In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
The Canadian Islamic Congress Friday Bulletin
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - Muharram 22, 1427, Year:9 Vol:9 Issue: 31
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** SPECIAL BULLETIN -- ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK, TORONTO, FEB 13-18, 2006 **
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1. ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK (FEB. 13-18, 2006) - DAY 1
[By Sumaira Shaikh -- Special to the Friday Bulletin]
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TORONTO -- On the eve of the second annual Israeli Apartheid Week organized
by the University of Toronto Arab Students Collective (ASC), Palestinian
supporters poured into the room, wearing traditional Arab scarves, called
kufiyyas.
As his audience applauded, ASC member Ahmad Shokr proclaimed the slogan of
the week: "One person, one vote, one state, the refugees will return."
Elsewhere in his address Shokr said, "Canada must dismantle its economic
and political ties with Israel until it ends its apartheid; this is what we
are calling for."
The first day of Israeli Apartheid Week focused on the historical
background of apartheid, with three speakers who shared their views on the
topic.
Zainab Amadahy, a writer and indigenous solidarity activist, talked about
the connection between apartheid and the settler colonies of North America.
She discussed Canada's treatment of indigenous people through the Indian
reservation system. "Canada is an apartheid system, with all of its
reserves," she said during an interview. "It has been an apartheid state
... creating difficult situations [for indigenous people], coercing them
into assimilating and becoming Canadian and separating people along racial
lines in order to control their lives."
She also connected the Canadian style of apartheid with that of Israel,
along the lines of racism and the larger capitalist system. "Canada
supports Israel because it sees a commonality with Israel ... It fits the
capitalist agenda, with racist undertones to it, against Muslims and
Arabs," she said.
ASC member Zahir Kolia spoke of his experiences as a South African living
under apartheid.
"My father died when I was one, and I dont even remember his face. My
mother ... has been alone [for some 20 years], taking care of us," he said.
"And to know that the state of Israel supported that regime [South
African], and how many families were split up, how many kids left
fatherless and motherless, how many mothers left widows, thats the passion
that I have for this topic. It is personal."
Kolia addressed the similarities of South Africa and Israel as settler
states based on apartheid, with minority populations aiming to dominate the
majority. He noted that South African head of state Daniel Malan was the
first to visit Israel. Kolia also spoke about the economic ties that Israel
maintained with South Africa, even during an international boycott.
As well as focusing on the ties between South Africa and Israel as
apartheid states, Kolia stressed that human rights are important and
everyone is worthy of the same treatment.
"ASC has never advocated getting rid of settlers," Kolia said during the
question-and-answer period. "Everyone should live together as equals; but
part of a solution has to be the return of refugees that is guaranteed by
international law... Zionists say we advocate the destruction of Israel,
but we are saying the opposite. We want brotherhood and sisterhood in the
state."
Jaggi Singh, the last speaker of the day, discussed global apartheid and
how western countries -- many of them settler states, like Australia,
Canada and the U.S. -- create barriers against migrants from other
countries. He addressed the struggles that migrants face in trying to
escape hardships at home to find a better life; some even die in the
process of reaching their destination.
"Apartheid is at the origins of the Canadian state," he said during an
interview. "With immigrant populations, we have a mass population of people
without status, where we pick the crème of migrants, [those] who are
educated or who have skills, and exploit the rest."
During the question-and-answer period, audience member Tom Riley, who
identified himself as a Marxist, said "I think the Zionist state has to be
snatched in order for any changes to take place. If you want to solve the
problem you have to think about the poisonous social systems of Zionism and
capitalism. They must be uprooted, otherwise its not going to work."
Singh responded sympathetically, saying that although he believes in a no-
state solution, a solution that is fair for all must be foremost. "The
purpose of a single entity is not for a certain religion or race, but for
people who are from there, or want to live there. What we need is a just
solution."
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2. ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK (FEB. 13-18, 2006) - DAY 2
[By Sumaira Shaikh -- Special to the Friday Bulletin]
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A PALESTINIAN CHRISTIAN & ISRAELI JEW SPEAK OUT AGAINST APARTHEID
The second day of Israeli Apartheid Week at the University of Toronto
presented a rarely-seen encounter -- the shared perspectives of a
Palestinian Christian, Rafeef Ziadah, and an Israeli Jew, Uri Davis, who
both support the Palestinian cause and who both disproved the media myth
that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a religious battle exclusively
between Muslims and Jews.
Rafeef Ziadah began by speaking of her grandfathers who had to leave
Palestine and flee to Lebanon as refugees, hoping they could someday
return, but it was never possible. With her grandfathers' lives as
background she then spoke of the larger Palestinian refugee experience and
the injustice of not being allowed to return to one's homeland. She also
reiterated the theme of the week -- One person, one vote, one state, the
refugees will return -- emphasizing that for her the strength of those
words points to the creation of a secular state where people can live
together in equality. "I dont think there can be any argument against this
solution except for a racist argument against Arabs," she said during an
interview.
