On April 14th, Canada will be issuing a "Canada-Israel Diplomatic Relations" commemorative stamp to celebrate 60 years of relations. In light of on-going occupation, policies of racial segregation and war-crimes against the Palestinian people, we ask what is there to celebrate?
Please take a minute to send the following message to John Baird (bairdij@parl.gc.ca), the Minister responsible for Canada Post Corporation and Rob Merrifield (Merrifield.R@parl.gc.ca), the Minister of State (Transport) to express your anger at Canada Post's joint issue stamp with Israel Post.
CUT AND PASTE THE FOLLOWING INTO YOUR EMAIL:
Dear Mr. Baird and Mr. Merrifield:
I am writing to express condemnation of your decision to launch a $1.70 "Canada-Israel Diplomatic Relations" joint issue stamp on April 14th. The stamp comes a little more than a year after Israel launched a brutal assault on the Gaza Strip that left 1400 Palestinians, including 320 children, dead. According to the Report of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Israel was found responsible for grave violations of international humanitarian law and war-crimes.
Canada Post should be taking the lead from its employees – represented by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) – in endorsing the call by over 170 Palestinian civil society organization for a comprehensive campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) targeting Israeli institutions complicit with violations of international law. This is a non-violent and effective means of pursuing peace and justice in Israel/Palestine.
Along these lines, it should be noted that Israel Post continues its complicity with the Israeli occupation by servicing Israeli settlements in direct contravention of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and actively promoting Israeli militarism through a series of stamp issues to that end. Furthermore, Israel continues to impede and disrupt mail delivery throughout Palestine, including through its nearly 3 year long siege on the Gaza Strip and its system of nearly 500 checkpoints throughout the West Bank.
I see little reason to 'celebrate' such policies at the expense of tax-payers residing in Canada.Source
Sincerely,
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