Debates of April 9th, 2002

The Middle East

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos)]

Is there unanimous consent of the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Gar Knutson, Liberal, Secretary of State (Central and Eastern Europe and Middle East)]

Madam Speaker, like the minister who spoke before me I too would like to commend the member for Mercier for initiating tonight's debate. I would also like to commend all members who have chosen to come here tonight to participate in the debate. At times like this, with this conflict so entrenched, so deep and having gone on for so long, it would be easy to presume that we cannot do anything. Each and every member who has come out tonight to speak should be commended in that sense. This is a critical issue. It is an issue that horrifies all Canadians and I think it is important that the House of Commons speaks out on the issue. In the little bit of time I have I would like to speak on the role of the United Nations.

From the earliest days of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the United Nations has been at the forefront of international efforts to bring peace and stability to the troubled region. Canada believes without equivocation that the United Nations continues to have that leadership role. The UN will, as always, have Canada's full support in working with the parties in ways that can be helpful in bringing peace to the region.

The UN security council remains the most appropriate and effective body to deal with the maintenance of international peace and security. The United Nations, for all its blemishes, for all its difficulties, for all its shortcomings, really is the place where this problem can be solved. The UN security council has taken its responsibilities very seriously in dealing with this conflict. Resolutions 1397, 1402 and 1403 have made an important contribution to the political landscape that shapes this conflict and signals in a most determined way the commitment of the international community to remain engaged in efforts to bring peace to the region.

Security council resolution 1397 of March 13 underscores the commitment of the international community to a vision of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side within secure and recognized borders and living in peace, harmony and prosperity. It also demands the cessation of all acts of violence, reflecting the widely held view that there is no military solution to this conflict. The security council, in resolution 1402 of March 30 and resolution 1403 of April 4, charts the way ahead for both parties. These resolutions call for a meaningful ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities. They call for immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction.

As our ambassador to the United Nations noted in his address to the UN security council on April 8:

That spiral of violence is threatening peace and stability well beyond the confines of the current fighting. And it is having disastrous consequences for people on both sides.

“Peace in the Middle East”, our ambassador told the council, “is everyone's business”.

These resolutions signal the international community's recognition of that undeniable reality.

I should like to address certain misunderstandings that appear to prevail with respect to some of the criticisms we hear about Canada's voting at the UN. Our voting is guided by the fundamental principles of Canada's Middle East policy. These principles have been endorsed by successive governments. Because they have been recognized for their fairness and their impartiality, they have given us credibility with the countries of the region and in the UN system. They have served Canada well.

To have our support, resolutions should reflect fundamental principles of human rights law. They must be consonant with the treaties, agreements and UN jurisprudence that Canada supports and that underlie the negotiations between the parties to the conflict. They should not undermine the peace process or single out Israel unfairly or indulge in inflammatory rhetoric. We take account of the voting intentions of like-minded member states, although our final determination is always our own.

Canada will always speak out against efforts to question the legitimacy of the state of Israel or to single it out for unjustified criticism. Israeli government representatives have expressed appreciation for our position and especially for our interventions, where we have sought to counter the isolation or de-legitimization of Israel, or where resolutions raise questions or promote action better dealt with in other forums.

At the same time, Canada has criticized Israeli decisions and policies that undermine the peace process and infringe on the human rights of the Palestinians. We have not hesitated to raise these issues in meetings with the Israeli government and in our statements in UN bodies such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Respect for human rights is another fundamental principle of our foreign policy. Israelis and Palestinians bear their full share of responsibility to respect and protect human rights. We hold them accountable for how they exercise their human rights responsibilities.

The upheaval and bitterness provoked by the ever more violent confrontation in the region have created a more than usual emotional climate in the commission's deliberations this year. We are examining all resolutions closely. The Canadian delegation to the commission is working with vigilance to modify or oppose unhelpful resolutions. Our aim in the commission is consistent with our foreign policy for the region: an end to violence and a return to dialogue and negotiation.

There is an important role for the international community in advancing the cause of peace and restoring some order to a situation that so clearly threatens the security of the region. There is no doubt that the international community is fully seized of the situation. Bilaterally, Canada and many other countries are using their best diplomatic efforts to press both sides to return to the negotiating table. We will continue to do so, particularly in support of the United States, whose influence is key to bringing the parties back from the abyss.

While responsibility for resolving the conflict ultimately rests with the parties themselves, as they are the ones who must make the hard decisions for peace, the United Nations too has a key role to play. Accordingly, we are heartened by the steps taken by the UN security council so far and are confident that the UN will have a key role to play in an effort to bring stability to that troubled region.

[Stockwell Day, Canadian Alliance, Okanagan—Coquihalla, BC]

Madam Speaker, I will be sharing my time this evening with my colleague, the member for Edmonton--Strathcona.

A debate was requested tonight to consider the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to help the federal government with a response. It is a tragedy that we should need such a debate.

For much of the 1990s, Israel and Palestine seemed to be moving gingerly along the path to peace and it seemed that this bitter, longstanding conflict might actually be coming to an end, but now the region stands once again on the brink of war. We have all seen the vivid images over the past few weeks: the house to house combat, the Palestinian authority headquarters under siege and lit only by candles, and tanks in front of the Church of the Nativity. While these images of the recent conflict are very powerful, we must also remember the most recent event that initiated them, the worst yet in a series of murderous suicide bombings, at a Passover event in Netanya, which killed 26 people, young and old alike, on one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar.

From the comfort of North America we can criticize the Israeli response and wish that it had been more restrained or that Israel had waited longer for diplomatic and political solutions, but we must consider the incredible pressure that the nation of Israel is under from these brutal, suicidal terrorist attacks on innocent civilians.

It is interesting to note that at this very moment Canadian soldiers are in the field helping to root out the terrorist cells of al-Qaeda in the mountains of Afghanistan. We are present in that conflict thousands of miles from here in response to other terrorist suicide bombings, in response to the deliberate crashing of airplanes into the world trade towers and into the Pentagon, attacks in which thousands of civilians, including Canadians, were murdered.

Therefore some are asking a difficult question. They are asking the following. If the events of September 11 justify Canadian, American, British and other allied nations invading a country thousands of miles away to root out terrorists, how are the Israelis supposed to respond to these ongoing murderous terrorist threats right on their borders, a few scant miles from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem?

However, if an Israeli military response to terrorism is justified, it must be proportionate and limited. The announced Israeli withdrawal from Tulkarem and Qalqilya is a positive sign that Israel does recognize that its current anti-terrorism campaign cannot be an excuse for reoccupying lands that have already been ceded to Palestinian self-rule. We have been clear on this point. The military incursions into Palestinian controlled cities must come to an end as quickly as possible, especially in light of Secretary of State Powell's upcoming visit to the region.

Israel must understand that the military response cannot stand alone, that there must also be ongoing political engagement and that the movement toward Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza, initiated at Oslo, must continue, because ultimately Israel cannot exist as a nation permanently at war with its neighbours. Without peace, there can be no security.

However, Yasser Arafat must understand, the Palestinian authority must understand, the Arab states of the Middle East must understand, the international community must understand and the Government of Canada must understand that Israel cannot be expected to give up its right to a military response without clear evidence that terrorist actions will come to an end, because without security, there can be no peace.

It is not being one-sided to say that we have seen precious little evidence that Chairman Arafat understands this equation. He has repeatedly pledged to take action to stop terrorism but instead has appeared to turn a blind eye to it as a useful means of increasing political pressure. He has broken or undermined ceasefire after ceasefire, including an attempted ceasefire only a few weeks ago upon General Zinni's return to the region.

It is painfully clear that the suicide bomber is an innovation in the terrorist arsenal. People often talk of the despair and the poverty that drive young Palestinians to become suicide bombers. Indeed, there is terrible despair and there is terrible poverty in the refugee camps of the West Bank and Gaza, which is why this peace process is so important, but despair and poverty can never be used as excuses for terrorist suicide bombings, nor do these conditions alone create suicide bombers.

There is a whole infrastructure that turns an angry youth into a human bomb. There is a propaganda machine that is necessary to indoctrinate young people into the cult of martyrdom. There are bomb making factories that are necessary to make explosive belts. There are military planners who are needed to figure out how to cross checkpoints undetected and slip into hotels or buses. There are financiers necessary to provide financial incentives to those killed in suicide attacks.

It is this infrastructure that is cruelly exploiting the young Palestinians in the camps that has created the suicide bombers. In its military operations last week Israel produced evidence that the Palestinian authority itself has been financing the production of terrorist bombs for Al-Aqsa. Mr. Arafat's credibility as a possible partner for peace has been gravely undermined in recent months.

The trip this week of Secretary of State Powell may prove to be Yasser Arafat's last chance to show that he is sincere about breaking ties with terrorists. I hope, not for Mr. Arafat's sake but for the sake of long suffering Palestinian people, that Mr. Arafat does grasp what may be a last opportunity being offered to him because as President Bush said last week, what these bombers are blowing up is nothing less than the opportunity to achieve the very Palestinian homeland they seek.

The terrorist acts in Israel and Palestine are not solely the result of domestic pressures. We know that Iran is financing Hezbollah. I must add regretfully that the Canadian government has not yet seen fit to add Hezbollah to the list of banned terrorist organizations, only outlawing its military wing on the specious theory that its political and social agencies are not tied to its terrorist activities. Syria has helped to bankroll the operations of Hamas. Iraq and Iran have stepped forward with oil money to pay cash rewards to the families of dead suicide bombers.

The other countries of the region must recognize, even as Egypt and Jordan did to their credit some years ago and as Saudi Arabia seems to be doing with its recent peace proposals, they can no longer stoke the flames of Arab-Israeli conflicts for domestic political purposes or for any other reason.

Recalcitrant nations which support terrorism must be brought into line or shunned by their Arab and Muslim neighbours, and by the community of nations as a whole.

The Canadian Alliance position on this matter has always been consistent and has always been clear. The Palestinian people have a right to their homeland in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to the creation of a democratic Palestinian state. The only solution will be a two state solution which involves an exchange of land for peace.

In the short term our government should be advocating that Israel must withdraw as quickly as possible from area A to rekindle the peace process and then in the longer term Israel must withdraw from the vast majority of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to secure internationally recognized lines.

Canada must insist that the Palestinian authority do more to dismantle these terrorist networks. We should clearly link our financial support for the Palestinian authority and its agencies to its progress in combating terrorism. It stands as a mark of shame that CIDA helped to finance the Palestinian coast guard, which recently was used to smuggle weapons from Iran.

Our support for the Palestinian authority and its agencies should be directly proportional to the progress it makes in dismantling terrorism and instituting democracy and the rule of law. This means that at the present time that our funding to the Palestinian authority should be conditional on signs of progress in this matter.

We should be clear with other Arab and Muslim states that supporting terrorism, even in the name of resistance to occupation, is unacceptable. Countries which support terrorism in this conflict should be diplomatically isolated by Canada until they too renounce support for terrorism.

Until that happens we should not be taking actions like joining the consensus to allow Syria to become a member of the United Nations Security Council or rewarding Iran with high level visits until we hear and see a clear and constant position against terrorism, which includes suicide bombing.

In all of our statements and votes in the United Nations and other international bodies we must act in a manner that does not aim to simply follow the pack, but to take the lead in promoting our values and to be balanced. Canada can and must play a constructive role in the Middle East.

The government must resist the easy path of vigorously criticizing Israel, while at times only nominally expressing concerns on the other side. We must put pressure on both sides, a pressure which will not refrain from telling what may be unpopular truths. We must apply this balance if we are going to see a long term peace.

We must develop a balanced, consistent and principled Middle East policy that supports both the goal of an independent Palestine and a safe and secure Israel at peace with its neighbours, and one which is absolutely clear on the moral unacceptability of any form of terrorism.

Let us hope that the debate this evening can mark the beginning of a re-examination of Canadian foreign policy toward the Middle East to achieve a truly balanced approach and peace.

[Rahim Jaffer, Canadian Alliance, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Madam Speaker, this is my first opportunity to rise in the House as critic for central Europe and the Middle East. I am pleased to be sharing my time with the hon. member for Okanagan--Coquihalla, my senior critic, with whom I am pleased to work on this extremely important file.

We are gathered this evening to discuss the mounting tensions in the Middle East, to denounce the growing list of casualties and to put aside partisan differences in an attempt to define Canada's role in bringing Israel and Palestine back to the negotiating table. The Canadian Alliance believes that Israel and Palestine have the right to live as peaceful, sovereign nations within the borders prior to 1967.

As members of parliament we are pulled in many directions. Our opinions and actions are influenced by a number of factors. We may represent large ethnic communities in our ridings or be politically beholding in one way or another. However as we debate this issue tonight we must rise above personal or political bias in order to be objective advocates of peace. The interests of Canadians are not well served by taking sides in this conflict. As parliamentarians we must condemn violence and denounce terror.

As the only Muslim member of parliament there is a preconceived notion that I would be presenting a pro-Palestinian point of view. I am advocating peace and an end to violence. I have stated from my entrance into public life that I am first and foremost a Canadian and that I champion the virtues of peace, freedom and democracy.

In my short tenure in this portfolio I have begun to study the history of the region and the significant events that have led to the current crisis. The trust and expectations that grew out of numerous treaties and summits were dashed by inaction. With the decline of hope grows frustration, desperation and eventually bloodshed.

How do we get people who hate each other to sit down and negotiate? How do we get either side to let down their guard in order for the seeds of peace to germinate?

Canada is home to thousands of Jews and Arabs, just as it is home to Catholics and Protestants, Croats and Serbs and many other groups who have left their wartorn countries to live here alongside their traditional enemies in peace.

As a pluralistic and peace loving nation Canada is a model of tolerance. We should utilize our international reputation to help broker these parties together. Canada played a significant role in the partitioning of the region and it can play a significant role as an objective broker of peace.

