Canada Report 2007 – Part II – Canada’S Policy On Israel And Palestine

International Law While reading the series of statements on the Canadian government website [1] one of the significantly repeated statements is a variation on international law, either in accordance with or in violation of. A very noble sentiment, except that Canada’s stature on international law itself has been rather diminished lately. In Afghanistan, Canada has been criticized for handing over prisoners of war to the Afghan police/military, organizations accused of torture, without further supervision. While this issue has been addressed minimally with an agreement that follow up visits will be pursued to ensure the prisoners safety, the lack of information and follow up on the issue, and the lack of information coming from the government still leaves the hint of complicity in torture with the Canadian government. The government of course will deny that, but their own internal affairs and complicity with the Americans in the rendition of Maher Arar to Syria signals that, as with the American government, a little torture is all right. It should be quite unnerving to Canadians to know that their own agencies will deliver a Canadian citizen into the hands of Americans who in turn send him to a defined terrorist state for torture. More directly, the government website says it “recognizes Israel’s right to assure its own security, and to take proportionate measures in accordance with international law.” The only proportionate measure allowed by international law is the UN right to self-defence in the case of attack. The Israeli attack into Lebanon in 2006, in response to a border raid by Hezbollah, resulted in Stephen Harper’s disclaimer that the attack was “proportionate”, that the bombing of civilian infrastructure (against international law), the bombing of civilians (with over a thousand deaths, including a second devastating attack in Qana), carpet bombing with treacherous cluster bombs, were all a proportionate response to the death of three dead and two kidnapped border guards. As there have been ongoing border skirmishes over the years, and continual Israeli air space incursions into Lebanese territories, this response hardly seems “proportionate” by any definition. As seen in the previous article, Canada’s recognition of international law has also diminished with the refusal to follow the signature on the Kyoto accord and the refusal to sign onto the UN Indigenous Rights Treaty. The issuance of ‘security certificates’ which align with American laws, allows detention of people suspected of being a “danger to national security” - a rather loose term that could lead to our own violation of human rights, in particular the right to representation before the law - again against international human rights standards. Palestinian refugees In a fine sounding rhetorically expressive section, Canada argues that the Palestinian refugee problem “should respect the rights of the refugees, in accordance with international law.” Sounds great, except that the argument says we continue “to focus international attention on the situation of the more than four million Palestinian refugees, and to promote preparations for the eventual resumption of negotiations.” This is all news to me, and as a hopefully well-informed Canadian, following most media news on a daily basis, I see absolutely no evidence of this. I hear nothing about the plight of these millions of Palestinians and how, under international law, they have the right to return to their occupied homelands. So what is Canada’s role? We are the “Gavel Holder of the multilateral Refugee Working Group…formally in abeyance since 1996.” Way to go Canada, hang on to that gavel for another dozen inactive years, great way to promote the Palestinian right of return under international law. More: http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/01/18/p22643

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