Canada lobbying 'like-minded' countries on Palestinian vote: envoy By Sneh Duggal Published September 14, 2011

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Palestinian officials are confident they have enough support from UN member states to achieve at least symbolic recognition of their statehood, a vote on which may go before the international body this month. Canada, however, is not among the countries likely to vote for the recognition.

But this has not stopped Palestinian officials and community members from trying to get Canada to at least abstain from voting.

"The Palestinian Canadians are a great element, they are part of Canada, they are talking to their MPs...they are good Canadians, part of this society, live in Canada, work in Canada, they are looking for fairness," said Linda Sobeh Ali, the Palestinian General Delegation to Canada's chargé d'Affaires.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said this summer that it would be meaningless for the UN General Assembly to vote in favour of the Palestinian bid. Calling the Palestinians' campaign a public-relations move, Mr. Baird said he would willingly support the creation of an independent Palestinian state, but only if achieved through peaceful negotiations with Israel.

Ms. Sobeh Ali said that she is hoping Canadian officials will change their minds and abstain from voting, if not vote in favour of the Palestinian bid.

"We expect Canada to be fair, we call on Canada since they are the advocates for The Responsibility to Protect...to help us and help the world protect Palestinian human rights and self determination."

Thomas Woodley, president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, said if Canada votes against the bid, it would relay a symbolic message.

"It's a message to the Israeli government that the Canadian government is an unquestioning friend," he said.

Meanwhile, Ms. Sobeh Ali added that while she did not have conclusive evidence of this, she has heard that Canada has been lobbying like-minded democracies, such as Germany and Italy.

Mr. Baird's office did not respond to inquiries about this prior to publication.

It has been reported that Germany and Italy will likely oppose the bid along with the Czech Republic and the Netherlands.

Canada undertakes discussions with many of its allies on everything that crops up on the international community's agenda, noted Shimon Fogel, chief executive officer of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy.

"That's what we want Canada to do, we want them to consult with, to share our perspective with like-minded countries and seek their input as well," he said.

Reports have said that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would hand over the application to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon at some point after arriving in New York for a meeting of world leaders this month.

Mr. Abbas is expected to address the General Assembly on Sept. 23. While some reports say the vote will take place towards the end of September, others claim that it could be held off until October.

How it might work

The Palestinians have not said whether they will seek full UN membership or upgraded status as a non-member observer state. Full membership requires approval from the UN Security Council and the General Assembly; however, the United States has already declared that it will likely veto the bid if brought before the 15-member Security Council.

Normally, if recommended by the council, the application is then handed over to the General Assembly and voted on, requiring a two-thirds majority or 129 votes, for a successful admission.

The United States, like Canada, has declared that while it supports the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, this would only be through negotiations between the two parties.

The other option for the Palestinian Authority would be to take their proposal to the General Assembly to upgrade its status. The Palestinians currently have observer status as an 'entity' and this could be upgraded to non-member observer state status. This would only require a simple majority vote within the 193-member body, something Ms. Sobeh Ali said the Palestinians should easily achieve since about 140 countries are backing them already.

With non-member status, the Palestinians would be afforded entry into some UN agencies and groups such as the International Criminal Court. Having access to the ICC would give them the ability to take up potential cases against Israeli officials for alleged war crimes.

Critics have said that the Palestinian bid is a unilateral move contrary to what negotiations between the two sides were meant to achieve. But the Palestinians say that since talks are in limbo, this is one way for them to up their status at the negotiating table.

"This will leave us to be an occupied country and not an occupied territory...when we negotiate, it will be occupier and occupied country, then the negotiations will take another route," said Ms. Sobeh Ali.

Mr. Fogel said the thing to note about negotiations is that they fail until they work and that if parties are determined to achieve something and they sustain their efforts, they will succeed.

"Everything that has come to now, all the agreements, all the plans, the international consensus was that Palestinian statehood would flow from a negotiated resolution to all the outstanding issues," said Mr. Fogel, adding that by separating the two, the Palestinians are seeking statehood without coming to terms with and achieving peace with Israel.

"For me, it's a betrayal of everything that a peace process was predicated upon. I'm terribly disappointed that Mahmoud Abbas is determined to pursue that route," said Mr. Fogel.

Mr. Woodley said he thinks recognition of Palestinian statehood is long overdue. He added that he had hoped talks of this bid would have acted as a catalyst for negotiations, but this wasn't the case.

While there are benefits to the Palestinian territories receiving statehood recognition, complications that could arise include the status of Palestinian refugees in neighbouring countries, Mr. Woodley said. He added that even if Palestine were declared a state, there would still be much to negotiate.

sduggal@embassymag.ca