The Israel-PLO peace agreement signed on September 13, 1993 is the starting point. The agreement should become a comprehensive agreement based on UN security resolutions 242 and 338, including the right of all countries in the region to live within the secure and recognized boundaries and the requirement for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan Heights and return to the pre-1967 boundaries. This is an agreement that both sides agreed to and came ever so close to finalizing at the Camp David summit in 2000. It is a good place to reconvene negotiations.

What is required to get to the table is an admission by both parties that their actions have been complicit in the mounting death tolls. Clearly the Palestinian authority has not been doing enough to stop terrorist attacks and that is why the Israelis have acted. In all fairness Israeli forces have been disproportionate in their response to recent terrorist attacks.

The eyes of the world are on the Middle East. The international community, including the United Nations, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States, have called upon Israel to withdraw its troops and tanks from Palestinian territory. It is imperative for Israel to withdraw. This should not be seen as a retreat but rather a gesture of peace. This withdrawal must be accompanied by a gesture on the part of Chairman Arafat to denounce terrorists and use his influence over the Palestinian people to stop the suicide bombings.

The onus is placed on the heads of both leaders. We hear a lot of debate over the cycle of violence in the Middle East, that every violent act is responded to with equal or greater force. One of these two leaders must reverse the cycle and begin the cycle of peace.

What is required is the initial peaceful act to get the ball rolling. If need be, it can be the mutual agreement of Israel to withdraw and an end to the Palestinian suicide bombings.

As I mentioned earlier, Canada is a model nation of peace and tolerance. We are fortunate enough to have large Jewish and Palestinian communities here within Canada. I believe that we as Canada's elected leaders should engage these Canadians and work with them in conjunction with Israeli and Palestinian diplomats to seek resolutions to the conflict. Such an initiative here in Canada, removed from the immediacy of the Middle East, may result in a different perspective that could bear fruit.

I believe that it is better for Canada to export its tolerance and peaceful traditions rather than import the visceral hatred from warring regions that have resulted in the destruction of places of worship and attacks on Canadians of identifiable origins.

I would like to reiterate the Canadian Alliance position. The Liberal response to terrorist violence in the Middle East has been ambivalent at best. In particular, the Liberals have continued to permit fundraising by terrorist front organizations in Canada such as the civilian arm of Hezbollah. This is unconscionable.

While Canada must stand firm against terrorism, we should also continue to support any measures that de-escalate the violence in the region. Canada must urge the Palestinian Authority to take all measures necessary to stop terrorist violence. To date, the Palestinian Authority has not done what is necessary to stop these terrorist attacks.

While recognizing Israel's inherent right to self-defence, Canada should urge the Israeli government to show restraint and look at long term solutions. The Government of Canada should stand ready to facilitate peace by whatever means are within its capabilities.

We all hope and pray that here in this place we can come together as parliamentarians. As I mentioned it is clear that this is an issue which goes beyond party lines. We would like to see peace in that region and I think all members in the House are genuine in wanting to achieve that. Hopefully we can speak with one voice in the coming days and weeks to try to bring peace to that region and help broker that peace.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to speak on a matter that is truly of grave concern, a grave concern to Canadians and to citizens in every corner of the international community. I rise to speak out against the horror and the terrorism that has been and as we speak is being visited upon innocent children, women and men in the Middle East.

We are witnessing a terrifying escalating spiral of attack and retaliation, a vortex of violence that draws its destructive strength from events of today, of last week, of the last century, and indeed of previous millennia.

Who are the victims of this violence? Let me say clearly at the outset, there is no gain in judging history by the body count. Our sisters and brothers in the Middle East, be they Jewish, Muslim or Christian, whatever their ethnicity or nationality do not deserve to live their lives under threat or lose their lives to violence, whether that threat comes from Apache helicopters and military tanks, from fanatics with explosives strapped to their bodies or from talk of peace being achievable only by one side exterminating the other.

Peace requires courage. In recent memory we have seen that courage in the heavy price paid by those who have dared to take a stand for peace and dared to work for peace in the Middle East. In a land both blessed and tormented by its past, we have leaders who have reflected their time and leaders who have attempted to move beyond it.

Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat are leaders born into the same crucible of geography and history, leaders who have understood that their commonality was greater than their differences, leaders who have risked their lives for the cause of peace and the cause of justice. Leaders on both sides of this divide have paid for their courage. Anwar Sadat and Yitzhak Rabin have paid with their lives, not at the hands of the enemy, but at the bloodied hands of those within their own communities.

On three different occasions I have had the opportunity to meet Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian president Yasser Arafat. These are leaders who do not disguise the fact that deep animosities exist between them. However they understand that continuously fighting one's neighbour will result in destroying the moral fabric of one's own society.

These are leaders who see the children of their respective communities robbed of their futures when they are raised with guns in their hands and hatred in their hearts.

The viciousness, the humiliation, the terrifying threats in today's Middle East must be understood as a fight between members of the same family, the human family.

The violence Canadians have witnessed over the years through media reports of far away events recently took a toll much closer to home. Seven months ago a perversion of all that is civilized in our world occurred when terrorists struck in the United States. This has also played out in smaller ways in cities and towns across our country.

New Democrats have persistently called for recognition of despicable acts of hatred directed at visible minorities. We have called on the government to address the environment that is resulting in attacks against houses of worship for example. In the immediate aftermath of September 11, a mosque was firebombed in Montreal. This week we learned of arson at a synagogue in Saskatoon.

There is another family that must be heard in this crisis. That is the family of nations. In the international community today there is almost total consensus on urgent immediate steps that must be taken to move from death and destruction to dialogue and genuine human development.

In the words of Anna Lindh, Swedish foreign affairs minister:

To attempt to crush the Palestinian leadership is unacceptable to the international community and will only lead to even greater losses and insecurity for Israel. Israel's government must display maximum restraint and act in such a way that the Palestinians who wish to live in peace with Israel are not marginalized further.

Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres has repudiated the Israeli army's recent orations in the Jenin refugee camp as a massacre. The UN security council president has expressed the concerns of many of its members “at the further deterioration of the situation and violation of international humanitarian law in the Palestinian territories, including many victims among the civilian population and the threat of destruction of the Palestinian Authority”.

Yesterday the president of the European Commission condemned the violence that has spiraled out of control. I quote:

Palestinian suicide bombings have killed or injured hundreds of innocent people in Israel. In the last 10 days 300 Palestinians have been killed, hundreds injured and 1,400 arrested as a result of house to house searches conducted by military forces.... The Israeli government must guarantee safe access for humanitarian workers to the Palestinian population. The Israeli government must immediately pull out its military forces from recently occupied territories.... To President Arafat and all Palestinians, I say abandon terrorism. The European Union remains convinced that President Arafat and the Palestinian Authority is the legitimate partner with whom peace talks must resume immediately.

Last week the International Committee of the Red Cross stated:

Terrorist acts, such as suicide bombings, are absolutely and unconditionally prohibited as are acts of reprisals, indiscriminate attacks and attacks directly against the civilian population.

Earlier this week Amnesty International stated:

The Israeli Defence Force and Israeli authorities should cease violations of human rights and humanitarian law, including unlawful killings and excessive use of lethal force; destruction of Palestinian homes and property; closures of towns and villages; arbitrary arrests; torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of Palestinians; hindering access of medical professionals and medical care; hindering access of international humanitarian organizations, human rights organizations and journalists. Palestinian armed groups must cease targeting Israeli civilians and end unlawful killing of Palestinians.

Our own Warren Allmand, a former distinguished member of this House, now president of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development, in a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs three days ago wrote the following:

I was shocked to hear that Canada, at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva on April 5th, had spoken and voted against the proposal to allow the UN's Human Rights Commissioner, Ms. Mary Robinson, to travel to the Middle East.... A mission by Ms. Robinson could prove useful in reducing the tension and exposing the disproportionate use of force by the Israelis. While in the region, Ms. Robinson should also meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to urge him to not only condemn the attacks against innocent Israeli civilians, but also to apprehend those who are responsible for these acts and afford them a fair trial and punishment in compliance with international standards. However, should Mr. Arafat continue to be confined, it is difficult to comprehend how he can exercise his authority over any Palestinian.

Finally, in a press release earlier this week, Doctors Without Borders, the much respected international medical relief organization, stated:

The obstruction of medical aid for Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories has reached alarming new levels...effectively a removal of our right to access victims of the current conflict as well as a removal of civilians' right to access medical care.

I also want to refer to what Amnesty International had to say this past weekend on 1,000 Palestinian detainees being held by the Israeli government. It said:

In violation of international human rights treaties, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Israel is a state party, detainees have been held in conditions which constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

It has now been over a week since Warren Allmand of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development called once again for a United Nations international peacekeeping force to stand between Palestinians and Israelis to prevent further carnage.

To address what he describes as the overwhelming evidence that these incidents constitute a threat to peace under chapter VII of the United Nations charter, the UN has an obligation to take action. I understand that he wrote that Israel has previously objected to any UN peacekeeping force but its military initiatives have failed in preventing violence and the escalation of the conflict.

There are many other international bodies and international authorities that I could quote but suffice it to say that with such a clear international consensus on what urgent steps are needed, political parties here at home must clarify their positions on how to advance and how to achieve peace.

We need to be free to express our views without fear of being branded as supporting one people over another, of supporting Palestinians over Israelis or Israelis over Palestinians. At the same time we must be prepared to take a stand. We were elected to represent the people of Canada in this parliament to take a stand in the face of such crises.

I want to once again make it clear that we in the New Democratic Party have taken a stand on the side of long term security within the rule of law for both Israeli and Palestinian citizens. Why? Because it is the only realistic path to peace.

Tragically, in Canada today we find ourselves in a desperately polarized environment which has, in part, been allowed to flourish because of a leadership vacuum left by our timid federal Liberal government.

The New Democratic Party has condemned terror wherever it has reared its ugly head and we will continue to do so. For us there is no justification that allows suicide bombers to target innocent civilians, nor is there any justification for an occupying army to deny medical treatment to its hostages.

In conclusion, I do not think it is an exaggeration to say that Canadians overwhelmingly are deeply disturbed at the abdication of leadership that we have seen from the government. On repeated occasions it has been very clear that the government has not adopted a position reflective of the values of Canadians because it has simply waited to see what the next directive, the next initiative would be from the United States.

I have said on many occasions in the House and I will say it again tonight, I recognize absolutely that the United States of America is our closest neighbour.

However, it is not an act of leadership and it is deeply disappointing when again and again answers to the questions in the House of where the government stands or what it will do have been to the effect that we are standing behind the American position. On far too many occasions the American position has been one of taking no initiative when people were desperately looking for leadership.

I conclude my comments tonight by imploring the government to recognize that Canadians expect more of their federal government. People around the world expect more of a government that has a reputation for principled, independent foreign policy positions.

It is not exactly an invitation to fly solo to ask the Canadian government to join with the international community in saying that we must be prepared as a third party to recognize that no peace will be possible in the Middle East without the withdrawal of Israel from the occupied territories, without forcing the parties to accept their responsibilities on behalf of their own citizens and on behalf of the citizens of the world to come together to negotiate the practical, concrete steps through a process that has to get underway and underway quickly to find a path to peace that will ensure that children in all parts of the Middle East do not continue to live under threat and are not robbed of the future they deserve.

[Bill Casey, Progressive Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Madam Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure to speak tonight to this most urgent situation. Those of us who have had the very good fortune of visiting the Middle East always come away with a heartfelt feeling for the people there. My first visit left an impression with me that I will never forget. I treasured the experience to visit both sides in the conflict. The people are fascinating and just like Canadians. They want the right to live in peace, the right to bring up their children, the right to freedom and the right to enjoy life. They cannot do that now because of the situation over there.

I believe Canada can play a specific role in the Middle East and help to bring this conflict to an end. It may not be a role that is as prominent as the one held by the United States or the European Union but we do have a role, and it is not just criticizing, condemning or finding fault. I believe there are tangible things Canada can do and I hope we will do them.

Canada has limited options because the leaders on both sides of the conflict do not listen to anybody. They barely listen to the United States, a much more powerful country than ours and a country that has so much in the way of economic pressure, tools and levers it can apply. However the leaders of these two countries have not responded in the way the world expected and hoped they would respond.

Canada can support the efforts of the United Nations, the Saudi proposals, the Mitchell proposals and so on but there is still another role for Canada to play at perhaps a little lower level of negotiation and peacemaking than to actually deal with the leaders. I did not come up with this idea myself. This idea came from the Palestinians and Israelis with whom we met and had discussions.

One of the most fascinating experiences I have had as a member of parliament was when we invited the Israeli counsel from the embassy in Canada to our caucus one day to tell us Israel's side of the story. We also invited the Palestinian representative to Canada to come to our caucus. To our amazement, they did not hammer away at each other and were not critical of each other so much as their message was the same. Both of these people had the same message for our caucus: that there was a role for Canada. Perhaps it was not dealing with the leaders, but dealing with other levels in the health care or in the academic or parliamentary fields.

They suggested that this might be an appropriate role for Canada. Even if we cannot influence the leaders at this time, and it seems very difficult to do that, perhaps we can build communication bridges that are not there now. They urged us to do this. It is rather ironic that people on each side of the conflict were saying exactly the same thing to Canadians and urging us to act. They had some good ideas on how to do this. These are tangible things the Government of Canada and Canadians can do. I really believe that Canadians want us to help.

I was fascinated by the cross-country checkup held a couple of weeks ago on the Middle East crisis. I was amazed at the opinions and the thoughtful comments callers made on the Middle East. Obviously Canadians are interested and want us as parliamentarians and government to act.

I agree with the minister that there is no military solution. It has to be a negotiated solution and negotiations need to continue and will go on for a long time. Many issues divide these two peoples and they will not be resolved overnight. First, there has to be a ceasefire and an end to the violence, and then very long, protracted negotiations will need to be entered into which could be another role for Canada.

We can play a second role in addition to the building of bridges and opening the lines of communication that are not there now. Five working groups have been established by the United Nations. They are representative of all countries in the United Nations. One of them is the United Nations working group on refugees.