Ziadah said the best way to bring an end to Israeli apartheid is to look to
the South African model and for civil society to mobilize in support of
this cause.
Uri Davis then told the audience about his privileged status as a Jew in
Israel, in contrast to Palestinian Arabs, agreeing with Ziadah on almost
every point. He talked about his experience as a Jew who had been blind to
the atrocities of the Israeli state until he realized what life was really
like for Palestinians. "I think my colleague here [Ziadah] should have the
same rights and privileges as I did as a born Jew in Israel," he said.
Davis addressed the details of apartheid in Israel, a system of oppression
that is a part of the actual law of the land and enforced through
government-sanctioned racism against the Palestinians.
He talked about land ownership regulations imposed on Arabs and how they
can lease land for only three years, rather than the 49-year leases given
to Israeli Jews. Also, if a Jew leaves his or her land, it would be
protected, but if an Arab leaves, all rights to return are forfeited.
Davis went on to describe the "ghettoization" of Palestinians, the creation
of open-air prisons (like concentration camps) and the expulsion of these
people into Bantustans -- a South African-inspired term for the pseudo
homelands set aside to contain socially and economically marginalized
groups, in this case Palestinians. "Not only [was] the Holocaust is a crime
against humanity, there are other crimes against humanity as well," he
said.
Davis said Israel is able to project itself as a democracy internationally
because it does not engage in "petty apartheid" like South Africa did. By
petty apartheid, he meant there are no separate public bathrooms or buses
for Arabs and Jews, as there were in South Africa for whites and non-
whites. This is why Israel can hide its atrocities under a veil of
democracy.
During the question-and-answer period, a woman who chose not to be
identified, questioned Hamass secular stance and its growing position as a
fundamentalist Islamic party.
Davis responded saying there should not be such an emphasis on Hamass
fundamentalism. "The instrument that brought fundamentalism into the Middle
East first [was] Zionism, just as Israel was first [to have] illegal
nuclear weapons ... with its objection to signing the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Pact," he explained. "So when one worries about
fundamentalism, I suggest that one list Jewish fundamentalism in the Middle
East first, because the others are rather secondary."
Davis -- who identifies himself as a Palestinian Hebrew with Israeli
citizenship -- urged his fellow Palestinians and supporters to be
sophisticated, precise and accurate in stating facts. "Zionist political
leverage is by far much higher and any factual error on our side is a
victory for the opposite side," he said.
Along with Ziadah, he proposed a basic solution to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict: The construction of a state that grants equal rights to all,
which is only possible through the end of Israeli apartheid.
Ziadah hopefully believes thinks the end is near. "We are at the cusp of an
anti-apartheid movement since the two-state solution is dead, the Oslo
peace process is dead; so now it is our job as activists to start talking
about apartheid. If South African apartheid can fall, so can the Israeli."
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3. ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK (FEB. 13-18, 2006) - DAY 3
[By Sumaira Shaikh -- Special to the Friday Bulletin]
===========================================================================
The third day of Israeli Apartheid Week at the University of Toronto took a
journey into the depth of the conflict, into the lives of the Palestinian
people and the system of the Israeli state. Three guests, Adam Hanieh, Jon
Elmer and Nathan Bender were keynote speakers.
Adam Hanieh, a member of Al-Awda and a Palestinian, took the audience down
the trail of history that brought Palestine to where it stands today and
provided an overview of the Israeli apartheid strategy in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories.
He discussed the widely held myth that the conflict is a problem between
two equally extremist sides, and that if both were able to come to a
settlement, there would be peace. But the problem of that myth, he
explained, is that there are not two equal sides.
"The Israelis created a system of remote control, where [there] appears to
be Palestinian control in an area, but it is actually Israeli control over
everything," he said to the audience.
Hanieh also addressed Israel's controversial "Security Wall, " which is
actually an "apartheid wall [and] was not a response to terrorism," he
said. "It was the concrete face of the Alon Plan [created by the Israeli
government], but unfortunately now it is presented as disengagement and as
part of a peace process."
Photojournalist Jon Elmer was the evening's second speaker. He provided a
visual presentation to show "the relentless grind of the Israeli
occupation."
As the audience watched his photographs, he talked about his time in
Palestine, describing the actions of the Israeli military and the daily
lives of the Palestinian people. "We are not talking about abstract
theories here, we are talking about real people who are on the edge of
survival," he said.
