April 7, 2008

Mr. Michael Ignatieff, M.P.
Deputy Leader of the Liberal party of Canada
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Dear Mr. Ignatieff,

In advance of your upcoming event at Torontos Holy Blossom Temple next Sunday, we wish to express a number of concerns, not with the event itself but with one of the organizations backing the meeting, the Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD). This organization uses intimidation as a means to shut down those it disagrees with, something that is inconsistent with fundamental principles of debate in a democracy. It also rejects the principle of land for peace, a position held mostly by the Israeli settler movement.

Admittedly, we would emphasize different elements regarding the "Ties that Bind" Canada and Israel. They will focus on Israel's democracy, while we are concerned with Israel's gross violations of human rights. While they may emphasize process---such as the Canada-Israel Industrial Research and Development Foundation, Air Canada's non-stop service to Israel and the Canada-Israel Free Trade Agreement which is used to import legally into Canada products from illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Arab lands---we want to emphasize the unbearable costs that Israeli and Palestinian civilians have been made to bear as well as the conflicts impact on the whole region and beyond.

Beyond the trade and business issues, cultural and academic exchanges, Canadian pro-Israel organizations have been regularly organizing trips to Israel for academics, police chief, elected and other Canadian personalities, as part of the PR campaign (Hasbara) that they feel is needed to keep the Israeli view as the dominant narrative of the conflict.

What will not be part of the dialogue, unless you raise the issue, is the brutal military occupation that manifests itself in closures, checkpoints, incursions, home demolitions, targeted assassinations and random attacks. While years of occupation have not broken the will of Palestinians to resist, they have allowed Israel to fasten a permanent structure of dominance onto the territories.

With more than 400,000 settlers occupying Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank and Gaza, there is urgency in going back to the legal basis, codified in UN resolutions.

While other states have been taken to task for ignoring international law, Israel has slipped through the net of Geneva Conventions and various international treaties. We undermine the international order each time we chose to impose the rule of law selectively.
We hope that, as the Deputy Leader of the Liberal party of Canada, your position will be clear, fair and representative of the reality on the ground.

Sincerely,

Bahija Reghai
President

Cc.
Hon. Stephane Dion
Hon. Bryon Wilfert
Hon. Bob Rae
Hon. Keith Martin
Mr. Bernard Patry
Hon. Raymond Chan