Palestinian Unity Government
Mr. Speaker, tragically, the Palestinian unity government has collapsed. Never in 40 years had a Palestinian political body brought together the views of so many Palestinians. All major political movements were included.
Students Taking Action Now Darfur – STAND
"Mr. Speaker, it is not just policy talk, it is policy action that is needed.
However, speaking of leadership, the minister will know that non-governmental organizations and Sudanese Canadians came together today with students from across Canada under the umbrella of STAND, Students Taking Action Now in Darfur.
Harper’s calling Hezbollah and Hamas ‘genocidal’ is ‘inflammatory’
NDP Foreign Affairs and International Development Critic, Alexa McDonough (Halifax), today condemned Stephen Harper’s pronouncement on Hamas and Hezbollah as inflammatory and destructive to any advancing of peace in the Middle East.
Reconvene Parliament if no Ceasefire Call: McDonough
NDP Leader Jack Layton and NDP Foreign Affairs and International Development Critic Alexa McDonough (Halifax) today called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to reconvene Parliament if his government refuses to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East. Yesterday the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development passed a motion that called on the government to, "urge an immediate ceasefire by all parties across the Lebanese-Israeli border as expressed by the blue line."
Deaths of UN Observers
It was with profound sadness that we learned yesterday of the deaths of four United Nations military observers, including one Canadian, killed last evening in an Israeli bomb attack on a clearly marked UN patrol base in Lebanon.
MCDONOUGH CONDEMNS HARPER’S COMMENTS ON THE MIDDLE EAST
The world has rightly condemned the killings and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, however Israel’s response has been illegal, brutal and disproportionate. It is more apparent than ever that your government’s desire to appease George Bush is so all-consuming, that you are prepared to turn a blind eye to the massive destruction in Gaza and in Lebanon, going so far as to deem these Israeli government assaults as ‘measured’.
Funding cut to PA gov’t
The federal government has cut direct funding to the Palestinian Authority. The NDP recognizes the serious dilemma facing Canada and all donor countries that the Palestinian Authority has a President who remains committed to official recognition of the State of Israel and to the Road Map to peace, while his cabinet is composed of Hamas members whose party calls for the destruction of Israel.
Infrastructure building in Palestine
Mr. Speaker, the foreign affairs minister announced that Canada’s role in the Middle East peace process amounted to yet another fact finding mission and paltry $100,000 in aid. We have seen the appetite for real leadership and generosity by individual Canadians.
Post-9/11 anti-Semitism
The basis for the concern has been reinforced by two informative and instructive meetings held in my office in the last 24 hours. Yesterday I had a meeting with a member of the Canadian Jewish community who was speaking out strongly and expressing his concerns about the rash of anti-Semitism that had been unleashed in this country post-September 11.
Renewed commitment to peace
Mr. Speaker, "A time comes when silence is betrayal…We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision". These words of Martin Luther King in the context of the Vietnam war surely apply to Canada’s shameful silence today in the face of the spiralling death toll in Israel and in the occupied territories.