Canada chairs that group and at the moment it is stalled, not because of Canada but because of the wishes of the parties involved in the Middle East. I would like to see Canada get that working group going again because the refugees and the quality of life they experience are very much part of the antagonism which has resulted in a lot of the violence.

Those of us who have visited refugee camps know what they are like, know what the working conditions are and know that there is absolutely no hope for the people who have been there for 50 years. That has created anger, hatred and desperation which lead people to do desperate things. Canada can play a role in that regard if we are able to restart the United Nations working group on refugees.

It will not be easy, but initial contacts with the Palestinians have indicated that they would be prepared to split the United Nations working group on refugees from the others and perhaps restart it to help improve the quality of life of and give hope to some of the refugees.

Let us imagine living inside the walls of a refugee camp for 50 years, raising children there and those children raising their children there with no hope, with no right to own property, with no right to work in some of the camps, particularly one I visited in Lebanon. We would be desperate too and would perhaps take desperate actions. Those are perhaps some of the reasons for some of the anger and hatred and the source of some of the terrorism. Canada can help in this area if we can get the United Nations working group on refugees restarted.

Not only can we have a role but we do have a role. As other speakers have mentioned earlier we have a responsibility to try to sort this issue out: where it started, who is to blame and all that type of thing.

Resolution No. 181 is headed “Palestine partition plan as approved by the United Nations November 29, 1947”. This resolution took a British protectorate of land and divided it theoretically into one new Jewish state called Israel and one Arab state called Palestine.

If we look at the voting it tells a lot. The vote in favour of the partition plan included countries like Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Iceland, Paraguay, Peru, Poland and many others. If we look at those that were against the plan to create these new states, they included Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, all the countries surrounding this area.

Right from the very beginning they set up a situation which almost could not help but create conflict. Also on the negative side against the plan were Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Yemen, Cuba and Greece. It is ironic that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis had a vote in the vote that created these two states, which has created the problem.

The United Nations failed when it arranged the resolution. It failed in doing the groundwork to get acceptance from the other countries in advance or finding some way to resolve the issues before it passed the resolution. If we look at the map, the countries that voted against the resolution completely surround the Palestinian area known now as Israel and the occupied territories.

All those countries in the United Nations that voted in favour of the partition have an obligation to help solve this problem, and Canada is very much one of those countries. In that way I believe we have an obligation. That is perhaps one of the reasons I developed this interest. I am not sure whether it is the people I have met in the area, the history, the beautiful country that is now being destroyed or our obligation, but for some reason I am motivated to be more interested in it.

When I read Resolution No. 181 I saw a lot of the reason why the problems have resulted. One of the tangible proposals I mentioned earlier that Canada could do was to try to build bridges among the health community, the academic community and the parliamentary community. This was not my idea. It was an idea generated by the Palestinians and the Israelis when they came to a meeting of our caucus entitled “What is the best role for Canada to play”.

One of the things we could do was to create contacts with parliamentarians. We started the process as a result of an idea generated by the Palestinians and the Israelis. It started with a proposal from us to the Minister of Foreign Affairs to bring over parliamentarians from the Israeli Knesset and the Palestinian legislature.

We presented the proposal to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He looked at it and said that it was an interesting proposal which might be useful. Those were his exact words, but he also said that it was a good proposal and maybe they would look at it but he did not have the budget to do it. If it were useful I felt it was worth a little extra effort. I went back to my office and I wondered how we could do it.

First, obviously we had to get them here. I called Air Canada and was going to ask for discounted seats. I did not even get that chance. Air Canada said it was a great idea and donated some seats. It was a great encouragement for us to know right off the bat that a private sector company was prepared to participate in a parliamentary exercise.

We called a few other organizations that participated. I wrote a letter to representatives of the Bank of Nova Scotia and called three days later to ask if they would participate in helping us fund it. They said yes, that they would give $1,000. I thought that was wonderful and thanked them very much. Three days later they called back and said that they had thought about it and would up it to $5,000 because it was a very useful and good thing to do. Other companies that were involved and participated were the Ford Motor Company, SNC-Lavalin and IMP. Saint Mary's University in Halifax was a tremendous supporter in a number of ways.

We originally planned to have the forum in Halifax with the parliamentarians from the Israeli Knesset, the Palestinian legislature and the Canadian parliament. Many individuals and companies in Halifax also contributed. Many individuals and groups raised money to donate to this process. I do not want to name them all, but I do want to name one. Joseph Faisal of Lerner & Associates of London, Ontario, raised money from his Muslim community as did some from Jewish communities in Halifax and other parts of the country. Everyone we asked for help gave it to us.

I learned the lesson that Canadians wanted parliamentarians in Canada to act. They wanted us to help. When Canadians give money we know they are serious. I was moved and proud of the reaction we received.

When we put together enough resources I went back to the Minister of Foreign Affairs who said “Okay, let's do it. It is a good idea. It will be a parliamentary initiative, not a government one”. The fact of the matter is that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has helped this initiative in every possible way. Fortunately the co-chair of this forum was a man who is now the current Minister of Foreign Affairs. That worked out really well.

When we discussed the issue with the Speaker he extended invitations to the parliamentarians in the Knesset and in the Palestinian legislature. I had the good fortune to deliver the invitations on behalf of the Speaker. There was absolutely no hesitation. They agreed before we even left the room on both sides.

This is an indication of something tangible that we can do. As I said earlier, it was originally scheduled for Halifax. We needed facilities. I called the premier of Nova Scotia and with absolutely no hesitation he provided the facilities. I called the mayor of Halifax, Peter Kelly, because I needed something else. He said “Never mind the province. We will provide the facilities”. They were fighting over providing the facilities for this wonderful forum.

Then a Jewish group asked us to hold a community meeting during the peace forum to show that Canadian Muslims and Canadian Jews got along well. The Jewish organization said that we needed someone who was independent to do it and asked us to invite the Catholic archbishop of Halifax to host it. I called him and he said he would do it in a minute. It was incredible that everyone involved agreed to participate.

It was all scheduled for the first week of October and then of course September 11 happened. It had to be cancelled for very real transportation problems and security issues. It is now rescheduled and we hope very much to have it before summer in Ottawa where security is easier and much more flexible. Mr. Speaker has offered to help in a many ways, which is very important to us. As of this weekend we are still on schedule.

I tell that story because for me it is an absolutely fascinating story because the Israelis and the Palestinians told us how Canada could help and the specific, tangible role we could play. It is fascinating because Canadians want us to do it. They want us to participate and are prepared to help and even donate money. I believe that is the real test for Canadians.

I thank both ministers for their continuing support as we have gone through a frustrating time of scheduling and rescheduling. We needed a lot of help. The department has helped us a great deal. It has provided us with resources. Even though it is a parliamentary initiative run by an all party parliamentary steering committee, we have had nothing but co-operation from the department.

I want to summarize the two tangible things that Canada can do that are more than just condemning, criticizing and blaming. I encourage the government to initiate other confidence building measures in the health care community. There are health care workers who will do this. They are already doing it now. Dr. Arnold Noyek in Toronto has already started an organization that is extremely active in this field with health care workers in Jordan: Palestinians, Israelis and Canadians.

We can enhance that. We should encourage Dr. Noyek and his organization. There are academics in the three jurisdictions that are also working together. We should encourage that and for sure we should encourage parliamentary exchanges.

I talked with the speaker of the Palestinian legislature this weekend. He told me that one of the awful things that has happened in this conflict is that the Palestinian legislature, the equivalent of the House of Commons, has now been damaged. It is out of commission. I do not know how bad it is, but the Palestinian legislature has been damaged because of the conflict. Perhaps this parliament could take on helping to restore that parliament because it is their parliament. It is the equivalent of this building and this operation.

The second thing Canada can do that is tangible is to try to find a way to get the United Nations working group on refugees up and running again. It is not our fault that it is not running, but maybe there is some way we could apply pressure and convince all parties involved in holding it back that it should start again. If we can address some of the quality of life issues of the refugees in some of the camps around the Middle East, perhaps some of the anger and hate will be diffused and some of the actions against the Israelis may be curtailed.

It is not enough for us to condemn and criticize because while we are doing that people are still dying. I truly believe there are things we could do. Canada has a role. Perhaps it is more modest than those of the United States and the European Union, but we are in a special position. We are well respected by both sides like no other country. No other country can do the things Canada can do. We cannot do the things the United States can do, but we are so respected and held in such high regard that we can do a lot of things it cannot do.

I hope this parliament and this government will do everything they can to build bridges and to make connections to try to influence the leaders that maybe we cannot influence.

[Sarkis Assadourian, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate the Bloc Quebecois for bringing this motion to the House. I was going to do the same thing, but unfortunately I was a few minutes late. I do appreciate the fact that we are having this debate tonight to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

As members may know, I and the member for Ottawa Centre have the distinct honour of being born in the Middle East. I was born in Syria and my colleague was born in Lebanon.

Since 1948, there have been five wars in the Middle East in the past: 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982 and now in 2002. I was a Syrian soldier of some form in the 1967 war, so I know a bit of what happens in that part of the world. When I talk, I talk from my personal knowledge and experience as a citizen of Syria in the past.

As the House may recall, in 1982 the present prime minister of Israel, Sharon, invaded Lebanon. It is a coincidence that the same prime minister of Israel has invaded the West Bank. There is a policy of expansionism with this prime minister. What is happening today is exactly the same thing that happened in 1982.

In 1982 members of the Israeli justice system accused Sharon of crimes against humanity. Most recently he was charged again in a Belgian court with crimes against humanity. The witness was prepared to speak up and say that he was following orders but the car he was in blew up and the witness died. Therefore there was no case against Sharon as a war criminal for what happened in 1982.

What has happened lately does not surprise me. I do not think Sharon represents the Israeli or Jewish mentality. I have visited Israel twice in the last few years. I admire the Israeli population and their determination and drive to be successful. I had a chance to visit the tomb of fallen prime minister Rabin, whom I had the honour of nominating for the Nobel Peace Prize. With the killing of the former prime minister by the Israeli right wing, the peace process was also killed.

What has happened lately is a continuation of what has been happening for the last 50 years. There is no justification or no reason why these two countries cannot co-exist together, one Palestine, one Israel. The leaders of some Palestinian organizations and maybe Sharon himself are to blame, not the government. These men have a personal vendetta against each other with people on both sides paying; the Israeli side by suicide bombings and the Palestinian side by rockets, tanks and American supplied helicopters. Every weapon in its arsenal is being used against the Palestinian population.

Every world organization condemns what is happening in the Middle East. Not a single government supports the Israeli aggression on Palestinian territory. As recently as two weeks ago, Turkish prime minister, Ecevit, accused Israel, its number one ally in the region, of genocide. This is like the pot calling the kettle black. If the Turkish prime minister calls what is happening in Israel genocide, we must wonder what the truth of the matter is in the region.

With regret, both Israel and Turkey deny genocide happened to Armenians. However the Turkish government is prepared to call what happened in Israel genocide without referring to what it did in 1915 as genocide against Armenians .

I would like to go further. In the 1990s the Oslo agreement took place between late prime minister Rabin and Arafat. There was a really good chance for peace to occur then in the Middle East. Both nations, Israel and Palestine, could have lived together in peace.

As I said earlier, I regret the death of the late prime minister of Israel.

Since then, 200,000 settlers moved into the West Bank. This is a total and absolute violation of the Oslo agreement. Why does everyone condemn what happened to the Palestinians but no one says that the 167 or the 200 settlements which exist there are illegal? They should not be there. I cannot comprehend or understand why we do not condemn them. Perhaps someone should ask us why we do not condemn them because the settlers are also a sore spot with the Palestinians. They look at them and say that it is another occupation, another expansion of Israeli borders from what they were to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

This recent violence began when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited a Muslim holy site knowing full well that his visit would incite problems with the Palestinian and Muslim populations. He threw the bait and the Arabs and Palestinians jumped on it. That is where the whole thing began. Of course the entire situation of September 11 made things worse, and we all know what happened.

Many people when they phone my office ask why we do not apply the same international rules that we apply in Europe to the Middle East, both on the Arab side and the Israeli side. They ask me why we have war crime procedures for Kosovo, Albania and Bosnia. The House passed a war crimes bill. Why can we not do the same for the Middle East, no matter who commits a war crime? It should not matter whether they are Palestinians or Arabs.

I was in Kuwait recently and made note of a couple of things which I want to share with everyone. In the declaration of human rights proclaimed by the UN general assembly on December 10, 1948, article 3 states “Every person has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. Everyone knows that every hour of every day this article is violated. Why do we not pursue this?

Article 9 states “No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”. This has been going on for the last 20 years. I mentioned earlier that 1,500 people were arrested. Why has there been no jury, judge or someone to condemn this, someone to bring this issue to justice on the Palestinian side and the Israeli side?

Two weeks ago, around the end of March, the Arab league had a meeting in Lebanon and endorsed unanimously the position taken by the Saudi government, the crown prince, that they exchange land for peace, security and recognition of the state of Israel. That should be the foundation of a new process. Israel deserves the right to live in a secure border. At the same time Palestinians deserve as much right as any other nation in the world to have their own state, their own country and to run their own affairs. If anyone wants to hold Arafat responsible for anything, they should make him a true leader of a country, not of pieces here and there, and then say that he did not act responsibly.

The former leader of the official opposition mentioned that Arafat is the person responsible because he cannot control it. The proof is here. The hon. member could not control his own backbenchers and lost his own seat. He has already lost his own position. Because one is a leader does not mean the individual can control events, especially when the country is at war.

I will add one final point at the risk of repeating myself. It was said in the past that if we want to make peace, we talk to our enemies. If these two individuals do not speak, there will be no peace and things will escalate. It will be worse and we will all pay for it. I do not think it is in our national interest or any nation's interest to have a war in the Middle East because at the end of the day we will all pay for it. There is no need for it. I believe deeply that both people want to live in peace. They both deserve a homeland and dignity as human beings. Let us help them achieve that dignity and live in peace.

