Day: 15 November 2022

OTTAWA– The Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) sent a letter to Vancouver City Council to express grave concerns regarding the ABC campaign promise to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

“UBCIC staunchly opposes antisemitism and is ardently committed to combatting all forms of racism, prejudice, and violence. We cannot support the IHRA definition and accompanying list of illustrative examples of antisemitism; the vague IHRA definition conflates criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism and thereby limits freedom of expression and Canadians’ right to public protest, including against Israeli state policies, violations of international law, and violent oppression of Indigenous Palestinians,” read the letter.

“Should Vancouver City Council adopt the IHRA definition, human rights advocates standing against such injustice could be falsely denounced for antisemitism, it added.

“We do not condone protecting Israel from criticism in relation to its settler colonial policies and mistreatment of Palestinians, said the letter, calling on Mayor-Elect Sim and incoming Vancouver City Council members, to live up to Vancouver’s commitment to the UN declaration, its recent adoption of a ground-breaking UNDRIP Strategy and Task Force, and its designation as a City of Reconciliation. Adoption of the IHRA definition stands in direct opposition to these commitments,” the letter stated.

Many other organizations are on record in opposition to the IHRA definition of antisemitism including the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Canadian Association of University Teachers, and 40 faculty associations across the country as well as 40 international Jewish organizations, said the letter.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

QALQILIA– Israeli forces took measurments for the family house of a Palestinian prisoner suspected of carrying out a stabbing attack against an Israeli settler, according to local sources.

Eyewitness told WAFA Israeli forces raided the family house of Palestinian prisoner, Yunis Hailan, whom Israel claims was behind the stabbing and killing of an Israeli settler to the east of Qalqilia almost a month ago, and took its measurements in an apparent prelude to demolish it as a collective punishment for the settler’s killings.

Israel demolishes the homes of any Palestinians – as means of deterrence – accused of being involved in attacks against Israelis, a policy that Israel does not use against Israeli settlers who were involved in fatal attacks against Palestinians.

This policy was widely slammed by human rights organizations as “collective punishment” and “a war crime and a crime against humanity”.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, says: “The people who bear the brunt of the [punitive] demolitions are relatives – including women, the elderly, and children – whom Israel does not suspect of involvement in any offense.”

“In the vast majority of cases, the person whose actions prompted the demolition was not even living in the house at the time of the demolition,” adds the group.

“The official objective of the house demolition policy is deterrence … yet the deterrent effect of house demolitions has never been proven.”

It said that, “Since this constitutes deliberate harm to innocents, it is clear that even if house demolition had the desired deterrent effect, it would, nevertheless, remain unlawful.”

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

RAMALLAH- Today, 34 years ago, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat declared from Algiers the independence of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“In the name of God and in the name of the Palestinian Arab people, the National Council declares the creation of the State of Palestine on our Palestinian land with noble Jerusalem as its capital,” declared Arafat on November 15, 1988, at a meeting of the Palestinian National Council, the Palestinian parliament in exile, which convened in the Algerian capital.

With this declaration, which was a turning point in the history of the Palestinian national liberation movement, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) confirmed Palestinian acceptance of the two-solution for the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

It also led to Arab, Islamic, and world recognition of the State of Palestine as declared in Algiers.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

MONTREAL- Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) and Canadians United Against Hate (CUAH) are calling on the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) to take accountability for an incident of anti-Palestinian racism that occurred when it issued its school dress code on Oct. 31. In the on-line FAQ for the new school dress code, a “Free Palestine” t-shirt was used as an example of school dress which would “promote or incite… violence.”

While the School Board quietly removed this example about nine days later – likely due to public complaints, CJPME and CUAH believe that the Board must publicly apologize to its students and to the Palestinian-Canadian community for this attack on their freedom of expression rights, said CJPME in a statement.

“The TVDSB’s decision to use a ‘Free Palestine’ t-shirt as a dress code example that would promote or incite violence is a textbook example of anti-Palestinian racism,” asserted Thomas Woodley, president of CJPME.

CJPME and CUAH point out that the Arab-Canadian Lawyers Association (ACLA) published a report earlier this year in which they defined anti-Palestinian racism (APR). The ACLA report describes APR as a form of racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives. “The ‘Free Palestine’ slogan is obviously a call for freedom from oppression and colonial domination, much as the ‘Free Ukraine’ slogan is a call for freedom for the people of that nation,” continued Woodley.

“That the TVDSB would use this example in its FAQ is offensive and hurtful, both to the district’s students, and to the broader Palestinian-Canadian community,” said Fareed Khan, Founder of CUAH. He added, “Many Palestinian came to Canada as immigrants and refugees fleeing Israeli oppression and brutality in historic Palestine, and later from Israeli occupied territories. The TVDSB’s actions are notable for in their ignorance of the history of the Palestinian people, and insensitivity to what Palestinians have endured at the hands of their oppressor.”

