Canada Pledges 'Unwavering' Support for Israel
Canada's foreign minister on Wednesday reaffirmed his country's ironclad support for Israel and said the realities of the Middle East left the Jewish state no choice but to defend itself.
Meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his first visit to Israel, Rob Nicholson's comments were welcomed at a time of growing pressure on Netanyahu and his rightwing government to curb West Bank settlement and renew talks with the Palestinians.
"We believe we have no better friend than Canada," Netanyahu said as he met Nicholson in Jerusalem.
"We think that this is a refreshing wind in an increasingly hostile environment."
Netanyahu's relations with Washington, Israel's traditional staunch ally, have been going through a rocky patch.
President Barack Obama said Tuesday the traditional U.S. vetoes on U.N. resolutions condemning the Jewish State were becoming harder to justify.
"Up until this point, we have pushed away against European efforts, for example, or other efforts," he told Israeli Channel Two television.
"If, in fact, there's no prospect of an actual peace process, if nobody believes there's a peace process, then it becomes more difficult to argue with those who are concerned about settlement construction, those who are concerned about the current situation," Obama said.
Nicholson voiced no reservations on Wednesday.
"I am here to demonstrate, emphatically, Canada’s unwavering support for Israel," he said.
"We understand that Israel’s neighborhood is as dangerous as Canada’s is peaceful, and so we know that Israel’s leadership has no choice but to take at all times, every step necessary to protect itself from the forces that are openly committed to its destruction."
- 'Two-state solution threatened' -
"We've long refused to be neutral in supporting Israel's right to defend itself against violent extremists," Nicholson said.
"Any who turn their back on Israel, or turn a blind eye to the nature of Israel's enemies, do so in the long run at their own peril."
According to official transcripts of his comments at meetings with Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, Nicholson made no direct reference to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
He did not speak to reporters after meeting Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki in the West bank city of Ramallah later.
A Palestinian foreign ministry statement quoted Malki as telling Nicholson the concept of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel was threatened.
"The two-state solution is in dire need of a strong will from the international community in order to protect it and implement it, through effective steps to pressure the new Israeli government," the Arabic-language statement said.
Nicholson is one of a string of foreign officials visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories since the inauguration last month of Netanyahu's new government, one of the most rightwing in Israeli history.
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully, whose country assumes chairmanship of the U.N. Security Council in July, met Netanyahu on Wednesday and will visit Ramallah on Thursday.
"You're going to head the Security Council. I wish you a lot of luck in it," Netanyahu told him.
"I'd say that the main thing that we have learned is that peace is achieved, as we did with Jordan and with Egypt, through direct negotiations between parties and not by fiat."
New Zealand is working on a draft U.N. resolution to revive long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, an initiative Netanyahu vigorously opposes.
Source: Agence France Presse
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