I am sharing my time, Madam Speaker, within my colleague from Gatineau.

[Mark Assad, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration]

Madam Speaker, first I want to thank the hon. member for Mercier for bringing this debate to the House. The ongoing crisis that is escalating from day to day made this debate necessary.

I also want to point out that our colleague from Burnaby—Douglas is here in the House. I am glad to see him safe and sound and I congratulate him on his great courage.

There were many comments made here this evening. I was listening to the leader of the New Democratic Party. I thought she had an excellent presentation which brought out the fact that many organizations in the world were speaking out with concern about the crisis and that Canada could play a role regardless of its size. Size is not what is important. It is the moral support that we can bring to the resolution of the problem.

One organization that has spoken out is the World Council of Churches. It said:

On March 9, the thirteen Patriarchs and Heads of Churches and Christian communities in Jerusalem issued a statement calling on the Israeli government to "stop all kinds of destruction and death caused by the heavy Israeli weaponry". It is their belief that "Israeli security is dependent on Palestinian freedom and justice...

That has been said by many of us here in the past. It went on to say:

--and they note that "the way the present Israeli Government is dealing with the situation makes neither for security nor for a just peace". The local church leaders also urge the Palestinian people to put "an end to every kind of violent response...

I think that anybody who is fair-minded and has any sense of humanity understands that suicide bombings and the killing of innocent people is inconceivable and should be denounced. However the occupation and total submission of a people is unacceptable.

One member mentioned that for over 50 years people have lived in refugee camps under the most direr conditions. Can we expect these people not to take desperate measures? We have seen that in the past. Therefore, we have to resolve the occupation problem. Once that is resolved, we are on the road to peace.

I would like to read another quote from the World Council of Churches. It said:

Even more distressing is the emergence of new patterns of abuses such as the Israeli military re-occupation of Palestinian cities, incursions into refugee camps...

They are destitute enough without that. It went on to say:

--mass arbitrary detentions of civilians under degrading circumstances and the deadly attacks on medical and rescue staff, as attested by Israeli, Palestinian and international human rights organizations.

It goes without saying that these conditions cannot continue. Like one of my colleagues said, “If you want to make peace, talk to your enemy”. However we have seen very few attempts to sit down and resolve the problems. The major problem is the fact that the occupation is still happening. If we cannot resolve that how can we expect any peace? That is the first message we have to give to that part of the region.

When it comes to a resolution of the problem, there is hope. Tonight I heard our Minister of Foreign Affairs mention that Canada could be called upon to monitor. I take from the word monitor that maybe the Canadian government would send a force over there to keep the peace between the belligerents that seem to be out of control.

One proposal was brought forward last year when the President of the United States sent over Senator Mitchell. He came back and wrote a very substantial report with recommendations. The first recommendation was an unconditional cessation of violence. Second was a restoration of confidence through dialogue and discussion. Third was the resumption of negotiations for a sustainable and just peace.

That is needed to break the cycle of violence. It is necessary but it cannot be done without third party assistance. That is where Canada could be instrumental. We should speak out because all other countries in the world look up to us. They have faith in our judgment. We could take this step.

A former member of the House who is now in the Senate, Senator Pierre De Bané, proposed what he thought would be a solution: a multinational security force. This was discussed among a lot of our colleagues. The force would have a few purposes. First, it would try to overcome mistrust, divide the hostile parties and bring about peace in the region. Second, it could call on countries that are friends of Israel like Canada, the United States, France, Great Britain and even Egypt, the first Arab state to make peace with Israel.

The multinational security force is something we could easily put into effect because we have peacekeeping experience in different parts of the world. We have played the role of peacemaker. We are not powder monkeys. We are peacemakers. Let us keep that in mind.

Many speakers tonight have brought forward views about how the conflict could be resolved. To begin with we must have the means to stop the hostilities. This can only be done if the United Nations comes up again with the idea and insists that a multinational force like the one Canada has proposed go into the area to keep the calm and get a dialogue going for peace.

For more than 50 years people have been living in refugee camps humiliated and destitute. They take the most desperate measures to try to resolve their problems. It creates a cycle of violence. Breaking the cycle will require a third party force. We can be that force in the world. It is important that the Canadian government at the suggestion of the minister go there to monitor the situation. That is one of the steps.

Another thing that was brought out was the peace proposal by Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. There is nothing new to it but I am convinced if the peace process brought forward by Prince Abdullah were adhered to the Palestinians would be happy with the situation. If that is something the United States and the European community are contemplating it could be the basis of a new peace initiative or understanding.

There is a lot more to say but, unfortunately, I am running out of time. I will close by saying that I was very pleased to hear the Minister of Foreign Affairs mention the possibility that Canada could play a monitoring role in the Middle East to ensure that there is peace in the region during the discussions.

There is a lot of emotion in this issue. I listened to the first speaker of the Alliance, the hon. member for Cumberland--Colchester. He made a statement I thought was unbelievable and I have to mention it. He said resistance to occupation was unacceptable. Does that make any sense? What about the French resistance and all the resistance during the second world war? Let us take the example of Nelson Mandela whom we honoured as an honorary citizen.

[Sarkis Assadourian, Liberal, Brampton Centre, ON]

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I ask the House for unanimous consent to allow me one minute to present a motion supporting our government's position at the UN calling on Israel to withdraw, resolution 1402.

[The Acting Speaker (Ms. Bakopanos)]

We will take one step at a time. First, the hon. member is asking to take the floor again. According to the rules he must have unanimous consent to take the floor again. Is there unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Some hon. members]

No.

[Keith Martin, Canadian Alliance, Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca, BC]

Madam Speaker, in Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness the main protagonist Kurtz was dying as he went down the Congo River. His last words were “the horror, the horror”. Members can imagine the numbers of people in the Middle East, Palestinian and Israeli, who are saying “the horror, the horror“.

All of us have been held rapt by the television, dismayed, disgusted and deeply saddened by the carnage taking place in Israel and the occupied territories. We feel for the people of Israel. We feel for the Muslims and the Jews. However it appears there is no end in sight to this intractable war.

In a war that has few certainties there may be a few. First, smashing through Palestinian homes, killing innocent civilians, destroying infrastructure that is there for the people, giving people no hope whatsoever, and destroying their economy and their future will only serve to ensure the conflict continues forever.

Second, suicide bombers will never be able to drive Israel out. Israel is here to stay. Murdering innocent Israelis will only harden Israel's position. Israel will not be defeated.

The continued illegal occupation of Palestinian territories and the expansion of illegal settlements in the territories will only ensure the Palestinians continue to act out in any way, shape or form left to them. It will ensure there continues to be conflict and death in the area.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad are the enemies of peace, as are the Israeli and Jewish extremists responsible for killing their former prime minister.

What can be done in this situation? How do we untie the Gordian knot? First, there must be recognition of a Palestinian state. Its borders must be defined as those that existed before 1967. A demilitarized zone must be placed around the borders and they must be policed by a multilateral peacekeeping force.

Second, Islamic Jihad and Hamas must be rooted out and destroyed forever. If the Palestinian Authority and Mr. Arafat are willing to turn a blind eye and unwilling to take responsibility for rooting out terrorist organizations, perhaps a third force is a better way. An international peacemaking force could go in, root out these individuals and decommission their weapons. It would not be easy, but better they do it than the Israelis.

Third, the illegal settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip must be removed. Members of the House would find it appalling to know that the settlements were built in the last couple of decades for members of the Jewish expatriate community from Russia, eastern Europe and the United States. These people have no place in the area. They were not born there. They have no family connections to the area. They have no connection other than their religion. They must find other places to live. It is not right that they displace Palestinians from their homes.

Fourth, the security of both Israel and Palestine must be ensured by both parties in word as well as deed. It is not acceptable that Mr. Arafat and the Palestinian Authority tell the Israeli people they want peace while turning a blind eye to Hamas and Islamic Jihad in their own territories who are taking up arms and blowing up innocent Israeli civilians. Nor is it acceptable for the Israeli government to stand and say it wants peace while allowing not only the presence but the expansion of settlements in Palestinian territory, something that is in violation of United Nations resolutions and basic norms of decency.

We tend to forget that while Jerusalem is important to Muslims and Jews it is also important to Christians. As Jerusalem was deemed an international city in 1948, so too must Jerusalem be named an international city in the future. The issue will not be resolved any other way. Neither side will accept any proposal that allows the other to retain control of its holy sites. The city belongs to the world.

The Jewish people have been subjected to anti-Semitism in many parts of the world and experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. They have endured so much pain, suffering, racism and discrimination it is difficult to imagine they would take it on themselves to inflict pain and suffering on another people. It is difficult to imagine why they would destroy the hope, future and economy of another people. I find that thinking impossible to fathom.

It is also impossible to fathom Muslims who have a beautiful religion turning a blind eye to the murder of innocent Jewish civilians in a most egregious fashion. It violates their beautiful religion. It violates Islam. I do not understand why it is allowed to continue.

I will issue two challenges. I challenge the Muslim community to stand and speak out against anti-Semitism. I ask Muslims to stand up for peace. I ask them to stand against terrorists who are willing to blow up innocent Israeli people.

I challenge Jews to speak out against racism against Muslims. I ask them to speak out when Kurds are thrust into crisis. I ask them to speak out when Muslims are subjected to racism and discrimination. I challenge both groups to do that.

Getting out of this mess will require an international effort. It will require a coalition of the United States, the Arab community, the European Union and the United Nations speaking with one voice. Such a coalition must be committed to dealing with the thorny issues that affect that part of the world and putting forth common solutions for the betterment of civilians on both sides. If this does not happen the intractable conflict that is resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians will only get worse. Furthermore, the problems will not be confined to the Middle East but will expand.

We have already seen situations in Europe where Muslims and Jews are fighting. I fear the conflagration will expand and that, sadly, Jewish and Muslim conflicts will take place in many other parts of the world as the hatred spills over and is cemented.

I will never forget a Muslim obstetrician who every day would go across to a hospital in Israel where he delivered the babies of Israeli women. When asked why he did it he said “It is difficult to hate a person who is there to deliver your baby.” It was a remarkable effort on the part of that individual to put his hand out in peace, go the extra step and not be bound by history.

I ask that Jews, Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians work together toward that common goal. If they do not they will both sink into a bloody inferno the future of which I do not like to think about.

In closing I draw to the attention of hon. members a saying that is common in the Middle East: Peace is when a son buries his father; War is when a father buries his son. No one wants any more wars. No one wants fathers burying their sons and daughters. Let us have peace.

No one wants anymore wars. No one wants any fathers burying their sons and daughters. Let us have peace.

[Gurmant Grewal, Canadian Alliance, Surrey Central, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise on behalf of the constituents of Surrey—Central to participate in the debate on the grave situation in the Middle East.

The hon. members for Coquihalla—Okanagan, Edmonton—Strathcona and Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca have all spoken on this issue with grave concerns. I will not repeat what they have said but I strongly support what they have already said.

Before I venture into details and the more serious content of my speech let me use the toughest words in the toughest context to condemn violence by suicide bombers and other sympathizers of Palestine. I strongly condemn any form of terrorism as does every Canadian. Let me also condemn in equally tough words the violence by the armed forces of the State of Israel.

Violence has no place in civilized society. Violence cannot be ended by another form of violence. Injuring, maiming or killing innocent civilians, children and women should not be tolerated by the humane society of the so called global village. Human rights of innocent people must be respected at any cost.

I am one of the few members in the House who had the opportunity to visit the current conflict area. I visited Israel, Jerusalem, East Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In Palestine I visited Ramallah, West Bank, Erez, Ramaha and Gaza. I have also driven to Jordan.

I visited refugee camps in Palestine and Jordan and have spoken to a number of officials, volunteers, residents and refugees. I have spoken to refugees who have been temporarily living in refugee homes for about half a century under deplorable conditions. Their children are not able to go to schools, the sick are not able to get health care and the hungry could not even get food, clothing and shelter.

I have seen with disappointment the shouting fence at the border of Gaza and Egypt where about 900 family members remained separated for about half a century. The international community has neglected to rejoin those separated families. The father and son are on one side and the mother and daughter are on the other side of the fence. They call it the shouting fence because two fences are separated by a road about 60 or 70 feet wide and they yell to communicate with each other since there are no other means of communicating. The international community has been watching 900 hundred families that have been separated for half a century.

The unemployment rate in the Palestine controlled territory has been about 85%. Roads or other infrastructure is either non-existent or in very poor condition. After my visit I predicted dire consequences from the neglect, absence of preventive diplomacy and the will to actively prevent or resolve the conflict and the double standards applied by the international community in that region.

Though it is late the conflict can and must be ended. It can be resolved rather than left to a point where the region is more polarized. Religion becomes a serious and major element of conflict. It is already there and terrorism becomes sporadic and systemic in this civilized society and a threat never seen before.

In the recent conflict suicide bombings have been devastating, killing and affecting innocent people. They have caused suffering to innocent families in buses, coffee shops, restaurants, shopping malls and any other gathering place.

The attacks and incursions by Israelis, killing and affecting innocent people, attacking hospitals, denying suffering innocents the medical essentials, damaging ambulances, and destroying homes and properties, are not fair and just.

Canadians are a peace loving people and have been peacemakers and peacekeepers of the world but that influence is fading. Let us see what Canada has done or what Canada's interests are. Through CIDA Canada provides $10 million foreign aid to the Palestinian authority per year, mostly through UN relief agencies, the World Bank and humanitarian aid. This aid could be used as a lever for pressuring an end to violence.

However let us look at the unofficial figures that are not given by the ministry of foreign affairs. In 1994-95 Canada committed $55 million in foreign aid to Palestinians in that region. By 1998 Canada had already spent $136 million, basically misdirected foreign aid. That is more than triple the amount that Canada committed. I have seen the details of the $136 million. I was surprised to see that most of the money has been spent on cultural functions, organizing seminars, and those kinds of things, $25,000 for one seminar and $20,000 for another seminar.

