Canadian government must answer to the Eid family and be accountable for its inaction
On Friday, June 30th, Bissan Eid and her infant daughter Sarah returned to Montréal after six months in Gaza. They had previously been unable to leave due to the Israeli military siege over the Palestinian territory.
In January 2017, Bissan and the Eid family first called on the Canadian government to take action in support of Bissan’s right to return to Montréal. Yet, for over six months, the Canadian government failed to act. As a result, Bissan was forced to give birth in Gaza — far away from immediate family and friends and under military blockade.
Canada could have intervened earlier to bring Bissan home — that it failed to do so illustrates the ongoing reality of institutional racism within the Canadian state infrastructure. It is difficult to imagine the Canadian government would have provided so little support and follow-up to any other Canadian citizen trapped abroad. In this sense, Bissan’s experience of Israeli apartheid policies and structural violence were normalized by the Canadian government, who accepted the racist, violent treatment she was subjected to by Israeli authorities as a matter of course.
“Gaza is a real prison for over 2 million Palestinians who live there. During the 2014 Israeli aggression, 20% of the buildings in Gaza were destroyed. Israeli authorities do not allow building materials nor food to enter and there is only 3 to 4 hours of electricity per day. Palestinians don’t have the right to leave Gaza for any reason,” says Hadi Eid, Bissan’s father, also outlining that, “the lack of medical supplies imposed by the Israeli blockade has increased the infant mortality rate and nearly doubled the neonatal mortality rate. In a prison, you can eat, see a doctor when you are sick and have electricity 24/7; Gaza is worse than a prison.”
