Settlements, Syrians and Canada's role in the Mideast peace talks

Commentators have no problem pointing out obstacles to peace, and apparently one of them is Canada.

The latest round of Mideast peace talks is creeping along, with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meeting in the Middle East this week after kicking off talks in Washington two weeks ago.

A deal is possible, writes Jonathan Kay in the National Post, but first the issue of Israeli settlements needs to be addressed. A moratorium on settlement construction on disputed land in the West Bank is about to expire, and Abbas has said he’ll walk if construction resumes. “Netanyahu should relent on this issue, and pledge to an indefinite freeze on new settlement construction during the peace talks,” argues Kay. “Israel’s supporters have all sorts of perfectly valid arguments about why, in theory” they shouldn’t have to extend the freeze, but “negotiations aren’t conducted in theory. They’re conducted with other human beings.” Extending the freeze would be an important act of good faith.

“The major threat to the peace process is not … a West Bank settlement, but the threats coming from the evil forces in the Gaza Strip, Damascus, Beirut and Tehran” writes Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh in the National Post. Hamas, Syria, and Iran have pledged Israel’s destruction and as long “as the U.S. administration and its Western allies continue to turn a blind eye to these real threats” there won’t be “any progress toward peace.” Evidently, Toameh believes the sanctions and general international hubbub generated by Iran’s nuclear program aren’t sufficient.

“Unfortunately, the current negotiations have begun with Canada and the U.S. undermining Palestinian unity,” writes Yves Engler in The Mark. How unified they were before Canada came along is up for debate, but Engler notes “After Hamas won … elections in early 2006, Stephen Harper made Canada the first country to cut its assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The goal was to sow division among Palestinians, and it worked.” Now Canada has cut off aid to Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, while supporting the creation of a joint U.S.-Palestinian police force in the West Bank that basically carries out Israel’s security wishes, according to Engler.