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| Copies of the Canadian Arab Federation's trilingual newsletter, The Arab Dawn. |
A pamphlet of the Jewish Student’s Union of the B’nai B’rith Hillel Foundation at Toronto University conveys an even greater sense of urgency:
If you see posters, publications or activists from these anti-Israel and anti-Jewish organizations on campus, report it immediately to the Jewish Student’s Union… [address, directions, telephone]
Included are associations of Muslim Students, non-Zionist Jews, Arab-Canadians, Marxists, Trotskyists, Palestinians, even Moonies and Hare Krishnas. Also targeted for surveillance is Toronto University’s Middle East Group, which represents faculty members with interest in the Middle East.
Naseer Aruri, “The Middle East on the U.S. Campus,” The Link 18:2 (May–June 1985), 5. PDF.
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| Fred V. Winnett in a 1958 issue of the Canadian magazine Maclean's. Winnett was then Chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Toronto. |
The appointment of Staples brought a distinct enrichment to the Orientals staff in the University of Toronto for he was the first of its members to have been involved in archaeological work in Palestine. His training in pedagogy made him an excellent language teacher. He had a delightful sense of humour and he had a kind of puckish pleasure in shocking students whom he suspected of undue mental rigidity. He never minced his words, but he was a most congenial companion and he did much to promote a spirit of good fellowship among all the Orientalists on the University campus.
Fred V. Winnett and W. Stewart McCullough, A Brief History of The Department of Near Eastern Studies (formerly Oriental Languages) in the University of Toronto to 1976-1977 (1977). PDF.
I have returned from the Middle East with the overwhelming conviction that there can be neither peace nor stability in that area until Western support of Israel is withdrawn. There is no other action which will allay the fears of the Arabs, remove the anti-Western sentiment which prevails, and halt the spread of Russian influence… The Zionists depict Israel to Canadian and American audiences as a frontier settlement exposed to the nightly attacks of marauding bands of “Indians" [sic]. But the impression that the visitor to Jordan receives everywhere is that it is the Arabs who live in nightly fear of attack. It is they who are on the defensive.
Fred V. Winnett, “Why the West Should Stop Supporting Israel,” Maclean’s (January 18, 1958).
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| A copy of the Canadian-Arab Friendship Society's Middle East Digest and Newsletter, established in 1962. |
At its last meeting, the Canadian Friends of the Middle East, Toronto Chapter, by unanimous vote became the Canadian-Arab Friendship Society, and will [be] known by this new name in the future. The change was inspired by a number of reasons. One was a desire for complete responsibility for its own acts Another is that some people confused the old name with the Quakers, an association which is cause for pride on our part, but perhaps unfair to the Quakers. Another reason is that the new name is a more honest one than the old, because our interests are primarily in the Arab countries of the Middle East and of North Africa.
The Canadian Arab Friendship Society is a Toronto group of Canadian from various walks of life whose sense of friendship for the Arab peoples has inspired them to join together for the study of Arab affairs and for the encouragement of good relations and political plain and just dealing between the Canadian people and the Arab nations. If the reader finds these aims consonant with his [sic] own, he [sic] is invited to apply to 20 Veery Place, Don Mills, Ontario.
Middle East Digest and Newsletter no. 2 (March 1962), 1.
Some twenty members of the Arab communities of London, Ontario and Toronto demonstrated in front of the Holiday Inn in London during the 27th regional convention of the Zionist Organization of Canada held there, Saturday, April 23. The pickets carried cards calling for peace in the Middle East and justice for the Arab refugees.
A steady downpour of rain prevented the demonstrators from remaining more than half an hour. The demonstration was orderly, and there was no visible reaction from Zionists at the convention.
Middle East Digest and Newsletter no. 11 (May 1966), 4.
We believe out annual banquet is now the outstanding Canadian Arab event to be held in Toronto. Despite a howling January blizzard, 142 members and friends came out to hear our guest of honour and speaker, His Excellency, George Tomeh, Ambassador of Syria to the United Nations.
Dr. Tomeh’s clarification of the facts in the question of alleged Syrian incursions into the demilitarized zone between occupied Palestine and Syria. He showed how the Isralis had occupied and were cultivating over 55% of the territory of the zone which, by the terms of the armistice, was to remain free of human use…
The Ambassador received a standing ovation at the conclusion of his speech. Shouts of “long live Palestine” rang through the roof garden of the Royal York.
Middle East Digest and Newsletter no. 12 (April 1967), 1.
