Bob Rae

Bob Rae, the opposition Liberal Party’s foreign policy critic, spoke to an audience on Parliament Hill on August 6, at the invitation of the National Council of Canada Arab Relations and the Middle East Discussion Group.  He made an important observation: Israelis to whom he spoke when he visited there recently were interested in “management rather than settlement of the problem.”  He did not seem to grasp the full implications of that insight.

The implications toss into the ashcan any real possibility of a negotiated settlement.  Management necessitates dealing with the “facts on the ground” which Israel has consistently fostered, spreading Jewish settlements throughout the West Bank.  Israel managed to dismantle the few settlements in Gaza, after having been driven out by Hamas, but it would have a virtually impossible task in repeating that feat in a West Bank heavily populated by large settlements and by other smaller ones peopled by religious fanatics quite prepared to be violent.  “Management” means dithering, hemming and hawing, muddling through.

Bob Rae hearkened back to the days when the Clinton administration was fostering negotiations.  At that time, the parties had established some general areas of agreement.  There would be two states, with some alteration of borders to take into account Jewish settlements in the West Bank close to the green line.  There would probably be some exchange of land to compensate.  As for refugees, some could return and the others compensated.  The proposed transfer of land from Israel to Palestine would not, it appears, take into consideration the wishes of the inhabitants.

Rae said that the two sides came close to an agreement with President Clinton’s aid, but close is about all we can expect.  The closeness is illusory because of the dynamic on the Israeli side, even though most Israelis want the settlers out.  That same dynamic creates another problem, which he identified.  Misery such as that experienced in the Occupied Territories, especially Gaza, creates extremism. Again he failed to see the full implications.  Since the moderate Palestinian leaders are bound to fail because of the Israeli inability to make the necessary concessions, we can look forward to their replacement.  At that time, no dithering by the Palestinians.

He described Canada’s long-standing position on the Israel-Palestine issue: Canada favored partition, but that also entails a viable Palestine.  It never recognized the Jewish settlements and the Israeli claim of total sovereignty of Jerusalem.  While he complained that the governing Conservatives have not enunciated this position clearly these days, when the Liberals were in power they were not exactly shouting it from the rooftops either.

When questions were posed to Rae regarding human rights and international law, he tended to respond with the need for the parties to negotiate.  One questioner pointed out that the negotiations would be between two very unequal parties.  In any case, the approach seems impractical when a negotiated settlement is so unrealistic.

“There can be no security without a settlement,” he said.  But there can be no resolution of the issues so long as the Jewish settlements in the West Bank remain and in fact continue to expand.  It is difficult to see how Israel, which deliberately created this impasse and which continues to do so, can possibly unscramble the egg. 

 

 

Danish cartoons in Alberta

The Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission threw out a complaint against Ezra Levant, whose magazine Western Standard reprinted the notorious Danish cartoons of Mohammed.  After the Commission spent a year considering the case brought by the Edmonton Council of Muslim Canadians, the Commission’s Pardeep S. Gundara said that, while the cartoons were “stereotypical, negative and offensive,” they were “related to relevant and timely news.”  Thus, we have another unsuccessful effort to punish expression of views that organized Islam in Canada deems offensive.

Previous efforts to bring charges against Maclean’s for publishing Mark Steyn’s hysterical piece, predicting a dangerous take-over of Europe by Muslims breeding like rabbits, have also failed. A decision is still pending in a case brought against the magazine in British Columbia.

 

Khadr case to Canadian court

Dennis Edney and Nate Whitling, the Canadian lawyers for Omar Khadr, filed suit in Federal Court on August 8 to force Prime Minister Stephen Harper to act to bring him back to Canada from Guantanamo.  They argue that Canada is obliged to act in this way because it ratified an international covenant on the rights of the child and the protocol on the rights of children in military conflict.  The Harper minority Conservative government has been resisting pressures to return Khadr, arguing that the charges against him are serious and that the legal process should take its course.  The Conservatives are no longer emphasizing their previous contention about the assurances that they have received that he is being treated humanely.  That change in emphasis is undoubtedly related to the information that has been widely revealed about the treatment to which he has been subjected. 

 

Dubai buys into circus

Two Dubai state-owned firms, Istithmar World Capital and Nakheel, have each purchased a 10% share of Cirque du Soleil.  Montreal-based Cirque is a circus with a world-wide outreach, using no animals and no ring.  It employs performers from around the world and stages performances across the globe. 

 

Guy Laliberte

Owner Guy Laliberté, a high school dropout, began as a busker, a fire-eater and stilt-walker.  He is now a billionaire because of the Cirque, though not without some government help along the way.  Laliberté believes that this new alliance will make expansion of the Cirque possible, with more daring performances.

Some observers fear that Dubai’s investment is but the first step, which could mean the eventual departure of the Cirque from Canadian control.  As it is, the Dubai investment enables Laliberté to take some cash out  for personal use and other projects he may have in mind. 

 

Charkaoui’s leash lengthened

Adil Charkaoui

Adil Charkaoui, one of five Muslim men on security certificates in Canada, has had his bail conditions loosened.  The court has now allowed him to leave Montreal with his children for a vacation and he can use a computer at the university under his father’s supervision.  As well, his curfew has been extended during Ramadan. 

 

 

 

Iranian dancer comes to Canada

Ida Moftahi

Iranian dancer and choreographer Farzaneh Kaboli is in Canada for performances in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.  She is in Toronto to choreograph works for her former student Ida Moftahi, whose troupe will perform on the occasion of the Conference on Islamic Studies. Now 59, she has been interested in the field of dance since childhood.  At 18 she enrolled in the newly established National and Folkloric Dance Academy.

Kaboli’s work in dance was warmly supported during the time of the shah, but the austere Khomeini Islamic Revolution closed the school and forbade public dancing.  She became an actress, promoting dance privately at her home.  Under the more moderate government of Mohammad Khatami, dance again emerged, renamed “rhythmical movement.”  However, his successor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has clamped down again to a certain extent.

Kaboli’s dance company gives few performances in Iran these days, because of the strictures imposed by the religious establishment, and these tend to be single-sex, both for performers and audiences.  She has been jailed and fined for performances deemed to be immodest.

In Canada, visa problems have prevented her from bringing her company, so she works here with a Canadian ensemble.