http://bit.ly/mJSkDq
Remember the Official Policy from the Canada government website I noted a week or so ago? Canada's actual policy is not what is set out in press releases; perhaps Harper will change the actual policy sometime but for now he hasn't:
"Canada wants Israel to use its 1967 borders as the starting point for negotiations with Palestinians seeking independence, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Wednesday, just days after Prime Minister Stephen Harper is said to have prevented such language from being included in a G8 statement on the matter.
Speaking to reporters on Parliament Hill, Mr. Baird backed U.S. President Barack Obama's call for Israel to either return East Jerusalem to the Palestinians and dismantle settlements in the West Bank or hand over other territory in compensation as part of the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
"We support, obviously, that that solution has to be based on the '67 border, with mutually agreed upon swaps, as President Obama said," Mr. Baird said."
7 comments:
Maybe Harper is trying to get out of his faux-pas.
Or maybe Baird is taking his leadership ambition more seriously. Now that there is a majority you'll see more Con MPs push their agendas, and their views in caucus.
So, tell me what the grandstanding at the G8 about a week ago actually accomplished in light of Baird's quote? Does it make us look like traitors in Israels eyes for eventually supporting the "indefensible" 1967 lines with swaps? does it make us look like we'll back Israel over the U.S. at the drop of a hat, even while we're trying to negotiate border agreements with our biggest partner and ally? does it make us look silly for saying one thing, having Israeli diplomats expose us in Haaretz for parroting Bibi at the G8 and then quietly retracting our position?
To be perfectly clear, I'm not really mad at Harper for his stance. I disagree with him, though honest men can have disagreements. I'm mad at how this was so badly handled, making us now appear childish to both Israel and the US, two nations we care deeply about.
It really isn't obvious what Canada's position on a Palestinian state is.
What is obvious is that Canada will be happy to parrot whatever position the US president holds.
What it says to me is that our actual policy is does not reflect what we are told our policy is
Let me perfectly clear... we've always been at war with Eurasia.
The Prime Minister has a long-held and well-known position that the weekly chocolate rations should be increased. Our Canada's New Harper Government (TM) has increased the ration to 20 grams per week. Remember to support our troops, be a real Canadian, and forget that last week's chocolate ration was 30 grams.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-commitment-to-israel/2011/06/02/AGj0NZHH_story.html
Stephen Harper does not need a editorial written by an Israeli Jew to convince skeptics that he has the back of the Jewish state.
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