{mosimage}It is with great dismay that we write this statement condemning Canada's dishonourable vote last week at the United Nations. Mr. Stephen Harper's government has voted against the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, Article 13.2 reads:
"Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country." To state that this right is not applicable to Palestinians, as Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay did by approving this vote, creates the impression that the Conservative government believes Palestinians are less than human.
What appals us the most is the fact that we just celebrated the 57-year anniversary of the International Declaration of Human Rights created after the tragedies of the Nazi Shoah. At that time there were Jewish refugees knocking on the doors of Canada and we remember the cries of "None is too many" from Mackenzie King's civil servant, Charles Frederick Blair. By voting against the Right of Return for Palestinians, the Harper government implicitly sends the message "None is too many" for Palestinians returning home.
We reiterate that we condemns with the harshest words the out right racism embodied in this vote. We are concerned that this sentiment is now pervading the Harper government's policies concerning the Palestinian people and their rights. It is with great alarm that we call upon all sectors of civil society in Canada to mobilize against what we believe is an attack not only on Palestinian rights, but the essence of universal values embodied in the International Declaration of Human Rights, which was tragically won at the cost of tens of millions of lives in World War II.
Organizations
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR), National,
Carleton, Concordia, McGill, McMaster, Ottawa U, Queens,
Ryerson, UBC, UdeM, UofT, UQAM, UWO, York U
Al-Awda, Vancouver, Toronto
Palestinian-Canadian Student Society Calgary u
Palestinian Arab Women Association- PAWA - Canada
PAJU (Palestinian and Jewish Unity)
Palestine Community Centre Vancouver
Palestine House, Mississauga, Ontario
Niagara Palestinian Association
Niagara Coalition for Peace
Palestine Aid Society
Palestine Solidarity Group (PSG)-Chicago
Trade Union Committee for Justice in the Middle East
Friends of Ghassan Kanafani Cultural Foundation
Palestine Youth Organization- Syria
PYO- Lebanon
PYO- Gaza
PYO- West Bank
Union of Palestinian Women- Gaza
Right of Return Committees - Jordan.
Individuals
Ali Ibrahim
Musa Al-Hindi
Nidal A. Barakat
Nooraldeen A'wad
Jayce Salloum
Alroy Fonseca
Rezeq Faraj
Shelley Berkane
Susan Howard-Azzeh
Wendy Alnuweiri
Rhoda Shapiro
Anne Selden Annab
Hatem Abudayyeh
Ahamd Al-rawi
Saleema Tahir
Isaac Mitre
Tony Ali
Christine Geovanis
Dick Reilly
Basem Khader
