Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 1989, Page 23-B.

Canada Calling

Catholic Bishops Support Palestinians

By John Dirlik

Canada's mainstream Jewish establishment had barely recovered from Ottawa's decision to upgrade relations with the PLO and support Palestinian self-determination when it experienced another setback from the religious community. The influential Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement supporting talks with the PLO, advocating creation of a Palestinian state, and condemning Israel for it handling of the uprising.

The May 29 statement asserted that Israeli forces have been "violently repressing the popular movement which animates the initifada" and that the Roman Catholic bishops "can no longer ignore the cries of victims nor remain deaf to the calls of the oppressed." The bishops, who have previously refrained from publicly criticizing Israel, urged the Canadian government to "invite" Israel to modify its position and to support an international peace conference.

Although the bishops' statement, entitled "The Rights of the Palestinian People," also called on Arab states to recognize Israel's right to live within secure borders, it was sharply criticized by the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC). Arguing that the title itself displayed bias, the CJC maintained that "the tragic loss of life on both sides has been the direct result of Arab violence."

Pro-Israel Organizations Seek Restoration of Israeli Image

Since the extensive media coverage of the intifada began to erode Canadian public and governmental support for Israeli policies, Jewish organizations have been desperately attempting to minimize the damage done to Israel's carefully cultivated image. The Canada-Israel Committee in Ottawa, which is the Canadian equivalent of AIPAC in Washington, DC, published large ads denying that Israel was unnecessarily brutalizing Palestinian demonstrators and even claiming that Israel was one of the most "benign" military occupations in history.

The Hillel Student Association invited the hard-line former Israeli ambassador to the UN, Benjamin Netanyahu, to speak at McGill University in Montreal. Netanyahu told students that critics of Israel are today's "Little Hitlers," and that the goal of the intifada was annihilation of the Jewish state. Although this campaign against Israel pits Palestinian teenagers armed with homemade slingshots against the most powerful army in the Middle East, Netanyahu insisted that Israel is "engaged in a war of survival."

John Dirlik is a free-lance writer based in Montreal, Canada.