The following letter was hand-delivered to a representative of Minister MacKay at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa

Honourable Peter MacKay,
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive,
Ottawa, Ontario CANADA

27 July 2006

Dear Minister MacKay,

We, Montreal-area residents and organisations, are writing to express our outrage at the Canadian government’s uncritical stance and unconditional support for Israeli aggression in Lebanon, as well as in the occupied Gaza Strip.

The Israeli attacks on Lebanon are not just “disproportionate” – the term being used by those who want to level a minimal rebuke at Israel – they are unjustified, unjust and criminal. Appallingly, Prime Minister Harper has so far not even recognizied the disproportionality of Israeli actions. Rather, he has consistently qualified them as “measured” and as legitimate self-defence. Yet, no less a figure than the former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Louise Arbour — currently the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights – has indicated that Israeli Generals and Ministers could be held criminally responsible under international law for authorizing the bombing of civilians in Lebanon.

The current position of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Affairs Department on the Israeli attacks and invasion is one of acquiesence, if not encouragement, of Israeli oppression of the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples. It lacks any sense of balance, any measure of critical perspective on the actions of the Israeli state and it indicates a failure to understand the deeply rooted, historical injustices that are at the foundation of the impasses and hostilities in the Middle East.

We call on the Canadian government to condemn the illegal and unjustified Israeli attacks on the people of Lebanon. Furthermore, we call on the Canadian government to hold Israel to account for subjecting entire populations in Lebanon and Gaza to the most violent and ruthless forms of collective punishment. Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, attacks on civilian populations or on civilian targets are prohibited. The Israeli state is in clear violation of these rules of international conduct. Indeed, its actions amount to state terror based on a racist rationale for dealing with Arab and Muslim populations.

Canada must demand Israel’s immediate withdrawal from Lebanon, and a cessation of its military aggression.

Canada must also take measures to address the refugee crisis that the Israeli Defense Forces have created in Lebanon through their indiscriminate bombing and intimidation tactics. We call on the Canadian government to help alleviate this crisis, while treating refugees with dignity, by accepting refugees from Lebanon, regardless of citizenship, and to devote all necessary resources – human, logistical and financial – to providing refugees with humanitarian aid.

The current situation in Lebanon has drawn attention away from ongoing Israeli Occupation Forces attacks on civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip (as well as the occupied West Bank). We call on the Canadian government to demand that Israel lift its seige of Gaza and end its campaign of collective punishment including the deliberate destruction of the civilian infrastructure, homes, shops and government buildings.

There are issues that underlie the current conflict which also need to be addressed and resolved to set the conditions for real peace with justice. Therefore, we also call on the Canadian government to demand the end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the immediate release of both Palestinian and Lebanese political prisoners held by Israel, the respect of the Palestinian people’s rights of return and self-determination and the dismantlement of the Israeli apartheid wall.

Ultimately, the aspirations of both the Lebanese and Palestinian people need to be respected, and not treated with contempt as your government has done in both word and deed with its unconditional and uncritical support of Israeli aggression and occupation.

We call on you and your government to radically change your position on the Palestine-Israel conflict and Middle East peace to one that is consistent with princples of justice, equality and self-determination. Until you do, we will be tireless in our public critique of Canadian policies and positions and in our efforts to bring about change.

Sincerely,

Association des jeunes libanais musulmans
Al Hidaya Association
Tadamon!

and the following individuals:
((signed by participants in the action))