Winnipeg Panel Examines Al-Aqsa Intifada

A panel discussion organized by the Canada-Palestine Solidarity Network and Jews for a Just Peace (Winnipeg) was held at the University of Winnipeg September 29 to mark the second anniversary of the Al-Aqsa Intifada.

The panel featured a young Jewish activist who had recently returned from a humanitarian mission in the West Bank. She spoke about some of the atrocities she had witnessed in just two weeks in the West Bank, but most of all, she described the everyday humiliations which are a part of life under occupation for the Palestinians. Despite their terrible situation, she described the warmth and hospitality with which she was welcomed by the Palestinian people, and she spoke eloquently of their determination to win their sovereignty.

The second panelist had lived in the West Bank for five years in the 1980s, prior to the outbreak of the first Intifada, and continues to visit the regional regularly. He used detailed maps to demonstrate the destruction of Palestinian towns and villages and the spread of Israeli settlements in the occupied territories. He highlighted some of the advances that have been made by the Palestinians since the first Intifada, while also discussing some of the obstacles that need to be addressed to enable a just and lasting peace in the region.

The event wrapped up with a short question and answer period followed by extensive informal discussions.