Trade is not an important element even though Canada has a free trade agreement with Israel that was signed in 1996 and a similar pact with the Palestinian authority signed in 1999. Trade with Israel is about $1 billion and about $1.5 million with the Palestinian authority.

Canada has about 228 soldiers stationed in the region, some 190 with the UN force in the Golan Heights, 30 with a multinational force in Sinai, and eight personnel serve with the UN truce supervision mission in Jerusalem. Their fate and safety are not assured. Canadian forces are overstretched and not able to play a major role in the Middle East peacekeeping mission. Canada cannot exercise meaningful political leadership. This is not a realistic option in that region.

The United Nations is also weak in this crisis. It is not well placed to deal with the kind of terrorist violence that has undermined the peace negotiations. The United Nations can only pass resolutions such as 1402. Only the United States of America has political clout and weight. The United States of America gives about $3 billion to Israel per year. The U.S. can force both parties to come to the negotiating table.

Canada firmly supports the Israel-PLO peace agreement signed on September 13, 1993. This agreement should become a comprehensive agreement based on UN security council resolutions 242 and 338. It seems, perhaps due to double standards, that these resolutions have never been applied.

Not only has the requirement for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied in 1967 not occurred, but Israel has also annexed the eastern part of Jerusalem which was taken from Jordan in 1967 and the Golan Heights seized from Syria in 1967. These annexations and the movement of Israeli civilians into these territories are not and should not be recognized by the international community. The international community has to be fair and just.

Canada does not recognize permanent Israeli control over the territories occupied in 1967 and opposes all unilateral actions intended to predetermine the outcome of negotiations. Canada considers such actions to be contrary to international law and unproductive to the peace process. Canada recognizes that the legitimate rights of Palestinians must be realized, including the right to self-determination to be exercised through peace negotiations.

So what can Canada do? Unfortunately Canada does not have much influence except to support the U.S. led peace mission. We can end fundraising by groups like Hezbollah.

What can the international community do? I give the analogy of a domestic pressure cooker. When heat is burning under the pressure cooker steam is produced. If people do not want steam it can be contained by the weight of the pressure cooker. There is always an escape valve. If we do not want steam to be produced, what must be done? The international community must remove the heat that is burning under the pressure cooker so no pressure is required and no steam is produced. That is what the international community must do to recognize and identify the causes of terrorism and violence in that area. That is what we must do.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources Development]

Mr. Speaker, I will share my time with the hon. member for Brossard—La Prairie.

Let me be clear about the difficult situation in the Middle East. The war which is going on today between Israel and the Palestinians is not about the occupation of the territories, problematic as that reality may be. It is about the legitimacy of Israel's existence.

In 1948 Israel was attacked by five Arab armies in an unprovoked attack in contravention of the two-thirds majority vote of the United Nations creating the state of Israel. It was in that defensive war that Israel came into possession of the land demarcated by the so-called green line. Despite this resolution well over 50 years ago Israel remains unrecognized today by any Arab states with the exception of Jordan and Egypt.

The PLO was founded in 1964. That is three years before the 1967 war during which in a defensive action Israel came into possession what today we call the territories. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah have made it graphically clear that their unrelenting hostility to Israel is not linked to any peace agreements, but rather to the very fact of Israel's existence. Moreover, they have been equally clear in indicating that they consider terrorism, specifically and explicitly targeted at civilians, as their weapon of choice.

Donald Rumsfeld, the American secretary of defense, has stated:

Murderers are not martyrs. Targeting civilians is immoral, whatever the excuse. Terrorists have declared war on civilization, and states like Iran, Iraq and Syria are inspiring and financing a culture of political murder and suicide bombing.

At the height of the Oslo peace talks, with security co-operation apparently solidly in place and with one of the accord's key architects, Shimon Peres running for prime minister, terrorist attacks intensified.

Israel has amply demonstrated its commitment to the principle of land for peace and its willingness to relinquish occupied territory. It did so with Egypt with regard to land taken in another defensive war, the Sinai, and later with Jordan. It demonstrated an unprecedented and historic willingness to relinquish territory at the Camp David 2 negotiations. This offer was met, not with a counter offer, but rather with intifada and increased terrorism.

It is clear that this conflict pre-dates the occupation that followed the 1967 war and that the core of this issue is not the occupation of the territories but rather the fact of the existence of the state of Israel in the first place.

While the list of facts and arguments supporting this view are long and compelling, it is important to note the context. George P. Fletcher wrote in the New York Times and other legal experts have long affirmed that:

...it is not illegal for victorious powers to occupy hostile territory seized in the course of war until they are able to negotiate a successful peace treaty with their former enemies.

This is what Israel has done. Israel has consistently shown a willingness to engage in precisely such negotiations, but whatever the course of these negotiations, successful or otherwise, the terror has continued.

I bring to the attention of the House a recent interview conducted by the BBC's HARDtalk on April 1 with the person identified as the Hamas representative in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan. Tim Sebastian is the person who conducted the interview.

Tim Sebastian: So you don't say whether you will listen to them (leaders of Arab states) if they said “stop the intifada”, and you (Hamas) certainly don't listen to Yasser Arafat when he says “stop the suicide bombing”.

Osama Hamdan: Yasser Arafat didn't say that.

Tim Sebastian: He didn't say “stop the bombing?”

Osama Hamdan: No, he didn't say it.

Tim Sebastian: That's what he says he said.

Osama Hamdan: He said it the day after the operation.

Tim Sebastian: So he is saying one thing to the outside world, and a different thing to you.

Osama Hamdan: Yes. Maybe.

Tim Sebastian: That's quite an admission...That's quite an admission.

Let me repeat that Osama Hamdan is the Hamas representative in Lebanon.

This is not news. This is a reiteration of an old story. The point is that the current Palestinian leadership has made it clear that the terrorism will continue no matter what stance Israel stakes out, no matter what the status of the conflict is, no matter what concessions Israel may make in the context of peace negotiations. No civilized country mired in the context I have just laid out can be expected to passively submit to such a clear, premeditated, strategic assault on its survival as a state.

There is a second level to this conflict that strikes still closer to home. Israel, no more or less so than any other democracy, has no pretensions to perfection. Moreover, it is legitimate to engage in constructive debate with regard to her policies or that of any other country.

What is not acceptable is to allow such debate to deteriorate into raw anti-Semitism. I am referring here to the poisonous Zionism is racism resolution of the United Nations and the more local incidents of anti-Semitism, as manifested in France, dating back to the infamous cemetery desecration at Carpentras, or as occurred last week in Canada with the firebombing of a synagogue in Saskatoon.

In France in the past few months, the growing anti-Semitic trend includes attacks on and desecration of synagogues, documented reports of chants of “vive bin Laden” and “death to the Jews” in street demonstrations and the shockingly disparaging slurs expressed privately against the state of Israel by the French ambassador Daniel Bernard. The echoes of the experience of French Jews during the infamous Vichy regime are stark.

The organized Jewish community of Canada has a proven track record of coming to the defence of any group subjected to such attacks. I would like to quote a few examples if I may.

On September 17, 2001, Mr. Keith Landy, national president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, wrote to Mr. Singh, president of the National Association of Indo-Canadians, and stated:

...I write to condemn unequivocally the heinous attack that gutted the Hindu Temple in Hamilton...We share your pain and anguish now at the loss of your spiritual home and communal gathering place and your sense of outrage that there would be those who could have their hearts filled with such venom and anger as to lash out in this contemptible way.

Further, Mr. Moshe Ronen, national president of the Canadian Jewish Congress, stated on October 10, 2000:

We strongly condemn the defacement of a Palestinian centre in Toronto and Jewish synagogues and other institutions in Toronto and Ottawa, carried out by perpetrators unknown. Such acts of vandalism have no place anywhere in Canada.

Further, the chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, wrote to Mr. Sikandar Khan, president of the B.C. Muslim Association, on November 27, 2000, and stated:

Please accept the support of Canadian Jewish Congress, Pacific Region, for the Muslim community of B.C., over the fire that desecrated the Masjid Mosque in Surrey on Friday...we unequivocally condemn such a grotesque act as an assault on all Canadians.

Last is a letter from February 27, 2002. Mr. Ed Morgan, chair of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Ontario Region, wrote to Pandit Ganesh Persaud and stated:

We were deeply shocked to learn of the attack on your temple that took place on February 8. The desecration of a holy temple is a despicable act of hatred and cowardice.

In sum, our Canadian democracy is our sacred trust. It is rooted in a set of values that is predicated on resolving conflict in non-violent ways. It is for this reason that we defend each other against violence irrespective of our different political, religious or cultural perspectives.

Can there be any conceivable basis for disagreement on this issue in the wake of the events of last September? It is why rabbis, Jewish community leaders and Jewish community groups spoke out on behalf of the Muslims, the Hindus and the Palestinians, as I have just quoted, after the tragedy of September 11 when they suffered vandalism to their institutions. Recent attacks on Canadian synagogues are profoundly disturbing and simply cannot be tolerated. They must be condemned by all parties irrespective of individual views held on conflicts in the Middle East or elsewhere.

I urge all members of Canada's parliament to have the courage to understand and identify the actual roots of the history of the conflict in the Middle East. Let us not allow the hatred that distorts that history to take root in our own country.

[Jacques Saada, Liberal, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

Mr. Speaker, the complexity of the Middle East's history, emotions and dynamics require a great deal of humility from all those who venture in this political minefield. This humility is all the more necessary since, in these times of extreme violence, moderation no longer seems to be a virtue.

Of Jewish origin I was born in an Arab country, namely Tunisia. I spent a short part of my life in Israel. I grew up in the context of zionism. As a child, I remember my parents being glued to the radio, listening to the news on the 1956 Suez conflict. As a teenager or young adult and a member of a zionist organization, the hachomer hatzair , the young guard, I was a volunteer during the 1967 six day war, and I lived in a kibbutz close to Haifa.

I learned at a very early age that in the concentration camps, in the middle of the pogroms and before the inquisition stakes, or in the comfort of a western house during the Pesah, Passover, Jews would repeat this incantation, this symbol of our judaism Bechanah habah birouchalaim , next year in Jerusalem; the hope of finding again the land of our ancestors, the hope, but also the determination.

So, Israel has always been part of my culture, my deep convictions, my ideals and who I am. But at the same time that I was learning to fight anti-semitism, I learned to fight all forms of racism, I learned to fight injustices.

Is it not tragically remarkable that the Palestinian and Jewish peoples both have literally suffered centuries of injustices? These are two peoples toward which history has a heavy debt; two peoples that long for their land, their independence and their security; two peoples that use the same words to salute each other: Chalom , Salam ; two peoples that, each in its own way, were the scapegoats of political or hegemonic ambitions.

On November 29, 1947, after the greatest human tragedy of all times, the Holocaust, the United Nations decided that Palestine would be divided into two countries, one Jewish—which was already occupied by a majority of Jewish people, contrary to a popular myth—and the other one Arab.

It is sadly ironic that in 2002, 55 years later, the UN is adopting another resolution, Resolution 1397, which affirms the ideal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side and respecting safe and recognized borders. This is an admission of failure since the UN must essentially pass the same resolution half a century later.

But how can this resolution be implemented as long as terrorism holds the upper hand? What pressure will persuade Chairman Arafat to denounce terrorism?

In my view, terrorism cannot be divided into good and bad. There is only one form of terrorism, and that is the one that kills blindly. Since when has terrorism been an instrument of peace? How can we not fight against terrorism in the Middle East when we fight against terrorism in Afghanistan?

In the past few years, the failure of the Camp David peace negotiations and the attacks carried out in order to derail the peace process have revived the fear of disappearing, the spectre of anti-Semitism.

What pressure can be brought to bear to restore hope and trust to the crowd of Israelis who took part in the peace rally organized in Tel Aviv by the Shalom Akhchav , or peace now, movement on November 4, 1995, the fateful day when Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated? Demonizing Israel will certainly not achieve that goal.

I support the demand issued to Ariel Sharon to withdraw his troops from Palestinian cities on the West Bank.

But all this will have been in vain if it simply gives terrorism an even freer hand. This is why I also, and simultaneously, support the demand issued to Chairman Arafat to immediately bring to an end the acts of terrorism committed on behalf of the cause he represents.

The advanced social disintegration and injustice from which the Palestinian people are suffering, and which I recognize, and for which the entire region must assume a share of responsibility, will not be resolved by the action of kamikazes. There will be no military or violent solution to this conflict. It is a political conflict whose solution can only be political.

I urge the House and I urge Mr. Arafat to reread his own letter, the one he wrote to Yitzhak Rabin on September 9, 1993. He mentioned, and I quote:

The PLO commits itself to the Middle East peace process, and to a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the two sides and declares that all outstanding issues relating to permanent status will be resolved through negotiations.

I also invite the other countries in the region to subscribe to these principles, particularly those that are financing and openly supporting the acts of terrorism.

I would also call upon the heads of the two factions, that is the heads of Palestine and of Israel, to take their inspiration from article III 1 of the Israel-Egypt peace treaty, which reads as follows:

The Parties...recognize and will respect each other's sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence;(b) They recognize and will respect each other's right to live in peace within their secure and recognized boundaries; (c) They will refrain from the threat or use of force, directly or indirectly, against each other and will settle all disputes between them by peaceful means.

I will close by quoting the words spoken by Yitzhak Rabin mere minutes before he was assassinated:

Without partners for peace, there can be no peace. We will demand that they do their part for peace, just as we will do our part for peace, in order to solve the most complicated, prolonged, and emotionally charged aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict: the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Before even giving any thought to a technical solution, I would invite the parties to take inspiration from this message from Yitzhak Rabin and to open the door to the U.S. initiatives. Not to do so will condemn our children and the generations after them to continue to suffer helplessly in a never-ending war.

[Antoine Dubé, Bloc, Lévis-Et-Chutes-De-La-Chaudière, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I was delighted to hear that you had acceded to the request for the emergency debate we are having tonight on the crisis in the Middle East. This request was made yesterday by my colleague from Mercier, our foreign affairs critic. First, I would like to congratulate her on this initiative and on the speech she made tonight. Her speech sought balance and peace.

