BEIRUT: The Lebanese government must take concrete steps to end all forms of discrimination against Palestinian refugees and to fully protect and uphold their human rights, Amnesty International said in a new report expected to be launched at a news conference in Beirut on Wednesday.

The new report, “Exiled and Suffering: Palestinian refugees in Lebanon,” examines the wide range of restrictions that continue to impact on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees, as many as 60 years after they or their parents or grandparents fled to Lebanon during the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967.

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In Canada, a state commission on “Reasonable Accommodation” regarding the rights of minorities and new immigrants in Quebec has created a storm of controversy. This edition of Radio Tadamon! features Indu Vashist, a community organizer in Montreal and May Hayder of Al-Hidaya Association presenting alternative perspectives on ‘Reasonable Accommodation’ to the government sponsored commission.

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Statement Prepared by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid & Tadamon! Montreal.

MONTREAL: This week is the 25th anniversary of the massacres at the Sabra & Chatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Today we commemorate the lives of those who were murdered or ‘disappeared’, as well as the thousands of others who died in Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon and the Lebanese civil war.

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Middle East Report. by Muhammad Ali Khalidi and Diane Riskedahl

How long will the state erect military checkpoints in residential areas, treating them as though they were camps sheltering wanted people and gunmen, while all the Palestinian camps, which shelter criminals and wanted people, enjoy freedom of movement, politically, militarily and in terms of security, as though they were security islands independent of Lebanon politically, militarily and in terms of security?

—Jibran Tuwayni, al-Nahar (July 18th, 2002)

The view expressed by assassinated Lebanese Member of Parliament and editorialist Jibran Tuwayni has become depressingly familiar among Lebanese politicians since the end of the Lebanese civil war. Though Tuwayni was a firebrand of what is now the loyalist camp in Lebanese politics, his perspective is also shared by elements of the current opposition, particularly members of the parliamentary bloc loyal to former Gen. Michel Aoun. There may be more than a grain of truth in the saying that the only thing that unites the Lebanese political factions today is antipathy for the Palestinians living in their midst.

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First Quebec Social Forum, from August 23rd to 26th, 2007 in Montreal…

Tadamon! Montreal a Workshop
Saturday, August 25th, 11am.
Why challenge the existence of the Canadian list
of “terrorist” organizations? The example of Lebanon.

Tadamon! Montreal is appealing to you to spread the word, support & get involved in the upcoming popular mobilization against the ‘Security and Prosperity Partnership’ (SPP) summit in Montebello, Quebec at which U.S. President George Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper & Mexican President Felipe Calderon will be meeting between August 19th & 21st.

Current information on the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP)
summit & demonstrations visit Indymedia Montabello.

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Map: The Palestinian Bantustan Matrix, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions.

Is it right to declare a state before the state build its economy, its productive bases?

Is it possible for a huge bureaucratic apparatus to last while there is no local productive base to meet its enormous salaries and needs?

Is it possible to achieve freedom without sovereignty?

Is it possible to sustain democracy without independence?

These are the main reservations against Oslo Accords (OA), and against the recent elections of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBG) for the Palestinian Self- Rule (SR), in spite of its technical success.

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A year after violence broke out in Lebanon, members of the Montreal Lebanese community and local activists gathered together last night to remember, unite and heal.

A group of more than 200 supporters took part in poetry readings, first-hand testimonials, discussions and a dinner at the Cote des Neiges Community Centre at 6 p.m.

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The United Nations has transmitted messages to Israel in recent weeks that the organization’s mapping experts have determined that the controversial Shaba Farms on Mount Dov near the Lebanese border, now controlled by Israel, is Lebanese territory. The UN, which has communicated to Israel that the disposition of the Shaba Farms should be dealt with as soon as possible, has proposed to senior government officials that Israel withdraw from the area and that it be considered international territory to be controlled by UNIFIL.

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The old dream of Ariel Sharon is becoming a reality: Palestinians are killing Palestinians, and Israel is counting the number of victims with great satisfaction. The tears of Israeli leaders are crocodile tears, and their claims that they are sorry for the tragic developments in Gaza are mere hypocrisy. The bloody confrontations were predictable, and the Israeli-US responsibility and active involvement are crystal clear.

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