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KAIROS, other NGOs condemn Israeli house demolitions as ‘war
crimes’
A Letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs
3 November 2003
Honourable Bill Graham
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Government of Canada
Ottawa, Canada
K1A 0G2
Dear Mr. Graham:
As members of the Middle East Working Group, a network of Canadian
NGOs with special concerns about a just and humane peace for all
peoples in the region, we want to commend you for your public statements
about the nature and impact of the wall Israel is constructing in
territories it captured in 1967. We also want to commend our Government
for joining the international consensus by voting for General Assembly
Resolution A/RES/ES-10/13 of 21 October 2003, deciding that Israel's
construction of the wall in Occupied Territories is illegal under
international law, that it must cease and be reversed.
As you know, the destruction of olive and fruit trees, of homes
and shops, and the seizure of land to erect these structures constitute
grave breaches of the IVth Geneva Convention, as do the practices
associated with its construction, such as the further impoverishment
of the Palestinian population, their virtual imprisonment in towns
and villages such as Qalqilya and Jayyous, the expansion and de
facto annexation of Israeli settlements, and the erection of further,
crushing impediments to the movement of labour and of goods, to
children's and youths' access to schools and universities, and to
access by the ill and injured to medical care. We are alarmed by
the grave humanitarian implications of this expanding structure,
by its use to advance further illegal Israeli colonization of occupied
Palestinian territories, and by the vision of an apartheid "peace"
which it portends.
We are alarmed as well, by Israel's escalating use of other measures
which, like the grave breaches of the IVth Geneva Convention cited
above, also count as war crimes under Canadian and international
law. These measures include targeted assassinations, with ever increasing
willingness to inflict death and injury on Palestinian civilians,
including women, children and the elderly; and the massive and systematic
destruction of Palestinian homes, usually at night and without warning.
We are especially alarmed by the IDF's recent and continuing air
and ground assaults in Gaza, including its destruction of three
new apartment buildings with a total of 156 apartments in Al-Zahra,
and reducing the homes of over 1240 persons in Rafah to rubble,
rendering them homeless, killing more than 20 and wounding over
100 within the last two weeks alone.
…2
Believing that these actions constitute war crimes, we urge you
to condemn them as such and to call for the convening of those High
Contracting Parties to the IVth Geneva Convention who, like Canada,
remain committed to the rule of law in international affairs, in
order to explore measures to secure Israeli compliance with that
Convention. We deplore all violence against Palestinians and Israelis
and remain convinced that peace is possible only within a context
of respect for fundamental human rights and the rule of international
law.
We also urge you to address the humanitarian needs of those who
have lost homes in Gaza, as you did when homes in Rafah were demolished
in January 2002.
Finally, we ask for an opportunity to meet with you as soon as
possible to discuss these matters further. Bill Janzen of the Mennonite
Central Committee (613-238-7224) will contact your office in this
regard.
Respectfully,
Pierre Beaudet, Executive Director
Alternatives
Robert C. Assaly, Chair
Canadian Friends of Sabeel Jerusalem
Mary Corkery, Executive Director
KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives
Edmond Omran, President
Medical Aid for Palestine, Canada
William Janzen, Director, Ottawa Office
Mennonite Central Committee Canada
Mazen Chouaib, Executive Director
National Council on Canada Arab Relations
James Graff, President
Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation
Dave Toycen, President
World Vision Canada
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