130 U.K. Physicians Call for a Boycott of the Israeli Medical Association and its expulsion from the World Medical Association.

In a letter appearing in the Guardian on April 21, 2007, prominent UK physicians have called for a boycott of the IMA and its expulsion from the WMA. The letter follows:

“…..Persistent violations of medical ethics have accompanied Israel’s occupation. The Israeli Defence Force has systematically flouted the fourth Geneva convention guaranteeing a civilian population unfettered access to medical services and immunity for medical staff. Ambulances are fired on (hundreds of cases) and their personnel killed. Desperately ill people, and newborn babies, die at checkpoints because soldiers bar the way to hospital. (Lire la suite…)

MONTREAL: Plus d’une centaine de personnes ce sont réunies au Mile End Cultural Center le Mardi 20 Mars pour la projection d’un film et pour une discussion publique sous le titre de “Liban: Résistance et Hezbollah”, organisées par Tadamon! Montréal.

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Canadians demand boycott, divestment and sanctions

by Freda Guttman

We in Canada have our own ‘AIPAC’s’, devoted Zionists in bed with our government, and the Christian Right. However, we also have many Palestine solidarity and Arab organizations, as well as grass roots civil groups that have flowered here over the years, and take a dynamic, public position on the occupation, the right of return, the human rights abuses that Palestinians are subjected to, and have wholly embraced the BDS movement. We consider it our mandate to educate the Canadian public on these issues and as well, on our government’s untenable and right wing policies towards the Middle East.

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Photos from Tadamon! Montreal.

In recent weeks and months Lebanon has faced major political upheaval, marked by massive street demonstrations, international political intervention and a national general strike. Supporters of the Lebanese opposition gather in central Beirut during the first week of the ongoing sit-in central Beirut in December 2006.

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Situation Critical while ‘Public Safety’ Minister Lost in the Twilight Zone.

“I saw large chocolate sauce.” — Stockwell Day, sounding like a B-movie actor in a 1950s sci-fi dud, Radio interview about the hunger strike, CINW, Montreal, Feb. 1

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Download / View a film outlining the current effects of cluster bombs in Lebanon produced in late 2006 by IRIN news office of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Tadamon! Weblog of Cluster Bomb Incidents in Lebanon:

Since the U.N. brokered ceasefire Tadamon! Montreal has maintained an online record of cluster bomb incidents in Lebanon. The guns may be more silent, but hundreds of thousands of cluster bomblets sprayed over south Lebanon in at least 770 Israeli strikes still pose a deadly danger to humans and animals. Since the ceasefire on August 14, 156 persons [as of October, 2006] have become victims of cluster munitions, 90% of which were civilians, one third of which are under the age of 18 years.

by Mohamad Bazzi, the Nation

It’s remarkable how quickly everyone remembered the patterns set during Lebanon’s long civil war. When violence suddenly erupted in Beirut on the afternoon of January 25, people rushed to stock up at grocery stores, businesses quickly shut their doors and traffic was snarled throughout the city as everyone hurried home.

While most people prepared for a siege, others were intent on causing trouble: Bands of young vigilantes roamed the streets, armed with wooden clubs and metal pipes, eyeing passing cars for any strangers. The fighting started in the cafeteria of Beirut Arab University between Shiite and Sunni students. In less than an hour, it spread to the surrounding neighborhood of Tariq Al-Jadideh, a Sunni stronghold. Snipers took up positions on the roofs of residential buildings, firing at protesters and Lebanese soldiers trying to break up the melee. Bands of Sunnis and Shiites–some wearing blue and red construction helmets–fought running street battles with rocks and clubs. Armed men roamed through the crowds. Rioters set fire to cars and trash dumpsters, sending plumes of black smoke over the neighborhood.

By the time it was over, four people were killed, more than 150 were injured and the Lebanese army had imposed a curfew on Beirut for the first time since 1996. Rumors circulated wildly, evoking memories of the civil war. The most disturbing news was broadcast on Lebanese television stations shortly before the curfew: Armed vigilantes had set up a checkpoint on the highway linking south Lebanon to Beirut. They were asking people for their identity cards.

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Agissons dés maintenant pour lutter contre l’explusion des réfugiés Palestiniens!

Alors que s’amorce 2007, la Coalition contre la déportation des réfugiés palestiniens souligne sa quatrième année de lutte contre l’expulsion de réfugiés palestiniens du Canada. Depuis le début de 2003, nous avons organisé de nombreuses initiatives publiques visant à contrer la politique du ministère de la Citoyenneté et de l¹Immigration du Canada consistant à expulser les réfugiés palestiniens au lieu de leur accorder la résidence permanente au Canada.

L’année 2006 a fourni de nombreux exemples de la manière injuste et arbitraire dont Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada a traité les cas des réfugiés palestiniens apatrides dans ce pays. Si deux membres de la Coalition ont obtenu la résidence permanente pour des raisons humanitaires et compassionnelles, d’autres candidatures ont été injustement rejetées, et de nombreuses autres sont en attente depuis des années. Malgré les promesses qu’a faites Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada en novembre 2005, selon lesquelles ces demandes seraient étudiées dans un délai de quelques semaines, plus de 10 de ces demandes sont restées en suspens, de même que les vies des réfugiées concernés, marquées par une anxiété et une insécurité constantes.
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Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter Mackay, who recently traveled to Afghanistan, is planning a larger visit to the Middle East region, with the stated aim of promoting “peace and dialogue”. The Conservative Foreign Minister MacKay will arrive in Lebanon and Palestine in the coming days.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter MacKay, who recently traveled to Afghanistan, is planning a larger visit to the Middle East region, with the stated aim of promoting “peace and dialogue”. Conservative Party Foreign Minister MacKay will arrive in Lebanon and Palestine in the coming days.

Tadamon! Montreal issues this appeal in an effort to highlight the Conservative government’s role and position as an imperialist player in the Middle East.

Canadian intervention in the region is best illustrated by the Conservative government’s open support for Israel’s brutal assault on Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and by Canada’s ongoing military presence in Afghanistan.

Despite common mythology, Canadian policy has seldom been “balanced” or “neutral” concerning the Middle East. Successive Canadian governments have unconditionally supported Israel. History doesn’t substantiate Canada’s supposed role as the “neutral one”.

Canada’s position must be subject to critique in its entirety and in the context of broader Western intervention in the Middle East. The Canadian government openly supports the ongoing occupation of Iraq, despite world opinion having turned against U.S. policy. Canada was the first country in the world to withdraw all financial aid to the Palestinian people after the democratic election of Hamas in the Occupied Territories, sending millions of Palestinians into devastating poverty.

Within the context of Canadian policy in the region, Tadamon! calls on people in Montreal, Canada and in the Middle East to express their opposition to Canadian intervention in the Middle East. (Lire la suite…)