International day of action in solidarity with the people of Gaza initiated
by the Popular Committee Against Siege – Gaza City…

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd: 1-3pm
Picket at Indigo Bookstore:
St. Catherine St., west of McGill College
metro Peel

Gaza Strip remains under siege. Until today Israel continues to impose collective punishment on the 1.5 million Palestinians of Gaza, who face chronic shortages of electricity, fuel, food and basic necessities in the context of an ongoing campaign of military violence executed by the apartheid state of Israel.

Israel’s sanctions, unilaterally imposed on Gaza, are enforced through an illegal military occupation, that in recent months has lead to the total closure of all entry and exit points into Gaza. UN officials recently observed that the “situation has deteriorated into a full-fledged emergency because of the cutoff of vital supplies for Palestinians.” As a result of Israeli actions, Gaza has become a giant prison.

Canada stands complicit in the ongoing campaign of starvation, military violence and terror directed at the people of Gaza.

Canada’s Conservative government has developed an international reputation as the most pro-Israeli government in the world, standing against Palestinian human rights and self-determination at all moments possible, within the United Nations and through the growing bilateral relations with the apartheid state of Israel.

As the Canadian supported and Israeli imposed siege on the Gaza Strip continues it is essential for people internationally to support the growing international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israeli apartheid to support the demands of the July 2005 grassroots appeal: full equality for Arab citizens of Israel; an end to the occupation and colonization of the West Bank and Gaza; and the implementation of the right of return and compensation for Palestinian refugees pursuant to UN resolution 194.

A Canada-wide boycott of Chapters/Indigo bookstore was launched in December 2006 to oppose the support that Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, the company’s majority shareholders, give to Israeli apartheid.

Reisman and Schwartz have established a fund called “the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers”, a program of financial support for former ‘lone soldiers’, non-Israelis who fight in the Israeli military, in defence of apartheid and occupation. Israeli ‘Lone Soldiers’ participated in last year’s military attack on the people of Lebanon.

At its peak, HESEG will distribute up to $3M a year to provide scholarships and other benefits to former ‘Lone Soldiers’ who remain in Israel.

As long as the majority shareholders maintain their financial links with HESEG, this campaign are calling on everyone to stop buying from Chapters, World’s Biggest Bookstore, SmithBooks, Coles, the Book Company and Indigospirit.

Organized by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid-Mtl and Tadamon! Montreal.
supported by the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine (CJPP)…

* Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid.

* Tadamon! Montreal:
tel: 514 664 1036
email: tadamon[at]resist.ca