I wish I were joking.
Baird to Abbas: Forget about Palestinian statehood, and recognize the Jewish homeland
Tue, 2012-01-31 11:35
#1
Baird to Abbas: Forget about Palestinian statehood, and recognize the Jewish homeland
Tue, 2012-01-31 11:38
#2
[url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/in-west-bank-meeting-canadi... West Bank meeting, Canadian ministers take firm line with Palestinian[/url]
Over lunch with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, then later with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Foreign Minister Riad Maliki, the Ottawa tag-team went out of its way to impress upon the Palestinian leadership that it should abandon its efforts to obtain United Nations recognition and return to the negotiating table with Israel “without preconditions.”
It was chutzpah of the highest order.
[b]Adopting a harder line than any of Canada’s allies[/b], Mr. Baird told Mr. Maliki, then repeated it in front of reporters, that it was “profoundly wrong” to take the case for Palestinian statehood to the United Nations, and it is far preferable to resume negotiations with Israel than insist that Israel halt settlement construction before resuming direct talks. [...]
Noting that Hamas is currently in reconciliation talks with Mr. Abbas’s Fatah movement, Mr. Baird set out certain steps Hamas would have to take should it seek Canadian recognition.
“You’re not a terrorist organization,” he said, “if you renounce terrorism ... if you recognize the right of Israel to exist ... if you support a Jewish homeland in the state of Israel ... if you respect and honour peace treaties entered into with Israel.”
The list is in keeping with that set out by the Quartet – the diplomatic group of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations working to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace. But it has [b]one significant addition: the acceptance of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people[/b], an addition that was carefully noted by Palestinian officials.
Tue, 2012-01-31 12:01
#3
see also http://rabble.ca/comment/1312367
the worst part of all this is that opposition parties' positions are basically similar
Tue, 2012-01-31 12:32
#4
It would seem the easiest choice for the Palestinians here is to forget about Baird. No trouble at all to re-count our own ways in that regard if the experience would be of any assistance to them.
Tue, 2012-01-31 12:47
#5
Thanks NDPP - I was asleep when you linked to that same story in the other thread!
Tue, 2012-01-31 13:11
#6
NDPPThanks NDPP - I was asleep when you linked to that same story in the other thread!
I should have been too! Good you gave Canada's outrageous position the prominence it deserves...
Tue, 2012-01-31 17:30
#7
The NDP recognizes Palestine whereas the Harpers and their third party bff in Ottawa defer to Uncle Sam on this and many other U.S.-friendly foreign policies as per usual.
Fri, 2012-02-03 09:42
#8
writer
This week, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, John Baird, waded into the issue of Israel-Palestine relations by choosing to lecture only one of the two sides about how it must be the one to change, and then about the error in a unilateral approach. It is hard to imagine a worse approach to building peace or a more hypocritical position for Canada.
The Middle East conflict is perhaps one of the most challenging international issues facing the world today. I am firmly committed to ensuring that the context for peace in the Middle East is established, so that the parties can move forward together. I believe Canada can and should play a role in helping that happen.
There is a process that leads to solutions. It just isn’t the approach practiced by the Harper government.
Peace and the Middle East, Romeo Saganash
Fri, 2012-02-03 16:18
#9
Saganash's whole statement is worth reading. It's good. And I especially like his offer to mediate the peace process! Gutsy.
Fri, 2012-02-03 16:57
#10
It was good actually. Better than the usual bland policy statements anyway, which are kinda light on everything except wink and nod pandering.
Fri, 2012-02-03 17:24
#11
2012: Israeli Apartheid Week: Call It What It Is (and vid)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9vRM0k2TdA&feature=player_embedded
"Calling the Israeli regime as one of apartheid is not rhetoric, nor is it an exaggeration or a propaganda tool. This is the reality in modern day Palestine, where the Israeli regime is not only imposed on the people in Palestine, but also on millions of Palestinian refugees denied their right to return home.."
Israeli Apartheid Week 2012 - Call it What it Is!
Canada: March 5-9
Fri, 2012-02-03 19:07
#12
The NDP should advocate giving more powers to the UN General Assembly.
Fri, 2012-02-03 22:03
#13
The NDP should advocate giving more powers to the UN General Assembly.
You mean the kind of stuff currently being voted on through the security council...take it and just throw it out there on the floor for a binding vote? Judging from a lack of consistency within the ranks, from top and bottom, somewhere between the local riding association and prime time that is; they've produced a less than firm advocacy toward this strange type of democracy, which doesn't auger well I have to say if transposed to a national government. Unless they're all in on it, and everything is a monstrous charade. In which case they've been managing quite well. Cheerio then. Despite everything I'm still refusing that amount of conspiracy for now. The everyone in on it bit.
Fri, 2012-02-03 23:01
#14
SJ, what are you saying?
The conspiracy is that there are 193 UN General Assembly nations and just 5 permanent UNSC members. 188 member countries have no vote when it comes to a handful of warmongering country decisions to attack oil-rich desert nations as well as those other ones which had SFA to do with 9/11 or Al-CIA'duh in general.
Fri, 2012-02-03 23:21
#15
The purpose of the UN, according to a conversation between Anthony Eden and Winston Churchill, two central figures involved in its founding, was a place 'for the lesser powers to blow off steam'. It is 'masters' tools' and 'masters' house'. As is the NDP for that matter.
Fri, 2012-02-03 23:24
#16
RevolutionPlease
Begrudging thanks, NDPP.
Wed, 2012-04-11 21:19
#17
Debating Palestine: Representation, Resistance and Liberation
http://al-shabaka.org/debating-palestine-representation-resistance-and-l...
"...Who speaks for the Palestinians then? And should we give up on the PLO? The short answer is No. This is because the PLO and the Palestinian Authority (PA) are not one and the same despite the PA's efforts to blur the lines between the two - an understandable quest given the credibility of the PLO continues even at its weakest point to far outweigh that of the PA.."