January 20, 2007

MacKay meets Abbas, but there's no welcome mat

by Mark Mackinnon, Globe and Mail

AMMAN, Jordan - Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay emerged yesterday from
a tête-à-tête with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas with little to say
after a meeting in which the Palestinian side appeared to have scant
interest.

Originally, Mr. MacKay was to meet Mr. Abbas this weekend in Ramallah, but
the meeting had to be hastily rescheduled for yesterday in the Jordanian
capital after Mr. Abbas decided to travel to Damascus via Amman to meet with
Syrian President Bashar Assad this weekend. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal is
also expected to attend those talks.

In any event, Mr. Abbas's top aide suggested beforehand that there was
little riding on the talks. He suggested that Canada's decision to cut aid
to the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won control of it in elections last
year, and its refusal to allow diplomats to meet with PA officials, has
diminished whatever influence Canada once had in the region.

In an interview before the meeting, Rafik Husseini, Mr. Abbas's chief of
staff, said that because of the 10-month-old boycott, the Palestinian side
knew little about the year-old Canadian government.


"Canada is not a big player in general and because, of course, of what has
happened with the [economic] siege and with the no-talk policy towards
Hamas, we cannot tell the difference between the old and the new
government," he said.

Mr. Husseini's impression was that Canada has become less friendly to the
Palestinians under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He didn't attend the Amman
talks, but said that had he been in the room, he would have confronted Mr.
MacKay over Canada's pro-Israel swing under Mr. Harper, and the fact
Canada's policies in the region are now almost indistinguishable from those
of the United States.

Mr. Husseini said Mr. Abbas was planning to brief Mr. MacKay on the latest
developments in the Palestinian territories and on efforts by Mr. Abbas's
secular Fatah faction to create a government of national unity with the
Islamist Hamas movement that might be acceptable to the international
community.

Those efforts are seen as key to lifting the international-aid boycott that
Canada was the first country to impose. British Prime Minister Tony Blair
and others have suggested that the flow of aid could resume if the new
government is made up of technocrats, rather than members of Hamas. Canada,
the United States and the European Union consider Hamas, which in the past
dispatched dozens of suicide bombers to attack Israeli cities, a "terrorist"
organization.

A national unity government could also end the violence between Fatah and
Hamas that killed about 40 Palestinians in 2006.

Following the 45-minute meeting at Mr. Abbas's Amman residence, Mr. MacKay
said he had come to the region largely to listen "and to look for ways we
can make a positive contribution." It was strikingly similar to the
justification U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave for her trip to
the region last week, a visit that was widely ridiculed as having created
little other than some photo opportunities.

"I think we have talked in very constructive and positive ways about what
Canada might offer in discussions around the peace, in discussions around
negotiations and the discussions that are eventually going to commence," Mr.
MacKay said. "This was very much an opportunity for me to listen, and that
again is behind my visit to the region. What I'm going to do, throughout my
time here in the region, is meet with other important players here, that's
my intention, and to listen carefully."

Mr. Abbas did not meet the media with Mr. MacKay, but his chief negotiator,
Saeb Erekat, said he was convinced Canada still had a role to play,
especially as it heads an international committee dealing with the issue of
Palestinian refugees.

"The world is not divided between those who are pro-Israel and
pro-Palestine. The world is divided between those who are pro-peace and
against peace. We have seen a commitment tonight from the Foreign Minister
of Canada towards the two-state solution, towards the implementation of the
road map," he said, referring to the stalled U.S.-backed peace plan that
envisioned the creation of a Palestinian state by the end of 2005.

Meanwhile, the Palestine News Agency said Mr. MacKay announced Canada would
contribute $1.2 million to the building of the al-Muntar Crossing in Gaza,
The Associated Press reported.

Mr. MacKay is to meet with Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul-Illah al-Khatib
today before travelling to Israel for talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert
and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. He will also address the Herzliya
Conference, a prestigious Israeli policy forum.

**************

Comments posted to Globe and Mail Forum

a brown from Winnipeg, Canada writes: Isn't this the same man who a few short months ago said the Palestinians would not receive 'one red cent' from Canada as long as Hamas was their government...even if Hamas was their democratically elected govenement?

Haper, MacKay, Kahn...what an embarassment for Canada on the international stage. Policy and positions based on blind reactionary ideology mixed with dangerous amounts of ignorance, hubris and bravado.

ELECTION! Defeat these clueless cons now. Canada wants, and the world needs, a sane and rational foreign policy from the Great White North.

colin broughton from Edmonton, Canada writes: Why would anyone talk to Canada with the Harperites in charge? It is better to go straight to the source, and deal direct with the American masters. The US dictates our foreign policy, our military deployments, our neo national drug 'strategy', and on and on.

sean smith from Canada writes: I thought Wajid Khan's report solved all the problems. Why do we need to waste money on sending this second ringer when we have the expertise of the Great Khan.

Eye Sore from Dog Pound, Alberta, Canada writes: While MacKay, Harper et al have denounced the rejectionist Hamas group as terrorists, they have so far been very quiet about the elevation of Avigdor Lieberman to the post of Israel's Deputy Prime Minister. Lieberman is an unabashed Arab hater who longs, he once said, to bus Israel's Arabs to the Dead Sea and collectively drown them in it. That deafening silence you hear is the sound MacKay's and Harper's hypocritical double standard. No wonder the Palestinians didn't put out a welcome mat for Petey!

D. B. Cooper from Vancouver, Canada writes: Re: J. J. Davies. I have to disagree. The State of Israel and its supporters consider any person born to a Jewish mother to be a refugee, even if their ancestors have lived outside of Israel since the Roman occupation, which is quite a few generations now Not only that, but they consider anyone who converts to the Jewish faith under an approved rabbi to also immediately become a refugee. You have only to read an overseas Israeli newspaper talking continually of 'return' to see this. Or just look at how Israel gives 'returnees' immediate citizenship, voting rights, and housing - often on West Bank land expropriated from Arabs, while denying the same rights to Arabs born in the West Bank, and even many Arabs who were born and have lived continuously in Israel but were 'assigned' by the Israeli government as residents of villages across the border.

I am ambivalent about cutting off all aid to the Palestinian Authority. I can see both sides of the argument, though I tend to a) come down on the side of not starving people and b) don't think that such boycotts usually work as intended anyway. On the other hand, if we DO cut off the P.A. because it includes Hamas and Hamas doesn't want peace (which they don't), then all aid to the State of Israel (though I realize this mostly comes from the US not Canada) should also be cut off, since the Israeli government and those who voted for it don't want peace either - except as total victory, just like Hamas and its voters. After all, the Israeli government continues building completely new settlements in completely new areas of the occupied territories, and includes people who openly want the complete expulsion of the Arabs who weren't pushed out of Israeli territory or disenfranchised in 1948 and 1967.

Original G&M link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070119.wabbas0119/BNStory/

************

Fair Use Notice: The above newspaper article is copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.