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Comment by Ken Stone on July 19, 2014 at 4:14am

It appears that a couple of comments were made questioning the Hamilton Stands Up For Gaza event. I'm writing to explain why we're having the event.

Many people understand how the British and French colonial project in Canada had a disastrous effect on native people here: the native people lost most of their traditional lands; they were kept on reservations living in poverty; they lost their traditional way of life; their children were put into residential school for cultural assimilation; they now suffer the worst health, the lowest incomes, the worst housing of all Canadians. Most of us sympathize with their plight and support their struggles for dignity, land claims resolutions, better conditions, etc.

However, many Canadians are still not aware that there likewise is a Zionist colonial project in Palestine. The originator, Theodor Herzl, an Austrian Jew, wrote a book in 1896 called "the Jewish State" in which he called for the state to stretch "from the Nile to the Euphrates" (i.e., from Egypt to Iraq) and for all the native Arabs to be transported away.

Well, in the last 118 years, the Zionists have achieved many of Herzl's aims. 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically-cleansed in 1948 when the Israeli state came into being. They and their descendants mainly live in refugee camps, in poverty,  all over the neighbouring countries. In 1967, the Israelis won a war over their neighbours and annexed the West Bank and Gaza, among other territories. The United Nations insisted under resolution 242 that the Israelis give up these illegally-occupied territories. But Israel has not only refused but also has filled up the West Bank with a half million Jewish settlers.

In Canada, we have made some amends with native peoples. The government made a formal apology. There have been some land claims settlements. Survivors of residential schools have been compensated.

But in Israel, there is no attempt whatsoever to make amends with the Palestinians. Every day, Palestinian homes are bulldozed to make way for settlements or are just expropriated by Jewish Israelis. They are many Israeli laws that discriminate against Palestinians and more are proposed every day. Palestinians are not allowed to live in many Jewish cities and districts. Israel keeps about 8000 Palestinian prisoners in jail for decades without charge or trial, including women and children. Jewish settlers from Toronto and New York (etc.) on the West Bank are allowed to run amok beating and killing Palestinians, burning down their olive orchards, and homes, which the Palestinians are forced to live in tiny little ghettoes, have their personal independence restricted by humiliating checkpoints and are not allowed to use Jewish-only roads. In Gaza, Israel pulled out their settlements but still control the place with tanks along the border, overflights by drones and F-i6 fighter jets, and warships. The current attack on Gaza is the third in 6 years. In the first, 1500 civilians were killed, including 400 children. Even in peacetime, Israel has placed a blockade on Gaza  restricting the flow of goods in and out. Gazan children are starving. Farmers can't plant their fields near the border. Fishers can't go out more than 2 km to fish.

The Zionist colonial project in Palestine is what the Palestinians call the Nakba (catastrophe) And it shows no signs of stopping. For example, Israel just constructed the Separation Wall in the West Bank taking another 10 % of Palestinian land. For Canadians, the worst part is that the Harper government of Canada supports the Israeli government unconditionally.

Comment by FixOurWorld on July 18, 2014 at 3:05pm