Weekend of Protests Against the Attack on Gaza

Stop Israel’s Massacre: Mass Rallies Featuring Jeff Halper, Israeli Peace Activist
WHEN: Rally at 1pm, Sunday January 18, 2009. March at 1:30pm
WHERE: Parliament Hill, Ottawa

Stop Israel’s Massacre: Stop Canadian Complicity
Rally against the Canadian government’s unconditional support for Israel’s wars.
WHEN: Monday 19 January at 12:00pm
WHERE: 125 Sussex, Foreign Affairs Ministry

Featuring Jeff Halper, Co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions; the only Israeli on the Free Gaza flotilla that broke the Gaza Siege; and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee. For more on Jeff’s work visit: www.icahd.org

Over 1000 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel’s massacre began, including 300 children. Join us this Sunday to demand that the Canadian government call for an immediate halt to Israel's attacks, an end to the siege of Gaza, and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid!

ORGANIZED BY: The Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians (APAC), Independent Jewish Voices (IJV - Canada) and the Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network (OPSN).

The ongoing Ottawa demonstrations are supported by: Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA-Carleton), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR Ottawa), Not In Our Name: Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism (NION), Canadian Peace Alliance, Ottawa Peace Assembly, NOWAR-PAIX, Rassemblement outaouais contre la guerre, the Coalition of Arab Canadian Professionals and Community Associations (CAPCA), and others.

For more information contact: nion.ottawa - at - gmail.com. For ongoing pan-Canadian event listings against Israel’s war on Gaza visit the website of the Canadian Peace Alliance at: http://acp-cpa.ca/en/GazaEvents.html

Stay tuned for upcoming Palestine solidarity events in Ottawa at www.ottawapalestine.blogspot.com.

JEFF HALPER, ISRAELI PEACE ACTIVIST TO TOUR CANADA IN JANUARY: WILL THE NEW YEAR USHER IN PEACE OR APARTHEID?

Israeli Jew. Humanitarian. Journalist. Author. Academic. Human Rights Activist. Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jeff Halper has been on the front lines of organizing for peace in Israel for almost 30 years. He was the only Israeli aboard the Free Gaza flotilla that broke the Gaza siege, Aug. 23, 2008. His first hand account of whether Israel is moving to peace or apartheid will be the subject of a seven city cross-Canada tour that kicks off in Halifax on January 12, 2009.

Halper is known internationally for his work as a co-founder of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions and for his passionate commitment to non-violent, political strategies to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Halper will visit Halifax (January 12-13), Montreal (January 14-17), Ottawa (January 18-19), Toronto and Hamilton (January 20-23), Winnipeg (January 24-26) and Vancouver (January 27-29) during his tour, and will speak with student groups, churches, trade unions, grassroots community organizers and Aboriginal activists.

“I can no more passively witness my government’s destruction of another people than I can watch the Occupation destroy the moral fabric of my own country,” Halper wrote in an August 5, 2008 article, as he prepared to sail as part of a delegation aimed at ending the siege of Gaza. “To do so would violate my commitment to human rights, the very essence of prophetic Jewish religion, culture and morals, without which Israel is no longer Jewish but an empty, if powerful, Sparta.”

His tour is sponsored by Independent Jewish Voices (Canada), a network of 18 Jewish groups as well as individuals Jews from across Canada who are opposed to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

OTTAWA EVENTS

Sun, Jan 18, 7pm, "Israel/Palestine: Towards Peace or Apartheid?"

Marion Hall Auditorium, University of Ottawa, Main Campus,

Mon., Jan. 19, 2pm, "Reframing the Israel/Palestine Conflict" 

Room 256 S. of the Senate in Centre Block of Parliament. $10 fee,

Mon., Jan. 19, 8pm "Palestine: From Apartheid to Warehousing" 

Kailash Mital Theatre (formerly Alumni Theatre), Southam Hall, Carleton University.

Ottawa Contact: Diana Ralph, ijv@magma.ca

For information on the pan-Canadian tour, visit Independent Jewish Voices (Canada).

STOP ISRAEL’S MASSACRE IN GAZA! END THE SIEGE NOW!

