Canada Should Support a Palestinian State and Oppose Occupation

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is asking the UN Security Council to set November 2016 as the deadline for the Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967 and end the illegal occupation that has continued steadily ever since. The latest increase in illegal settlements, Gvaot, shows no sign that Israel plsn to stop the expansion of their illegal occupation. Canada should express full support of the Palestinian's initiative to end the occupation and beget peace for all.



I am proud that Canada supports democracy and Israel's right to defend itself. However, we should also support people's right to live without occupation. The concept that Palestine should negotiate directly with their occupiers, who have increased their occupation consistently over 50 years, defies logic.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_settlement_timeline


PM Harper, on the P.C. party's website cites these settlements as illegal. Furthermore, UN Resolutions 446 and Article 49 of the Geneva Convention all define these acts of occupation as illegal and declare them to be war crimes.


http://www.international.gc.ca/name-anmo/peace_process-processus_paix/canadian_policy-politique_canadienne.aspx?lang=eng


The P.C. party's staunch support of Israel and bias against Palestine has done nothing to promote peace, only prolong and worsen the occupation for Palestinians. Lamentably, the Liberal's stance is equally as biased against the occupied. Canada would very much like to see the values of freedom and justice be promoted by our political representatives. Our political leaders should be encouraged to please support the end of occupation and announce to the world that Canada agrees with the November, 2016 deadline so we can align ourselves with the peace-loving democratic nation that the world once knew Canada to be. Complicity in occupation/war crimes and silence on the murder of children is a dark stain on our nation's legacy of promoting peace and freedom.




For people, like myself, who love Israel and wish peace for the people there, it is obvious that allowing the Israeli government to commit war crimes and to illegally occupy people does a great disservice to the Israeli people. Harper argues that it is anti-semetic to be against the occupation; however, I would argue the opposite. It is anti-semetic to support the occupation that will only beget violence and acrimony. The true lovers of Israel will wish for their leaders to act justly in order to procure peace for its people. Enabling and supporting a bully to steal and kill does no one any favours.


Harper and Baird continue to betray the Canadian people with their banal rhetoric that Palestine must directly negotiate with their occupiers to resolve the matter. They know that this illogical and counter-intuitive plan will not work and has not for fifty years. With each passing year, as this philospophy of negotiation fails, Israel increases in size so the status quo is very much in their benefit.




As Harper, Baird and the Liberals remain complicitly silent on Israeli murders against civilians and watch as the blockaded and occupied Palestine dwindles in size, the world is forced to watch more and more unrest and witness the worst of humanity. 50 years of a growing occupation would tell anyone that Israel has no plans to end the occupation on their own. For those who love Israel, oppose injustice and believe in freedom, let's help Israel beget peace by having them end their occupation.


http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/netanyahu-tells-obama-study-facts-criticizing-settlement-plan