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Canadian aid to Palestinians

Naresh Raghubeer and David Harris - 12/19/2007

Ottawa, Canada - Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier said today that Canada would commit $300 million over the next five years in foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA). This commitment is on top of the nearly 500 million Canadian tax dollars that have already been given to the Palestinians.

"Our funding is not unconditional," Minister Bernier said in a media release. "We will need to see … a viable Palestinian state that is democratic, accountable, and living in peace and security as a neighbour to Israel .”

“Many Canadians have welcomed the more principled foreign policy of the current government,” said Alastair Gordon, president, Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD). “Hopefully, Minister Bernier’s funding conditions will assure that our tax dollars no longer go to a regime whose governing charter calls for the destruction of a neighbouring democratic state and its people.”

“Further, Canadians have poured close to half a billion tax into the Palestinian regime, only to see it spent on ever-increasing incitement and hatred, and disappear in corruption, theft and a bloated bureaucracy” added Gordon.

The governing charter of the Palestinian Authority clearly states that “Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine ” (article 9) and “Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of its own” (article 20).

The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade -- an affiliate of Fatah, the party of the Palestinian Authority -- is an illegal terror organization under Canadian law, and has proudly claimed credit for the murder of Israelis, Americans and fellow Palestinians, all in keeping with Fatah’s charter. The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade was among the first to take credit for a suicide bombing by a female. A Canadian who directly or indirectly funds such an illegal organization can be prosecuted and jailed, and the same prohibition must apply to our foreign aid.

“Without tough and transparent conditions, Canadian aid will continue to move the Middle East further from peace,” said Naresh Raghubeer, CCD’s executive director. “Until the PA changes its governing charter to recognize Israel , until violence against Israel stops for at least two years, and until the PA ends genocidal incitement in its schools and media, Canada must withhold its funding.”

“The argument is made that the government of Israel supports our funding of the PA,” added Gordon. “ Canada ’s foreign policy must be determined by elected representatives in Ottawa , not in Jerusalem.

“Billions in foreign aid to the Palestinians have succeeded only in creating more violence, hatred and dependency. We hope that the tough conditions set by Minister Bernier will mark the end of an aid strategy that has for decades denied the Palestinians their right to modernity, self-sufficiency, dignity, and peace.”