WHEN: 1pm, Saturday January 10, 2009

WHERE: Parliament Hill, Ottawa

This Saturday will be the largest international day of protest so far against Isreal's ongoing massacre in Gaza. In addition to Ottawa, protests are already planned for Calgary, Fredericton, Montreal, Saskatoon, Toronto, and Vancouver. As the Israeli ground, air and sea assault continues on the civilian population of Gaza – we need to continue mobilizing against these war crimes. At least 540 Palestinians have been killed and thousands injured in the single largest massacre in Gaza since Israel illegally occupied the area in 1967.

These latest war crimes occur in the context of official Canadian complicity with Israel's illegal siege, bombardment and starvation of the civilian population in Gaza. We must denounce the Canadian government's ongoing and unconditional support of Israel, now more than ever.

Last Saturday, thousands demonstrated across Canada and around the world, including 5,000 in Ottawa in the largest Palestine solidarity demonstrations in decades. This coming Saturday, people across the globe will return to the streets in internationally coordinated demonstrations against the Israeli onslaught.

Join us this Saturday to demand that the Canadian government call for an immediate halt to Israel's attacks, an end to the siege of Gaza, and the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid!

ORGANIZED BY: The Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians (APAC), Independent Jewish Voices (IJV - Canada) and the Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network (OPSN).

SUPPORTED BY: Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA-Carleton), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR Ottawa), Not In Our Name: Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism (NION), NOWAR-PAIX, Rassemblement outaouais contre la guerre, and the Ottawa Peace Assembly.

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Ottawa and Pan-Canadian demonstrations supported by: Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), the Association of Palestinian Arab Canadians (APAC), the Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network, Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA-Carleton), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR Ottawa), Not In Our Name: Jewish Voices Opposing Zionism (NION), Canadian Peace Alliance, Ottawa Peace Assembly, NOWAR-PAIX, Rassemblement outaouais contre la guerre,

the Coalition of Arab Canadian Professionals and Community Associations (CAPCA), Palestine House, the Canadian Arab Federation, Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP), the Muslim Association of Hamilton, the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network - Toronto, the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, Students Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto), Yosher – Jewish Social Justice Network, Canadian Druze Society, Canadian Syrian Cultural Club, Al Huda, Islamic Relief, Union Steel Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employee (Ontario), Canadian Union of Postal Workers, the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, Educators for Peace and Justice, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, Adala – Arab Justice Committee, Al-Awda - Vancouver, Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign, Canadian Shia Muslims Organization, Near East Cultural and Educational Foundation, Canadian Arab Federation – National, Canada Palestine Association - Vancouver, Canadians Against War, Canadian Islamic Congress BC, Canadian Muslim Union, Canpalnet, Canadian Forum for Justice and Peace in Sri Lanka, Code Pink Women for Peace (BC chapter), Indigenous Action Movement, Jews for a Just Peace - Vancouver, Steel Workers – Toronto Area Council, No One Is Illegal-Vancouver, Palestinian Islamic League – Canada, Salaam -Vancouver, Siraat Collective, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – University of British Columbia, Saskatoon Peace Coalition, Fredericton Peace Coalition, StopWar Coalition, Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance, Bayan – Canada, Bengali Student Association, McMaster Muslims for Peace and Justice, Arab Students Association at Ryerson University, Worker to Worker Canada Cuba Solidarity Network, Muslim Canadian Federation – Vancouver, Students for a Democratic Society (UBC), Science for Peace, The Organizing Centre for Social and Economic Justice, Vancouver Socialist Forum, Canada-Palestine Support Network (Winnipeg), Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and Tadamon! Montreal.

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Please send further organizational endorsements to: nion.ottawa - at - gmail.com

For updated pan-Canadian event listings visit the website of the Canadian Peace Alliance at: http://acp-cpa.ca/en/GazaEvents.html

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Ottawa Palestine Solidarity Network (OPSN)

The OPSN is Ottawa's city-wide coalition of unions, faith groups, students, and community organizations, uniting to demand peace and justice in the middle east and an end to Canadian complicity in humanitarian abuses.