FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

13 June 2005, Toronto, ON, Canada - Earlier today, Hamas, one of the many terrorist organisation operating freely in the Middle East, celebrated Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' decision to not disarm militants in the Palestinian Territories. This follows on his decision allowing Palestinians to continue teaching and promoting incitement and hatred against Jews.

"When will the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew open their eyes to what is really going on in the Middle East?," asked Alastair Gordon, President, Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD). "If President Abbas were interested in peace, he could already have replaced Palestinian textbooks that dehumanize Jews and glorify suicide bombing, especially given the massive foreign aid donated for that purpose. He clearly supports the brainwashing of Palestinian children.

"The CCD is calling on Paul Martin to stop sending Canadian tax dollars to fund Palestinian violence and Jew-hatred until Abbas take concrete steps to disarm terrorists and remove incitement from Palestinian schools and media."

Two weeks ago, Paul Martin was hailing PA President Mahmoud Abbas as an icon of peace and lavishing Canadian tax-dollars on him, as part of some mythical "down payment."

Over $50 million in Canadian aid will be going to the Palestinians this year on top of the quarter-billion already given to the PA.

"Now that it is clear that Mahmoud Abbas lied to Prime Minister Martin about disarming the terrorists and removing incitement from Palestinian schools, will the promised funding be withdrawn?" added Gordon. "Or will Canada dutifully hand over the money to a leader who lied to  our Prime Minister and whose statements and actions clearly demonstrate that it will be used for terror and incitement against Israel?"

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CCD Mission Statement  http://canadiancoalition.com/