What lies ahead? Canada’s engagement with the Middle East Peace Process and the Palestinians: an Introduction

ABSTRACT

This thematic issue of the Canadian Foreign Policy Journal explores Canada’s foreign policy relationship with the Palestinians and the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP). It does this through a combination of articles and policy commentaries by scholars from the academy and “pracademics” from government. This includes regional experts on Palestine, Palestinian refugees Palestinian state-building and Canadian foreign policy. The topics they cover include Canadian diplomacy on Israel-Palestine at the United Nations, the impact the international community and Canada have had on Israeli-Palestinian peacebuilding, Canada’s policy toward Palestinian refugees, Canadian development aid in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and an overview of Canadian foreign policy toward both the Palestinians and MEPP. This introduction sets the stage for their contributions by first providing an overview of the contemporary politics of the Middle East and where Israel-Palestine fits within them, including a brief account of peacebuilding efforts today. It also describes Canada’s not-insignificant contribution to the politics of the Middle East and towards the composure of Israel-Palestine today, and likewise the impact of each on Canada. In sum, the articles each explore a unique and important facet of the ongoing development of Canadian foreign policy toward the Palestinians and the MEPP.

RÉSUMÉ

Ce numéro thématique du Canadian Foreign Policy Journal explore la relation de politique étrangère du Canada avec les Palestiniens et le processus de paix au Moyen-Orient (PPMO). Pour ce faire, il s’appuie sur une combinaison d'articles et de commentaires politiques écrits par des universitaires et des ‘ praticiens ’ du gouvernement. Ces personnes comprennent des experts régionaux sur la Palestine, les réfugiés palestiniens, la construction de l’État palestinien et la politique étrangère canadienne. Les sujets qu’ils abordent comprennent la diplomatie canadienne sur la question israélo-palestinienne aux Nations unies, l’impact de la communauté internationale et du Canada sur la consolidation de la paix israélo-palestinienne, la politique du Canada à l’égard des réfugiés palestiniens, l’aide au développement du Canada dans les territoires palestiniens occupés et un aperçu de la politique étrangère canadienne à l’égard aussi bien des Palestiniens que du PPMO. Cette introduction prépare le terrain pour leurs contributions en offrant d’abord un aperçu de la politique contemporaine du Moyen-Orient et de la place qu’y occupe Israël et la Palestine, y compris un bref compte-rendu des efforts de consolidation de la paix aujourd’hui. Elle décrit aussi la contribution non négligeable du Canada à la politique du Moyen-Orient et au calme régnant entre Israël et la Palestine aujourd’hui, ainsi que l’impact de chacun d’entre eux sur le Canada. En résumé, les articles explorent chacun une facette unique et importante du développement continu de la politique étrangère canadienne à l’égard des Palestiniens et du PPMO.

Acknowledgements

The guest editors would also like to thank Professor David Carment for his indelible patience and sage support making this special edition journal a reality, Marshall Palmer for his assiduous assistance in seeing all the articles through to publication and all of the contributors for their personal insights and collective wisdom. This collection was inspired out of a Symposium held at the University of Ottawa in February 2019, exploring Canada’s historical and contemporary relationship with the Palestinians. It was co-organised by Dr Jeremy Wildeman (then University of Bath), Professor Nadia Abu-Zahra (University of Ottawa), Professor Reem Bahdi (University of Windsor), Professor Michael Lynk (University of Western Ontario) and Omar Burgan. Most of the articles in this thematic special issue were first presented at the gathering.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 A history of the Initiative and its main proposals can be found in Track Two Diplomacy and Jerusalem: The Jerusalem Old City Initiative (Najem, Molloy, Bell & Bell, 2017a). Companion volumes, Governance and Security in Jerusalem (Najem, Molloy, Bell, & Bell, 2018) and Contested Sites in Jerusalem (Najem, Molloy, Bell, & Bell, 2017b) contain JOCI’s commissioned studies. For an analysis of the JOCI and two other Jerusalem proposals see, “Transcript for ‘Is Peace Possible?’ Chapter 4: Jerusalem” (Krieger, 2011).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeremy Wildeman

Jeremy Wildeman, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Human Rights Resource and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa.

Emma Swan

Emma Swan, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Scholar, is a PhD candidate at the School of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa.