We in Canada have our own AIPAC’s, devoted Zionists in bed with our government, and the Christian Right. However, we also have many Palestine solidarity and Arab organizations, as well as grass roots civil groups that have flowered here over the years, and take a dynamic, public position on the occupation, the right of return, the human rights abuses that Palestinians are subjected to, and have wholly embraced the movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel. We consider it our mandate to educate the Canadian public on these issues and as well, on our government’s untenable and right wing policies towards the Middle East. Read more about Canadians and the International Boycott Movement  

CAIRO, Mar 7 (IPS) - In a rare show of unity, parties from across the political spectrum have condemned reported Israeli violations against Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque. They have warned of “dire consequences” if the site — the third holiest in Islam — were to be damaged. “Jihad [holy war] becomes incumbent on Muslims when violence is done against them or their holy places, dignity or possessions,” Mohamed Tantawi, grand sheikh of Cairo’s venerable al-Azhar University declared in a departure from his usually non-confrontational position. Read more about Egypt Gov't Challenged over Israeli Action at Mosque 

WASHINGTON, Mar 6 (IPS) - A majority of people from around the world hold predominantly negative views of Israel, Iran, and the United States, according to a survey of more than 28,000 respondents in 27 countries. The survey, which was sponsored by the BBC World Service and designed by Globescan and the Washington-based Programme for International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), found that 56 percent and 54 percent of all respondents said they had mainly negative views of Israel and Iran, respectively. Fifty-one percent and 48 percent said the same about the United States and North Korea, respectively. Read more about Israel, Iran, U.S. Least Liked Countries 

On the anniversary of the Six Nations Land Reclamation we express our solidarity to you and to all those that are defending today their land and livelihoods against theft and colonization. On February 28th, 2006, after the Canadian government gave a construction company the permission to build a settlement on their land, the people of Six Nations took it back, demanding an end to the theft and destruction of their land and to settler encroachment on their territory. Many of them now face charges in Canadian courts for defending their land. This sounds tragically familiar to us in Palestine and to many others around the world. Read more about Open Letter to the People of Six Nations 

The Joint Advocacy Initiative (JAI), an initiative of YWCA of Palestine and East Jerusalem YMCA, carried out research among young people from the Bethlehem area, to examine the attitude of Palestinian youth towards non-violent struggle against the occupation and oppressive practices. The results published in a report recently show that almost sixty percent of the youth are affiliated to a political party and they fully support non-violent means of resistance against the Israeli occupation. The opinions voiced by the youth offer clear building blocks for a strategy of national resistance. A strategy that shows striking similarities to the strategy successfully used by the African National Congress of South Africa to fight apartheid. Read more about Palestinian youth in Bethlehem area fully support non-violent resistance  

On March 2, Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama gave a speech that proved that when it came to supporting Israel he is “as strong as Clinton, as supportive as Bush, as friendly as Giuliani” in the words of one Israeli journalist. Obama blamed Palestinians for the failure of peace efforts and uttered no criticism of Israeli policies. Yet once upon a time Obama supported Palestinian rights and an even-handed US approach to solving the conflict. EI co-founder Ali Abunimah who has met the candidate half a dozen times over a decade analyzes the speech and traces Obama’s path into the hardline pro-Israel camp. Read more about How Barack Obama learned to love Israel 

On a sunny but chilly Sunday morning, Rabbi Steven Pruzansky of Congregation Bnai Yeshurun was preparing to welcome temple members and other local Jewish families to his synagogue to “strengthen the Zionist dream” by purchasing new houses in the occupied West Bank. The enticement of Jews to move to restricted, Jewish-only enclaves on land seized from Palestinians is nothing new: whether through the lure of cheap housing or the dream of bringing about the coming of the Messiah by “redeeming the land”, religious and secular Jews alike have been drawn to these enclaves since the first settlement Kiryat Arba was established in 1968. Read more about Activists protest settlement real estate sale in New Jersey 

In the late 1960s, a group of young Arab women and men devoted to the struggle for Palestinian freedom chose to contribute to the resistance through filmmaking — recording their lives, hopes, and their fight for justice. Working in both fiction and documentary, they strived to tell the stories of Palestine and to create a new kind of cinema. Most were refugees, exiled from their homes in Palestine. And additionally there were fellow Arabs who stood in solidarity with them, devoting their work to a just cause. Their films screened across the Arab world and internationally but never in Palestine. Read more about Coming Home: Palestinian Cinema