ISRAEL
Military Exports from Canada (1990-1999)
Year
Military Value of
Equipment Military
Types Exports
1999
6,7,9,10,15 677,683
1998
3,6,9,10,11,15 783,455
1997
9,10 316,393
1996
1,3,6,9,10 510,733
1995
9 45,110
1994
- 0
1993
- 0
1992
- 0
1991
5,6 23,457
1990
5,6 63,959
Total $3,098,473
Sources: Export of Military Goods from
Canada, Annual Reports 1990-1999. Published by the Export Controls Division,
Export and Import Controls Bureau, Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade, Government of Canada. Web site: <http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/~eicb/>
-----------------------------------
Examples of Canadian Military Exports (1990s)
CAE Electronics Ltd.
• Integrated
machinery control system for Saar 5 missile corvettes (subcontract)
Value unknown (1991)
Computing Devices Canada Ltd.
• Service
tank weapon control systems
$14,000
(1990)
Project Ploughshares’ Canadian Military
Industry Database
W.R.Davis Engineering Ltd.
• Corvette
signature suppression system (subcontract)
Value
unknown (1994)
Ploughshares Monitor, Sept. 1995
-----------------------------------
Canadian Government Promotes Military Exports
Canada's Dept. of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade (DFAIT) states:
"In July 1995, Canada lifted its embargo
on trade with Israel in defence and defence-related products and
technologies. There are special niche
markets for Canadian products such as marine reconnaissance planes,
communications equipment, bomb detection equipment and chemical sniffers. Canadian companies have recently been
successful in entering the Israeli market."
Source: "Today's Israel," Our
Market Reports, Aug. 1999 (updated Jan.22, 2001). Cdn. Trade Commissioner
Service, DFAIT. <http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/telaviv/commercial/todaysil-e.htm>
-----------------------------------
Human Rights Violations (1999)
Israel redeployed troops in the West
Bank. Palestinians’ movement was
severely restricted. Israel maintained
border closures with the Gaza Strip and West Bank (excluding East
Jerusalem). Israel’s large population
of migrant workers, including women trafficked for prostitution from the former
USSR, were the targets of abuse.
Hundreds were detained for extended periods pending deportation and
there were reports of police brutality.
Torture and unfair trials
Torture was officially permitted and
systematically used by the General Security Service (GSS) to interrogate
detainees until September, when ruled unlawful. Techniques included violent shaking; shackling in contorted positions;
forcing detainees to crouch for extended periods; excessive tightening of
handcuffs and sleep deprivation. In October, draft legislation was submitted to
empower the GSS to use physical force during interrogations.
There
were many reports of Palestinians being beaten and otherwise ill-treated at
checkpoints, during demonstrations or immediately after arrest. Migrant workers were reportedly beaten by
police in public places and during searches of their homes.
At
the end of 1999, 14 Palestinians and 16 Lebanese remained in detention. Nine were held beyond the expiry of their
sentences: 7 without charge or trial and 2 incommunicado.
Hundreds
of Palestinians were tried in military courts for membership in illegal groups
and stone-throwing. Many were detained
incommunicado for days. Confessions
extracted under torture frequently formed the main evidence against them. The age at which Palestinian children could
be tried in military courts, was reduced from 14 to 12. The prison sentence for stone-throwing by
children went from 4 weeks to 4 months.
There were 1,500 Palestinian political prisoners.
House demolitions
At least 39 Palestinian houses in the West
Bank were demolished because owners were unable to obtain building permits from
Israeli authorities.
South Lebanon
More than 150 Lebanese, including children,
were detained without charge or trial in Israeli-occupied south Lebanon. Torture and ill-treatment were routine. Israel said its militia ally, the SLA, was
solely responsible. In September, the
IDF admitted that GSS officers helped train SLA interrogators, and that prison
staff were paid by Israel.
Military
Israeli security forces frequently used
excessive force or opened fire on Palestinians when the lives of security
forces were not apparently in danger.
Eight Palestinian civilians were killed in circumstances suggesting they
may have been extrajudicially executed.
Israeli
military courts put at least six conscientious objectors in prison for refusing
to perform military service.
Most
members of the security forces guilty of torture, ill-treatment or unlawful
killings enjoyed impunity. Security
force members who were convicted received light sentences.
Source: Amnesty International Report 2000.
<http://www.amnesty-usa.org/ailib/>
-----------------------------------
Labour Rights Violations (1999)
No unions for Palestinians
Palestinian unions in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip cannot carry out union activities in Israel. Palestinians from these areas who work in Israel join Israeli
unions, or organise their own unions in Israel. They are entitled to protection under Israeli collective
bargaining agreements, as well as some grievance procedures and must pay 1% of
their wages to Histadrut, the Israeli national union centre. A 1995 agreement said Histadrut would
transfer half of these funds to the Palestinian General Federation of Trade
Unions (PGFTU) and would also increase its representation of Palestinians.
