PLEASE CALL MAYOR TREMBLAY

On Thursday, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay participated in a public event named the “Blue and White Rally for Peace”, called by the pro-Israeli organisation B’nai Brith. It was a pro-Israel rally which portrayed Israel as acting in self-defence and its attacks on people in Lebanon as legitimate. La Presse reported that Mayor Tremblay defended his participation in the rally by saying that it was a gathering for peace. At the same time, he refused to call for a cease-fire and or to acknowledge the disproportionality of Israel’s actions.

Even as Mayor Tremblay stood amidst the Israeli flags at the “rally for peace”, the Israeli Justice Minister was calling for further acts of terrorism against the civilian population of southern Lebanon. In a security cabinet meeting, he argued that, if necessary, villages should be “flattened” in southern Lebanon (Globe and Mail, 28 July 2006, A1). In the UK paper the Telegraph he was quoted as saying, “Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hizbollah” (www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/28/wmid28.xml).

Less than three days later, Israel hit Qana, killing 65 civilians, including 37 children. Qana was the site of a similar massacre at the hands of Israel in 1996, when Israel bombed a UN base and killed more than 100 civilians taking shelter there.

PLEASE call into Mayor Tremblay and politely let him know that Montrealers will not tolerate a mayor supporting war crimes.

Ask him to make a public statement:

• calling for an immediate ceasefire;
• condemning the war crimes Israel is committing in Lebanon and Gaza; and
• calling for a swift and proportionate humanitarian response from Quebec and Canada to the disaster in Lebanon.

In your call, please remind Mayor Tremblay of the following facts:

• Hezbollah, a political party with seats in Lebanese parliament and roots in a popular movement which led the successful resistance against the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, has called for a ceasefire. Israel and its backers have refused the offer, despite calls from the UN and the government of Lebanon for an immediate ceasefire.
• Israel has one of the top militaries in the world (often ranked as the fourth most powerful) and includes nuclear weapons among its arsenal. It is inaccurate to pretend that Israel is threatened by Hezbollah.
• Latest estimates on the situation in Lebanon are that over 650 civilians have died, 1800 have been wounded, and between 500,000 and 800,000 been forced to flee their homes. An unknown number of homes in villages, apartment buildings and civilian and commercial vehicles have been destroyed. Sixity-six bridges have been destroyed, 80% of the country’s main roads damaged, 3 seaports bombed, the Beirut airport was incapacitated, two hospitals were bombed, a water treatment plant bombed, a power station and an electricity generator hit, as well as schools, telecom sites and TV towers (50% broadcasting capacity destroyed), a milk factory, paper mill, paper factory, medical supplies company, and warehouses (as of last week).
• Israel is bombing in majority civilian areas. There are persistent reports that it is using chemical weapons as well as cluster bombs and there are now allegations of the use of depleted uranium weapons. Such conduct constitutes war crimes, as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour reminded the world on July 20th. These actions and statements made by Israeli cabinet ministers are consistent with the following definition of terrorism: “the use of violence against civilians for political means.”
• The context for the conflict is that Israel is continuing to expand its occupation of Palestine, is building an apartheid wall, is refusing Palestinian refugees displaced in 1947 and in 1967 the right to return, and is holding hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners in their jails. The context is that Israel has consistently refused to abide by UN resolutions to address these injustices. The context is that Israel has carried out countless air raids on Lebanon and committed clandestine assassinations inside Lebanon in contravention of international law for years. The capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah with the explicit purpose of bargaining for the release of Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli jails, was not the beginning of the current bloodbath.

CONTACTS

Gerald Tremblay, Mayor of Montreal
275 Notre Dame E. Montreal, QC H2Y 1C6

Phone : (514) 872 3101
Fax: (514) 872 4059
maire@ville.montreal.qc.ca