"I was glad to see this segment which covered a rally organized by Palestinian Winnipeggers near the Manitoba legislature to commemorate 75 years of the Nakba, and the dispossession and violence that the Palestinian people have endured. I especially appreciated your interviews with members of the local Palestinian community, including Rana Abdulla, the founder of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba."
May 15, 2023
To:
Brodie Fenlon, News Editor-in-Chief, CBC News
Dear Mr. Fenlon,
I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express my appreciation regarding the article “Winnipeg rally gathers to mark 75th anniversary of Palestinian displacement” published on May 13, 2023.
I was glad to see this segment which covered a rally organized by Palestinian Winnipeggers near the Manitoba legislature to commemorate 75 years of the Nakba, and the dispossession and violence that the Palestinian people have endured. I especially appreciated your interviews with members of the local Palestinian community, including Rana Abdulla, the founder of the Canadian Palestinian Association of Manitoba.
Palestinian perspectives are often silenced or deliberately excluded from Canadian public discourse, especially when they challenge established power structures. Highlighting this event is a positive start to educating the Canadian public on the issue of the Nakba, which remains largely unacknowledged by the Canadian government and public institutions.
I would like to note, however, that the article lacks important context about the ongoing consequences of the Nakba.
Today, Palestinians in the occupied territories endure ongoing ethnic cleansing through the forced expulsion and establishment of Jewish-Israeli settlements on indigenous Palestinian land, the restriction of movement and access to water, electricity, healthcare, and family reunification, and daily violence, and military raids. Palestinians are also subjected to racist and discriminatory laws that are preferential to Israeli Jews, creating a system of apartheid, as confirmed by international organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, UN experts, and Israeli and Palestinian NGOs. For this reason, the Nakba should be properly regarded as ongoing.
I encourage you to continue sharing Palestinian experiences and hope that such stories are more frequently reported on by CBC News.
Should you wish, you can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information.
Sincerely,
Tayla Shair
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East