Talking with the PLO: Overcoming political challenges

ABSTRACT

Until 1980, Canada had only very occasional dealings with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and often viewed the latter as an illegitimate body or terrorist organization. However, in 1980 the Department of External Affairs, recognizing that the PLO represented an important body of Palestinian opinion, and had become a major actor in Lebanon, assigned an officer (this author) to the Canadian Embassy in Beirut with instructions to develop dialogue with the PLO on political and security matters. This policy commentary briefly describes the evolution in Canadian policy toward fully accepting the legitimacy of the PLO as the Palestinian representative in the Middle East peace process. It describes the factors influencing the change in Canada's position, including the views of the international community, PLO acceptance in 1988 of Israel's existence, and Arafat's renunciation of terrorism. As a result, in March, 1989 Canada lifted remaining limits on official contacts with the PLO and accepted the Palestinian right of self-determination, thereby adopting a more balanced foreign policy. This led to Canada being accepted as a significant player in the Multilateral Peace Process, the chair (Gavel) of the Refugee Working Group and a member of the Multilateral Steering Committee.

RÉSUMÉ

Jusqu'en 1980, le Canada n'avait que des rapports très occasionnels avec l'organisation de libération de la Palestine (OLP) et considérait souvent cette dernière comme une entité illégitime ou une organisation terroriste. Cependant, en 1980, le Ministère des Affaires étrangères, reconnaissant que l'OLP représentait une part importante de l'opinion palestinienne et était devenue un acteur majeur au Liban, a affecté un agent (cet auteur) à l'ambassade du Canada à Beyrouth, avec pour instruction de développer le dialogue avec l'OLP sur les questions politiques et de sécurité. Ce commentaire politique décrit brièvement l'évolution de la politique canadienne vers la pleine acceptation de la légitimité de l'OLP en tant que représentant palestinien dans le processus de paix au Moyen-Orient. Il décrit les facteurs ayant influencé le changement de position du Canada, y compris les points de vue de la communauté internationale, l'acceptation de l'existence d'Israël par l'OLP en 1988 et la renonciation d'Arafat au terrorisme. En conséquence, en mars 1989, le Canada a levé les dernières restrictions aux contacts officiels avec l'OLP et accepté le droit des Palestiniens à l'autodétermination, adoptant ainsi une politique étrangère plus équilibrée. Cela a permis au Canada d'être accepté comme un acteur important dans le processus de paix multilatéral, comme président (Gavel) du groupe de travail sur les réfugiés et comme membre du comité directeur multilatéral.

KEYWORDS:

• PLO
• self-determination
• Beirut
• peace process

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Mr. Stanfield was asked to study the whole spectrum of Canada’s relationship with the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. An interim report recommending against the Jerusalem move was submitted in October, 1979, and the final report on February 20, 1980 (Stanfield, 1980). See also the article by Wildeman in this issue.

2 On several occasions, this author has shared in quotation marks statements from his own past lived experiences in the Canadian foreign service.

3 Three years later, Mr. Clark’s views on the Palestinian question were still such anathema to the Canadian Jewish community that in March 1991 Prime Minister Mulroney instructed Mr. Clark to extend his trip to the Middle East – which was already underway – by a couple of days so as to avoid him having to speak at the conference of the Canada-Israel Committee about to take place in Ottawa. Mr. Clark extended his trip to include Iran, meeting with both President Rafsanjani and Foreign Minister Velayati. (This is still the only visit to Iran by a Canadian Foreign Minister since the Iranian revolution.) As a replacement speaker for the CIC meeting the PM sent Barbara McDougall, whose views on Israel and on the PLO were much closer to the pro-Israeli views of Mr. Mulroney. Five weeks later Mrs. McDougall replaced Mr. Clark as Secretary of State for External Affairs.

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Andrew N. Robinson

Andrew N. Robinson is a retired Canadian diplomat. Besides his posting to Beirut in 1980-82, he was also assigned to Cairo as Deputy Head of Mission from 1985 to 1988, and as Ambassador to Jordan from 1992 to 1995. His Ottawa assignments with External Affairs have included Director of the Middle East Relations Division (1988–1992), and Director-General for the Middle East Peace Process. In this capacity he acted on behalf of Canada as the Gavel-holder (Chairperson) of the Refugee Working Group in the Middle East Peace Process (1995–2000).