Ottawa set to reject anti-Israel resolutions

Ottawa's Liberal government on Wednesday adopted a more pro-Israel stand in votes on U.N. resolutions condemning the ‘Israeli occupation of Arab lands,’ The Globe and Mail reported on it website.

Canada has traditionally abstained on a slew of resolutions introduced annually in the United Nations General Assembly, but, this year, it indicated it would join the United States and only a few other countries in voting against three of them, arguing they are one-sided and unhelpful for the peace process, the report said.

According to The Globe and Mail, prominent members of Canada’s Jewish community have directly lobbied Prime Minister Paul Martin to change Canada's tradition of abstaining with the majority of industrialized countries when Arab countries move their annual anti-Israel resolutions in the General Assembly.

On Wednesday, the national chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee said he was pleased with the pending No votes, while Hussein Amery, the president for the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations, criticized the move and suggested it could provoke a backlash among some voters.

"Obviously, this is a sensitive time in Canada, and the Liberal Party has taken into account the concerns of both sides in the country and is trying to balance their votes at the United Nations to try to please everyone," The Globe and Mail quoted Amery as saying.

"In the end, it will please no one."

According to Amery, the Liberal government has provided significant support for the Palestinian cause, including the establishment of the Canada Centre for Peace and Democracy, in the region. But he said the U.N. vote represents "moral suasion" that signals the world's condemnation of ‘Israel's occupation of the West Bank and its construction of settlements there’.

'Language of resolutions creates sense of imbalance'

Marc Gold, of the Canada-Israel Committee, said the government's decision to vote against the resolutions was "long overdue." Israel's supporters were frustrated by the resistance within the Ottawa bureaucracy and among its UN diplomats to the change, he said.

"What is revealed in this process is the extent to which it is seen as a zero-sum game, as if the only way to be pro-Palestinian is to bash Israel in one-sided resolutions," The Globe and Mail quoted Gold as saying.

He said that the Liberal government has been supportive of the Palestinian cause, but added that "what these votes are about is bringing much-needed reform to the U.N."

In a speech in the General Assembly yesterday, Gilbert Laurin, Canada's second-in-command at the U.N., said Ottawa is unhappy with the body's tradition of passing numerous resolutions that only add to the rancour in the region.

The language of the resolutions "creates a sense of imbalance, and seems to suggest that it is only Israel that has obligations," said Laurin.

"The responsibilities of other actors, including Palestinians, are often not sufficiently emphasized, nor are references to Israeli security needs. Canada will not support resolutions that use emotive and provocative language in place of the straight facts."