B’nai Brith Canada & CIJA, Palestinians are not alone in their struggle for liberation
With the successful completion of the Palestine Liberation Conference: Envisioning Liberation, Confronting Colonialism in Ottawa (April 28–29), the first such conference in North America (Read the declaration of the conference here), Masar Badil and Samidoun have held the Palestinian flag high in Canada. The predictable pushback from Canadian Zionist Jewish organizations (CIJA — The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and B’nai Brith Canada) that only know how to smear Palestinian resistance and how to pressure Western governments to do their evil bidding cannot dampen that success.
Such Zionist Jewish groups around the globe are heavily connected to Israel and identify with it even more than they identify with the countries to which they belong. They are allied to the Jewish supremacist apartheid Zionist regime, a regime that Human Rights Watch describes as follows:
“Laws, policies, and statements by leading Israeli officials make plain that the objective of maintaining Jewish Israeli control over demographics [in all of historic Palestine], political power, and land has long guided government policy [since 1948]. In pursuit of this goal, authorities have dispossessed, confined, forcibly separated, and subjugated Palestinians by virtue of their identity to varying degrees of intensity. In certain areas, as described in this report, these deprivations are so severe that they amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.” Israel’s demographic control also extends to keeping the millions of Palestinians in al-shatat (diaspora) out of Palestine, denying their right of return.
The depravity of these Zionist Jewish organizations in the West that are tied to the separatist and supremacist objectives of Israel has no bounds. They regard themselves and the Jews they represent as above the rest of humanity. They feel entitled to Palestine and shamelessly dehumanize the native population, denying their human rights in total by refusing to acknowledge that Palestine and Palestinians even “exist” and by designating Palestinian armed resistance as “terror.”
Palestinians have a legal right to armed resistance and a right of return. Nevertheless, these shameless Jewish groups have the chutzpah to portray themselves as victims, when they are the aggressors and when the balance of power is skewed alarmingly and overwhelmingly in Israel’s favor.
But even though Palestinian military power is no match to Israel’s, Palestinians do have one single weapon that Israel can never hope to match — their steadfastness. Despite the enormity of the crimes against Palestinians and Israel’s ongoing persecution, they are “samidoun” (steadfast) in prison and out. Their vocabulary, Arabic words that have entered the English language, are “sumoud” (steadfastness) and “intifada” (uprising or revolution). The vocabulary of Israel and its Jewish supporters abroad is the Hebrew word “hasbara” (the art of deception).
What’s more, Palestinians are becoming even more powerful in their steadfastness and resolve as a result of the people (Jewish and otherwise) supporting their struggle for liberation.
So, when B’nai Brith Canada & CIJA and their ilk go on twitter to spew their hasbara and demonize Palestinian resistance — and specifically Masar Badil and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and call on the Canadian government to ban them and their activities, it’s good to know Palestinians are far from alone. Following are the organizations that have sponsored Masar Badil’s Palestine Liberation Conference: Envisioning Liberation, Confronting Colonialism in Ottawa, the first such conference in North America. We are not alone and we are not afraid:
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network: https://samidoun.net
Al-Awda Palestine Right to Return Coalition: https://al-awda.org
OPIRG Carleton: https://opirgcarleton.org/
SJP Carleton: https://www.instagram.com/sjpcarleton/?hl=en
Toronto 4 Palestine: https://www.instagram.com/toronto4palestine
Canada Palestine Association: https://cpavancouver.org/
Montreal 4 Palestine: https://instagram.com/montreal4palestine
Canadian BDS Coalition: https://bdscoalition.ca
Black Alliance for Peace: https://blackallianceforpeace.com/
BDS Vancouver Coast Salish: https://twitter.com/bds_vancouver/
Within Our Lifetime: https://wolpalestine.com/
International People’s Front: https://internationalsolidarity.org/about/
Palestinian Feminist Collective: https://palestinianfeministcollective.org/
U Windsor Palestine Solidarity Group: https://www.instagram.com/psguwindsor/?hl=en
International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism: https://sanctionstribunal.org
Oakville Palestinian Rights Association: https://www.facebook.com/oakvillepalestinianrightsassociation/
Anti-Imperialist Alliance: https://aia-aai.ca/
Convivencia Alliance: https://www.convivencia.uk/
Palestinian and Jewish Unity: https://paju.org/
Just Peace Advocates: https://www.justpeaceadvocates.ca/
SUPER UW: https://instagram.com/super_uw
OCHRP: https://www.facebook.com/OCHRPOTTAWA
SURJ Toronto: https://surjtoronto.com/
Indiana Center for Middle East Peace: http://www.indianacmep.org/
Jewish Network for Palestine: https://jewishnetworkforpalestine.uk/
Good Shepherd Collective: https://goodshepherdcollective.org/
Canada Philippines Solidarity Organization: https://cpso.pw/
Rosette Fair Trade: http://rosettefairtrade.com/
Center for Philippine Concerns Montreal: https://www.facebook.com/centreforphilippineconcerns/
Maine Voices for Palestinian Rights: http://www.mvprights.org/
Africa for Palestine: https://africa4palestine.com/
Le droit de vivir en paix Montreal: https://www.facebook.com/people/Le-Droit-de-vivre-en-paix-Montr%C3%A9al-El-Derecho-de-vivir-en-paz-Montreal/100066604677151/
Behind Enemy Lines: https://www.instagram.com/anti_imperialist_resistance/
Oakland Jericho: https://www.instagram.com/oakland.jericho/
Tikun Olam: https://richardsilverstein.com/
Canadians United Against Hate: https://twitter.com/AgainstHateCa
Primera Linea Revolucionaria America Latina: https://plramericalatina.com/
Rosa Luxemburg Club, Communist Party of Canada
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Rima Najjar is a Palestinian whose father’s side of the family comes from the forcibly depopulated village of Lifta on the western outskirts of Jerusalem and whose mother’s side of the family is from Ijzim, south of Haifa. She is an activist, researcher and retired professor of English literature, Al-Quds University, occupied West Bank