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| Salman Abu Sitta at the microphone during the first conference of the Canadian Arab Federation. Ibrahim Salti to his left and George Tomeh to his right. Via this presentation given by Abu Sitta on the Federation's 50th anniversary. Youtube. |
I made contact with other Arabs in Canada who became lifelong friends. In Toronto, I met Jim Peters (Jamil Butrus) and Habib Salloum, whose grandfathers had immigrated to Canada at the beginning of the twentieth century or before. They had taught themselves Arabic. In fact, Jim was a teacher of Arabic, Turkish, and Farsi. I also met Ibrahim and Nuha Salti, recent arrivals from the American University of Beirut, both physicians doing advanced research in Toronto.
Arab communities at the time numbered around eighty thousand people in Canada, the majority being Lebanese. This community was dispersed all over the large country and its six time zones. They had dozens of clubs, societies, mosques, and churches. It was imperative to create a unifying structure to speak on our behalf. It was not easy, but the pull of the catastrophic results of the 1967 war was ultimately unifying.
In November of that year, we met again in my house and decided to form the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF). Dr. Salti was elected as the first president, and I was vice-president of information. Peters and Salloum took other positions. We started to contact all these Arab groups and we found a positive response, occasionally hampered by local differences of opinion.
I edited our new publication, The Arab Dawn, in English and Arabic and we held annual conventions in Toronto and Montreal. These actions, of course, attracted the attention of the Zionist groups, and consequently the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), whom the Zionists pointed in our direction.
A member of the RCMP visited me at the university. I treated him as a student and I gave him a one-hour lesson in the history of Palestine. He did not visit again. I started to feel that my telephone was bugged. There were strange characters, certainly not the police, loitering around my house. The RCMP kept digging. In one of our annual conferences, the Jewish press announced that this was a conference aiming to destroy Israel and kill the Jews. I arrived early at the hotel reception desk to start preparations, my briefcase next to me on the floor. I looked around and the briefcase was gone. It had the list of addresses of all Arab societies in Canada. Nobody seemed to be bothered, except me. Half an hour later, the briefcase was “found.”
Those of us on the executive committee sat in one room to go over the program. We asked for several rounds of coffee. The room service attendant looked tall and athletic, but was clumsy in handling the coffee. His disguise was pathetic. More dangerously, we invited a speaker from the resistance movement party, Fatah. Hani al-Hassan was a long-time student leader in Germany, and he had just come back from an operation in the West Bank with a twisted ankle. We moved him from room to room every night.
Salman Abu Sitta, Mapping My Return: A Palestinian Memoir (Cairo: American University of Cairo Press, 2016), 220-222.
The second wave of Arab immigration to Canada after World War II assembled enough individuals from the Arab world to make possible the formation of a Canadian Arab federation comprising member societies and private citizens as members-at-large.
Before the Federation was founded in November of 1967, there existed a number of societies in the larger centres of Canada. A number of these organizations responded to the invitation of the Arab Society of London to convene in that city in November, 1967, with a view to forming a federation. The Canadian Arab Federation was founded at that historic meeting and the Arab presence in Canada became a force to reckon with for the first time in the history of this country….
We Canadians of Arab origins have been so anguished and dismayed by the immorality of Canada’s approval of a commerce with Israel that a vehicle had to be found by which Canadians could be aroused to realization of their wrongs against the Arabs. Canadians have been so much deceived by Zionist propaganda that they see Israel as a great triumph of western values in the Arab World rather than as a heinous imposition upon innocent people. That much-needed vehicle is provided by the Canadian Arab Federation…
I regret that space forbids the detailing of the many aims of the Federation. I list here only some of the main ones: solidarity among Arab Canadians; fighting for just Western politics towards the Arabs; the provision of effective pressure on Canadian politicians; the advancement of Arab culture in Canada, and Arab unity abroad; the informing of Canadians of Arab and non-Arab origin regarding matters of concern; the raising of funds for worthy Arab causes in Canada and abroad.
The first annual convention of the Federation was held in Toronto in May of 1968. The impressive success of this convention on all countries augurs well for development and expansion of the Federation in the future.
The Arab Dawn 1:1 (October 1968), 1-3.
On Sunday October 20, the Arabs of Toronto led by the Palestine Arab Club of Toronto, Held a demonstration at the Inn on the Park where Abba Eban, the foreign minister of the Zionist state, spoke to a Jewish organized meeting.
About sixty Arabs showed up for this demonstration carrying signs which read:
VICTORY TO THE LIBERATION MOVEMENT OF PALESTINE
ABBA EBAN ZIONIST, MURDERER, TO THE GALLOWS
EL-FATEH TO VICTORY
The demonstration carried the Palestine flag and marched in an orderly fashion in front of the entrance of the hotel. Abba Eban was spirited in a back entrance. This Zionist meeting was addressed by Mr. Sharp, Canada’s foreign minister.
The Arab Dawn 1:2 (December 1968), 10.
