A response to: Israeli security fence saves lives, Gazette, Feb. 28.
I would agree with Mr. Zepp’s statement that the government of Israel has the right to protect its citizens just as every government does. However, both Israel and Canada have signed the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Fourth Geneva Convention on Rules of War was adopted in August 1949 in response to Nazi atrocities during the Second World War. This treaty governs the treatment of civilians during wartime and during military occupation. The convention outlaws torture, collective punishment and the resettlement by an occupying power of its own civilians on territory under its military control.
The issue with the ‘fence’ for us, as was pointed out in the article by Kevin Ma, is that 85 per cent of the wall is built in the West Bank or Palestinian territory. A 2004 ruling by the International Court of Justice stated that the “construction of the wall and its associated regime, are in violation of international law.” The ruling went on to say that “Palestinians living in the West Bank are lawful occupants of that land and as an occupying power Israel cannot claim that they are a ‘foreign’ threat. The illegal interference by the government of Israel with the Palestinians national right to self-determination; and land confiscations, house demolitions and restrictions on movement and access to water, food, education, health care, work, and an adequate standard of living are in violation of Israel’s obligations as an occupying power under international law.”
If the Canadian government was violating International Law and the Fourth Geneva Convention, both my husband and I would be speaking out against it. What troubles us most in that our current Canadian government stands in unequivocal support of Israel. Yet, our government’s policies relative to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict state that they “oppose the construction of a barrier extending inside the occupied territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the expropriations and the demolition of houses and economic infrastructure.” That same policy statement says that the “settlements are a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and constitute a serious obstacle to a just, lasting and comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East.” (http://www.international.gc.ca)
I would hope that all Canadian citizens would contact their MPs and our prime minister and ask why Canada is not enacting their own foreign policy with respect to the occupation, the ‘fence’ and the settlements. Martin Luther King wrote in a letter from Birmingham Jail that: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” There isn’t a day since my return that I don’t give thanks that I won the genetic lottery and live in a country where at least on paper we support human rights and justice for all regardless of where they live in the world.
Debbie Hubbard, St. Albert