I would like to advise you that I will be sharing my time with the member for Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier, who will speak immediately after me. He too thinks he has important things to say.

Second, I would like to say that if I am taking part in this debate tonight it is not because of my personal experience or because I know people on both sides, but rather as a member of the Sub-Committee on Human Rights and International Development of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Rights are extremely important to me. Unfortunately, however, these days, and for some time now, human rights have been and are being trampled by both sides in the Middle East.

I would like to focus on the rights of displaced people and the problems they face. Even if I am not as well versed in history as my colleague from Mercier, I believe that at this point in time and after several speeches, it is appropriate to point out a few historical facts.

First, the territory now occupied by the Palestinians and the Israelis has been the scene of many conflicts dating back to at least 2000 BC. So things go back a long way. It is a long-standing conflict. Other areas in the world have also experienced conflicts. It is not the only one. It is, however, fair to say that this area has a special tradition when it comes to conflicts.

The territory in question, especially the city of Jerusalem, saw the birth of three major religions: Catholicism, of course, Judaism and Islam. However, the idea of a Jewish state goes back to 1896 and comes from Theodor Herzl, who wrote on the subject. The concept was being discussed at the time and he wrote about it.

In those days, the Palestinian territory was under the Ottoman Empire. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain occupied and administered this territory. It was a more extensive territory though. After World War II and the Holocaust, which the Jews remember today—nobody can deny this genocide, which I too deplore, because it is a an event in history nobody would wish to any people—the Israeli-Palestinian issue was brought before the UN in February 1947.

We have the feeling that the international community, though perhaps not out of guilt, wanted to do something to make up for certain lack of action during World War II. Several months of discussion ensued during which a former Prime Minister of Canada, Lester B. Pearson, had a prominent and influential role. He played a crucial role before the adoption by the UN General Assembly of resolution 181(11), which partitioned the Palestinian territory into eight areas, in which Israel was to be included. Three zones were given to the Jews, and three to the Arabs. The city of Jaffa was to be an Arab city, and Jerusalem was to be under international control.

But the situation degenerated. War broke out between the two parties in 1948. Fleeing before the Israeli army, Arab populations from Palestine sought refuge beyond the borders. In 1949, the number of refugees reached 725,000.

In December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 194-3, which stated that refugees wishing to return home and live in peace with their neighbours should be authorized to do so as soon as possible, and that compensation should be provided in payment for property or for damages to the property of those who did not wish to return.

An analogy can be made with situations we have experienced here. It is not entirely comparable, but it explains what happens when people are forced to move outside their region, or lose their property. This situation can be compared to that of Mirabel, where people were expropriated. There is also the case of Forillon park. Quebecers who are watching will tell us that those who experienced this experienced hardship and anxiety.

In the Middle East, the hardship and anxiety are over more than money: it is about their very existence, about their lives. From 1948 to 1960, the issue of Palestinian refugees came up every year at the UN.

The reason I am dwelling on this important aspect of displaced persons is to explain that this type of situation is a breeding ground for terrorism. I cannot accept terrorism, and I believe that parliamentarians do not accept it either, but it is an important fact.

Because I am running out of time, I will leave out the more recent history. Everyone knows that they have reached a deadlock in the region. Unfortunately, with the current parties involved in the conflict, it is difficult to foresee a solution resulting from bilateral negotiations. We cannot simply put the two parties together and hope for the best. The international community needs to act.

Was it not, incidentally, the international community that allowed the two peoples to exist, Israelis, the Jews, and Palestinians? I believe that by accepting this principle, we must denounce the Government of Canada's approach of sitting on the sidelines, content to follow the Americans.

However, the value of that initiative and its importance for the future must be recognized. I do not wish to criticize, but at the same time, on April 5, at the human rights commission in Geneva, Canada was one of two countries that opposed the sending of a mission to observe the situation in Palestine and in the surrounding area. Canada objected, and that did not look good. Canada should redeem itself.

Given the inalienable right of Israel to exist and the right of Palestinians to a viable state, there is no military solution to this conflict. Dialogue and negotiation alone will lead to peace.

Terrorism, whatever its origin, must be denounced. The Palestinian authority and Yasser Arafat must play an essential role in resolving this situation.

In the short term, Israel must heed the calls of the United States, the European Union and many other countries and it must comply with UN resolutions 1402 and 1403. It must also stop Operation Protective Wall and withdraw from Palestinian cities.

The Palestinian authority must also do its part, by officially condemning suicide bombers and other terrorists, while the United Nations must seriously consider deploying an international peacekeeping force.

Canada must promote the idea of an international peacekeeping force and continue to fight for a fair solution to this problem. In a conflict, there are often two versions of the facts and responsibility on both sides. The government must strongly object to the use of excessive force and terrorism by both parties. The Prime Minister must also take the opportunity afforded to him by his current tour to ensure that Canada's voice is heard, and parliament must be used to support the voice of the government on the international scene.

[Richard Marceau, Bloc, Charlesbourg—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as it happens, this emergency debate is taking place today, April 9, which is Yom Hashoah . This is the day of remembrance of the Holocaust, in which six million men, women and children had their lives taken from them simply because they were Jews.

I would like to begin by congratulating the hon. member for Mercier for proposing this emergency debate, which I believe is of vital importance.

As we know, the situation in the Middle East is excessively complicated. It is very hard to understand. To gain a better grasp of it, I think it is important to give a bit of historical background.

In 1947, as has been said already, the United Nations voted for the division of the then Palestine, which was under British mandate, into two states: an Arab state of Palestine and a Jewish state. The Jews under David Ben Gurion accepted this partition, this division. The Arabs, on the other hand, rejected it, and the armies of five countries invaded a state that did not yet exist, refusing to accept this partition and the creation of a Jewish state.

In 1948, Israel proclaimed its independence, and the only democratic state in the region was created. Israel's status as the only democratic state in this region is as true today, 50 years after partition, as it was at the time.

In 1967, during the Six Day War, the Israeli army engaged in a defensive action to fight off three countries that were preparing to invade and took possession of what are today known as the occupied territories, that is the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In 1973, on the holiest of the Jewish holy days, Yom Kippur , the forces of three countries invaded Israel. The Israeli army, in a series of surprise moves, was able to repel the invaders and even to take possession of the Sinai.

A mere four years after that war, after this attack on the holiest of the high holy days in the Jewish calendar, Israel recognized the principle of land for peace. In the late 1970s, it accepted the Camp David agreements. It withdrew from the Sinai and forced the Jewish settlements to be dismantled. Even then, Israel was prepared to give up land for peace. I would remind hon. members that this peace treaty was signed by a Prime Minister of the right, Menachem Begin.

Since then, however, the situation has remained tense. In 1993, the Oslo process brought a glimmer of hope. Both parties recognize the facts, which are hard to deny: there are two peoples, and these two peoples need to recognize each other if they are to be able to move toward peace.

Yet, since 1993, the situation has constantly deteriorated, even though, under the watch of former President Bill Clinton, the parties had come very close to an agreement in Camp David II. However, Chairman Arafat of the Palestinian Authority rejected the near agreement and left the negotiations table to return to Palestine. Shortly after, the second Intifada was launched.

Since then, innocent civilians, men, women and children on Israeli and Palestinian sides have lost their lives in a cycle of infernal and unacceptable violence for the international community and for the two communities involved. What, then, can we do?

The first thing to do is to acknowledge some basic principles which will guide the action of the Canadian government and that of the international community: first, recognize the inalienable right of existence of Israel within borders which are safe and recognized. This is essential if we want to move forward.

Incidentally, I recall that the narrowest part of the Israeli territory is a mere eight miles across. This would not provide safe borders if a hostile army were to invade Israel.

The second basic principle is the right of Palestinians to a viable and independent state. The third principle is that there will be no military solution to this conflict. And the fourth principle which should guide our action and the action of the international community is that terrorism is unacceptable.

What should we do now? Two things which go hand in hand must be done immediately. First, pursuant to United Nations resolutions 1402 et 1403, end Operation Protective Wall launched by Tsahal, the Israeli army, and withdraw from Palestinian towns. This is what is required from Israel; A concomitant demand is placed upon Palestinians to end terrorism as a result of the unequivocal condemnation of terrorism as totally unacceptable.

Yasser Arafat and other Palestinian leaders have to declare in English and Arabic, to the whole world and to their own people, that suicide attacks and all terrorist attacks are totally unacceptable. These two obligations go together.

Now, in the middle and long term, negotiations should resume on the basis that was accepted by both parties, that is the Tenet plan, named after the director of the CIA, and the Mitchell report, named after a former U.S. senator. To that end, the international community should not shy away from a more formal and a deeper involvement, which can take several forms. It could send observers, or an implementation force, or hold an international conference, for example, but the international community cannot afford to stay on the sidelines. It should get involved because, day after day, civilians, innocent people, women, men and children are losing their lives in a horrible way.

To conclude, we know the outline of a potential accord which both parties might accept. This was sketched out at Camp David II, when Yasser Arafat, Ehud Barak, and Bill Clinton tried to negotiate. It was also discussed shortly after that in Tabah, Egypt.

These principles should guide this government, because we just cannot stay on the sidelines when, day after day and night after night, civilians are being killed in a conflict that could have been settled if only the Camp David II accords had been accepted two years ago.

[Clifford Lincoln, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Charleswood St. James--Assiniboia.

Human life is sacred, as is the right to human life. This is true for Canadians, and it is true for the French, the Chinese, the Germans, or the Indians. It is also true for the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The cycle of violence we are witnessing daily on television shakes us to the core of our being. What we are seeing is innocent children, mothers, and seniors, both on the Israeli side and on the Palestinian side.

It shakes us because each lost human life is an attack against our fundamental and collective freedoms, against each one of us, wherever and whoever we are.

It is unacceptable that innocent people are paying with their lives for a cause, because of brutal terrorism on one side and an army of occupation on the other. Armies and terror never resolve anything. In fact, history is full of lessons of the strongest armies having to give way before the freedom of individuals.

Canada's history in the defence of rights and freedoms in the Middle East is eloquent. In 1947, we were one of the major countries that supported resolution 181 creating Israel and also gave the right from that moment on for a Palestinian state, a Palestinian people, with its own borders.

After the 1948 war, we were also involved in calling for international control of Jerusalem and undertaking the first assistance to those in the refugee camps.

In 1956, after the Suez war, Lester B. Pearson, from a modest country like Canada, succeeded in convincing the nations of the world of the role of a peacekeeping force, which has now become an essential component of international politics. It won Mr. Pearson the Nobel prize.

In 1967, we were involved in resolution 242, which called on Israel to return to its borders.

In 1973, after the Arab war against Israel, we sent peacekeeping forces to the Sinai and to the Golan Heights. In fact, we still have peacekeeping forces in the region.

In 1991, we were involved in the Madrid accords, which led to the Oslo accords approximately three years later.

We came so close to a settlement and had it not been for the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, there might not have been the need for this debate tonight. The hopeful days of Yitzhak Rabin seem so many light years away. The violence and disregard for human life have reached the savage and frightening crescendo which we watch with horror night after night.

The solution lies in the acceptance of these few points. There is no possible result by suicide bombers, no matter how many and no matter for how long. It will never work. There is also no possible result of success with an occupation army sending tanks and gunships that destroy everything in their passage, that destroy homes and cars and all possessions and also kill people at random in refugee camps and other places.

Israel has a right to exist, a right that must not be violated. It must have secure borders and be guaranteed its existence in peace and security. At the same time, Palestine also deserves to live, to live within secure borders, to be established as an ongoing country with all its integrity. That means therefore the settlements have to cease and be disbanded. Also the question of the refugees who have lived in refugee camps for 50 years also has to be settled.

I support the actions of the foreign affairs minister. He is seeking the power of monitoring for Canada. He wants Canada to be present in the evolution of a possible settlement in the Middle East.

I know we are a modest power. I realize we have modest military means and modest economic means in relation to the world at large. We cannot do anything by ourselves. At the same time, we have a huge moral stature in the world. We are highly respected as a country. We can play an immense role as a trusted link between our immediate neighbour and key player, the United States, whom we know and who trusts us, and the other key players, the European Union and indeed the Arab world as well.

I was at a meeting this afternoon where the president of the German Bundestag was present. The subject of the Middle East occupied the whole meeting. It came out that many present reflected the opinion of many people which I hear day in and day out, from my own children for instance. They think that a solution to the Middle East situation is impossible. They feel it will go on and on with the Israelis on one side and the Palestinians on the other, mistrusting each other so much that no settlement is possible.

I wonder if we would have ever believed that the Berlin wall would disappear, that the iron curtain would be dismantled, that the U.S.S.R. at the time this mighty power, would find its demise, that so many people behind the iron curtain would be free one day and are free today. Would we have believed there could be peace in Bosnia, in Kosovo, in Northern Ireland?

We on this side have enormous faith in our new foreign affairs minister. He is a man of peace with a deep conviction in human rights and the belief that human liberty and the freedom of people is paramount. We believe that he has a great opportunity to be the Pearson of the day, to be the peacemaker supreme in this terrible conflict today where Canada stands with a moral stature and integrity second to none.

I urge our foreign affairs minister to carry on in his way to be that peacemaker, to be that peace broker, to be the link between the United States, Europe and the Arab states. I urge him to bring about some sort of recognition in the Middle East that peace will always conquer war, that peace is far bigger than war. Lester Pearson showed us in the Suez crisis that Canada can play an important role. I congratulate the minister for his efforts and urge him to carry on in his peacemaking efforts to ensure that Canada plays an important role in the future settlement of the Middle East situation.

[John Harvard, Liberal, Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB]

Mr. Speaker, it goes without saying that all members of the House are deeply disturbed by recent events in the Middle East. As member's know, much of tonight's debate has been focused on our government's reaction to those events and the opposition's criticisms of the government's handling of a very difficult situation. That is as it should be.

