United Jewish People's Order (UJPO)

Letter to the Canadian Prime Minister on the current Middle East crisis

From: Ujpodaec@aol.com
Sent: Sun, 30 July 2006 11:45 PM
Subject: The Grave Middle East Crisis
To the Right Honourable Steven Harper,
Prime Minister of Canada,
pm@pm.gc.ca.

Re: The Grave Middle East Crisis

Dear Prime Minister,

The United Jewish People's Order is deeply disturbed by the worsening crisis in Israel and Lebanon. It is also greatly troubled by the ongoing violence in Gaza.

Shelling by Hezbollah into northern towns and cities of Israel, especially Haifa, have killed 19 civilians to date, including eight railway workers in that latter city. Many Israelis are huddled in bomb shelters.

On July 30, more than 50 dead civilians, among them 37 children, including disabled ones, were killed by an Israeli air strike on an apartment building in Qana, Lebanon. While official figures estimate that about 500 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have died from the bombardments, doctors set the toll around 850 to date.

The UJPO has for many years proposed a just and peaceful solution to the seemingly never-ending Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

We have stood, and stand today, for a two-state solution to that crisis based on an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, and a cessation of Israeli air and sea control over Gaza. We have denounced the killing of Israeli civilians by suicide bombers, as well as the extrajudicial assassinations of alleged Palestinian extremists. We support the right of both Israelis and Palestinians to security, prosperity and peace based on two viable, contiguous states, with a shared capital in Jerusalem.

That is why we are alarmed at the grave situation in the region today. We believe that Israel's massive use of force in its dealings with the Palestinians and its Arab neighbours is morally repugnant, given the huge numbers of civilian victims, but also because it strengthens extremist and violent elements in Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, thus undermining Israel's present and future security. The New York Times, in its July 29 edition, carried the headline, "Tide of Arab opposition turning to support for Hezbollah", and titled one of its editorials, "Israel's air campaign is now doing Israel more harm than good." The Toronto Star on that same day carried a full-page story captioned, "War fans support for Hezbollah".

The manoeuvring by the United States and Britain, unconscionably supported by the Canadian government, to delay an unconditional cease-fire is contributing to the large numbers of civilian dead in Lebanon, and a growing number in Israel.. All parties to the conflict must agree to a total halt in hostilities, and begin negotiations to tackle the root causes of the endless cycle of retaliation and counter-retaliation. A multi-national intercession force along the Israeli-Lebanese border, under United Nations command, must not include states that have played a direct or indirect part in the current violence. An unconditional cease-fire would make possible the plan put forward on July 29 by UN Emergency Relief Co-Ordinator Jan Egeland "to let relief workers evacuate elderly, young and wounded people and deliver emergency aid" to Lebanon.

The road to peace and stability in the Middle East is a long and tortuous one. But a beginning must be made now before worse calamities occur.

For the National Board, United Jewish People's Order,

David Abramowitz and Evelyn Center, Co-Presidents.

585 Cranbrooke Ave., Toronto, M6A 2X9.

copies:

P. Mackay, B. Graham, Duceppe, J. Layton

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