George W. Bush delivered a blunt message to the UN on September 12, 2002: Saddam Hussein presents a "grave and gathering danger" to the world.

He claimed Iraq has contravened numerous UN resolutions, including Resolution 687 (which calls for the disarmament of weapons of mass destruction throughout the Middle East), but Bush made no mention of Israel's systematic violation of UN resolutions dating back to 1948, nor its stockpile of nuclear weapons.

He demanded that Iraq agree to UN weapons inspections, but was silent about Israel's longstanding refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, thus blocking UN inspectors into its Dimona nuclear facility.

Bush went on to speak with apparent compassion for the fate of those opposed to the regime: "Tens of thousands of political opponents and ordinary citizens have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary execution and torture by beating, burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation, and rape." But when it comes to similar charges made against the Israeli occupation forces - arbitrary arrests and imprisonment, widespread use of torture, massive detentions without charge or trial, and assassination of activists - he has nothing to say.

Apparently compassion only goes so far.

The governments of the US and Canada obviously have no compassion for civilians. The Palestinians have been abandoned to the Israeli military machine, and the Iraqis - 23 million of whom who are not Saddam Hussein - have been earmarked for destruction. Their crime? Living under a repressive regime that squanders their resources and ignores their needs.

The UN sanctions imposed on Iraq following its invasion of Kuwait in 1990 have made it impossible for post war reconstruction of Iraq's infrastructure to take place. Disease, poverty, and starvation have swept through the country. The UN attributes more than a million of these deaths to the sanctions and the devastation of the Gulf War.

Meanwhile, Israel has been keeping the Palestinians under siege. Closures and curfews deny Palestinians food, water, income and medical care. And the targets of the helicopter gunships, F-16 warplanes, and armoured tanks and bulldozers used in the latest Israeli invasion of the Occupied Territories were civilians and civil institutions.

As with demands for weapons inspections, punishment for violations of UN resolutions are selective. They are not based on a desire for peace or love of human rights. The US and its allies want war with Iraq to control oil in the region and to protect their strategic interests.

The grave and gathering danger we face comes from our government's readiness to follow the United States and its allies into war and its willingness to support Israeli plans, under cover of that war, to intensify its repression of the Palestinian people. Israeli government circles now openly talk about the expulsion of the Palestinians from the Occupied Territories as a "solution".

The warmongers would do well to remember that resistance to injustice is inevitable. For the past 35 years, the Palestinians, powerless, impoverished, and abandoned by the world community, have resisted one of the most powerful military forces in the world.

Stability in the region can't come from war and occupation. It is our responsibility to force our government to call on Israel to abide by UN resolutions and international law and bring an end to occupation. It is our responsibility to refuse to participate in the fabricated war against the Iraqi people.