Occupation

On Palestinian Prisoner Rights day, Canada appears to remain silent as COVID spreads among prisoners in Israeli jails

jvp political prisoners

April 17th is Palestinian Prisoners’ Day. There are an estimated 4,520 Palestinian prisoners in crowded Israeli jails, including men, women and children as young as 14. In the face of well-founded concerns that COVID is spreading in its prisons, a global outcry is rising demanding Israel release Palestinian prisoners, particularly women and children and those held without charge under so-called “administrative detention”. So far, Canada, which claims to be a “friend of the Palestinian people” has not shown any interest. Read more…

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“Is not the Corona pandemic enough?”, asks a Palestinian Christian who has already spent 72 Easters living under Israeli occupation

samia-reflections

There once was a time in which Christian, Muslim and Jewish Palestinians were neighbours and friends, remembers Samia Khoury. That was before the establishment of Israel in 1948. Since then, Israel has not let anything, even the coronavirus pandemic, get in the way of its ongoing dispossession of the Palestinian people. Mrs. Khoury is the former president of the Palestinian YWCA and member of the Beirzeit University Board of Trustees. Read her letter about what Israel is doing this Easter under the cover of the COVID crisis. … (more…)

Ottawa group organizes virtual commemoration of Palestinian Nakba – now 72 years old and counting

nakba 72

When meeting restrictions arising from the Corona crisis prevented public gatherings to commemorate the Palestinian Nakba, an Ottawa group decided on another approach. For the next eight weeks – March 29 to May 22 – the “Nakba Commemoration Initiative” will be on-line. Viewers from across Canada and around the world are invited to share their stories. CTIP shares a story about Jaffa. Read more…. (more…)

Israeli government uses Corona crisis to further its political agenda at the expense of its own Palestinian citizens says Mossawa Advocacy Centre Executive Director

doctors without borders

In many Israeli hospitals, Jewish and Palestinian doctors work side by side. Right-wing politicians who oppose the participation of Palestinian citizens of Israel in the Knesset (parliament) are more than willing to have Palestinians risk their lives fighting this deadly virus. But the practices of the Israeli government in providing health services to its citizens are highly discriminatory. As guest columnist Suha Salman-Mousa explains, they appear to be guided by a desire to protect Jewish citizens of Israel while mostly ignoring its non-Jewish citizens. Read more...

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Gaza nervously waits for the arrival of Corona virus

trudeau corona

Canada and Gaza have both so far been relatively spared by the Corona virus, although health experts say it’s just a matter of time. Canada faces it with a healthy population and a strong medical system. And Prime Minister Trudeau just announced another $1 billion to face the disease. Gaza is another story. After 12 years of blockade, many of Gaza’s 2 million residents suffer from malnutrition and poor health and its medical system already overwhelmed. But its residents face the future with dark humour. Read the first of our 4 reports on Palestine and the COVID-19 outbreak… (more…)