Stand on settlements murky as PM visits Mideast
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads to the Middle East this weekend cautiously avoiding a key question of whether his government considers controversial Israeli settlements in the region to be illegal.
His first trip to Israel will feature meetings with political leaders in the area, and he will be accompanied by several cabinet ministers and a delegation of Canadian business and “community” leaders.
At a pre-trip briefing Friday, Harper’s spokesman was faced with repeated questions over an apparent discrepancy in the government’s policy, reported earlier this week by Postmedia News, about central issues in the long-standing IsraeliPalestinian conflict.
An official statement on the Department of Foreign Affairs website refers to the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights — captured by Israel in the 1967 war — as “occupied territories” and declares the construction of Israeli settlements and a large barrier inside those areas illegal.
The statement also says the settlements are a “serious obstacle to achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace.”
On Friday, the prime minister’s spokesman, Jason MacDonald, said Harper believes that “unilateral action” taken outside of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks is “not helpful” to the goal of a “two-state” solution.
“I speak on behalf of the prime minister,” he said.
“The goal is a negotiated agreement that results in the two states … an Israel in which people can live in peace and security, and a viable, independent and secure Palestinian state. We would like to see a two-state solution. And negotiation is the core of it. Unilateral action will not help achieve that objective..”
But MacDonald did not say whether continued Israeli settlement expansion constitutes unilateral action, nor did he say whether the prime minister considers the settlements themselves to be illegal.