He also talked about the fear within the Israeli population of the so-
called "demographic bomb" -- the belief that, despite all the expulsions
and forced transportation and migration of Palestinians, their population
is growing so fast that it could overwhelm the existing Jewish population.
"Maximum Jews, minimum Arabs is the absolute ethics of Israel," he said.
Nathan Bender, a member of Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) was the final
speaker. He talked about his experiences in Hebron, where he spends two or
three months every spring, becoming closely involved in peoples' lives so
as to help them more effectively.
He said all of the Occupied Territories are functioning under a daily
military law situation. "We used to watch bullets go past our balcony into
Palestinian territory," he said.
During the question-and-answer period Niv, an Israeli man, stated to all of
the speakers, "Israel always allowed Palestinians to create their own
state, but unfortunately they always responded with terrorism." He also
said that the apartheid argument "doesnt make sense." Since Niv refused to
pose a question, but only wanted to challenge the speakers, he was asked to
leave the room.
Elmer found Niv's views ludicrous. "They know they are wrong. They
[Israelis] build lies on top of lies, because people dont understand what
is going on," he said later in an interview.
All three speakers agreed that media bias plays a major role in
perpetuating Western misconceptions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"I think people living outside the country dont understand [the conflict],
largely because of how the media presents the dispute as a conflict between
two equal sides, conflict over a piece of land, a religious war, all of
these types of things," Hanieh said. "It is totally misrepresented by the
media and by the whole political discourse."
There seemed to be some distance among the speakers, however, when it came
to their expectations regarding the end of the conflict. Bender and Hanieh
felt that there is hope for an end soon, since the anti-apartheid movement
has gained momentum.
And Bender felt that Hamas may possibly change its strategies now that it
has been elected to government; if so, it may be able to achieve something.
But Elmer strongly disagreed. "If we think the end is near, we are
[deceiving] ourselves as solidarity activists that we are almost there,
that justice is just around the corner," he said. "Our strategy is going to
be all out of whack because justice isnt just around the corner right now;
there is a long struggle that is not going to end anytime soon."
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4. ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK (FEB. 13-18, 2006) - DAY 4
[By Sumaira Shaikh -- Special to the Friday Bulletin]
===========================================================================
The fourth day of Israeli Apartheid Week examined the links between
Canada's support for Israel and the importance of boycotting, divestment,
and sanctions for the movement against apartheid.
The evening's three speakers were Ahmad Motiar, member of the African
National Congress; Rachel Gorman from the Jewish Womens Committee to End
the Occupation; and Justin Podur, from the International Solidarity
Movement.
Motiar began with a comparison between South Africa and Israel, noting that
a key similarity between both apartheid regimes (former and present) is
that both claimed, or claim, to be democracies.
"South Africa used to boast [of itself] as being the only democracy in
Africa and Israel does the same, saying it is the only democracy in the
Middle East."
In reality, the apartheid regimes of Israel and South Africa maintained
their hegemony by creating and repeating a web of lies so consistently that
they came to seem like truth. But oppressed South Africans learned to use
the truth to their benefit and so should the Palestinians, Motiar
suggested.
"It is with speaking the truth again and again that we can win the hearts
and minds of people and [this is] how we can defeat the enemy," he told
listeners.
One of the more contentious points Motiar discussed was suicide bombing. "A
suicide bomber is not taking revenge," he stressed. "It is retaliation...
If the state stops its terrorism against the Palestinians, the suicide
bombing will stop as well."
But Jewish audience member Alan Herman found this statement quite
disturbing. Interviewed afterwards, he said: "Suicide bombing is a line in
the sand between any attempt at peace or coexistence, and the targets are
civilian populations. As a Zionist, Id like to have faith in a Palestinian
population that does not endorse this view, but what hope am I left with
when you hear him [Ahmad Motiar] endorse that publicly?"
But Motiar was clear in his address to the audience, asserting that "If
people are going to suffer, they have the right to resist and how they
resist, they have the right to decide. We are not the ones to condemn them,
because we victimize the victims if we do that."
He urged the current apartheid movement to not be apologetic at the
political level, but to be assertive and put the other side on the
defensive. "Our response should be [that] suicide bombing is a response to
state terrorism," he said.
Rachel Gorman, the evening's second speaker, talked about the Jewish lobby
and its impact on foreign policy, as well as Canadian support for Israel.
She pointed out that 66 MPs are members of the influential Canadian-Israeli
Friendship Group, but explained that all Canadian political parties support
Israel to some extent, especially the Conservatives, because "Israel is a
client state to the U.S. and Canadian policies are absolutely tied to U.S.
interests."
Gorman said the biggest problem with the Zionist ideology and the Israeli
lobby is that it has completely demobilized the Canadian left. "The Israeli
lobby is a dangerous lobby, but it is not driving the world," she said.
