Canadian MPs join Australian, New Zealand peers in pushing for Palestine statehood

OTTAWA — Canadian members of Parliament are working with their colleagues in Australia and New Zealand to try and convince their respective governments to jointly recognize Palestinian statehood.

NDP MP Heather McPherson, who is leading an effort to recruit Canadian MPs, said building on work the three governments have already done might be the best leverage to advance a two-state solution.

“If that’s the way we can get them to move on some of these key issues that I think are so important, we’ll work together on that to put more and more pressure on those three governments,” she said.

“It is, from my perspective, incredible that our policy of a two-state solution remains when we refuse to recognize the State of Palestine.”

New Zealand MP Phil Twyford is helping lead the fledgling effort to have the three countries formally recognize the State of Palestine, going beyond their current practice of calling for a two-state solution, which refers to the eventual creation of a Palestinian country that would live in peace alongside Israel.

“It would send a very important message to the rest of the international community for our countries to back recognition of Palestine at this time, in a positive and constructive way,” he said.

Since December, Ottawa has signed three lengthy joint statements with Australia and New Zealand that lay out shared stances on Hamas, Gaza, Israeli hostages and humanitarian aid.

The small group is now recruiting MPs and senators for a virtual conference to determine how they can work in concert, such as releasing statements or using legislative tools. The MPs say they’ll be joined by a colleague from Ireland, which in May recognized Palestine at the same time as Norway and Spain.

MPs in Ottawa, Canberra and Wellington say the war in Gaza has been the dominant foreign policy issue in each country, one that has caused massive protests while galvanizing younger voters.

Australian MP Maria Vamvakinou said the issue is already prominent in her country’s looming election. She said both Canada and Australia have diaspora communities who want their elected officials to advocate harder for an end to the war.

“We have very close relationships, very close bilaterals, and we have very similar sort of community experiences, also,” she said.

“Given the work that our like-minded countries are doing in relation to this issue, it makes sense that there’s a parliamentarian-to-parliamentarian network as well.”

Both MPs leading the initiative Down Under are part of their countries’ Labour parties, which are members of a global coalition of like-minded parties called the Progressive Alliance. Canada’s NDP is part of that alliance. They all hope to include MPs from other parties in each country.

The three MPs say the idea is to limit the blowback such a move might prompt. Already, Israel has threatened to block European diplomats’ access to their missions in the West Bank or East Jerusalem at checkpoints if their government recognizes a Palestinian state.

Twyford described the three countries as being solidly in the Western camp of alliances which have supported Israel for decades, but also have a streak of independent thinking and advocacy for human rights. He argued there are only “shades of difference” in how they feel about the Middle East.

“Recognition of Palestine is a critically important step right now to convey to the international community that there must be a negotiated political settlement and Palestinians must be at the table,” Twyford said.

In May, New Zealand’s foreign minister said recognizing Palestine is “a question of when, not if,” and that the timeline hinges on having a clear sense of who represents Palestinians.

That leadership is split, with the Palestinian Authority administering the West Bank but losing control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in 2007. It has been nearly two decades since the Palestinian Authority under the Fatah party has held presidential and legislative elections.

Twyford noted that countries like the U.S. recognized Israel and Kosovo before they were fully functioning states. “The call for recognition is not to recognize a particular political party,” he said. “It’s to recognize Palestine as an entity.”

Australia’s foreign minister called last week for “a clear timeline for the international declaration of Palestinian statehood,” while arguing that unilateral declaration is not effective.

Last week, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said Ottawa is still sorting out what it needs to see happen. “We are working with our like-minded countries to make sure that we identify what are the conditions for (the) right time,” she said.

MPs on the House foreign affairs committee have voted to launch a study on how Canada could best recognize Palestine, with the Liberals and NDP passing a motion that the Conservatives opposed.

The committee hadn’t posted the minutes of its recent closed-door meetings as of Monday afternoon, but some MPs have spoken with media. The Tories have argued that statehood recognition would put Canada offside with its G7 peers.

McPherson said she hopes the debate doesn’t distract from other NDP demands, such as a call for more arms restrictions and sanctions on far-right Israeli officials.

“It’s important, but it cannot be the only thing that the government moves on,” she said. “It is not an opportunity to check a box and walk away.”

The United Nations’ human-rights body said in June that 146 of the assembly’s 193 members had recognized the State of Palestine, including most of Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Yet the Israeli government has pushed back forcefully. This past July, Israel’s parliament overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a two-state solution in a 68-9 vote.

“Any move to upgrade the status of the Palestinians — whether in the United Nations or bilaterally — rewards and incentivizes terrorism, particularly for Hamas, who would find such actions as validation of its genocidal attacks on Israel,” reads a statement from Israel’s embassy in Ottawa.

“Such decisions severely undermine the prospects of resolving the conflict, which can only be achieved through direct negotiations.”

The Palestinian ambassador to Canada, Mona Abuamara, said the MPs are motivated in part by the U.S. election in early November and the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency.

“I don’t think that any country will be willing at that point to fight him on this,” Abuamara said in an August interview, adding that her delegation will not interfere in a domestic Canadian debate.

She noted that Trump in August mulled if there is “any way of getting more” territory for Israel. “We’re hoping that the free world and its liberal democracies would act sooner than later to prevent anything further to transpire,” Abuamara said.

Canada’s former ambassador to Israel, Jon Allen, told the Red Passport podcast that he heard Ottawa had pushed its peers to endorse a May vote at the UN General Assembly aimed at full recognition of Palestine.

“My understanding is we were trying to convince the Australians and the New Zealanders to move and they didn’t, then we didn’t,” he said in the episode published on Aug. 2.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2024.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press