For the Palestinians, who won a historic 138-9 vote at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday — with 41 abstentions — upgrading their UN status from observer to “non-member observer state” was a seismic shift.
Not so for Canada, which stood stolidly on the sidelines, weighing in against the move as destructive to a negotiated peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, and warning that “we will be considering all available next steps” in response.
It was joined vigorously by the U.S., which has lobbied for weeks to persuade the Palestinians to drop a bid that does not lead to automatic statehood, but could open the door to taking action against Israel in international courts.
Flying to New York on Thursday to personally hammer home his message, Foreign Minister John Baird called for both sides to “return to the negotiating table without preconditions,” an event that appears unlikely in the face of Israeli and Palestinian accusations of intransigence that flew before the vote, with both sides insisting they extended olive branches that were crushed by their foes.
On the podium of the packed, cavernous General Assembly before the vote, Baird said that Canada opposed a resolution to upgrade the Palestinians’ status “in the strongest terms,” insisting it “undermines the core foundations of a decades-long commitment by the international community and the parties themselves to a two-state solution, arrived at through direct negotiations.”
And in a scolding apparently intended for the UN assembly, Baird said that “as a result of this body’s utterly regrettable decision to abandon policy and principle, we will be considering all available next steps” — a hint that Ottawa could further reduce or halt its funding for Palestinian projects, or sever diplomatic relations.
Earlier, Palestine Liberation Organization spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi told the Star that she was disappointed, but not surprised, by Canada’s opposition to the vote.
“For the last few years the Harper administration has taken a shrill and hostile tone which is seen by the Palestinians and the Arab world as being blindly in support of the occupation,” she said. “We know the Canadian people do not think that way,” she added.
Ottawa’s stance would not be as damaging to the Palestinians as to its role in the international community, Ashrawi said.
But speaking to reporters after the vote, Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki said: “We are not going to judge any country by its vote. We are starting anew. We hope those who voted against us will support direct negotiations with the Israelis and a two-state solution.”
He said that talks should begin soon on a new footing.
Israeli fears that the Palestinians would move against them in the International Criminal Court were exaggerated, he said, adding in an explanation unlikely to reassure Israel: “If there are no violations and assassinations and (new) settlements, we see no reason to go anywhere.”
Before the vote, Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor told the UN assembly that Israel was “ready to extend its hand” but “for peace to endure Israel must be protected . . . (the Palestinians) must be prepared to end the conflict with Israel once and for all.” That assurance was so far lacking he said, and more than 1,000 rockets had been fired into Israel from a “terror base” in Gaza in this month’s conflict.
Israel blames Palestinian “intransigence” in refusing to negotiate unconditionally, while Palestinians point out the steady erosion of their land by Israeli settlements. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas maintained that talks were futile while the settlement expansion continues.
In a speech that detailed the painfully failed peace efforts of the past, Baird pointed out that Canada had helped to prepare the original blueprint for Middle East peace in 1947. But the partition plan was rejected, leading to decades of struggle, conflicts and deaths. And he said UN resolutions in 1967 and 1973 “form the explicitly recognized cornerstone of all the subsequent peace commitments, accords and understandings” that followed.
“The path to peace has historically rested in direct negotiations between the two parties to resolve all outstanding issues and it remains the same today. Solutions can only come through the two sides working together,” he said.
Ottawa’s vote drew mixed reviews in Canada. Frank Dimant, CEO of B’nai Brith, congratulated Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a statement, saying he had “once again . . . shown his government’s readiness to exercise leadership on the international stage. He has taken a principled stand and has refused to allow Arab reactionary actions and mass intimidation to move the Canadian government from its resolve.”
But Thomas Woodley, who heads Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, said the group “vehemently disagrees with the Harper government’s stance,” adding that UN backing for the Palestinians “was not a vote against Israel, nor a vote in opposition to negotiations” but in favour of an “independent, viable Palestinian state.”
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Olivia Ward
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