Canada’s stand at G8 meeting is a setback for Palestinian-Israeli peace

Group of Eight leaders had to soften a statement urging Israel and the Palestinians to return to negotiations because Canada objected to a specific mention of 1967 borders, diplomats said on Friday.

Canada’s right-leaning Conservative government has adopted a staunchly pro-Israel position in international negotiations since coming to power in 2006, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper saying Canada will back Israel whatever the cost.

Diplomats involved in Middle East discussions at the G8 summit said Canada had insisted that no mention of Israel’s pre-1967 borders be made in the leaders’ final communique, even though most of the other leaders wanted a mention.

Canada’s strong backing for Israel was cited by diplomats last year as one reason why Canada failed to win a rotating two-year seat on the United Nations Security Council.

Harper now appears to be endorsing Netanyahu’s hard position of rejecting the 1967 borders, rejecting Jerusalem for two nations, rejecting the right of return, and rejecting the Palestinians’ justified demand to be free, like all peoples.

Harper’s ill-considered stand may be viewed by Israel as supporting its continued occupation and colonization of Palestine in violation of international law, and could embolden Israel to proceed with its ethnic cleansing against its own Palestinian citizens to achieve a “purely Jewish” state.