Border crossings
Border crossings between West Bank and Gaza
Strip and Israel remained lengthy.
Journeys of several hours were not uncommon for Palestinians working in
Israel. The PGFTU said workers crossing the border were frequently humiliated
by border guards.
On
July, the chairman of the General Union of Construction and Carpentry Workers
and deputy president of the PGFTU was detained by the Israeli military while
travelling between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Although he had a valid travel permit, he was not allowed to
travel through Israel – although he had done so many times before on union
business.
Over
the last four and a half years, Histadrut has aided in obtaining permits for
PGFTU officials and activists.
Public sector
If strikes affect “essential” public
services, the government can use back-to-work orders while negotiations
continue. The law does not define
essential services and gives authorities wide powers of discretion, although
this can be challenged in court.
Israel’s
Basic Law allows the government or authorised Ministers to pass emergency
regulations to “defend the country, public security and the supply of essential
services,” which can remain in force for three months. This allows striking workers to be ordered
back to work or face severe penalties.
Collective agreement
In November, the Jerusalem Post, owned by
Hollinger Inc. announced that they were cancelling the collective
agreement. Management proposed a new
agreement beginning on January 1, 2000, which drastically cut pay and benefits and
increased working time. The staff said
that it was the latest move in a union-busting strategy.
Source: Annual Survey of Violations of Trade
Union Rights (2000), International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
-----------------------------------
Child Labour Violations
* 28,400
children aged 15-17 are economically active. (ILO, Yearbook of Labour
Statistics, 1999)
Where Children Work
*
Illegal child workers, mostly Arabs or recent Jewish immigrants, work primarily
in urban, light industries. (U.S. Dept. of State, Human Rights Report, 1999)
* Children
of the Drew and Bedouin minorities must work to support themselves and their
families in family businesses, agriculture, as street sellers, market vendors,
labourers, shopkeepers and shepherds. Others work as sewing machine operators
in small factories. (Fred Marks, “Child Workers in Israel,” Child Workers in
Asia, April-June 1994)
Prostitution and Trafficking
*
There is ongoing and systemic commercial sexual exploitation of minors, both
girls and boys. Even the most cautious estimates say many hundreds are involved
each year. (ECPAT International, A Step Forward, 1999)
*
Israel Women’s Network estimates that 70% of prostitutes in Tel Aviv are from
the former USSR. Around 1,000 are
brought to Israel illegally each year. (CATW Fact Book, citing E.Eaves, Reuters, Aug.23 1998)
* Women
trafficked from Eastern Europe were stripped and sold naked as slaves to Tel
Aviv traders. (New York Times, Jan.11, 1998)
Source: <http://www.globalmarch.org/worstformsreport/world/israel.html>
-----------------------------------
TAKE ACTION!
Christian Peacemaker Teams
CPT is committed to reducing violence by
“Getting in the Way.” A CPT team of
Peacemakers has been in Hebron, West Bank, since 1995. Through the “Campaign for Secure Dwellings”
CPT members join with Israeli and Palestinian activists in becoming partners
with Palestinians whose homes have been demolished or who face the threat of
demolition. CPT invites Canadians to
lobby the Israeli and Canadian governments, encourage public education,
organise support demonstrations, raise funds or join “Re-builders Against
Bulldozers” delegations in Hebron to risk arrest while engaging in work that
may include “illegally” helping to rebuild a Palestinian home.
Canadian
peacemaker Pierre Shantz, 26, from Blainville QC, was assaulted and detained by
Israeli Border Police on April 4, 2001, as he observed the Israeli military
destroy four Palestinian homes on the eastern outskirts of Hebron.
CPT,
a project of the Mennonite Churches, Church of the Brethren, Friends United
Meeting and other Christians, has worked in Haiti, Bosnia, Chechnya, Colombia,
Mexico, Canada and the US. In all locations, CPT responds to invitations from
grassroots movements seeking to use nonviolent means to rectify injustice.
Contact: CPT-Canada, Box 72063, 1562
Dan-forth Ave., Toronto ON M4J 5C1.
Tel.: (416) 421-7079; Email: <mailto:cptcan@web.ca> Web: <http://www. prairienet.org/cpt>
---
Palestinian Council for Justice and Peace
(PCJP)
PCJP coordinates cooperation with the
international NGOs, promotes solidarity with Palestinians and lobbies for their
rights. In March 2001, they circulated
an appeal for people to urge the U.S. government not to export 9 more Apache
attack helicopters to Israel. Apaches
have been used to shell Gaza city, Ramallah, Bir Zeit and other locations. (This campaign should be of special concern
to Canadians because Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg makes Apache CRV7 rocket
weapons <http//:ah-64d.freewebtools.com/crv7_m261_rockets.htm>)
Contact: PCJP, PO Box 874, Ra-mallah,
19545-Jerusalem. Tel: 972-2-2986601; Email: <mailto:pcjp@palnet.com>