From: Al Awda Toronto, info@al-awda.ca, www.al-awda.ca

CALL/FAX/EMAIL Members of Parliament to demand that Canada act to stop Israeli aggression

Government contact information and sample letter below

In the past 24 hours, the Israeli assault has killed 27 civilians in Lebanon, 10 of who were children ((latest reports are 47 civilian deaths)). The attacks have hit 10 bridges, a television station, and Beirut International Airport, the only international airport in the country.

The attack on Lebanon has come 19 days into a brutal assault on the Palestinians of Gaza in which Israel has killed 74 people, a disproportionate number of these were children.

The Israeli military initiated this assault by destroying Gaza’s power supply, sealing it of from the outside world, and using constant bombing to terrorize Gaza’s inhabitants. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on the planet, and a majority of Gaza’s population are refugees, ethnically cleansed from their homes by Israel since 1947. Since 1967, when Gaza was occupied by Israel, Gaza has been isolated into an open air prison worse than the Bantustans of Apartheid South Africa.

We cannot remain silent as Israel continues down the path toward a catastrophe in which hundreds more will be killed and forcibly expelled from their homes and lands. The Canadian government has been a major supporter of the Israeli Apartheid Regime, both economically (Canada has a Free Trade Agreement with Israel that grosses over 1 billion dollars) and diplomatically (Canada voted against the Palestinian Refugees Right of Return at the UN in March of this year, Canada was also the first country to declare sanctions against the Democratically elected Hamas government).

While actions across the country are being organized and announced, please take the time to call, fax, or write your opinion to media outlets (too busy describing Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist organizations to notice the destruction and death toll created by Israeli aggression); and to Canadian government officials (see below).

You can find out who your member of parliament is by inputting your postal code at this website: www.parl.gc.ca.

Others to send emails to (compiled from the list below):

Harper.S@parl.gc.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca, MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca,
alghabra.o@parl.gc.ca, Mourani.Ma@parl.gc.ca, Obhrai.D@parl.gc.ca,
Obhrai.D@parl.gc.ca, VanLoan.P@parl.gc.ca, Martin.Paul@parl.gc.ca,
Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca, Layton.J@parl.gc.ca

Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada,
Office of the Prime Minister, 80 Wellington Street,
Ottawa, K1A 0A2
Fax: 613-941-6900
Email: pm@pm.gc.ca
Harper.S@parl.gc.ca

Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Telephone: (613) 992-6022
Fax: (613) 992-2337
EMail: MacKay.P@parl.gc.ca

Omar Alghabra, Member for Mississauga-Erindale
*Arab Member of Parliament*
Phone: 905-276-2806
email: alghabra.o@parl.gc.ca

Maria Mourani, Member for Ahuntsic, Quebec
*Arab Member of Parliament*
Telephone: (613) 992-0983
Fax: (613) 992-1932
EMail: Mourani.Ma@parl.gc.ca

Deepak Obhrai
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Telephone: (613) 947-4566
Fax: (613) 947-4569
E-Mail: Obhrai.D@parl.gc.ca

Peter Van Loan
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
Telephone: (613) 996-7752
Fax: (613) 992-8351
E-Mail: VanLoan.P@parl.gc.ca

Paul Martin, Leader of the Federal Liberal Party
Telephone: (613) 992-4284
Fax: (613) 992-4291
EMail: Martin.Paul@parl.gc.ca

Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Federal Bloc Québécois
Telephone: (613) 992-6779
Fax: (613) 954-2121
EMail: Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca

Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party
Telephone: (613) 995-7224
Fax: (613) 995-4565
EMail: Layton.J@parl.gc.ca

The Parliamentary address for all Members of Parliament is:
*MP’s name*
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Sample letter (Prepared by the Canadian Arab Federation):

I call on the Canadian government to issue a stern warning to Israel to halt its military assault against Lebanon and to desist from any plans to invade the country.

Israel is heavily shelling Lebanese towns from land, sea and air. The
bombings have resulted in the deaths of two civilians and the wounding of many others. An electric power plant and a bridge connecting Sidon and Tyre, two major cities in South Lebanon have also been destroyed. Israel has called a further six thousand reservists to report to the Lebanese border and is amassing troops and equipment in what appears to be preparations for a major invasion into Lebanon.

These acts of aggression amounting to war crimes come on the heel of the war crimes being committed by Israel in Gaza, where 1.4 million Palestinians are presently being starved, bombed and terrorized. UN Secretary General, Kofi Anan, has already responded by loudly condemning Israel’s criminal acts. It is time that Canada does the same.

It is clear from recent events that as long as the illegal occupation of
Arab lands in Syria, Lebanon and Palestine continues, the violence in the
Mid-East will persist. Israel must stop its continued aggression and Canada must speak loudly against it.

I view the Canadian government’s inaction as encouraging Israel to continue committing war crimes against innocent Lebanese and Palestinian civilians. As such, Canada will be morally responsible for the bombing and invasion of Lebanon and Gaza, and for its complicity in Israel’s plan to isolate and starve the democratically-elected Palestinian government.