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In Recognizing Palestinian Statehood, Canada Has Betrayed Israel

(Jerusalem Post) Amb. Alan Baker - Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on July 30 and reaffirmed "Canada's commitment to a two-state solution - an independent, viable, and sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with the State of Israel in peace and security." However, this two-state vision has never been accepted by the Palestinians and Israelis themselves. In paying lip-service to the "two-state vision," Carney is rehashing nothing more than wishful thinking without understanding what practicalities lie behind that expression. While Carney declared his intention to recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September, he has surely been advised by Canada's world-renowned international lawyers that there exists no such entity as a "State of Palestine." Moreover, he has presumably been advised that UN General Assembly resolutions recognizing anything have no legally binding status. Ganging-up against Israel in the UN and unilaterally recognizing a non-existent Palestinian state undermines the Oslo Accords - and the Palestinian commitment to a negotiated resolution of the conflict. As such, the prime minister's promise to Mahmoud Abbas is the very antithesis of promoting peace. It encourages the Hamas terrorist leadership in its determination to continue its terror campaign against the Jewish state. The writer, a former Israeli ambassador to Canada and former legal adviser at the Israel Foreign Ministry, is Director of the Institute for Diplomatic Affairs at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs.
2025-08-17 00:00:00
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