"What Zionism is doing is that it is silencing dissent. It is shutting us
down as activists, it is not running foreign policy."
She said that in order for divestment, boycott, and sanction movements to
work in furthering the goal of one person, one vote, and one state, the
movement must disentangle the web of lies and complexities around the whole
situation.
Last up to speak was Justin Podur, who said Canada and Israel share a form
of denial among their populations, the idea that they are treating everyone
well. Yet both countries are simultaneously mistreating and neglecting
their own indigenous peoples.
"In Canada we have a multicultural society that creates an image of being
capable of accepting and assimilating immigrants, and creates the idea of
building a multicultural project by excluding the native people and
building it on their land," he said.
The night ended with applause and optimism, when a resounding comment was
made by a Jewish woman in the audience, Abbie Bakan.
"What we have to do is campaign that the Israeli state does not represent
the Jewish people. Apartheid in the Israeli state associates with South
African racism and not with the Jewish population."
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5. ISRAELI APARTHEID WEEK (FEB. 13-18, 2006) - DAY 5 [CONCLUSION]
[By Sumaira Shaikh -- Special to the Friday Bulletin]
===========================================================================
Israeli Apartheid Week wound up with a strong and positive message to the
oppressed: The struggle will end, so remain optimistic.
Asad AbuKhalil from California State University at Stanislaus, and
Kahentinetha Horn, a professor at Concordia University in Montreal, were
keynote closing speakers. Both addressed the struggles of suffering under
apartheid, with AbuKhalil describing it from a Palestinian viewpoint and
Horn applying the experience to her own Mohawk people.
Horn began by greeting the audience in her native tongue, then addressed
Canada's role in marginalizing both Mohawks and the larger native
population.
She charged that, through the Indian Act -- an illegal piece of legislation
created by force, through so-called Indian councils -- Canada declared its
aboriginal peoples as non-persons, setting them on a path to extinction and
genocide. And Canada (like Israel) illegitimately claimed land that
belonged to indigenous people without their genuine (informed) consent.
"The Indian Act is a termination policy, Israeli policies are the exact
same policies they used on us," she said.
She also noted that the U.S. and Canada implemented their Indian laws
almost simultaneously, at about the same time in history. "These
trespassers on our land violate international law. It constitutes criminal
attempts by large entities to oppress small nations," Horn said.
But despite having described all the torture and oppression suffered by
native Canadians, Horn still managed to leave her audience with hope.
"We [Palestinians and Mohawks] have a lot in common," she affirmed. "I
never really accepted defeat." With those words, the auditorium gave her a
spontaneous standing ovation, as she raised her arm in a signal of victory.
Asad AbuKhalil, the second and final speaker, outlined many important
facts of the conflict and the context under which the struggle to resist
Israeli apartheid continues.
"The UN and the great powers of the world today want the Palestinians --
those who are under occupation -- to protect the occupation from the
occupied," he said.
AbuKhalil echoed the solution identified by a majority of the week's
speakers: One state with full rights of return and of compensation for the
Palestinian people, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims can live side by
side, not under the guise of a state that stands for bigotry and prejudice
in favour of one group against others.
He urged all oppressed people globally to unite.
"The way networks of oppression are linked -- Israeli, the U.S. and UN --
why dont we link the networks of those who are oppressed?" he challenged
the audience.
AbuKhalil also talked about the double standard among Western countries. "I
am in favour of all Middle East countries having nuclear power against
Israel; it is for mutual deterrence, and that is why I support it," he said
during an interview.
He maintained that the popular notion of nuclear weapons in the hands of
Arabs and Muslims being harmful, while the same weapons in the hands of
Israel are safe, shows the racist ideology of Zionism and the double
standard of Western nations.
"It shows there is a certain genetic inequality between the two people," he
said. "This genetic inequality is at the heart of Zionism and that is why
Zionism is racism; it is racist in practice and in thought."
Regarding the boycott, sanction, and divestment movements, he does not
believe these strategies alone will bring the occupation to an end, but
said it is the least people can do internationally to support the
Palestinian cause.
"It is the struggle of the Palestinians that will cause the impact, what
they do over there is what will make the difference," he said. "I dont
want to belittle [those], but [the Palestinian struggle] is the decisive
one."
Like Horn, AbuKhalils last few words to the audience gave out a strong
sense of optimism, ending Israeli Apartheid Week on a positive note.
"If you look at the Middle East region, it stands as testimony to the
limitations of American power," he said. "Historically, we have seen one
conqueror after another, but all were kicked out and the present conquerors
will also get kicked out."
(The five preceding articles were edited and slightly abridged for the
Friday Bulletin.)
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NOTE: Some letters may have been edited for clarity and length;
however, writers' opinions are unaltered.]
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contained therein do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of
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