Opposition Party Member Calls for Economic Pressure Against Israel

By John Dirlik

An impassioned speech by the foreign affairs critic of Canada's New Democratic Party was one of the highlights of the eighth United Nations Conference for Non-Governmental Organizations on the Question of Palestine held in Montreal June 28-30.

Addressing nearly 100 NGOs from Canada and the US, Svend Robinson earned a standing ovation after urging the international community to use economic pressure against Israel. "We must say clearly to that government: not one penny of aid unless you start to respect international law. Not one penny," he said.

The MP from British Columbia, whose party holds 44 seats in Parliament, said Israel "has for too long displayed a profound contempt for international law." He warned against rewarding a government that has "one hand outstretched for 10 billion dollars in aid from the US, while its other hand is clenched in a fist suppressing the fundamental rights of the Palestinians."

Besides criticizing Israeli policies, Robinson urged Arab governments to make peace with the Jewish state and work for democracy in their own countries. He also called for an end to what he described as " obscene excesses" by some Arab rulers "while others suffer in poverty."

Sowing Goodwill

After his speech, Robinson was asked by a journalist from the Jewish press if his party supported a repeal of the 1975 Zionism-is-racism UN resolution, something the Progressive Conservative government promised Jewish leaders it would work for. "While I personally support a review of that resolution, this should be done only within an overall context," Robinson answered. "You cannot have selective respect for UN resolutions. " Asked whether he thought the resolution should be revoked, if only as a gesture of goodwill, Robinson replied, "If goodwill is to be shown, I think it is Israel that has a great deal to show."

Conspicuously absent from the conference were any representatives or even observers from the Canadian government. This despite the symposium being a first-ever event for Canada. Jim Graff, spokesman for the North American Coordinating Committee responsible for organizing the conference, said he was disappointed but not surprised. "The government was well aware that the Israeli lobby—to which [External Affairs Minister] Barbara McDougall is particularly attentive—was unhappy about this meeting."

Indeed, the conference was denounced by some Jewish groups even before it took place, with the Canadian Jewish Congress charging that it would be "a whole weekend of Israel-bashing and an excuse to ignore human rights abuses in the Arab world."

Graff agreed human rights abuses exist in Arab countries, although these issues were outside the mandate of this particular conference. "The only way the conference is biased is in favor of human rights, " he said.

Denouncing human rights abuses in his country was Israeli peace activist Michael Warschawski, the director of the Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem. Warschawski reflected both the pessimism and urgency of other speakers when he said that "never before have the Palestinians been more in need of protection, and never before have they stood in such isolation."

Lamenting the population decline of the Christian community in Palestine, Jerusalem-born Father Ibrahim Ayyad urged the NGOs to help end the "massacres and destruction" of his people. "We Palestinians who are victims of Israeli state terrorism extend our hands for peace and reconciliation, " said the 81-year-old cleric, who is also a member of the Palestine National Council (PNC) and of the NGO Committee of the PLO. "Both peoples of the Holy Land should live in peace and dignity, each in their own independent states as brothers and sisters, descendants of Abraham, " he said.

During his stay in Montreal, Father Ayyad celebrated Mass at one of the city's largest Catholic cathedrals, Mary Queen of Peace, where he was introduced to the worshippers as a member of the PLO. Liberal MP Marcel Prud'homme, an outspoken defender of Palestinian rights who organized the event, commented with satisfaction that "only in Canada could this happen."

The conference ended with a 42-3 vote by accredited NGOs at the conference to boycott Israeli goods and services until Israel withdraws from the occupied territories. Proposed by the Montreal-based organization Regroupernent pour un Dialogue Israel-Palestine, it was opposed as "counterproductive" by the New Jewish Agenda, the International Jewish Peace Union and Jews for a Just Peace. The Canadian Council of Churches abstained.

John Dirlik, a free-lance writer from Montreal, Quebec, writes on Canadian and Mideast affairs.

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