 |
| © Provided by The Canadian Press |
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada remains committed to a two-state solution to the escalatingArab-Israeli conflict, while acknowledging divergent views, and common fears, among his Liberal MPs on the Israel-Hamas war.
"Canada remains firm and steadfast in our commitment to a two-state solution. The world and the region need a peaceful, safe, prosperous, viable Palestinian state alongside a peaceful, prosperous, democratic, safe Israeli state — Israel," he said.
Trudeau's comment reflects Canada's long-standing call for negotiations that would result in a sovereign Palestinian state existing alongside Israel, using the borders that existed in 1967, before a war and settlements led to Israeli control over Palestinian territories.
Canada has long considered the West Bank and East Jerusalem to be Palestinian territories occupied by Israel, and Ottawa has argued that the expansion of Israeli settlements in these territories undermine peace and violate international law.
Israel unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, pulling out both its military and its settlements. Hamas seized control of that territory two years later. Israel and Egypt, which borders Gaza to the south, have restricted the flow of goods and people ever since.
Israel has argued these restrictions are to protect against violence from Hamas. Palestinians have argued the blockade is collective punishment by Israel
Related video: Palestinian Israelis pressured to stay silent (Al Jazeera)
Duration 2:36 View on Watch
Trudeau reiterated Canada's call for a negotiated two-state solution in the context of the latest Israel-Hamas war, which began after militants from Hamas, which Canada considers a terrorist organization, killed 1,400 Israelis in a brazen attack on Oct. 7.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where it has also cut off the Palestinian territory's access to water, food and electricity. The United Nations says violates this international humanitarian law.
Israel has vowed to "destroy" Hamas. Bob Rae, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, also said during a speech he gave Wednesday night in Ottawa that Hamas "has to be destroyed," as reported by the Toronto Star.
Trudeau would not say whether his government shares that specific position. Instead, Trudeau noted Canada has long deemed Hamas to be a terrorist organization, and called for civilians to be protected and hostages returned.
"Hamas' actions are absolutely indefensible and Israel has the full right to defend itself in accordance with international law," he said.
He also did not say what plan Canada would like to see for Gaza once Israel finishes its operations.
"We will of course continue to deal with things as they come up and we will have those conversations when the time comes," Trudeau said Friday in Brampton, Ont.
On Friday, Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant shared a plan that seemed to suggest that Israel did not intend to resume long-term control over Gaza. He said Israel is expecting to create a new "security regime" in Gaza along with "the removal of Israel's responsibility for life in the Gaza Strip."
Gallant did not say who Israel expected to run Gaza if Hamas is toppled or what the new security regime would entail.
The war in Israel has reached its 14th day, and The Associated Press reports that Israeli airstrikes are hitting southern Gaza, an area full of civilians who fled there from the north of the territory at the direction of Israeli officials.
The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is at the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza, to try to find a way to get badly needed aid into the enclave.
Liberal MPs have expressed a range of views on the conflict, with several calling for a ceasefire over the past week. The federal New Democrats, who entered into a confidence-and-supply agreement with the minority Liberal government last year, are also calling for a ceasefire.
Toronto-area Liberal MP Salma Zahid, who is chair of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, said Friday that she worked with 33 MPs to send a letter to the prime minister that lay out certain demands.
The letter was signed by 23 backbench Liberal MPs, eight NDP MPs and both Green Party MPs. It asks Canada to join the call for an immediate ceasefire, help facilitate the opening of a humanitarian corridor and to stand up for international law.
"International law is clear that innocent civilians and all those not taking part in the fighting must on no account be attacked and must be spared and protected," the letter said.
The Conservatives are not calling for a ceasefire.
Conservative MP Michael Chong, the party's foreign affairs critic, warned earlier this week that Canada's solidarity with Israel in the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas would be "tested" in the days ahead.
"As casualties mount, we should resist the temptation to call for a ceasefire until the Israeli Defense (Forces) achieves its goal of eliminating this existential threat to the state of Israel," he said Monday evening in the House of Commons during a debate on the Israel-Hamas war.
"It is a justifiable war against a terrorist group," Chong said.
On Thursday, a dozen Muslim, Jewish and Arab MPs from the Liberal caucus met to discuss the conflict.
"While we may not always agree on events in the Middle East, we do agree that all communities must and deserve to feel safe in Canada," some of the MPs posted on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Everyone is hurt and hurting, everyone is grieving, everyone is scared of what this means," Trudeau said Friday when asked whether is caucus is divided over how Canada should respond to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"Canadians of all backgrounds, who are represented in Parliament, are reflecting the very real fears and concerns that everyone has. Our jobs as parliamentarians is, yes, to speak for our communities … (but also) to reassure everyone that this is Canada, and here our differences must and will remains a source of strength."
Trudeau has also faced growing pressure to state his position on who was responsible for Tuesday's deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza, which officials in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory had quickly blamed on an Israeli airstrike.
Asked about it by a reporter on his way into the House of Commons for question period that afternoon, Trudeau said in French that it was "not legal."
Israel's military then denied it was involved, and the White House has since said a U.S. intelligence assessment found Israel was not to blame. President Joe Biden told Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to that country on Wednesday that it appeared to be done "by the other team, not you."
