Canada Must Demand Results in the Middle East

When it comes to Canada's relationship with Israel and the Palestinians, lofty promises are not enough.

Speaking at the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals last month, Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke about moving the debate on to something more useful: “Less about lofty promises than real results. Less about narrow self-interest in sovereignty’s name than an expanded view of mutual interest.” Harper could quite easily have been talking about Canada’s relationship with Israel and the Palestinians.

Canada has a reputation in this region as an honest broker. Our country has been able to support the long-term interests of both stakeholders, recognizing that it is not a zero-sum game; in the context of a new round of peace talks, support for Israeli democracy strengthens chances for peace. So does our support for Palestinian security and economic development. But moving forward, we must focus more on real results.

On one hand, Canada’s ties to the Middle East’s only western democracy are stronger than ever. Two-way trade between Canada and Israel last year was about $1.3 billion between Canada and Israel, completely ignoring incessant calls for boycott by extremists and socialists. Canada has taken the lead in condemning Hamas, Hezbollah, and their backers in Iran, who are dedicated to perpetuating violence in the region.

Meanwhile, direct Canadian participation has helped make the West Bank a relatively stable and peaceful place by helping train Palestinian security forces. Indeed, Canada has earmarked $300 million over five years to help prop up Abbas’s government. Canadian aid helped boost the West Bank economy by nearly 10 per cent last year, while Gaza has become even more economically stagnant (it ought to be noted that the blockade on Gaza from Egypt and Israel would likely end overnight if Hamas were turfed from power by any movement able to recognize and enforce past peace accords between Israelis and Palestinians).

Let’s be very clear about what military training and funding for salaries from Canada and other nations flowing into the West Bank is meant to deliver. First, it helps prevent a takeover of the West Bank by Hamas, which Canada lists as a terrorist organization.

In recent months, Hamas has claimed responsibility for multiple attacks, including a lethal attack on four Israelis that claimed a pregnant woman. In the bigger picture, Hamas has been an even worse scourge against Palestinians in Gaza, who find themselves in a Taliban-like enclave where human rights are routinely violated and dissenters are tortured and murdered.

Israelis suggest that cooperation between the IDF and the West Bank security forces is good overall. Hamas is in check in the West Bank. Activists and intellectuals from around the world who would instantly condemn the presence of any Israeli soldier on the territory of a future Palestinian state can rest easy, knowing that Palestinians are rightly taking responsibility for their own security and preventing attacks on their neighbours.

Still, this situation suggests the soft bigotry of lowered expectations.

Our aid cannot merely be contingent on preventing attacks here and now. We cannot keep providing aid forever, on the blackmail premise that if we cease our support, Hamas soon takes over and the security forces we’ve been training now wage jihad against the “Zionist entity.”

International efforts have given the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank breathing room to build civil institutions in preparation for a state. They need to make good on that promise.

Yet as Palestinian journalist Khaled Abu Toameh has reported for years (in western media outlets, naturally), the PA’s West Bank media institutions are state-controlled propaganda outlets offering 24-7 incitement: “If anyone watched this stuff for just 10 minutes, they’d want to go out and kill Jews.” From the education system, the courts and political institutions to the long-term sustainability of the economy, the outlook is little better. The only “state” institution that is working relatively well is security – meaning this proto-Palestinian state is fundamentally insecure long-term.

If Canada continues its policy of supporting Israel’s right to self-determination and security, this will help ensure the Jewish state’s confidence and open the road to painful concessions for a just solution. In this regard, Canada needs only to remain consistent in what it is already doing. As hard as it may be for certain “Israel-boycotters” to get it, supporting Israel is good for Palestinians.

It also works the other way. Canada must demand that Palestinians in the West Bank make better use of the welfare they’ve been provided. The outcome we want is not merely two states, Israel and Palestine, living next to each other. We also want a Palestinian state that is genuinely democratic, respects human rights and doesn’t threaten its neighbours. We want real, positive results, not just lofty promises.