[R-G] Fwd: Montrealers occupy Minister's office in solidarity with Gaza!

[Anthony Fenton]

For immediate release: Montrealers occupy Minister's office in
solidarity with Gaza.
"Tear up Quebec-Israel bilateral accord! Condemn Israel's attack on  
Gaza!"

* media contacts:
Marc-Andre Faucher: Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante
(ASSÉ) 514 835 2444 (cell)
Stefan Christoff Tadamon! Montreal 514 618 2253 (cell)

Montreal, Quebec, Thursday, January 15th, 2009: Montrealers are   
occupying
the ministerial office of Raymond Bachand, Quebec's Economic   
Development
Minister, in solidarity with Gaza and to call on the Charest  government
to immediately rescind the Quebec-Israel economic accord.

The Quebec-Israel accord does not include measures to force Israel to
respect human rights or international law. Additionally the Quebec- 
Israel
accord makes no distinction between products produced in  illegal  
Israeli
settlements and other Israeli products.

"Why in the midst of Israel's illegal blockade of Gaza did Charest sign
an economic accord with Isarel?" asked Stefan Christoff from Tadamon!
(solidarity! in Arabic). "Charest needs to denounce Israel's war crimes
in Gaza."

Over the past two weeks the Israeli military has killed over a thousand,
while wounding over 5000 in the Gaza Strip.

"Thousands have marched in Quebec in solidarity with Gaza" noted
Marc-Andre Faucher from ASSÉ, representing over forty-thousand students.
"Charest's accord with Israel is not supported by the majority of people
in Quebec."

"We demand that the Charest government rescind the Quebec-Israel   
economic
accord and denounce Israel's colonial violence in Gaza," said   
Christoff.

This action takes place in the context of the international campaign to
boycott Israeli apartheid. In Quebec both ASSÉ and the Fédération
nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec (FNEEQ-CSN) have
endorsed the campaign.

* for more information:

Tadamon!
http://www.tadamon.ca

Association pour une Solidarité Syndicale Étudiante
http://www.asse-solidarite.qc.ca