One of the areas that receives very little local media attention is the official policy towards the Israeli/Palestine question – seldom do the issues on Israel/Palestine surface in any of the media, and what little does generally follows the lines of Palestinian terrorists, the undemocratic Hamas takeover of Gaza, and the hardships of the Israeli population.
The official Canadian policy found on the Federal Government
website presents an interesting read that struggles to sound neutral
and non-judgmental but taken in consideration with government actions,
or more importantly, government inaction, a definite bias can be seen.
What at first tries to be balanced and neutral becomes simply more
rhetoric and dissimulation while maintaining the status quo of Israeli
occupation and dominance.
International Law
While
reading the series of statements on the Canadian government website [1]
one of the significantly repeated statements is a variation on
international law, either in accordance with or in violation of. A
very noble sentiment, except that Canada’s stature on international law
itself has been rather diminished lately. In Afghanistan, Canada has
been criticized for handing over prisoners of war to the Afghan
police/military, organizations accused of torture, without further
supervision. While this issue has been addressed minimally with an
agreement that follow up visits will be pursued to ensure the prisoners
safety, the lack of information and follow up on the issue, and the
lack of information coming from the government still leaves the hint of
complicity in torture with the Canadian government.
The
government of course will deny that, but their own internal affairs and
complicity with the Americans in the rendition of Maher Arar to Syria
signals that, as with the American government, a little torture is all
right. It should be quite unnerving to Canadians to know that their
own agencies will deliver a Canadian citizen into the hands of
Americans who in turn send him to a defined terrorist state for
torture.
More directly, the government website says it
“recognizes Israel’s right to assure its own security, and to take
proportionate measures in accordance with international law.” The only
proportionate measure allowed by international law is the UN right to
self-defence in the case of attack. The Israeli attack into Lebanon in
2006, in response to a border raid by Hezbollah, resulted in Stephen
Harper’s disclaimer that the attack was “proportionate”, that the
bombing of civilian infrastructure (against international law), the
bombing of civilians (with over a thousand deaths, including a second
devastating attack in Qana), carpet bombing with treacherous cluster
bombs, were all a proportionate response to the death of three dead and
two kidnapped border guards. As there have been ongoing border
skirmishes over the years, and continual Israeli air space incursions
into Lebanese territories, this response hardly seems “proportionate”
by any definition.
As seen in the previous article, Canada’s
recognition of international law has also diminished with the refusal
to follow the signature on the Kyoto accord and the refusal to sign
onto the UN Indigenous Rights Treaty. The issuance of ‘security
certificates’ which align with American laws, allows detention of
people suspected of being a “danger to national security” - a rather
loose term that could lead to our own violation of human rights, in
particular the right to representation before the law - again against
international human rights standards.
Palestinian refugees
In
a fine sounding rhetorically expressive section, Canada argues that the
Palestinian refugee problem “should respect the rights of the refugees,
in accordance with international law.” Sounds great, except that the
argument says we continue “to focus international attention on the
situation of the more than four million Palestinian refugees, and to
promote preparations for the eventual resumption of negotiations.”
This is all news to me, and as a hopefully well-informed Canadian,
following most media news on a daily basis, I see absolutely no
evidence of this. I hear nothing about the plight of these millions of
Palestinians and how, under international law, they have the right to
return to their occupied homelands. So what is Canada’s role? We are
the “Gavel Holder of the multilateral Refugee Working Group…formally in
abeyance since 1996.” Way to go Canada, hang on to that gavel for
another dozen inactive years, great way to promote the Palestinian
right of return under international law.
Occupation, settlements, the “barrier, and terrorism.
In
the four related areas of occupation, settlements, terrorism and the
“barrier”, international law again comes to the forefront, with great
rhetoric followed by no substance. In reference to the Fourth Geneva
Conventions, Canada recognizes it as applying “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.” Well written, sounds great – but
exactly what is Canada doing about it? Nothing that I can find. No
speeches by Harper or any member of his caucus about the land grabs,
the fake ‘military zones’, the killing of protesters, the hundreds of
checkpoints that strangle the communities, separating farmers from
farms and business, children from schools, families from families,
everyone from whatever some IDF person feels like blocking on the spur
of the moment.
These checkpoints are there to control the
Palestinian population at the same time enabling the peace, security,
and expansion of the many settlements in the occupied territories,
again recognized by Canada – on paper at least – as being a violation
of the Fourth Geneva Conventions. The settlements are “a serious
obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.” Great,
more well written rhetoric, but again absolutely useless as Canada does
nothing about it other than passively – and therefore implicitly –
following the Bush doctrine towards Palestine. Perhaps Stephen Harper
should test his own motorcade and see if he has any trouble getting
through Israeli checkpoints in order to visit Bethlehem?
The
“barrier” – the wall - is recognized as legitimate by Canada if Israel
builds it on its own territory, which under the lack of any kind of
settled border definition also leaves the wall undefined and therefore
illegitimate. Again, its current location is “contrary to
international law,” and is opposed for reasons of “expropriations and
demolition of houses and economic infrastructure carried out for this
purpose.”[emphasis added] This implies that maybe expropriations and
demolitions of houses and infrastructure are okay for other reasons,
such as expanding the settlements and terrorizing and controlling the
Palestinians?
Finally, it is nice to see that terrorism should
be prosecuted in accordance with international law. Canada lists,
among others, Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups, no doubt of
which there are elements involved, mostly as a result of the
asymmetrical military pressure applied to them. What Canadian
government officials and Members of Parliament appear to be ignorant of
is that both Hamas and Hezbollah originated from the illegal invasion
and occupation of Palestine and Lebanon respectively. They also seem
ignorant of the knowledge that both groups provided (and still provide)
civic infrastructure when none other was available to the people. To
fill out the ignorance, they do not seem to understand that both groups
participated in democratic votes and succeeded well beyond American –
and Canadian – acceptance of their concept of limited democracy,
limited to those who agree with America. To allow democracy to arrive
in Israel/Palestine, Hezbollah and Hamas need to brought into
government and dealt with as a strong popular contingent of the areas
population.
