Canada maintains strong support for Israel's Gaza blockade By Lee Berthiaume Published June 16, 2010

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Citing Israeli security concerns, the government is maintaining Canada's support for Jewish state's blockade of the Gaza Strip. This despite mounting international calls for a significant relaxing—if not outright lifting—of the cordon.

"Canada recognizes Israel's legitimate security concerns and its right to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks," Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon's office said on Monday, "including through the restriction of access to its territory, and its right to inspect ships in order to ensure that weapons and other military equipment do not reach the Gaza Strip."

On May 31, Israeli commandoes stormed a Turkish ship loaded with humanitarian supplies and pro-Palestinian activists that was bound for Gaza. During fighting, nine activists died, and Israel suddenly found itself having to defend the three-year-old blockade.

Israeli leaders say it is necessary to prevent Hamas from acquiring weapons and rockets to launch more attacks against the Jewish state. They also see it as a tactic to weaken the listed terrorist group.

However, the cordon has also been blamed for exacerbating what has been described as a humanitarian crisis within Gaza. As recently as Monday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it was a violation of international law and was "having a devastating impact on the 1.5 million people living in Gaza." At the same time, critics say the blockade has actually worked against Israel by strengthening Hamas's hold over the territory while hurting the Jewish state's international reputation.

Mr. Cannon's office said "Canada remains deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Gaza" and that "we strongly encourage all parties to work together to ensure that safe and unhindered humanitarian assistance is delivered to the affected population."

However, "while we fully support the importance of delivering humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, we also fully support Israel's right to inspect ships to ensure military material and armaments do not reach the hands of Hamas terrorists."

In contrast, since the raid, such world leaders as US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon have described the blockade as "unsustainable," while European Union foreign ministers on Monday said the "continued policy of closure is unacceptable and counterproductive."

Among the voices calling for an end to blockade are Mr. Ban and the EU foreign ministers, who said on Monday that while provisions are required to ensure Israel's continued safety, there should be "an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza, including goods from the West Bank."

A number of proposals, such as the deployment of EU monitoring teams to take over the checking of shipments to and from Gaza have been proposed. But Mr. Cannon's office said any such proposals must take into account Israel's legitimate security concerns.

When asked the Liberal Party's position, Foreign Affairs critic Bob Rae acknowledged that the blockade is having an impact on civilians inside Gaza, but added that "one has to remember that Hamas bears considerable responsibility on its own for the oppression of its own people and for the extremism of their approach to Israel's very existence.

"Israel has appropriate concerns about its own security and also about the approach that Hamas is taking against their very existence," he added. "We want some reconstruction to go on, but we also want to make sure whatever goes into Gaza doesn't go to the benefit of the Hamas political regime."

NDP Foreign Affairs critic Paul Dewar, however, was unequivocal in his calls for an immediate end to the blockade. He argued Canada could play a lead role, in fact, by offering its own personnel or expertise in checking shipments.

"I think the consensus is there about what should be done, and that is the blockade should be lifted," he said. "We should be working to facilitate the end of the blockade.... It's not sustainable for Canada to just continue to say that we support the position of the government of Israel."

Rula Odeh, president of the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, said in an email that compared to the EU statement, those from the government and Mr. Bob Rae "are inadequate as they only talk about improving the delivery of humanitarian aid without speaking about how unacceptable the illegal siege on Gaza is."

"Canada must be committed to the human security of all people in the region (not only Israelis) and should hold all parties, including Israel, to the same standards of human rights, international law and UN conventions."

However, Shimon Fogel, CEO of the Canada-Israel Committee, said in an email that he supported the positions articulated by both Messrs. Cannon and Rae.

"I think everyone recognizes that Israel has a compelling security concern, one that is shared by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority (as recently emphasized by Mahmoud Abbas in Washington)," he wrote. "That said, I believe everyone also agrees that all efforts to provide assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza without compromising Israel's security should be undertaken."

lee@embassymag.ca