During his current visit to the Middle East, Canada’s Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier was asked about Israel’s expansion of construction at Har Homa, in the West Bank near Jerusalem.  While he said that expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank is “contrary to the peace process,” he pointedly refused to comment on Har Homa.  Israel claims that its expansion there is justified because it considers it a suburb of Jerusalem.

Canada’s Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier

Even though the United States has criticized the new construction, Bernier has refused to comment.  According to Toronto Globe and Mail correspondent Mark MacKinnon, who reported from Har Homa, “Mr. Bernier appeared to have made Canadian foreign policy the most pro-Israeli in the world.”  Canada’s position is a shift from 1997, when the country was one of 134 voting at the U.N. to oppose Israeli construction at that location.  MacKinnon also pointed to a shift of Canadian policy on 13 U.N. resolutions relating to Israel/Palestine, all in the direction of support for the Israeli position. Most of the construction at Har Homa will be on Palestinian land.  MacKinnon interviewed Abid Abu Teir, an engineering professor, whose family owns property in Har Homa on which some of the construction has taken place.  Teir has little hope of being able to recover the family’s property.