B'nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn, the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs have all asked Trudeau to clarify his stance, as Biden did.
Asked about it again on Friday, Trudeau reiterated that he is still trying to figure out the facts.
"Obviously the hospital explosion was a terrible, terrible thing. We deplore the loss of civilian life of innocence," Trudeau said Friday, which is similar to what he said the day before.
"We are working with our allies internationally to make sure that we can determine exactly what happened."
Trudeau said Canada's diplomatic efforts are focused on the protection of civilian life, whether it's hostages being held by Hamas, or civilians in Gaza.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2023.
— With files from The Associated Press and Mickey Djuric in Ottawa.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
Trudeau acknowledges Liberal caucus divide over Israel-Hamas war. Says differences are 'a source of strength'
Story by Catherine Lévesque •
“In Gaza, as elsewhere, international law, including humanitarian law, must be upheld by all. Even wars have rules,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in the House of Commons on Monday, October 16, 2023
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Friday that MPs, including from his own caucus, are reflecting “very real fears and concerns” amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, but called on them to remind Canadians that diversity is a “source of strength”.
Speaking in Brampton, Ont., Trudeau was asked to comment about recent reports of division in his caucus over the Israel-Hamas war. A number of Liberal MPs have been calling for a ceasefire in the region, upset over the Palestinian casualties that have mounted since the war began. O thers in the Liberal caucus have said that Hamas must be defeated and that Israel has a right to defend itself after Hamas’s massive terrorist attack earlier this month.
“Canadians hail from every corner of the world and are proud of being Canadian but also proud of their links to home and right now, Canadians of Muslim, Arab and particularly Palestinian origin, are extremely worried as are Canadians of the Jewish faith, Canadians with ties to Israel,” he said.
Trudeau added that people are worried and scared about whether they can send their children to school safely, or whether they will be harassed walking in the streets or shouted at on a university campus, and that “Canadians of all backgrounds who are represented in Parliament are reflecting the very real fears and concerns that everyone has”.
“Our jobs as parliamentarians, is, yes, to speak for our community, speak for our constituents, speak for Canadians and make sure everyone’s fears are being heard and reflected upon and acted on,” he said. “But our job is also… to reassure everyone that this is Canada and, here, our differences must and will remain a source of strength.
“So yes, there are lots of different perspectives. But there are shared fears and concerns amongst all parliamentarians and a commitment every single day to keep everyone safe here in Canada and everywhere around the world.”
On Thursday, a number of Liberal MPs from the Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities shared online the same photograph showing them in a meeting to discuss their differing views on the war.
“We may not entirely agree on events in the Middle East but we do agree that all communities must and deserve to feel safe in Canada & we will work together to do this,” Montreal MP Anthony Housefather, who is chair of the Canada-Israel Friendship Group, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
His colleague Taleeb Noormohamed, an MP from Vancouver, wrote online that “families don’t always agree on everything” but they met “to reaffirm (their) commitment to being there for one another in the most difficult times, just as families do”.
Trudeau has been criticized by Conservatives and Jewish groups this week for refusing to take a clear stance on who is responsible for an explosion at a Gaza hospital on Tuesday night. Initial reports from Hamas blamed an Israeli missile strike and cited a death toll of 500, but Israel denies it attacked the hospital and has provided evidence it said showed the blast was caused by a failed missile launch from within Gaza and struck the parking lot outside the hospital.
After Trudeau said earlier in the week that what happened to the hospital was illegal according to the “ rules around wars ,” he told reporters on Thursday that he would take the “necessary time” to look at the evidence before drawing any conclusions.
On Friday, he was not prepared to say what more proof he needed to come to a final verdict.
“We are working with our allies internationally to make sure that we can determine exactly what happened,” he reiterated.
U.S. President Joe Biden has already said that he was convinced the explosion was caused by “the other team,” meaning Palestinian terrorists, not Israel. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said earlier this week there should be no “rush to judgment” over who was behind the explosion.
“We don’t treat what comes out of the Kremlin as the gospel truth, we should not do the same with Hamas,” said Sunak.
Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations, Bob Rae, told an Ottawa crowd on Wednesday that Canadians should offer their support to Israel in what he called an existential fight and drew a direct line with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Canada has condemned unequivocally.
“It is not only a fight for Israel and the Jewish people. It’s a fight for all people to be able to live with security and with recognition of who they are,” said Rae according to the Toronto Star .
Trudeau would not say Friday if Rae’s remarks were in accordance with the federal government’s position. He reiterated that Hamas is a terrorist organization which “launched one of the most horrific terrorist attacks on civilians in history” and that “Israel has the full right to defend itself in accordance with international law” while calling for the return of all hostages immediately.
Trudeau also would not speculate on what Canada would like to see happen next for the region, saying that those conversations will happen “when the time comes”.
“But Canada remains firm and steadfast in our commitment to a two state solution. The world and the region needs a peaceful, safe, prosperous, viable Palestinian state alongside a peaceful, prosperous, democratic, safe, Israeli state, Israel,” he said.
“This is something that we have always called for. It is something we will continue to work for every day as we move forward.”
National Post
No comments:
Post a Comment