CJPME and CUAH point out that major international human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Israel-based B’Tselem, have recently issued reports detailing how Israel is practicing the crime of Apartheid against Palestinians. Even former Israeli attorney general Michael Ben-Yair says his country is an “Apartheid regime”.

The recent incident at the TVDSB suggests that Palestinian students in the district are not free to talk about Israel’s egregious human rights abuses against Palestinians. As such, Palestinian-Canadian narratives and freedom of expression rights are suppressed and Palestine-Canadians end up facing more harm and trauma for being targeted for their racial identity. This is unacceptable and the TVDSB needs to apologize unreservedly for their actions, it said.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

RAMALLAH– The Ministry of foreign affairs and expatriates welcomed in a statement today the decision of the U.S. Department of Justice to open an investigation into the killing of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American prominent journalist who was shot dead in early May during an Israeli military raid into Jenin.

The ministry said that this decision, albeit a late one, reflects the certainty of the US side for the lack of any serious Israeli investigations and slams them as mere attempts to cover up for criminals and murderers.

It affirmed the Palestinian side’s readiness to fully cooperate with any international or American investigations opened into the killing of Abu Akleh and others victims of extrajudicial killings.

According to Israeli media outlets, the US has informed the Israeli authorities that the FBI will open its own investigation into the killing of al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh.

In response to the Israeli decision, Israeli defense minister Benny Gants tweeted that “the decision taken by the US Justice Department to conduct an investigation into the tragic passing of Shireen Abu Akleh, is a mistake.”

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

HEBRON– Israeli forces overnight Monday and early today detained 13 Palestinians during military raids into multiple West Bank areas, according to sources.

Israeli army late last night detained member of Wad ash-Shajna and Deir Razih village council and his son after raiding and searching their home in the town of Dura, south of Hebron. They were taken to an interrogation and detention center.

The army detained four more Palestinians after raiding and searching their houses in the Hebron area.

Clashes reportedly broke out during the military raid, during which forces fired tear gas canisters at residnets, casuing several people to suffocate. They were treated at the scene.

Forces further placed military checkpoints at Hebron’s northern entrances and others leading to villages and towns in the district, where they proceeded to stop and search passing Palestinian registered cars, causing a traffic jam.

In the meantime, two Palestinians were detained by the army during a predawn raid into their homes in the villages of Far’un and Alar to the south and north of Tulkarem, respectively.

A twenty-year-old youth was also detained after forces raided and searched his family home in Ramallah’s Um al-Sharayet neighborhood.

Israeli forces also detained four Palestinians, including a freed prisoner, after raiding and wreaking havoc into their homes in the towns of Jaba’a and Aneen to the west of Jenin city, in the northern occupied West Bank.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

NABLUS– Palestinian prisoner, Qutaiba Msalam, from the town of Talfit, south of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, today completed 22 years in Israeli jails for resisting its occupation, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

PPS in a statement said Msalam was subjected to harsh and long interrogations that lasted for three months following his detention. He was sentenced to 37 years in jail.

In 2000, Msalam spent nine years in Israeli jails prior to his current detention, which makes the number of years he spent behind Israeli bars up to 32 years.

Msalam, a father of five with nine grandchildren, lost his father while in jail and was prevented from biding him farewell. He was denied from family visits for years.

Msalam published three books, including a book titled a “kiss in jail” while in Israeli custody.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

NABLUS– Israeli settlers today attacked with stones Palestinian vehicles passing near the village of Burin to the south of Nablus, according to a local official.

Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of the settlement file in the northern occupied West Bank, said a group of settlers hurled stones at Palestinian vehicles driving on Huwwara-Qalqilia road, causing material damage to several cars.

The official warned of the escalating settlers’ attacks in light of prevailing tension, particularly in the vicinity of Salfit governorate.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency

HEBRON– A Palestinian teenager today was shot and injured with live ammunition and dozens of others suffocated as israeli forces attacked a funeral procession in the town of Beit Ummar to the south of Hebron, according to local activist Mohammed Awad.

He told WAFA that clashes broke out after Israeli forces attacked the funeral procession of a Palestinian resident which set off from the entrance of the town of Beit Ummar toward the town’s cemetery.

Forces attacked mourners with live fire and tear gas cansiers, shooting and injutring a 17-year-old teenager in the foot with live ammunition. Dozens were treated at the scene from tear gas suffocation.

Forces also detained a 13-year-old boy and took him to an unknown destination. His identity remains unknown until this moment.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency