Watered-down bill draws criticism
Heavily amended motion prompts disappointment from both Jewish, pro-Palestinian groups
Late Monday night, after the New Democrats agreed to overhaul a controversial motion that could have seen Ottawa recognize Palestine as a state, two NDP MPs walked up to the House of Commons’ public gallery where a group of Palestinian Canadians had gathered.
The party’s foreign affairs critic, Heather McPherson, and her colleague, Matthew Green, briefly sat and spoke with the young activists, many of whom wore black and white kaffiyehs: scarves traditionally donned in parts of the Middle East that have become emblematic of the Palestinian cause.
“I’m not going to lie. I wish that I could have delivered to them statehood for Palestinian people,” said McPherson, who championed the NDP motion, in an interview with the Star.
“I will never understand why Canada’s position can be a two-state solution without the recognition of a state. I still can never understand why Palestinian human rights are always always minimized, always seen as less than other people’s rights. So for me, 100 per cent, I wish that I had better news for them.”
On Monday night, a majority of MPs voted in favour of a non-binding motion that had been frantically reworked until the eleventh hour by the Liberals and NDP in an effort to get the governing party on board with the highly contentious resolution.
The final version of the motion, which was passed with support from the Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc Québécois and Greens, called for, among other measures, halting arms exports to Israel, stopping the illegal trade of arms to Hamas and lifting the cap on temporary resident visa applications for Palestinians fleeing Gaza.
But it also included significant changes to the NDP’s original language — parts of which had been heavily criticized as anti-Israel — including removing a reference to “officially recognize the State of Palestine” and instead committing to working towards eventually establishing Palestinian statehood as part of a negotiated two-state solution.
The reaction to some of the changes was met with resignation and disappointment up in the Commons’ gallery, where activists told the Star on the condition they not be named that they wondered whether the last-minute version of the motion held any weight at all.
The motion, despite amendments that were designed to allay some concerns from Israeli and Jewish communities, nevertheless drew condemnation from pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian quarters.
Shimon Koffler Fogel, the president of the Centre of Israel and Jewish Affairs, said the advocacy group “strongly” objected to its passage.
Anthony Housefather, one of three Liberal MPs to vote against the amended motion, said Tuesday he was “reflecting” on his place within the Liberal caucus as a Jewish Canadian.
“I think it’s the first time in my parliamentary career that I’ve had a reflection like this, where I truly felt last night that a line had been crossed when my party members got up and cheered and gave a standing ovation to Heather McPherson and the NDP,” Housefather told reporters.
But the NDP and Liberals also weathered criticism Tuesday from pro-Palestinian circles.
Emma Jackson, a spokesperson for the Palestine Solidarity Network, said the national group’s supporters had sent 45,000 messages and made thousands of phone calls to politicians supporting the initial text of the motion, making it clear that while “Parliament may not have voted for recognition of the State of Palestine,” many Canadians did.
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), meanwhile, said both parties took what was initially a policy demand for statehood that would have “aligned Canada more closely with the international community” and watered it down into “boilerplate language that Canada has always used to justify inaction.”
“I think the backroom trading aspect of this is certainly not instilling a lot of confidence in the political process,” said CJPME vice-president, Michael Bueckert, of the compromises that took place during the negotiations.
The language in the NDP’s original motion was condemned, in part, because it did not refer to establishing a Palestinian state within the context of a comprehensive, negotiated settlement with Israel, and because it was seen as rewarding Hamas for its deadly attacks.
McPherson said Tuesday that similar conversations about statehood are unfolding in governments around the world and that Canada can recognize Palestine as a state without getting involved in the terms of such an agreement.
The NDP MP said she still has a separate private members’ motion tabled in the Commons that calls for such a measure.
“While we weren’t able to get that yesterday, I don’t feel that that battle is over,” she said.
‘‘ I truly felt last night that a line had been crossed when my party members got up and cheered and gave a standing ovation to Heather McPherson and the NDP. ANTHONY HOUSE FATHER LIBERAL MP