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SPHR News -
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{mosimage} By NELLY ELAYOUBI, Ottawa Sun THOUSANDS showed their support yesterday in a protest held to draw attention to the plight of the Palestinian people and their struggle for human rights.
Organized by the Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, protesters rallied at Major's Hill Park and marched through downtown to Parliament Hill, with guests speaking and a cultural display of Arabic dances and songs in English, French and Arabic.
Organizers said close to 5,000 people attended the rally, while RCMP estimated The diverse group called on the Canadian government to pressure Israel to end its "illegal occupation and oppression of the people on the land" by cutting ties with Israel.
"Although the Canadian government is not as influential as the U.S. government, they can still set a precedent," said protest organizer Laith Al-Masri.
Demonstrators also held a candlelight vigil to commemorate the 1982 Sabri and Shatila massacre of 2,750 Palestinian refugees. Demonstrators want to see Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon -- who was defence minister at the time -- tried before an international tribunal for alleged war crimes committed during that massacre.
"A lot of people don't know what happened in the massacre. It's one word -- disgusting. It wasn't over (in) 3-4 hours, it was over (in) three days," Al-Masri said.
Delinda Curtiss Hanley, news editor of Washington Report magazine, was a guest speaker.
She said people in North America aren't fully aware of the Palestinian struggle.
"You don't see settlers ripping orchard trees out. You don't see the bulldozers demolishing houses. Because we don't see those pictures, there's no chance for people to see the injustice," Curtiss Hanley said.
She also said it was important for people to know the U.S. contributes up to $6 billion a year of taxpayers' money to the Israeli government.
"Canada and America are historically freedom-seeking people. But somehow support is for the wrong side and (for) racism against the Palestinians," she said.
For Ahmad Abu-Farha, the struggle was all too real. He came to Canada two years ago from the West Bank with his brother to study at Carleton University. He still has five brothers, one sister and his parents living in Jenin.
"When my father leaves the house, he says bye to all the family because he doesn't know if he'll come back," Abu-Farha said.
Al-Masri stressed the protest wasn't against Jewish people, but against Zionism.
"We're trying to fight, not the Jews, but the creation of a state on historical Palestine at the expense of those who live there," he said. this article is courtesy of the Ottawa sun newspaper |