However I would like to move away from the headlines and talk about Canada's assistance in the Middle East. It does not make great television pictures but it does go to the core of what we believe.

What do we believe? Canada believes that economic development and peace and security are mutually reinforcing. Two sides of the same coin, they have long been articulated Canadian foreign policy priorities. Many of the most horrific elements of the conflict unfolding daily in the Middle East bear the hallmarks of despair, whereas security and stability attract increased growth.

As trade and investment take root in a solid foundation and linkages across borders bind and fortify an entire region, political, social and cultural life can flourish. Nowhere have these principles been more relevant than in the Middle East. At no time have the economic costs of instability been more glaring than during the 18 months since the outbreak of the current intifada.

Canada's development assistance program in the Middle East countries of Jordan, Lebanon and Palestinian territories reflects the mutual reinforcement of poverty reduction and peace and security. Aimed broadly in support of the Middle East peace process, Canada's program has focused on Palestinian refugees both because they are the most needy communities and in order to complement Canada's role as gavel holder for the multilateral refugee working group.

Two initiatives of particular note are the Canada camp project and the Lebanese scholarship program. The Canada camp project was a successful family reunification program that brought 5,000 refugees back to Gaza after they had been trapped in Sinai when Egypt and Israel made peace in 1978. This involved co-ordinating the efforts of the governments of Israel and Egypt, UNRWA and the Palestinian authority. Canada's leadership not only facilitated a delicate and intricate exercise in co-operation but was successful in leveraging a critical contribution of supporting funds from Kuwait.

In Lebanon, Canada has played a similar role in mobilizing international funding, this time in support of Palestinian women refugees seeking university educations to build a more secure and prosperous future for themselves and their families. At present, 58 young women from difficult economic circumstances are pursuing university studies and we hope that more than double this number happens in the years ahead.

Canadian development programming in the region seeks to create an enabling environment for sustainable development, itself a prerequisite for peace and prosperity. To accomplish that, capacity building of both state and civil society institutions has become a primary goal.

In Jordan, Canada has been a leader in helping to reform the national vocational education system, in particular utilizing Internet communications technology to help create better employment opportunities for young Jordanian graduates.

In Lebanon, economic development has been tackled head on through a capacity building and technology upgrading program with the minister of revenue there. More revenues are being collected more fairly and transparently, building confidence in the public and allowing the government the needed resources to accomplish other social priorities.

Equity issues of access to education and employment opportunity have been addressed in CIDA's Egypt program through focusing on girl child education and small enterprise development.

In the Palestinian territories, we have worked actively with municipalities to improve their planning and governance capacities. The intifada and its accompanying violence has all but halted long term development strategies. Earlier, Canadian efforts to build state institutions responsible for democratic elections, social welfare and environmental protection have been put on hold for now as attention has been redirected to the humanitarian crisis the local population is facing.

As part of its effort to promote better understanding of complex contemporary issues, Canada has funded the creation of the world's first human security centre in Amman, Jordan. The centre provides a venue where serious study of human security issues can take place and provides a venue for their discussion and dissemination. We are hopeful that the Amman human security centre will evolve into a facility to promote the kind of neutral respect and understanding that is so desperately needed in the Middle East today.

Given our half century's history of involvement in efforts to resolve and mitigate the consequences of the longstanding conflict in the Middle East, Canada has a stake in bringing the disastrous phase we are now witnessing to a quick end.

Conflict cannot be resolved through violence. The only path to the peace that the people of the region and the people of Canada crave is through negotiation. Building on the experience we have gained over five decades of involvement we will continue to work for an end to violence, a return to negotiations and for a just and lasting peace.

[Werner Schmidt, Canadian Alliance, Kelowna, BC]

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the government for initiating this evening of a take note debate on a very special crisis involving virtually the whole world now. I want to reiterate the words of many of the people who have spoken tonight, that we condemn, in the strongest possible words, the violence that is happening in the Middle East.

Much has been said about the resolution of the United Nations. I would like to review some of these resolutions for the listeners who are still awake at this hour of the night

The United States resolution calls upon both parties to move immediately to a meaningful ceasefire and calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian cities. That is to happen immediately. That resolution was passed 10 days ago.

The second resolution reiterates the demand on March 12, 2002 for an immediate cessation of all acts of violence, including all acts of terror, provocation, incitement and destruction.

The third resolution expresses support for the efforts of the secretary general and the special envoys to the Middle East to assist the parties to halt the violence and to resume the peace process.

It is exactly with regard to the dedication of the delegation and the assignment of the secretary general of the United States to go to work in this particular area.

Sometimes we wonder how these conflicts, these acts of violence actually begin. It goes back to a long time ago when I met a school teacher friend of mine who solved a particular conflict in the schoolyard. Two boys were fighting. When she finally got them separated she asked who had started the fight. One fellow said that it had actually started when the other boy had hit him back.

It takes two people to get involved. They do not forgive each other and the thing escalates.

We have before us a situation where all of us in the world need to recognize that we need to become creative, resourceful and inventive. We need some new ideas. We need to prove that we can make this thing better. We need to dare to seek peace.

If there was one thing that was characterized over the last number of years it was not peace. We have had trouble in Afghanistan, in Russia and all over the world for years and years. We have had two world wars. It is peace that we have been lacking. We need to dare to seek peace.

We need to recognize that the history of the Palestinian and Israeli conflict is a very longstanding one. Its roots are very deep. They involve families and they go back centuries. In fact the conflict goes back to 1948 when the state of Palestine was created. We had a war shortly after that. We have had five wars since then. We have a real conflagration blowing up right now. This is nothing new.

We need a long lasting solution. Can it happen? We need to run on three fronts here: the conflict, the violence and the terrorism which is partly motivated by religion, by politics and by economics. It has now taken on the dimensions of extremists and involves the globe. The conflict is not just military. It has become civilian in nature as well.

This debate needs to be lifted to a higher plane. We cannot simply talk about the destruction of people, the destruction of property and the violence and bloodshed. I think we need to lift it to another plane.

I would like to refer briefly to Thomas Jefferson. He made a very interesting statement years ago that has been quoted by many people, including yourself, Mr. Speaker. He said:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal--

I totally believe there is not a person in this House who does not believe that is true. If that is true, then we must recognize one another and that we do not fight with one another when we do things like that.

Charles Colson made a very interesting comment in a book entitled How Now Shall We Live? . He makes a particular statement that I would like to quote. He says “Virtue is essential to freedom”. Freedom of course is necessary to recognize the equality of people. He goes on to say “People who cannot restrain their own baser instincts, who cannot treat one another with civility, are not capable of self government. Without virtue, a society can be ruled only by fear, a truth tyrants understand all too well”.

Surely we do not want to govern ourselves by fear. We do not want to be governed by fear. We do not want the Palestinians to be governed by fear. We do not want the Israelis to be governed by fear. We want to be governed by the ability to self-govern, to control our baser instincts so that we can indeed respect one another, trust one another, and live a life at peace with all those around us.

Regarding this conflict, the United States has sent Colin Powell to the Middle East. We notice that the United Nations resolution also recognizes the work and assignment of Colin Powell. Who is Colin Powell? For the benefit for those who perhaps have not had the time to find out who this man is, I would like to refer to a couple of notes I have about him. He is a remarkable man who achieved most of the great diversity in America.

First, he earned many medals in Vietnam, one for saving the lives of soldiers in a helicopter. Second, he was the first African-American to be the chairman for the joint chiefs of staff. Third, he was the first black man to hold the title of president of national security affairs. Finally, his influence in Desert Storm gained him national recognition with his meticulous battle plans. Colin Powell obtained many medals, achieved many goals and helped many people, but probably the most compelling aspect of his character is his determination to achieve said contributions.

That is what he has done in a nutshell, but let me go back a little further. This man was born in New York City on April 5, 1937. He is the son of Jamaican immigrants. He was raised in the south Bronx, educated in New York City public schools and the City College of New York. He received a commission as an army second-lieutenant upon graduation and subsequently received a master of business administration degree from George Washington University.

Here comes the significant part. General Powell served two tours of duty in Vietnam. As a battalion commander in Korea, he later commanded the 2nd brigade, 101st airborne division, that is air assaults, and the V Corps, United States army, Europe. Prior to being named as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, he served as the commander in chief, forces command, headquartered at Fort McPherson, Georgia.

General Powell has been the recipient of numerous U.S. military decorations, including the Defense Distinguished Service medal, Bronze Star medal and the Purple Heart. His civilian awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Congressional Gold medal, and an honorary knighthood, that is, knight commander of the Bath, from the Queen of England.

This is no ordinary gentleman. That is not bad. I would say that is excellent. In fact he was born in 1937 and is a younger man than I am. He has achieved many things that most people would take several lifetimes to achieve. This man is now in the midst of this conflict and his task is to see if he can bring together these warring factions.

On April 7, two days ago, in the Middle East news wire two items appeared which I would like to read into the record. The first one says:

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is due in the region this week on a mission from President George W. Bush. Powell will work toward putting an end to the terror, violence and incitement on the part of the Palestinians, and stopping the Israeli Defense Forces' operation.

Notice the balanced position that this man is creating here. He is not blaming one side or the other. He is not saying that it is anyone's fault that it happened. He is saying that they have to stop this. The other item is out of Tehran. It says:

The recent speech by U.S. President George W. Bush on the Middle East conflict should not be trusted and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's impending trip to the region will not bear any fruit nor change the predicament on the ground.

Is this not interesting? What an endorsement of the work this man is supposed to do? That was on April 7. This morning we more news came out of the Middle East news wire. The first item refers to the Via Dolorosa of the Palestinian people. It says:

Abusahlia visitors to the city of Jerusalem are almost certain to walk the famous Via Dolorosa that Jesus Christ walked two thousand years ago carrying the cross. The path tells the story of the last few hours of the life of Jesus through fourteen stages that still exist today as a testimony to the wrath of man against his brother and representing divine love.

Is that not interesting? This is what is happening. I took the time to look at what these 14 stations were. I will not go into detail but I will list them. The first station, Jesus is condemned. The second station, Jesus carries the cross. The third station, Jesus falls. The fourth station, Jesus meets his mother. The fifth station, Simon helps carry the cross. The sixth station, Veronica wipes Jesus' face. The seventh station, Jesus falls a second time. The eighth station, Jesus meets the women. The ninth station, Jesus falls a third time. The tenth station, Jesus is stripped. The eleventh station, Jesus is nailed to the cross. The twelfth station, Jesus dies. The thirteenth station, Jesus is taken down from the cross. The fourteenth station, Jesus is buried.

Another comment came out the Middle East news wire. It says:

The US government has been left looking confused, hypocritical and weak as Secretary of State Colin Powell dawdles through Africa, Europe and Arabia on his way to Israel, urging Arab leaders to rein in Arafat and issuing requests for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian cities.

Notice again the balanced situation there. The next one says:

There is no doubt that the Israeli military invasion of Palestinian territories puts an end to the peace process that has been dying for some time.

This is quite the environment that is being described by the Middle East news wire and into which Colin Powell is placed in trying to create some peace, harmony and co-operation. Powell, and I just read his qualities and his achievements up to this point, also has other qualities. I would like to suggest, as did Peter Legge in his latest book Who Dares Wins , that Powell needs to soar with the eagles. He is now working with the top echelons of government so he needs to soar high as the eagles and he is.

This man is also committed to a virtuous life. He has been through the storm and he knows what it is. He has been through battle. He has won a variety of battles. This man knows the characteristics of a war. He knows what makes up victory, what makes up character and what makes up a winning combination.

He also knows that tough times do not last but tough people do, and he is one tough guy. He will rise above the circumstances. He will rise above the storms and he will rise above the adversity and the lack of support that is coming out of the news statements that I just read. He needs to recognize that he will not let tough times control him and that he will rise above them. He has a vision and his vision is peace. Powell is also a guy who does not quit.

I want to refer to a thing that I read just recently about eagles. As members and the foreign minister probably know, that when an eagle soars it has its beak open because it needs its beak to give it direction and to navigate its course. As an eagle grows older the beak, begins to calcify. There are times when that beak closes and the eagle cannot open it again. That eventually brings about the death of the eagle, but not to all eagles.

There are eagles that will find a rock on which to perch themselves and then persist in beating their beaks against the rock until the calcification disappears so they can open them again, and off they fly. It is that kind of persistence that Colin Powell will bring to his negotiations and his involvement there.

Powell also knows that to succeed, the first thing needed to develop trust and confidence is competence. This man has the skills and the experience. However he has something else and that is character. This man stands for something: a value, an ideal, a cause and a mission. He has the courage to take on duty and recognizes that it is more important to do what is right than to do what is personally beneficial.

There is nothing very personally beneficial in getting into a situation that other people say is impossible to win. He is in there and I think this man will win because he has the courage. Above all, he has loyalty. When Powell took over the command, the chief of staff, he said to his people that he knew they could count on him and that he wanted to be able to count on them. He said that they might argue about what action to take but that he would stick by them as they argued as long as they stuck by him once a decision was made. He said that no “cover your butt” moves were necessary from them and that no knife in the back would come from him. That is the kind of man about who we are talking. He has confidence, is selfless, makes sacrifices and has empathy.

Colin Powell on January 20, 2001, when he became the secretary of state, stated at his confirmation hearing that a guiding principle of foreign policy would be “America stands ready to help any country that wishes to join the democratic world”. Secretary Powell recently stressed the importance of American leadership in the world. He said:

We are working with the international community and the Afghan people to help them rebuild their country...We are also working with the United Nations to help the Afghans form a new government, one that represents all geographical and ethnic backgrounds, one that will end Afghanistan's role as haven for terrorists and drug dealers, one that will permit reconstruction and allow these millions of refugees to return home in peace and security. One message that leaps out from the events of September 11th is very clear. American leadership in foreign affairs has never been more important.

That is what this man believes and we know that it is true. That is why I believe the president of the United States has sent him into that conflict centre of the Middle East and said “Look Colin, if anybody here can straighten this out, I think you can”. I wish this man much success. The world needs peace. We must support him.

