March 29, 2005

Dear Larry Campbell,

On behalf of Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet) I write to urge you, as mayor, and the members of your council, to approve and to fund the World Peace Forum.

CanPalNet has been but one of many, varied networks and groups that have participated in the excellent public preparatory meetings to develop a practical plan for June 2006. You too have been part of this process. Now you have the opportunity to bring these multiple efforts to a fruitful conclusion.

If there are those who advise you to change course at this late date, why not grasp their arm as a friend would, allay their fears, and bring them to join as one more of many in the circle of participants. Father Cortina, a Jesuit priest and survivor of the Guatemalan death squads told us at the March 19th Vancouver rally against war: “Peace is not given, but must be cultivated with patience and persistence.” People around the world hunger for peace.

To turn our back on that desperate hunger, to leave our field fallow, diminishes our humanity, and puts at still greater risk the survival of us all. This is not hyperbole.

Yours sincerely,

Mordecai Briemberg
Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet)