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Dear Friends: Following is a letter from Canada Palestine
Association to the Assembly of First Nations regarding their recent trip to We were overwhelmed by the initial response that we
received so far, obviously the solidarity of all indigenous peoples
is an issue that cries out for further attention. As an
anti-racist organization, we will not accept any endorsement motivated by
any kind of racism, be it anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, Anti-Muslim,
Anti-Native or anti-Jewish racism. After releasing the letter and submitting it to
the AFN, we will still add more endorsers before posting it on our web
site one week from the initial release. We will also inform the
AFN of the new endorsers. If you would like to be listed as an
endorser, please send your name or group's name with the city to [EMAIL PROTECTED] We would like to thank everyone that has participated
in this process and we look forward to hearing back from you. Hanna Kawas, February 23, 2006
Open letter to the Assembly
of First Nations We are
saddened, hurt and shocked by the visit of a delegation of the Assembly of
First Nations (AFN) to "Indigenous people in The victims of genocide at the hands of European
settler colonialism cannot and should not give cover for another form of
settler colonialism that has committed and continues to commit wholesale ethnic
cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people and nation. In
1948, over four hundred villages and towns were wiped off the Palestinian and
world map and their cemeteries desecrated; two thirds of the Palestinian people
were uprooted from their historic homeland and forced to live in reservations
called refugee camps for the past fifty-eight years, most outside of their
historic land. (See “All That Remains” By Prof. Walid Khalidi http://palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story661.html ) Perhaps the chiefs, elders and leaders of the Assembly
of First Nations don’t know the history of the Zionist movement. In
fact, it was coined on the model of the European settler colonialist movement
that preceded it four hundred years earlier and committed the genocide against
the indigenous peoples. The Zionist movement was also built on the Here is what the first Zionist Congress held in “Zionism strives to create for the Jewish people
a homeland in 1- The
promotion on suitable lines of the colonization
of And Theodor
Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, wrote in his book The Jewish State in
1896: “We
should there form a portion of the rampart of Europe against So
doesn’t this logic sound familiar? We are sure that it is painfully
familiar to your ancestors and to your people who face racism on a daily basis. We are sorry that we do not have the means to take you
on similar tours to show you what is really happening in We will be frank with you. In the name of the
vanquished indigenous people, you are being used to justify and cover up not
only the Israeli atrocities and war crimes committed against the Palestinian
people but also Israeli support for racism and oppression against the peoples
of Africa, Asia, central and south America. This should not pass. The sooner you clarify your
position, the sooner you will salvage your name and credibility. Already
messages on the Internet are describing your collaboration with the Zionist
organizations under the title: “Friends of neocolonialism
meet”. We hope that you will not be remembered as friends of
European settler colonialists who committed genocide against the Palestinian
people and were motivated by conquest, greed and superiority, the same evil
motivations that enslaved the Native people of the It is an offence and a crime against our native
brothers and sisters who are still living and to those who perished in the
process of colonization, to associate with the crimes of the Israeli settler
colonialist state that is committing genocide against the native people of Since the year 2000, over eight hundred Palestinian
“Dudley Georges” were murdered every year at the hands of the
neo-fascist regime in Are these the people who you “have much in
common with” and that you want to build cultural comparisons with?
Are these the people you want to share your “values and …
traditional ways of life” with? If so, you are complicit in their war crimes and you
should not do it in the name of the First Nations Peoples. Indigenous
peoples must never be a party to genocide against the Palestinian people nor
any other oppressed people facing occupation, genocide and theft of their land
and natural resources. Endorsed by the following groups and individuals (group names listed with
individuals for identification only) Palestine
Community Centre www.palestinecommunitycentre.com Palestine House,
Palestine Solidarity Group www.palsolidaritygrp.org Information: Islamic Foundation of Toronto, |
