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Foreign Affairs Canada backs its favourite Palestinian terrorist
Toronto, Canada, Sunday, 27 May, 2006 - In its first four months
in office, Stephen Harper has made significant changes to Canada's
foreign policy. Foreign Minister Peter MacKay led the world in
denying further aid to the Palestinian Authority now dominated
by Hamas, an illegal terrorist organization under Canadian law.
He also added the Tamil Tigers to the list of illegal terrorist
organizations. It appeared to many hopeful Canadians that Canada's
foreign policy would no longer tolerate terrorism.
 Yet
on March 7, Peter MacKay issued a statement announcing that "Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has Canada‚s full support."
Given the terrorist credentials and continuing actions of Mahmoud
Abbas and his party, many Canadians worried that our foreign policy
may be less about unequivocally denying support to terrorists,
and more about Foreign Affairs Canada backing its favourite terrorist.
The Fatah party that now apparently enjoys Canada's full support
acts according to its charter, available for all to see on its
website. With the weight of our own Charter of Rights and Freedoms,
the Fatah (PLO) charterstates that "the liberation of Palestine
will destroy the Zionist and imperialist presence", "armed
struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine", "the
establishment of the state of Israel [is] entirely illegal",
and "Jews [do not] constitute a single nation with an identity
of its own." These are the principles consistent with the
terrorist actions of the party to which Canada has curiously pledged
its "full support".
In trying to understand how our foreign policy could support
such an unbalanced and genocidal Middle East policy, perhaps we
need to understand that Foreign Affairs Canada has within its
ranks the Muslim Communities Working Group Operational Unit, formed
under previous Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew, and tasked with
setting policy and statements on all matter relating to the Muslim
world. As there is no comparable Jewish group within Foreign Affairs
Canada -- only Muslim interests are given such unique influence
over our foreign policy -- perhaps we should not be surprised
that Canada supports a party whose charter and actions are committed
to the destruction of the Jewish presence in the Middle East.
Minister MacKay was clear in his March statement that „Any
assistance to a new Palestinian government will require that government‚s
commitment to the principle of non-violence, recognition of Israel
and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations". Does
this principle only apply only to Hamas, while Fatah is free to
continue its incitement and terror?
Western support for the Palestinians has only encouraged terrorism.
Since 2000, over 20,000 acts of terror against Israel have been
attempted, with over 1000 Israelis murdered and many more maimed
for life. The armed wing of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, the Al-Aqsa
Martyrs' Brigade (AAMB), also designated by Canada as a terrorist
organization, proudly takes credit for much of this slaughter.
Canada's terrorist designation of Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade notes
that since Abbas' election, Fatah's terrorist wing is "becoming
more organized, resilient and coordinated... later in January
2003, the AAMB indicated that they had decided to pursue the Intifada
and would continue suicide operations."
Following the April 17, 2006 terrorist bombing of a restaurant
in Tel Aviv that killed 10, injured 90, and left Daniel Wultz,
a Florida teenager lying in a coma from which he later died, Abu
Nasser, a leader of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, boasted
to WorldNetDaily that this innocent young victim was the "best
target combination we can dream of ˆ American and Zionist."
Mahmoud Abbas's words to the West cannot be believed. In accepting
Canadian foreign aid, Abbas agreed to end incitement and disarm
terrorists. Yet his party's Foreign Minister, Nasser al-Kidwa
publicly declared in June 2005 that the PA will not disarm Hamas
and other terrorist groups under its jurisdiction. Textbooks denying
the existence of Israel and preaching the destruction of "the
Zionist entity" have not been removed or revised. And Abbas
himself, speaking to a group of high school students and educators
in Gaza, glorified suicide bombing when he declared, "What
has been achieved here [in Gaza] is due to the martyrs."
Just this week, Abbas appeared on PA TV and declared that Palestinians
jailed in Israel for their role in slaughtering innocent Israelis
are "our brothers, our heroes" and tried to convince
the world of their new-found peaceful intentions. After decades
of death and suffering because the West believed PLO promises,
Peter MacKay must tell Abbas that only actions will win Canada's
support, not words.
It is time for Canada to acknowledge that the $350 million we
have given to the Palestinians since 1993 has only resulted in
whitewashing the failures of Palestinian society. Canada's foreign
aid dollars have not weakened the Palestinian resolve to drive
the Jews from Israel, diminished their rabid anti-Semitism, ended
the toxic incitement of schoolchildren, moved them one step closer
to building a civil society, made them less dependent on foreign
aid, nor even caused them to amend their governing charter to
remove the destruction of Israel as their guiding principle. When
a medicine has so consistently worsened the condition of the patient,
is it not time to try a different medicine?
The Stephen Harper government must continue to lead the world
in an ethical foreign policy, as Brian Mulroney did with Apartheid
South Africa. Canada must demand action, not just words, from
Palestinian leadership. All aid to Palestinians must be suspended
until (1) the Palestinians have removed all incitement against
Jews and Israel from their state-controlled education system and
media, (2) the Fatah-PLO Charter and Hamas Charters have been
changed to recognize Israel, (3) militants have been disarmed,
and (4) all acts of terrorism against Israel have ended for a
period of at least two years, with the understanding that any
resumption of terror will immediately end the flow of aid.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Minister Peter MacKay
have shown that they can lead the Western world in a foreign policy
that stands against terrorism. By facing the obvious fact that
both Hamas and Fatah are terrorist entities, in word and in deed,
the Harper government will serve notice that Canada is no longer
a gullible cheerleader for those who choose incitement and terror
to advance their genocidal ambitions, even if they do wear a suit
and tie.
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