<![CDATA[UNJPPI Action - Journal]]>Tue, 14 May 2024 02:34:37 -0400Weebly<![CDATA[United Church update on Gaza]]>Fri, 18 May 2018 23:13:37 GMThttp://unjppi.info/journal/united-church-update-on-gazaThe United Church updated its webpage with the following response to the release of the statement by the Prime Minister:

In a May 16th statement, Prime Minister Trudeau stated that Canada is “appalled” at the loss of life in Gaza and called the reported use of excessive force and live ammunition “inexcusable.” Trudeau called for an end to the violence, an immediate, independent investigation, and a two-state solution that is mutually agreed upon by Palestine and Israel. The United Church is encouraged that Trudeau’s comments go further (in both content and tone) than previous statements on violence in Gaza. We are also heartened that Canada has pledged to assist in the investigation that will address this serious situation.

The call for action was updated with the following request:

​United Church people are urged to contact Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and their members of Parliament. Affirm Trudeau’s condemnation of excessive force and his call for an immediate, independent investigation. Ask Canada to take an international leadership role in negotiating just peace in the region.

Members are asked to contact the Prime Minister directly in this new take action.  Feedback from Federal government contacts confirm that voices are being heard.
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The update from UCC acknowledges that the CBC comments on the change in tone.  The resistance the government is receiving emphasizes the need to raise voices of support.

Listening to Partners
It also notes the importance of listening to our partners.  The following communications have been received:
  1. A press release from 17 Human Rights and Civil Society Organizations in Israel
  2. Letter from the Middle East Council of Churches, a United Church partner.
]]><![CDATA[Kairos Palestine Statement on Gaza and Jerusalem]]>Fri, 18 May 2018 21:40:53 GMThttp://unjppi.info/journal/kairos-palestine-statement-on-gaza-and-jerusalem
Kairos Palestine Website

" If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they" (Ecclesiastes 5:8)..

On Monday, May 14th 2018, in Gaza, 60 people were killed and 2771 wounded among crowds walking unarmed towards their villages, from which they had been compelled to leave. They were killed in cold blood and posed no threat to anybody.

At the same time, the American embassy was relocated to Jerusalem in violation of international law. The transgressor is the great power that should call on others to respect international law.
Thus, the situation in which we are living is not one of rejoicing and the inauguration of a new embassy. We live in an inhumane situation that must be changed.

The siege on Gaza, on two million people living on land of merely 380 km², must be lifted. The West Bank must be liberated and the people in it regain their freedom and complete equality must be ensured for all inhabitants of the land.

This is the 70th year of the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people, and that started to deform the face of the Holy Land into a land of war and death. Our catastrophe remains ongoing.

This is the 70th year of this painful truth: the Holy Land has become the land in which human beings kill each other. This is the anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel, the anniversary of the catastrophe of the Palestinian people, and the anniversary of the beginning of the phase of war and death in the Holy Land.

It is an anniversary of death and not a celebration, including for Israel that still fears and rejects the application of United Nations resolutions. Israel is still afraid of peace and the peaceful march of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza and in the Occupied Territories. Israel which still feels obliged to give orders to its soldiers to kill unarmed people who claim their freedom.

We call upon the international community to remember its own resolutions and to abide by them. We call upon churches to be the conscience of humanity and hear the cry of the oppressed in the Holy Land.

We call upon them to condemn the Christian Zionists whom we saw in these days, contradicting the Gospel of love and peace, by supporting oppression and injustice, under the pretext of prophecies, and standing with the powerful of this world in their injustices.

We urge the international community to shoulder its responsibilities. We call upon it to exert every pressure, even sanctions if necessary, to force Israel to follow the path of peace and justice, to lift the oppression from the people of Gaza and all the Palestinian people, to prevent death in the Holy Land, abandon its apartheid practices, and comply with international law.

We call on churches in our Holy Land and throughout the world to be courageous and faithful to their mission, to assume their responsibilities towards the Holy Land and all those who live in it, to bring through their prayers awareness of what is going on in the Holy Land, and to take effective steps towards justice, equality and peace in this land where the roots of their faith lie.

We call on our people to remain steadfast in the face of all plots and intrigues.

​This is our call; this is the cry of the Christian conscience in the Holy Land, the cry of all Christians, leaders and people, on this anniversary, the anniversary of the year when the killing of each other began in the land made holy by God, not to kill but to let all people love each other.

