~~
Canadian Report on Jewish Refugees Could Be Important First Step To Peace
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OTTAWA, March 27, 2014 — B'nai Brith Canada commended Canadian Members of Parliament who joined together across party lines yesterday to concur with the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development Report on Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands.
By doing so, Canada becomes only the second country, along with the Jewish state of Israel itself, to recognize the plight of over 850,000 Jews who were forced to flee Arab countries from 1948 on.n Under the rules of the House, a motion to concur marks the endorsement of the report as a whole — a report which contained two recommendations.
However, Mark Adler, MP for York Centre rose to explain that the Government, while prepared to support the first recommendation that Canada officially recognize the experience of Jewish refugees, could not at this time support the second recommendation which called for the inclusion of this historical fact to be included in the current Middle East peace negotiations.
Frank Dimant, CEO of B'nai Brith Canada stated, "This recognition is an important first step on the road to a true and lasting peace. However, the job is not done until this recognition is put into practice. It would be most disappointing to see this become another report that is left on the shelf. At least 100 UN resolutions have been passed referring explicitly to the fate of the Palestinian refugees. Not one has specifically addressed Jewish refugees.“
“The Time is now right for the Government of Canada to continue to show its leadership role on the international front by first updating its own Policy on Key Issues in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, which as it now reads makes no mention of the plight of Jewish refugees. The Government's position that it would not advocate for this recognition to be part of the present peace negotiations. Despite concurring in the full report, this position fails to recognize that a just solution requires consideration of all refugee.”
David Matas, Senior Honorary Legal Counsel added, "The notion that Canada is helping peace by keeping this issue of justice for Jews from Arab countries out of the negotiations is mistaken. What has driven the wars against Israel from their inception to today is anti-Zionism. The wars against Israel are primarily ideological. Keeping the ideology of the war partly intact means keeping the will to wage war, the incitement to war and the war itself intact. The only way to peace is to combat the anti-Zionist narrative straight on.
Central to the current narrative is the false notion that only one group of victimized refugee population exists, namely the ‘Palestinians’. In order to discredit the anti-Zionist narrative and pave the road to peace, it must be acknowledged that there were two refugee populations, both of which are entitled to redress. No recognition of that fact means there will be no peace.