I urge our foreign minister to make it his business to contact Colin Powell and assure him of the support that Canada provides for him. We must pray for this man. We must pray for the leaders, Sharon and Arafat, who are in conflict. Let us examine ourselves and recommit ourselves not only to the pursuit of peace in the world but to the pursuit of virtue and the development of character in our own lives.

As we do so, we will have peace in our lives. As we circulate and have interactions with other people and influence those around us, and the leaders who govern our nation, we will indeed promote the characteristics of peace and encourage others to follow in our footsteps.

May that be the legacy of this foreign minister. May that be the legacy of our Prime Minister. May that be the legacy of each one of us here, serving our constituents, making this world a peaceful place in which to live and helping those who are in conflict to settle their differences and agree to love one another as they ought to.

[Anita Neville, Liberal, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Mercier for the opportunity to put my thoughts on record on this issue of great importance.

Twelve days ago, like many families around the world, my family and I sat down for a Passover meal. For us it was the first in a community facility. Like others, we celebrated the struggle for freedom and liberation of Jewish peoples around the world. When my family finished the meal and the service we got up from the table and walked away with a sense of well-being and, most important, with a sense of continuity. On that same day in Netanya, other Jewish families sat down for a traditional Passover meal, also in a community facility, many who were not to walk away, many who were to face death, destruction and profound loss.

The war before us is one of horrific proportions. Nothing that we are dealing with in the Middle East is simple. There are no easy answers, there is no place for cheap emotion and there is certainly no place for political grandstanding and posturing. There will be no easy resolution to this torturous impasse, to the heartbreak, to the killing or to the destruction now in progress. There is no easy resolution to the enmity and hatred that are becoming the inheritance of children in both camps. Somehow this impasse must be broken.

Israel is a small piece of land but is of profound historical significance. For over 10,000 years, 11 civilizations called modern day Israel home and today we must secure the future for this small land, for what we face are important issues and truly the survival of the state of Israel.

At the heart of the Palestinian diplomatic struggle against Israel today is the fact that the Palestinians are resisting occupation. We hear repeatedly that the root problem is the Israeli occupation. As I see it, three purposes are served by using these words. A political context is created to explain the Palestinian adoption of violence and terrorism in this current intifada. The demand on Israel to end the occupation does not leave room for compromise.

Most significant, the use of the words occupied Palestinian territories denies any Israeli claim to the land. If the words disputed territories were used, Palestine and Israel would be on an even ground. By presenting Israel as a foreign occupier, the Jewish historical attachment can be delegitimized. Why does the politically loaded term occupation apply only to Israel and not when other territorial disputes are concerned? Kashmir is disputed territory. The Persian Gulf island of the Zubara is described as disputed territory.

The actions of the homicidal bomber at the Passover Seder in Netanya were the actions of a terrorist. Many have said that Mr. Arafat could have exercised maximum control over these terrorists. Of that we cannot be sure, but what we do know is that it is not unreasonable for us to expect him to exercise maximum effort.

What indeed is Mr. Arafat fighting for? He was offered peace. He declined. He was offered a state. He declined. He was offered a part of Jerusalem. He declined. No long term solution will be arrived at by what is happening. The only peace that we will know is the peace of the dead.

Israeli mothers and Palestinian mothers all want a future of hope for their children. Jews throughout Canada and Jews throughout the western world, faced with the convergence of threats on their Jewish homeland, faced with the acts of desecration of holy places, and faced with growing criticism, fear abandonment by and isolation from traditional friends. They fear the unthinkable. Never again, they said.

At the same time, we are moved and profoundly affected by the poverty and pain we see in the faces of Palestinian families. However, as long as families are paid large sums of money by surrounding Arab nations to glorify the martyrdom of their children, peace will not be possible.

Canada recognizes a responsibility to resolve the conflict and recognizes that resolving the conflict ultimately lies with the parties involved getting involved in bilateral negotiations. The armed conflict must end. Resolution 242 is the basis for peace negotiations. Canada fully endorses the findings of the Mitchell report of April 2001. All acts of terrorism are condemned by the Canadian government. Canada both chairs and supports the multilateral refugee working group and supports the bilateral negotiation process, a process for peace.

The Canadian government has committed to working with Canadian community leaders to ensure that their issues are heard, considered and thoughtfully reflected in our decision making processes. The tasks before our government and all governments are onerous, challenging and often overwhelming. Peace will not come while guns are being fired. Peace will not come unless there is talking.

The Middle East has to be fixed. That only begins with the real acceptance by Arab nations of the legitimacy of the state of Israel. The outcome of the war currently under way between Israelis and Palestinians is vital to the security of all of us, to our future as a free society. We must show leadership, we must show patience and we must show commitment to the pre-eminence of peace. The task at hand is too important. As Canadians, as parliamentarians, as citizens, we must work together. I forgot to mention that I am sharing my time with the member for Mount Royal.

[Irwin Cotler, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Mr. Speaker, as I rise to speak I am reminded, particularly because this is Holocaust Remembrance Day, of the reverence for human life. That is why I wish to begin almost by way of prologue with a statement that every person, be they Palestinian or Israeli, Arab or Jewish, is a universe, and the death of any innocent a tragedy.

I rise also to speak not only as the MP for Mount Royal but as a Jew, as one who has been engaged in the struggle for a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East for over 35 years, who has family in Israel and friends among the Palestinians, and who has acted as legal counsel to both Israeli and Palestinian human rights NGOs. Accordingly, with this experience in mind, I would like to go behind the daily headlines, which cloud and sometimes corrupt understanding, to probe the real basis for conflict, the root causes, to use the popular metaphor, of conflict in the Middle East and the basis for conflict resolution.

I will organize my remarks around a set of foundational principles for understanding the conflict and for moving toward a just solution, many of which are themselves anchored in the basic principles of Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East.

Principle number one, which successive Canadian governments have described as the cornerstone of Canadian foreign policy in the Middle East, is respect for the security, well-being and legitimacy of the state of Israel. Indeed, this principle is itself rooted in a related notion or principle: the existential nature of the Israeli-Palestinian-Arab conflict. In a word, this is not a conflict about borders, though borders are certainly in dispute. This is not a conflict about territory, although territory is certainly in dispute. It is not a conflict about resources such as water, though resources are certainly in dispute. Nor is this even a conflict about Jerusalem, though Jerusalem is sometimes a metaphor for the existential nature of this conflict.

Simply put, the core of the conflict has been and for the most part continues to be the unwillingness of many among the Palestinian and Arab leadership to accept the legitimacy of Israel's right to exist anywhere in the Middle East.

Historical rejectionist evidence speaks for itself. In 1947 the United Nations recommended the partition of the Palestine mandate into a Jewish state and a Palestinian-Arab state. The Jews accepted the UN resolution. The Arabs rejected it and launched a war that by their own acknowledgement was intended to exterminate the nascent state of Israel.

It should be noted that at the time of this first rejection of a Jewish state there were no Palestinian-Arab refugees, no occupied territories, no settlements. Indeed, this was the beginning of a pattern of double rejectionism: the Arabs rejecting a Palestinian state if that meant having to countenance a Jewish one.

From 1948 until 1967 the West Bank was under the occupation of Jordan, and Gaza under the occupation of Egypt, so that only Arab occupation prevented the emergence of a Palestinian state during this period. In June 1967, again with no Israeli occupation or settlements in occupied territories, Egypt, Syria and Jordan waged a war against Israel, not to establish a Palestinian state but to once again extinguish the Jewish one.

In the Israeli exercise of self-defence, which the UN acknowledged, Israel gained control of the Sinai, the West Bank and the Gaza strip. Israel's offer in the immediate aftermath of that 1967 six-day war to return these newly obtained territories for a peace treaty was met with the triple “no” of the Arab Khartoum declaration: no recognition, no negotiation, no peace with Israel.

The pattern continued through the launching of yet another war of aggression against Israel on Yom Kippur until the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty in 1979 resulted in the return of the Sinai and peace between Israel and Egypt, just as a peace treaty was to be completed with Jordan in 1994.

In a word, therefore, and this is the reading of the Middle East history, fast forward now to the year 2000. It is not the Israeli occupation that has been the root cause of the conflict; rather, it is the rejection of Israel, even at the price of rejecting thereby a Palestinian state, that led to the initial occupation in 1967 and still sustains the less than 5% of the territory yet occupied by Israel as a result of the six-day war. In a word, over 95% of the territory captured by Israel in the exercise of self-defence in the six-day war has been returned within the framework of peace treaties with countries that were prepared to recognize Israel and, in the initial stages of Oslo, which have given Arafat control over 98% of the Palestinian people.

However, in the year 2000 in the Camp David talks and then again in Taba, Arafat rejected a Clinton and Israeli initiated proposal that would have ended what remained of the occupation and would have established an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. This would have given the Palestinians almost everything that they themselves had been asking for, save for the right of return which, as Palestinian leader Sari Nusseibah put it, would have meant a second Palestinian state in place of Israel.

This would have required of Arafat and the Arab world to finally accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state in the Middle East alongside the 22 Arab states in the region. Arafat not only rejected this proposal, which recalls the refrain that the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity, but as the Arab scholar Fouad Ajami recently put it, Arafat launched a war of terror in the heartland of Israel of which the recent Passover massacre was a real life metaphor.

Principle number two and related existential principle which has emerged as a basic tenet of Canadian foreign policy is that the Palestinians are a people who have legitimate rights and needs, including the right to self-determination and the right, as I myself have been maintaining for more than 30 years, to an independent, democratic, rights protecting state in the Middle East. Only a democratic Palestinian state will protect the authentic Palestinian right to self-determination while affording the best security for Israel.

Israelis have acknowledged their willingness and readiness to negotiate an independent Palestinian state. The core question then is not whether there will be an independent Palestinian state on which Israel is prepared to agree. The question is whether the Arab world is prepared to make room for a single Jewish state alongside 23 Arab states.

Principle number three refers to UN security council resolutions 242 and 338 agreed upon for conflict resolution in the Middle East, a formula sometimes known as the land for peace resolutions. These UN security council resolutions have been further refined and built upon by the Madrid and Oslo process, including the importance of a just solution to the refugee question.

Principle number four is an end to any Arab or Palestinian government sanctioned incitement to hatred and violence. It is this government sanctioned teaching of contempt, this demonizing of the other, this culture of incitement, is where it all begins. In the words of Professor Ajami:

The suicide bomber of the Passover massacre did not descend from the sky; he walked straight out of the culture of incitement let loose on the land, a menace hovering over Israel, a great Palestinian and Arab refusal to let that country be, to cede it a place among the nations, he partook of the culture all around him--the glee that greets those brutal deeds of terror, the cult that rises around the martyrs and their families.

Principle number five is the danger of the escalating globalizing genocidal anti-Jewishness. It is a tragic irony that on the occasion of today's International Holocaust Remembrance Day, where Jews in concert with our fellow citizens remember the worst genocide of the 20th century, international holocaust and genocide scholars warn once again of a genocidal anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head. In particular I am referring to the state and terrorist sanctioned public calls for the destruction of Israel and the murder of the Jewish people which I have documented elsewhere.

Principle number six is terrorism. The deliberate maiming, murder and terrorizing of innocents can never be justified. It is important to recall and reaffirm the foundational principles of international and Canadian counterterrorism law and policy as they apply also to the Middle East. These include that terrorism from whatever quarter for whatever purpose, as the Prime Minister put it, can never be justified; that the transnational networks of super terrorists with access to weapons of mass destruction constitute an existential threat to the right to life, liberty and security of the person; and that freedom from acts of terror, freedom from fear of terror constitute a cornerstone of human security. In the words of our Prime Minister:

There is nothing in our experience that can capture the fear that Israelis live with every hour of every day.

They further include that there is no moral equivalence or similitude between terrorism and counterterrorism, between deliberate acts of terror against civilians and acts of self-defence against terrorists; that support and sanctuary for groups responsible for terrorism, as the foreign minister has put it, is unacceptable; and that counterterrorism must always comport with human rights and humanitarian norms.

Principle number seven is respect for human rights and humanitarian law as a cornerstone for the protection of human security. If human security were an organizing principle of Canadian foreign policy then it is human insecurity which is the most serious dimension of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict today. What is needed therefore is a culture of human rights in place of a culture of hate, a culture of respect in place of a culture of contempt. As the foreign minister put it recently at a meeting of the UN commission on human rights in Geneva, “security is sustainable only in an environment where human rights are protected” including in particular the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

Principle number eight is support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon. In accordance with UN security council resolutions Canada supports the progressive extension of the Lebanese government's authority over all of its territory and the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon.

Principle number nine is the implementation of the Tenet security work plan and Mitchell commission recommendations. Close to a year ago I described in this place a tenuous Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire that hung on a thread and threatened to explode into violence and stated that it was more necessary than ever that the parties adhere to the recommendations of the Mitchell commission. I reiterate these words today with all the urgency that today's situation commands.

The Tenet security work plan and the Mitchell recommendations are a carefully calibrated set of procedures and substantive requirements to end the incitement, terrorism and violence, to proclaim a ceasefire, to enter into mutual confidence building measures and to proceed to negotiations leading to a political settlement.

Principal number ten is confidence building measures, the parliamentary and people to people contributions. I want to associate myself with the initiative represented and mentioned earlier by my hon. colleague from Cumberland--Colchester of an Israeli-Palestinian-Canadian parliamentary peace forum.

Principle number eleven is the end game. UN security council resolution 1397 states: “the vision of a region where two states, Israel and Palestine, live side by side within secure and recognized borders”. For this vision to be reached, the culture of incitement, hate and terror will have to end, as stated by Professor Ajami.

Indeed, that is the core of what Tenet and Mitchell seek to build upon. For that to happen we must realize that saying yes to Palestine means also saying yes to Israel. Otherwise we will have learned nothing from history and will never realize the vision of a peaceful future for all peoples in the Middle East that we all desperately yearn for.