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]]><![CDATA[Open letter from Canadian organizations on Gaza massacre]]>Fri, 18 May 2018 21:27:47 GMThttp://unjppi.info/journal/open-letter-from-canadian-organizations-on-gaza-massacre​The Canadian BDS Coalition and many of its member groups and friends are among the more than 50 signatories to this open letter sent yesterday to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland.

May 17, 2018

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau and Minister Freeland:

We are concerned Canadians who cannot remain indifferent and quiet to the massacre of innocent civilian Palestinians whose only crime is their peaceful protest of a brutal and illegal occupation.

Palestinians in Gaza live in an open prison denied basic necessities, electricity, clean water and medicines. The UN has already declared Gaza an unlivable place. How many Palestinians should die or get injured before the world would wake up to these war crimes? Why are Canadians silent and oblivious to these crimes against humanity?

We are calling on our government, our representatives in parliament, the human rights organizations and fellow Canadians to condemn and protest the slaughter of innocent people who are exercising their natural right to resist peacefully their occupiers. We are calling on Canadians to condemn those who have imprisoned and besieged their land and water and those who have denied them their basic human rights. Portraying all Palestinians in Gaza as members of Hamas or their protest as a terrorist activity is a callous trick to dehumanize them and justify their massacre.

We call on all Canadians and particularly the constituency of justice and peace to raise their voices in protest of these war crimes. Those who are silent at this juncture are complicit with these crimes. It is time to assert that Palestinians’ lives are precious too and that Canadians do not acquiesce with the brutal and disproportionate use of violence by the Israeli military against unarmed civilians.

It is high time that Canada lives up to its obligation as a high signatory under Article 1 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which requires that the Convention is upheld in all circumstances. Beyond this our domestic legislation, the Special Economic Measures Act, calls for action where gross and systematic human rights violations have been committed in a foreign state. Based on international and domestic law we call on the Canadian government to condemn Israeli actions and that a military embargo be put in place.
​
Our organizations demand the Canadian government to call for the lifting of the blockade on Gaza, and to denounce the opening of any embassies in Jerusalem/Al Quds. We join together to demand that the Canadian government immediately call Israel to cease and desist the massacre of civilians and recall the he Canadian ambassador to Israel until Israel abides by its obligations under international law to protect Palestinian civilians.

Sincerely,

[To see the list of signatories, click Read more.]
​Canadian Arab Federation/ Canada
Palestinian Canadian Congress /PCC
Palestine House
Association Of Palestinian Arab Canadians/ APAC
Canadian Palestinian professional foundation/CPPF
The Canadian Syrian Cultural Club
The Canadian Lebanese Progressive Society/ LCPS
Canadian Arab Network
Arab Canadian Theatre of Kitchener Waterloo/KW-ACT
Association Of Progressive Palestinian Canadians/ APPC
Palestine Aid Society – Canada
Palestinian Association of Hamilton
Annahda Club of Montreal
Syrian Canadian Club of Ottawa
Canadian palestinian Foundation of Quebec
Independent Jewish Voices/ Canada
United Network for Justice and Peace for Palestine and Israel/ UNJPPI
Canadian Unitarian For Social Justice/CUSJ -Canada
NDP Socialist Caucus
Just Peace Advocates
Canadian Peace Congress
Canadian BDS Coalition
Socialist Action
The International league of People’s Struggle/ILPS-Canada
CODEPINK
Barnard-Boecker Centre Foundation/BBCF- BC
Canada Palestine Association/Vancouver
The Canada Palestine Support Network/CanPalNet- Vancouver
Coalition Against Israel Apartheid/ CAIA- Victoria
Canada-Palestine Support Network – Winnipeg
Winnipeg Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
Mid-Islanders for Justice and Peace in the Middle East/MIJPME
Justice for Palestinians Calgary
Palestine Solidarity Network-Edmonton
Regina Peace Council/ Saskatchewan
Bathurst United Church Of Canada
Palestine Study Group/Okanagan
Christian PeacemakerTeams/CPT-Ontario
Educators for Peace and Justice/Ontario
Palestinian Solidarity Working Group-Sudbury
People for peace, London
Palestinian and Jewish Unity/PAJU-Quebec
Amnesty International Kelowna
Coalition Against Israel Apartheid / CAIA- Toronto
Al-Quds Committee/Toronto
Al-Haadi Musalla/Toronto
Science for Peace/Toronto
Beit Zatoun
Zatoun
Toronto BDS
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network/IJAN
Women in Solidarity with Palestine
Jewish Liberation Theology Institue
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association/Oakville
Conscience Canada
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