Global Day of Action Against Siege and Occupation Toronto 14

Global Day of Action Against Siege and Occupation, Rally and March, Toronto, Sunday, June 10, 2007

End the occupation of Palestine: rally and march

Rally and march
Sunday, June 10
1:00pm
United States Consulate
360 University Avenue
(TTC: St. Patrick or Osgoode)

Bring drums, instruments, banners, street art, friends, family and voices!

For forty years, Israel has constructed illegal settlements on stolen Palestinian land. For forty years, Israel has killed thousands of Palestinians, demolished 12,000 Palestinian homes, arrested 650,000 Palestinians, and uprooted more than a million Palestinian olive trees.

Since 2002, the Apartheid Wall built on occupied Palestinian territory has effectively encircled the Palestinian population, squeezing Palestinians into truncated Bantustans, cementing Israeli expansionism, and forcing thousands Palestinians off of their land. The Wall divides farmers from their land, students from their schools, workers from their jobs, and people from their communities.

Despite the fact that the International Court of Justice ruled it illegal, the Wall now encircles Palestinian towns and cities in the most massive land-grab in forty years. In its recent war against Lebanon, Israel's unilateralism and militarism have been exposed to the world. Israel continues to establish "facts on the ground" to maintain strategic control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and to annex land and get rid of the non-Jewish indigenous population.

In Jerusalem and inside Israel, Palestinians face institutionalized discrimination and are denied equality and their full rights as citizens since 1948. And Israel continues to deny Palestinian refugees, who were forcibly exiled from their homeland in the 1947-48 war, their internationally guaranteed rights, including the right to return to one's homeland and the right to property restitution.

On March 29, 2006, Canada became the first country in the world to impose a siege on the Palestinian people living in the West Bank and Gaza, which meant total political and economic sanctions on the Palestinian Authority -- the largest employer in these occupied Palestinian territories. The stated reason for the siege was the formation of a democratically elected government in uncontested democratic elections. Canada had been one of the states calling for democratic Palestinian elections, but was displeased with the result: the victory of Hamas.

The siege is the first time in human history that the "international community" has decided to punish a people under occupation, let alone punish them for democratically electing their leadership. The siege has had a devastating effect on the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza including:

- Eliminating the salaries, wages and livelihood of one-third of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza;

- Dragging two-thirds of the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza below the poverty line (they live on less than $2 a day). These working people and their families now live in fear of starvation;

- The closure of Palestinians areas: Palestinians were prevented from getting to work, school or hospital outside of their canton (usually their village, town or city) for 86% of the year.

Join together on June 10 outside the U.S. consulate in Toronto to demand that Canada lift this siege immediately, and end any and all Canadian support for the Israeli Occupation of Palestine.

For more information, please contact Palestine House:
E-mail: info@palestinehouse.com
Phone: 905-270-3622
Website: http://www.palestinehouse.com

Category:

News & Politics

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• Global
• Day
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• Rally
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• June
• 10
• 2007