Canada Park: wrenched

from the Palestinian people

By TOM MORRIS

The noted and courageous Is-
raeli communist lawyer, Felicia
Langer, spoke some time ago toa
gathering, and part of her re-
marks, which were published,
caught my attention.

She mentioned ‘‘Canada
Park’’, a project which, as she put
it, was built on the rubble and
dreams of Palestinian villages.
Langer said that people going
there should understand they are
walking on land violently
wrenched from the Arab people,
that the ecological beauty sur-
rounding them was bought at the
expense of Palestinian tears and
sorrow.

I had never heard of Canada
Park. I did know that since the
1967 war, Israel embarked on a
massive ‘‘settlements program’’
on stolen Arab lands on the West
Bank, Sinai, the Golan Heights
and East Jerusalem. With the
election of the Begin government,
the program has been stepped up
with the aim of perpetual occupa-
tion. This, it is clear, is one of the
main obstacles to any permanent
solution for Mideast peace.

But what of Canada Park?

Before the Israeli ‘‘six day
war’’ in June, 1967, the Arab vil-
lages of Imwas, Yalu and Biet
Nuba, with a total population of
nearly 4,000 lived peacefully.
They were situated on Jordan’s
West Bank, now occupied territ-
ory. These three villages, along
with others, were singled out
within weeks for obliteration.

A British freelance writer,
Michael Adams, did a story in
1968 for The Sunday Times and
described the destruction of a
neighboring village, Zeita. On
-June 12, two days after the Six
Day War, the village chief was
ordered by the Israeli commander
to get his people out into a field on
the eastern side of the village.
‘*When all the villagers were as-
sembled,’” Adams wrote, ‘‘Israeli
guards climbed on the nearest

rooftops and trained their guns on
the crowd.

“It was about 6:30 in the morn-
ing. No one was allowed to move
and the villagers stayed where
they were until 6 in the evening.
No adult could go aside to relieve
himself, no child could go fetch a
cup of water. While they -sat
there, Israeli soldiers carefully
and systematically blew up 67
houses, including a school and a
clinic maintained by the Inter-.
national Council of Churches.”’

Adams could not find Zeita on
the new Israeli map. .

Nearby were the villages of
Imwas, Yalu and Biet Nuba.
They cannot be found on the new
Israeli map either. Bulldozers
levelled them, including one
house in which a deaf and blind
old woman died, not hearing the
order to evacuate.

Canada Park’s glossy publicity
describes it as ‘‘a proud tribute to
Canada and to the Canadian Jew-
ish community, whose vision and
foresight helped transform a bar-
ren stretch of land to a major na-
tional recreational area for the
people of Israel.” It sits atop the
ruins of these villages.

This “‘proud tribute to Cana-
da”’ is on occupied Arab land on
the West Bank, land which the

Canadian Government, in its.

support for UN Resolution 242,
agrees must be returned by Israel.
Resolution 242 was passed on
Nov. 22, 1967 — five months after
Israel’s blitzkrieg.

‘‘Magnificent, Imaginative’’

Canada Park is a project of the
Jewish National Fund of Canada
which is the Canadian branch of
Jewish National Fund, the sole
Land Authority in Israel whose
origins date back to 1901. JNF has
built nearly 700 rural settlements
and, as its materials state, ‘‘These

tasks, performed by the JNF for .

over 70 years are now crowned by
this maghificent, imaginative
Canada Park project ...””

The park covers 7,500 acres.
Since 1973 when the project be-

whenever we

fe take your tnd tor absolutely free to move somewhere else
pose te your land for new settiements.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MAY 2, 1980—Page 14

“‘Canada Park ...

.the 4,000 Palestinians?

gan, $15,000,000 has been raised
in Canada: The money, more-
over, is income tax deductable as
is cash now being solicited for its
continued renovation.

The Jewish National Front
today masks its intensified pro-
gram under the ecologically-
popular phrase ‘‘land reclama-
tion’’. That’s the first come-on.

If you were to phone or write
them, the materials you will be
sent (after suitable grilling about
your intentions — ‘‘Do you want
to contribute?’’) get closer to the
point: ‘‘... compounded by the
continuous hostility of its
neighbors who have haunted and
taunted the Jewish state during
every moment of its over quarter
century of existence. Hemmed in
by belligerence on all sides there
is a feeling of captivity about
everyday living...”

Embattled Israelis?

We’re then told: ‘‘Jordanians
held the area until it was liberated
by the Israel Defence Forces in
the Six Day War, in 1967...’’ The
rationale for a _ park: says:
a magnificent
new project aimed at restoring the
natural beauty to Israel’s historic
landscape and at the same time
contributing to the tranquility and
easing of tension for hundreds of
thousands of Israel’s embattled
people...”

