apartheid

Yves Engler, author of Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid, which began shipping in February, has asked his publisher, Fernwood Publishing, not to release the book to Chapters Indigo bookstores. Engler’s previous three books have been sold by Canada’s largest bookstore chain.

“This decision could harm sales, but the book calls on people to boycott Chapters Indigo and it would be inappropriate to sell it through that chain,” said Engler. “Canadians who care about Palestinian human rights should boycott Chapters Indigo until the chain’s owners end their support for Israel’s armed forces.”

According to the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid, the majority shareholders of Chapters and Indigo Bookstores, Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, established the HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers, which is a program to financially support young people who go to Israel to join the Israeli military. In January 2009 HESEG representativeshanded out $160,000 worth of “thank you” gifts to Israeli soldiers participating in the attacks on Gaza.

“Israel has been occupying Palestinian land for longer than I have been alive and some Canadians have been active participants in this ongoing crime,” said Engler. “Those of us who want justice and peace must put pressure on Israel and its supporters, just like when Canadians joined a worldwide movement to successfully end South African apartheid.”

Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid is the first critical primer about Canada’s ties to Israel. It is a devastating account of Canadian complicity in 20th and 21st century colonialism, dispossession and war crimes. The book documents the history of Canadian Christian Zionism, Lester Pearson’s important role in the United Nations negotiations to create a Jewish state on Palestinian land and the millions of dollars in tax-deductible donations used to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

For more information call Yves Engler at 514-618-2253.