy. What is much more difficult is to work for peace, understanding, and
to act with compassion. Thank you for doing this difficult work. I'm happy
to join you in that.
Silvaine Zimmermann
* * *
Dear Dr. Mohamed Elmasry;
My family and I will be keeping you and your family in our constant
prayers.
You truly are making some very challenging decisions as you look forward to
a peaceful resolution to the very disturbing images that have insulted
Islam and the Muslim community in the print media.
May God continue to give you wisdom and the strength to bring out a
peaceful solution.
Warm regards,
Sincerely
Bill Redwood
* * *
Agreed; you can't end violence by creating more violence. Anyway, the
cultural gap is increasing and that is dangerous for the world economy and
trade.
Thanks,
B.M. Raza
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Re: ISLAMIC CONGRESS JOINS ABORIGINAL NGOs TO CONDEMN RACIST "JUST ANOTHER
INDIAN" REMARK IN WESTERN STANDARD ARTICLE
Dear Dr. Elmasry;
As-Salaam Alaikum,
In the name of "freedom of expression" this newspaper, The Western
Standard, is insulting various communities of Canada, left and right. We
need to inform The Western Standard appropriately that these
insensitivities must not be repeated.
They should know better [because] in the long run it can harm them and all
those who are discriminatory, biased, and spreading hate feelings.
Thanks a lot for the work your organization is doing. Your approach is very
constructive.
Jalaluddin Syed Hussain
Brossard, Quebec
* * *
I think the best response against Ezra Levant et al is to sue them for
defaming Muslims, rather than ask a right-wing government to prosecute them
under its hate laws.
Thank you,
Abdul Moneim Mousa, Ph.D.
* * *
Dear friends;
Salam. I was moved as a Palestinian Canadian by the content most speakers
voiced during the Apartheid Week. Let me share one thing please. A few
years ago I was part of a selected audience with a CBC program where the
host asked one question: Who can bring peace in the Middle East?
When I spoke, I said this is the wrong question. What should have been
asked is; HOW can peace prevail in the Middle East? ... I said there should
be one state, one people, on the disputed lands. [This would] abolish
apartheid there. That [is the only way to] bring peace there. I am happy to
find more people voicing the same view, which I believe will come true
sooner or later.
Arafat Elashi
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Mohamed, I agreed fully with your editorial on the election of Hamas. Once
again the reasoning and facts struck me as perfect. However where you
wrote, "the overarching principle of peace with justice," I would have
written "peace through justice" because I think that the only road to peace
requires an effort to bring justice (not revenge) to the dispossessed.
David Lorge Parnas
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One of the tools which was effective in ending South Africa's apartheid was
[the] boycott of South African goods.
Would it be possible for someone to prepare a list of all Canadian
retailers who sell goods from Israel, as well as a form letter that we
could send, saying that we will boycott their store until they stop
supporting this apartheid state by selling goods made there?
Kamal
===========================================================================
NOTE: Some letters may have been edited for clarity and length;
however, writers' opinions are unaltered.]
===========================================================================
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DISCLAIMER:
All material published by The Friday Bulletin is the sole
responsibility of its author(s). The opinions and/or assertions
contained therein do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of
The Friday Bulletin, nor those of the Canadian Islamic Congress and
its officers.
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