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Canada recognizes Palestine

Dear Prime Minister Carney & Minister of Foreign Affairs Anand

CC local MP, leaders of other parties

Thank you, Mr Carney, for recognizing Palestine (alongside the UK and Australia), and for following the recent examples of Ireland, Spain, and Norway, which recognized Palestine last year.

While this was a necessary step forward, it is not enough to address Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its plans to annex the occupied West Bank; it will not automatically end Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestine; it won't even stop the flow of arms from Canada to Israel (which has been demonstrated to still being going on, your protestations to the contrary notwithstanding). 

It should be noted that the International Court of Justice is clear that the Palestinian people have an inalienable right to self-determination, so this shouldn't even have been a question in the first place. Furthermore, more than 140 UN member states already recognized Palestine. Canada is not leading here or being an example but instead is among a shrinking group of holdouts.

Furthermore, the conditions placed on the recognition are not really fair. 

What right does Canada have to dictate which parties are allowed to run in future elections in another country? Would we presume to do that to any other state?

As a pacifist, of course I believe in a demilitarized state, but what right do we have to demand that of Palestine before we do it ourselves? (I dream of the day the national corps of hyperfit, well-trained people serving Canada is a climate disaster response and search & rescue force, not a military.)  

Furthermore, to demand that a state currently having a portion of its land pummelled to dust with relentless bombing be demilitarized with no such demand on the state doing the bombing is more than a discriminatory double standard, it's a death sentence. Israel's right to defend itself has been invoked countless times since Oct 7, 2023 (despite it being an irrelevant point given its occupier status): why then is recognizing Palestine contingent upon it NOT having a right to defend itself? This is the kind of irrational, lopsided, deeply unfair deal a certain world leader to the south would make. We expect better deal making from a former banker than a former real estate huckster. 

In some ways this debate is meaningless, as the Israeli occupiers have stolen land in a strategic way so as to make a Palestinian state an impossibility, given the Swiss cheese left over after belligerent, hostile and illegal Jewish settlements are factored in. 

But it is never too late to do the right thing. So Canada is to be applauded for recognizing the Palestinian state; however before that applause has even died down, it must impose a full arms and economic embargo on Israel to show our words are not meaningless. 

Letter inspired by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East's mailer.

Further reading: 

https://www.cjpme.org/beyond_two_states

https://www.cjpme.org/letter_2024_07_25_trudeau_icj

https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/441/FAAE/Brief/BR13430328/br-external/CanadiansForJusticeAndPeaceInTheMiddleEast-e.pdf

https://www.cjpme.org/fs_246

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