Mr. James Peters, Vice-president of the Ontario section of the Canadian Arab Federation, spoke to the Young Socialist League in Toronto on Saturday, January 11, 1969. He gave an excellent talk on the Arab position via the Palestine problem. Many of the audience supported the Arab cause, especially the Armed Struggle of the Courageous Palestinian People…
On February 8, 1969, the Arab Palestine Association of Toronto organized a parade, protesting Zionist atrocities in occupied Palestine. The protest march started at City Hall and ended at Queens’ Park where Mr. H. Shahristani and Mr. J. Peters addressed the marchers…
Wednesday, March 19, Professor Marmoora, of the University of Toronto, defended the Arab-Palestine position in a debate before the Zionist students of the University of Toronto…
The Arab Palestine Association of Toronto held an evening in honour of the battle of Al-Kerama when 150 Al-Fatah Fighters held off a force of 10,000 Israelis armed with all the modern weapons of war. The evening was very successful with many Toronto Arabs attending. Many patriotic poems were recited in honour of the Freedom Fighters of Palestine. Amer Kadaj was brilliant in his patriotic music honouring these fighters of liberty…
The Arab Dawn 1:4 (May 1969), 11-12.
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| Images of the arson at the Arab Community Centre of Toronto from The Arab Dawn 6:2-3 (February 1975). |
ARSON AT ARAB CENTRE
At approximately 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 12, 1974 arson was committed against the offices of The Arab Community Centre of Toronto (an immigrant information and community service organization)
This malicious action, though no doubt politically motivated and related to the fact that The Centre is an Arab entity, could not have been more misguided. The Centre is incorporated as a Canadian charitable organization and is being funded by the Department of the Secretary of State, Canada Manpower and Immigration, the United Community Fund, and the Council of the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The Centre is dedicated to aid newcomers and other community members in ways totally related to the Canadian context, and it serves interested persons regardless of class, national origin or creed. Throughout its two-year history, it has helped thousands of persons in need of assistance or information, and has developed important cultural and educational projects.
As such, The Centre is a unique organization in North America and deserves to be considered a model for similar future developments elsewhere.
From the nature of the damage, it is clear that the action is vindictive and ill-motivated, and is aimed at discouraging even peaceful and local community organization among the Canadian Arabs. The Centre's files were stolen, and several hundred books of a cultural nature in English, French and Arabic, audiovisual material and the office equipment were destroyed. Damage was extensive, and the loss of over $10,000 will only be partially covered by insurance.
ARAB DAWN urges Canadian Arabs to stand prepared in order to defeat the objectives behind this act of violence that is intended to discourage the community. We hope that Canadian Arabs and their neighbours may continue to live in security and peace of mind.
The Centre has been able to restore its information and social services back in order, but much has been lost in materials that has not yet been replaced. ARAB DAWN appeals to the community at large to help The Centre so that it can continue to offer help and to achieve its aim to provide complete facilities to the community. Membership is open at $5.00 per person, $10.00 for family, and contributors will receive a receipt for income tax purposes. Make cheques payable to The Arab Community Centre of Toronto, P.O.Box 204 Station "D" Toronto, Ontario M6P 3J8 (located at 175 St. Clair Av. West, Toronto), and the telephone number is (416) 922-6776.
The Arab Dawn 6:2-3 (February 1975), 2.
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| Announcement for a film screening sponsored by the Arab Palestine Association in the University of Toronto's student newspaper The Varsity (November 16, 1979), 2. |
Two Arabs were arrested during a demonstration held outside the Sheraton Centre hotel last Thursday night preceding the dinner held by Prime Minister Trudeau in honour of visiting Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
The demonstrators, representing various groups, such as the Canadian Arab Federation, Arab Palestine Association, and the Alliance for Non-Zionist Jews, were there to protest the visit to Toronto of the "racist, fascist, terrorist" Prime Minister of Israel. They shouted slogans such as "Begin Butcher" and "Terrorist Begin Out of Canada"
The group of 400 demonstrators was represented by a spokesman, Khaled Mouammar. Mouammar condemned the Camp David agreements as "a step towards war", as they encouraged Israeli "wars of aggression". He called on the Canadian government to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization, and for the Ontario Government to try Begin publicly as a "war criminal".
Across the street from the hotel was another group of demonstrators, this one in support of Begin, from the B'nei Akiva Jewish religious school in Toronto. Spokesmen Eddie Cohen and David Berk said that the group had arrived at 5:00 in order to welcome the Prime Minister to Toronto. They referred to Begin as a hero and said regarding Israel "the land is ours."
Begin paid little attention to either group. Upon his arrival, he was whisked into the hotel by very strict RCMP and Israeli Secret Service Security.
The Varsity (November 13, 1978), 8.