The materials are replete with
such references. Donations listed
for forestation run from $3,000 to
$20,000. You can become a ““gov-
ernor’’ for $100,000.

There are implications that
suggest themselves. Firstly,
comments about ‘“‘Israel’s his-
toric landscape’’ clearly mean
JNF opposes UN Resolution 242.
It is a “‘settlement”’ organizer and
fund-raiser, turning Arab lands
into Israeli lands.

As such, how can donations to
the JNF Canada Park project be
considered tax deductible by Ot-
tawa — a violation of Canada's
stated views concerning UN 242.
Does one government depart-
ment speak with another?

There’s a number of moral

’ ee

questions, too. It’s ‘‘nice’’ to see

_in the JNF materials that Canada

Park has preserved certain his-
toric features of the former vil-
lages for the ‘‘embattled Israelis”’
to browse among. But where are
What
about their rights, turned into dust
by bulidozers?
Just a Few Sticks

Michael Adams, 12 years ago,
stopped his car along the dusty
road from Biet Nuba to Imwas to
speak to three Arab women:

.**What was their errand, we
asked, and their reply had the Bi-
blical ring that falls so naturally
from the lips of the Palestine
Arabs. ‘We go to collect a few
sticks’, they said. Where from,
we asked, looking around at the
bare hillsides and the fields: of
young wheat.

‘“From Biet Nuba,’ one of
them replied. And all at once the
three of them began to wail, witha
tearless misery that mocked the
sunshine.

‘*For the Arabs whose homes
were here, and whose ancestors
lived here for who knows how
many hundreds of years, there
was nothing left but the hope of
scavenging ‘a few sticks’ which

- the Israeli demolition squads may

have overlooked ...”’
That’s Canada Park.

_ acquittal verdict by the military tribunal.

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Portions of JNF publicity material on Canada Park (above) showin
located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Omitted from that materi
the fact that the park sits on demolished Arab villages (see pre-
map below) or that it is located entirely on illegally-occupied Arab
which Israel refuses to return despite repeated UN resolutions to do

as ot
Pei Qirygtty

ROUND UP.

INDIA AND VIETNAM COOPERATE FOR REGIONAL STABI

NEW DELHI — India and Vietnam have agreed to continue aah
tributing to strengthening of peace and stability in Asia following,
extensive talks between Indian prime minister Indira Ghandi ane
Vietnamese prime minister Pham Van Dong. Ina joint statement Apt
14 the two prime ministers expressed hope that Southeast Asia woul
become an area of peace, stability and cooperation. It spoke of ben®, i
ficial bilateral relations in agriculture, industry, education, cultul®
science and technology.

CUBA REPLIES TO CHINESE PROVOCATIVE STATEMENTS
HAVANA (PL) — Cuba has responded to attacks by the offici
Chinese news agency ‘‘Xinjua’’ which has joined the reactional)
chorus over events at the Peruvian embassy in Havana. Xinjua calle?
the events a ‘“‘true rebellion’ and ‘‘as demonstrating the deplo:
conditions on the island’’. The Cubans recalled that China is ne ,
slow in seconding U.S. attacks against the revolution and remind e
China that since 1978 some 250 ,000 Chinese have crossed into Hone ni
Kong. :
CANADIAN FIRM EXPLOITING NAMIBIA — ‘0

MONTREAL — Sam Nujoma, president of the South West Africail
People’ s Organization (SWAPO) accused Canada of practically ig
noring measures adopted by the United Nations which prohibit the \i
illegal export of Namibia’s natural resources. He charged Canada was
among those who exploited his country’s riches singling out Falco
bridge Nickle Mines.

Nujoma also criticized Canada’s attitude which permitted arms
shipments by the U.S.-Canadian firm, Space Research Corp., to raciil st be
South Africa and this country’s abstention on a 1975 UN vote calling gE
for seizure of ships illegally transporting Namibian resources. Tht tp
SWAPO leader said it is for these reasons he opposed the inclusion @ ) \
Canadian troops as part of a force to monitor.eventual UN-superviset
elections in his country.

CHILE COURT ACQUITS KILLER COPS
SANTIAGO — The Chilean Supreme Court, using an amnesty law i
applying to persons accused of political crimes between 1973 and 1978;
acquitted eight policemen who killed 14 people and dumped th
bodies in an abandoned kiln. The police had beaten their victims t
death and attempted to hide the evidence. The court upheld an ez ic el