Palestinian supporters

OLGA LIVSHIN

A traditional Vancouver drizzle hung in the air last Sunday, as about 50 people gathered on Robson Square in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery, in support of the Boycott Israeli Apartheid (BIA) campaign. The meeting commemorated 25 years since the massacre in the Palestinian refugee camps Sabra and Shatila, perpetrated by the Lebanese Phalangist militia in September 1982. The Israeli army surrounded the camps but didn't enter – a fact that wasn't disputed during any of the speeches at the rally.

A red pennant with the slogan "End Israeli Genocide!" was mounted between the columns of the gallery. On the steps, two women held between them a large Palestinian flag. There were also Palestinian scarves and buttons for sale, along with a number of anti-Israel flyers and images from the refugee camps following the killings. A poster exhibited a set of statistical charts comparing Israel and Palestine. It showed how many children have been killed on both sides since 1948, how many houses destroyed, the amounts of foreign aid received and other related entries.

The rally began with a speech by Canadian freelance writer and photojournalist Jon Elmer. Elmer specializes in Palestine and the Middle East. He spoke to his receptive audience about what he called atrocities against Palestinian refugees, urging his listeners to stop the Israeli outrage.

The second speech was made by proxy. The host of the rally made it clear that the prospective speaker, a local First Nations woman, couldn't attend, so he had to read her notes. Her thesis highlighted the similarities between the oppressed First Nations tribes in Canada and the United States and what she labelled as the genocide in Palestine.

Hana Kawas, chair of the Canada Palestine Association and a Vancouver Co-op radio host, spoke next. He was applauded as he spoke about the immorality of the Israeli forces that murdered innocent Palestinian women and children.

In the crowd, Ken Hiebert distributed flyers about Joel Kovel's upcoming lectures on Zionism and socialism, to be held next week at Simon Fraser University's downtown campus. Hiebert said that he was apolitical in his youth, but that, after the Vietnam War, he became a radical, a supporter of Marxism and an activist of the Palestinian movement. He said he was distributing the Kovel flyers because he thought it would be of interest to the people attending the rally.

Most other participants of the rally were not as open as Hiebert. They dodged questions from a reporter, declaring that only a designated person could speak to the press.

One of the participants was clearly an adversary. He wasn't very young, but he was very aggressive, asking repeatedly anyone who would listen, "Who are Palestinians? Tell me the facts!" Elmer argued with him, but the man was adamant. He said that seven generations of his family had lived in Palestine. He considered himself a Palestinian and an Israeli, and he loudly disagreed with the rally organizers' point of view. "Who are Palestinians?" he asked, again and again. Every time he repeated his question, the woman in charge of the flyers' table yelled at him, "Have you no shame?" Finally, Elmer pronounced the man brainwashed and stopped talking to him.

Several police officers were present, but the rally ended peacefully, with a side protest in front of Chapters on Robson Street. The same people who talked about the abominations in Palestine now tried to convince passersby to boycott Chapters and buy books in independent bookstores. They explained their plea: "The controlling shareholders of Chapters/Indigo use their profits to directly support Israeli soldiers enforcing the illegal and brutal occupation of Palestine." To demonstrate their point, the protesters distributed bookmarks.

Most shoppers walking along Robson didn't pay attention to the rally, although some stopped to listen and ask questions.

Adam Carroll of the Canada-Israel Committee said that, in his view, the BIA campaign doesn't have much momentum in Canada. "They are hateful and disingenuous," he said. "They misrepresent the facts. I would endorse [them adhering to] their purported goal – to stop using products produced or partially produced in Israel. Then they would have to stop using cellphones, Intel computers, Windows and many other gadgets."

Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer.

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