Civil society groups from across Canada release open letter to party leaders:
On March 30, 1976, in response to the Israeli government’s announcement of a plan to expropriate thousands of dunams of Palestinian land for illegal settlement purposes, a general strike and marches were organized in Palestinian towns. In the ensuing demonstrations, the Israeli army and police killed six unarmed Palestinian citizens and wounded about one hundred demonstrators. Hundreds of others were arrested.
On March 30, 2018, after 42 more years of dispossession and brutal suppression of Palestinians’ right to self-determination, thousands of Palestinians gathered peacefully near the fence separating Gaza from Israel. In this non-violent action – now known to the world as “Land Day” – Israeli forces reportedly killed at least 17 Palestinians and wounded over 1400 more. These demonstrations were the launch of the Palestinians’ “Great March of Return,” which promises to last until May 15.
Israel’s latest Land Day massacre occurred in the context of Israel’s blockade of Gaza. That blockade, along with Israel’s devastating assaults on the enclave of over 2 million Palestinians, has rendered Gaza nearly unlivable. As stated by Robert Piper, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for the West Bank and Gaza, Israel’s blockade is an “extraordinarily inhuman and unjust process of strangling gradually two million civilians in Gaza that really pose a threat to nobody.”
Successive Canadian governments have acknowledged, albeit meekly, Israel’s abject disregard for international humanitarian law. Canada’s Global Affairs website states: “Canada does not recognize permanent Israeli control over territories occupied in 1967 (the Golan Heights, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip). The Fourth Geneva Convention applies in the occupied territories and establishes Israel’s obligations as an occupying power, in particular with respect to the humane treatment of the inhabitants of the occupied territories. As referred to in UN Security Council Resolutions 446 and 465, Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The settlements also constitute a serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”
Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory has now endured for over 50 years and the dispossession of Palestinians has endured for 70 years. Israel’s settlements, which plainly meet the definition of a war crime under Article 2(b)(vii) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, are more extensive than ever. The extremist government of Benjamin Netanyahu openly supports Israel’s annexation of illegal West Bank settlements, manifests utter contempt for the two-state solution, and, with the support of the Trump administration, has laid exclusive
claim to Jerusalem in flagrant violation of international law.
A law that is never enforced is a dead letter. If the Palestinian people are ever to have justice, and if Canada’s government is truly committed to doing its “utmost” to defend human rights, then Canada must take strong action now.
As stated by Western University law professor Michael Lynk, the current U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories: “International law is the promise that states make to one another, and to their people, that rights will be respected, protections will be honoured, agreements and obligations will be satisfied, and peace with justice will be pursued. It is a tribute to the international community that it has sustained this vision of international law throughout its supervision of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory. But it is no tribute that – as the occupation deepened, as the occupier’s intentions became crystal clear, and as its defiance grew – the international community recoiled from answering Israel’s splintering of the Palestinian territory and disfiguring of the laws of occupation with the robust tools that international law and diplomacy provide. International law, along with the peoples of Palestine and Israel, have all suffered in the process.”
On March 31, 2018, Amnesty International denounced Israel’s violent suppression of unarmed Land Day protests, stating: “Having consistently ignored the human rights of Palestinian refugees for 70 years, Israel must at least hear their demands and allow peaceful demonstrations and protests to take place.”
Amnesty also called for “independent and effective investigations to be launched immediately into reports that Israeli soldiers have unlawfully used firearms against unarmed protesters.”
Two days before Israel’s latest Land Day massacre, Foreign Minister Freeland tweeted, “Canada will always do its utmost to defend #humanrights around the world.” Nonetheless, Canada’s government appears to have taken no action to protect Palestinian protesters or to ensure that those who have violated their rights are held accountable.
Canada currently subjects numerous human rights violators to economic sanctions. The targets of Canadian sanctions include Russia. With the support of all parties having representation in Parliament, Canada’s government imposed sanctions on Russia due in large part to its recent ‘annexation’ of Crimea. Yet, despite Israel’s illegal annexation of East Jerusalem and its pending annexation of West Bank settlements, the Canadian government has imposed no economic sanctions on the State of Israel.
We note Canada’s obligation under Article 1 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to “ensure respect” for the Convention “in all circumstances.” By refusing to take any concrete action to oppose Israel’s violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Canada is flouting its obligation under Article 1 thereof.
A law that is never enforced is a dead letter. If the Palestinian people are ever to have justice, and if Canada’s government is truly committed to doing its “utmost” to defend human rights, then Canada must take strong action now.
Accordingly, we, the undersigned organizations and individuals, call upon the Government of Canada and all political parties having representation in Parliament to:
Condemn Israel’s use of lethal force to suppress peaceful protest; demand an independent and transparent investigation into the killing and wounding of unarmed Land Day protesters by Israeli forces; and call for the imposition of appropriate economic sanctions by the Canadian government and UN on those parties who are complicit in the violation of Palestinian human rights.
(Signed by: Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians; Bathurst Street United Church – Toronto; Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation; Beit Zatoun; Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver; Canada Palestine Support Network; Canadian Arab Federation; Canadian BDS Coalition; Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East; Canadian Friends of Sabeel: Canadian Palestinian Foundation of Quebec; Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice; Canadian Union of Postal Workers / Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses des Postes; Christian Peacemaker Teams Ontario; Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Victoria; Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid Toronto; Educators for Peace and Justice; Faculty for Palestine; Green Party of Quebec / Parti vert du Québec; Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War; Independent Jewish Voices – Canada; Independent Jewish Voices – Hamilton; Independent Jewish Voices – Vancouver; International League of Peoples’ Struggle – Canada; Jewish Liberation Theology Institute; Just Peace Advocates / Mouvement pour les paix juste; Justice for Palestinians, Calgary; Labour for Palestine; MidIslanders for Justice and Peace in the Middle East; Oakville Palestinian Rights Association; Palestinian Association of Hamilton; Palestinian and Jewish Unity; Palestinian Canadian Congress; Palestine House, Mississauga; Palestine Solidarity Network – Edmonton; Palestine Solidarity Working Group-Sudbury; People for Peace (London); Regina Peace Council; Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; Socialist Action / Ligue pour Action socialiste; Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – Concordia University; Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – Queen’s University; Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UBC; Solidarity with Palestine St. John’s; St. John’s Working Group for Justice and Peace in Palestine; Toronto BDS Action; United Network for Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel; Young New Democrats of Quebec)
