Keith Landy

June 21, 2002Hon. Bill Graham, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
125 Sussex Drive
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2

ttttt Dear Minister:

As Canada prepares to host the G-8 Summit, we at Canadian Jewish Congress extend best wishes for a successful and productive gathering to address the critical issues of peace and security facing Canada and the world. Canada is well-placed to provide leadership on these matters, given its strong commitment in recent months to combating terrorism and the outstanding effort of our representatives over the last year in Durban, New York and Geneva.

With this in mind, we wish to draw to your attention the following issues for consideration and action in the discussions among the leaders at Kananaskis:

An End to Palestinian Terror:

The Palestinian Authority must effect an immediate cessation of all violence, terrorism and suicide bombings against Israelis, civilian and military, before any consideration of Palestinian statehood can be discussed. Canada has endorsed such compliance with the Mitchell/Tenet blueprint as the sine qua non of any future political process. Now, however, it appears that we may be perilously close to the United States declaring in favour of a provisional Palestinian State. We strongly urge Canada to oppose such an interim step, which will signal that violence and terror work and that territorial gains can be achieved without even a semblance of the peace that was supposed to be the quid pro quo of a negotiated settlement. Political developments must not move forward while Israelis are being murdered with impunity and Arafat and the PA must not be rewarded with even a definitive timetable for statehood, absent a stoppage of Palestinian terrorism.

Countering Support for Terrorism:

There are three areas for priority consideration in eliminating support for terrorism. First, since money is the lifeblood of terrorism, we reiterate our request that Canada’s ban on terrorist fundraising include all Palestinian and Arab terrorist organizations, and cover all components of groups such as Hezbollah. Canada has made significant progress in this area, but must, we respectfully suggest, do more. We urge Canada to take the lead in holding the G-8 countries to their obligations to suppress terrorist fundraising.

Secondly, as a key element of the international war against terrorism, we urge the G-8 countries to intensify their efforts to hold accountable the key state sponsors of terrorism, particularly Syria, Iran and Iraq. The developed world must take the lead in sanctioning these nations for their financing, training and arming of terrorist organizations.

Thirdly, we urge Canada to promote a fundamental reform of UNRWA, which has proven over half a century to be a failure in resolving the Palestinian refugee problem. Worse, under UNRWA’s watch, the refugee camps have become bases and safe havens for Palestinian terrorist organizations; integral components, as Operation Defensive Shield amply proved, of the sophisticated Palestinian infrastructure of terrorism. Furthermore, the education system that has developed in UNRWA schools inculcates a culture of visceral anti-Israel and antisemitic hate that should not be permitted to flourish under any circumstances, let alone under United Nations auspices.

Resurgent Antisemitism, Domestic and International:

Since the Palestinian Authority launched the most recent campaign of violence and terror against Israel, and with clear spikes from Durban and September 11th, the world has witnessed an alarming intensification of antisemitism. Efforts to isolate Israel and to marginalize the Jewish people at international fora have been matched with physical assaults against Jews and their communal property across the world, especially in Europe but also in Canada. We urge Canada to place the issue of antisemitism on the G-8 summit agenda, with a view to developing a plan against antisemitism for ministerial follow-up.

UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD):

In the context of the Arab/Muslim politicization of multilateral bodies and international thematic conferences, we draw your attention to our concerns about this summer’s Sustainable Development summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. With the scars of Durban still evident, we strongly urge Canada to work with its G-8 partners next week to get commitments not to allow groups to impose their anti-Israel and antisemitic agenda on the WSSD and derail yet another international gathering from its important work. Canada’s work prior to the World Conference against Racism and the outstanding effort of its delegation at Durban provide the template for keeping the Sustainable Development conference focused on its mission.

In coordination with our colleagues from the Canada-Israel Committee, we would very much appreciate the opportunity to meet with you to elaborate on these priority issues prior to the G-8 but should your schedule preclude this, we would look forward to a meeting with you at your earliest convenience thereafter. We warmly thank you for your consideration of the above and take this opportunity once again to wish you much success at Kananaskis.

Sincerely,

Keith M. Landy
National President