Obversely, nothing is ever said of Israeli terror:
the daily shootings and killings of innocent Palestinians; the use of
torture in Israeli prisons; the destruction of homes by bombing or
bulldozers; the ongoing psychological terror of checkpoints, aerial
incursions, and attacks on peaceful protesters; the proliferation of
nuclear weapons outside the NPT. Bringing it back closer to home,
nothing is ever said of American terrorism: the torture of prisoners in
American detention centres or their rendition overseas; the murder of
civilians; the destruction of civilian infrastructure; the subversive
activities used to promote dissent and destruction against legally
elected representative governments; the threats of force against other
countries, let alone the invasion of other countries, of which there is
a large listing over the past century. If Canada is against terror, it
needs to be equally against Israeli and American terror, the latter
being the greatest originator of terror in the world.
The
website is so repetitive in its references to international law it
becomes nothing but a stream of self-conscious apologetics trying to
give the impression of wisdom and action.
So many words, so
little action. So much rhetoric, but never anything ever said in
Parliament, or the press, or any other media, against Israel’s
occupation and actual violation of international law. Instead, Canada
accepts the “appropriate” response Israel applied in the 2006 Hezbollah
war; Canada denies the fully democratic vote that gave Hamas a majority
within the Palestinian Authority elections; Canada has designated aid
assistance to Abbas following the futility and Pythonesque silliness of
Annapolis, but denies Hamas any validity in Gaza.
Canada says
nothing in a truly open and oppositional framework that tells Israel to
withdraw from its illegal occupation, to allow the return of the four
million displaced Palestinians, to stop imprisoning the one and a half
million Palestinians in Gaza, to remove the settlements (or better yet,
turn them over to the evicted Palestinians) and eliminate the bantustan
nature of Palestine, to remove the roadblocks and checkpoints that are
used to terrorize the Palestinian people, to stop the military
destruction of houses and farms and the military annexation of
Palestinian territory. Canada, through its overwhelming silence and
lack of action, remains a pawn of the United States in its relations
with Israel, similarly held in thrall by the Canadian Jewish Congress,
a pro-Zionist lobby group that meets a sympathetic voice within the
Harper government’s right-wing fundamentalist Christian views.
Indigenous ignorance
On
a web page titled “Aboriginal Planet”[2] I found an interesting twist
in this whole argument. According to this government site, in an
article titled “Inuit solidarity visit to Israel” twenty-three
indigenous Inuit (think of the common moniker ‘Eskimo’) “arrived in
Israel to show support and solidarity with the people of Israel. The
visit was a huge success” and “demonstrated a strong love of and a
commitment to the State of Israel based on their Christian beliefs.”
Israel’s reaction was to be expected:
“The Israelis
continuously repeated their appreciation of the support extended by the
Inuit in these difficult days. The group received radio, television and
newspaper coverage. This visit was made possible by the Halbert Centre
for Canadian Studies, the Israel Association for Canadian Studies and
the Canadian Embassy in Israel.”
On an indigenous website from the Assembly of First Nations (AFN)[3], a similar program can be found:
In
the largest-ever mission to Israel by a North American First Nation
group, First Nation leaders from across Canada will learn how their
Israeli counterparts preserve their historic languages and culture
“We
share values and similar historical experiences with our First Nations
friends,” said Morgan [4]. “This trip presents an exceptional challenge
and opportunity to learn about what each of our communities holds most
dear – our culture and our history.”
The AFN group visited
numerous
sites of cultural, religious and historical significance, including the
Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. They will meet with
Canada’s ambassador to Israel, Donald Sinclair, and will have the
opportunity to explore kibbutz, or collective farm, life.
This
is just too bizarre. Canadian indigenous groups identifying with the
Israelis. I can understand some empathy there for the Jewish survival
of the holocaust, but I have to fault them fully for their apparent
lack of understanding for the Palestinian situation.
Canada’s
aboriginal people, while not as miserably treated as their American
counterparts, still suffered: from the importation of European culture
and diseases; from ethnic cleansing and removal to reservations
(bantustans? hostile territories?); from acculturation through the
removal of their children who were forced to go to Christian schools
where many, apart from the cultural and psychological abuse imposed on
all, suffered physical and sexual abuse; from treaties and treaty
processes that truly gave the white man a ‘forked tongue’ (Oslo? Camp
David? Annapolis?) and removed them from their natural resources and
denied them access to the better quality lands.
Did the AFN
and the Inuit groups visit with their true counterparts, the
Palestinians, who are on their own reservations, are suffering their
own ethnic cleansing, who are being denied their own land and
resources, whose own children are enduring psychological trauma as a
result of the many deprivations and terrors of living in an occupied
homeland?
That the Canadian government supports these actions
is obvious. That the CJC supports them is entirely self-evident. That
the First Nations peoples of Canada are ignorant of the Palestinians
situation is only obvious by implication –what is not said is revealing
of a great ignorance and cultural brain-washing on the part of our own
indigenous populations. Instead of just visiting the kibbutz, they
could have visited some of the Palestinian refugee camps, or the Gaza
strip to see what a large reservation style prison really looks like.
Palestinian history and culture is being eradicated, at least in the
Israeli and American mind, in a manner very reminiscent of the
eradication of indigenous cultures in North America.
Subnation, substandard.
Writings 
Subscribe to this comment's feed
