I agree, Mr. Chair. It's the version I read into the record, for Mr. Oliphant's clarification, and I will reread the amendment.
I move that part (b) be amended by adding the words “and defend itself”; that part (c) be amended by adding the words “which is the result of a negotiated agreement between Israelis and Palestinians”; and that part (d) be amended by replacing the number “6” with the number “4”, and by striking the words “the recognition of the State of Palestine within”.
Mr. Chair, that is the amendment I move. I'll briefly speak to it.
I'm moving this amendment because it would amend the motion to ensure that the committee adheres in parts (a), (b) and (c) to the long-standing position of the two major parties in the House of Commons, which also happens to be the long-standing position of the Government of Canada through previous Conservative and Liberal governments.
I think it would ensure coherence in our position but also indicate to the Government of Canada a coherent path forward for the events taking place in the Middle East. That coherence rests on one fundamental assumption that I believe is the case: that there can be no lasting and durable peace in the Middle East without a negotiated agreement, a negotiated settlement, between the two parties to this conflict, the Israelis and the Palestinians, and that anything unilateral on the part of one party or the other takes us further away from that lasting and durable peace and from putting pressure on both parties to sit down at the table to negotiate, compromise and come to a two-party agreement.
That is the reason, Mr. Chair, for our amendment to the motion. Thank you.