Canada PM heckled by Arab MPs in Knesset

Arab-Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi walks out in protest as Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper addresses the Knesset in Jerusalem yesterday.

AFP/Jerusalem

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was shouted down by Arab lawmakers at the Israeli Knesset yesterday in a speech which won him a standing ovation from Jewish MPs. 

Arab Israeli MP Ahmed Tibi hurled mostly inaudible comments at Harper before walking out with another lawmaker as the Canadian premier delivered a 20-minute speech which was markedly pro-Israel on his first-ever visit to the Jewish state.

Shortly afterwards, most of the remaining MPs in the 120-member parliament rose to their feet to give Harper a standing ovation, in an unusually lively episode in the house.

“We refuse to single out Israel for criticism on the international stage,” Harper said, lashing out at the international community for criticising Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians, particularly over settlement construction. 

“As once Jewish businesses were boycotted, some civil society leaders today call for a boycott of Israel,” he said, decrying the shunning of academics. 

“Most disgracefully of all, some openly call Israel an apartheid state,” he said, at which point Tibi yelled out “Settlements!” drawing a chorus of boos and hissing. 

Israel’s ongoing announcements of new construction on land seized during the 1967 Six-Day War has drawn the ire of Palestinians, the European Union and the United States as Washington tries to coax the two sides towards an elusive peace deal.

Arab Israelis make up some 20% of the population.

They are currently represented by 12 of the 120 Knesset members.

Earlier yesterday, Harper said Canada would provide additional financial support for the West Bank, as he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

“I have the pleasure to announce today that Canada will this year give additional (financial) support for the economic development of the West Bank,” Harper told reporters, saying this was key for “social stability” and for advancing peace.

He did not elaborate on details about the aid.

Canada was one of the few countries that opposed a successful Palestinian bid for upgraded status at the United Nations in 2012.

Abbas acknowledged “differences” with Ottawa on the question of Palestine, but said these should be resolved through discussion, and that the Canadians were entitled to their own views.

A diplomatic spat last April saw the Palestinian Authority summon Canada’s envoy over a controversial visit by Foreign Minister John Baird to annexed East Jerusalem to meet Israel’s justice minister.

Baird met Tzipi Livni, lead peace negotiator in Israel’s cabinet, at her office in East Jerusalem, a move normally avoided by visiting diplomats because it could be seen as legitimising Israel’s controversial annexation.

The US-backed Middle East peace process has faltered ahead of an April deadline.

Abbas reiterated that Palestinians were committed to the agreed nine months of talks, despite Palestinian anger at Israel’s continued settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

The Middle East Quartet published a plan in September to revive the ailing Palestinian economy, in an effort to support peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

The three-year “Palestinian Economic Initiative”, which is to focus on private sector growth, came after international financial institutions urged Israel to loosen sanctions against the territories.

Curbs split Palestinian families, say rights groups

AFP/Jerusalem

Israel’s restrictions on Palestinian movement between Gaza and the West Bank are separating relatives and making family life impossible for tens of thousands of people, an Israeli human rights report said yesterday.

Jointly published by rights watchdogs B’Tselem and HaMoked, the 42-page report documents the impact of Israel’s policy of tightly restricting Palestinian movement into and out of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. 

“Israel’s declared policy of isolating the Gaza Strip severely violates the right to family life of tens of thousands of Palestinians living in split families, divided between Gaza and Israel, or between Gaza and the West Bank,” it said.

Current Israeli policy bars Gazans from travelling to the West Bank except in extremely rare circumstances. And although West Bank residents are permitted to go to Gaza, they have to commit to stay there, the report said. 

“Israel prohibits all passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, except in very few exceptional humanitarian cases of first-degree relatives involving serious illness, death or a wedding,” it said. 

Even then, not all requests are accepted, or are granted too late. 

After the 1967 Six-Day War when Israel seized Gaza and the West Bank, it allowed Palestinians relative freedom of movement between the two territories, but during the first uprising (1987-1993), restrictions were stepped up, ostensibly for security reasons.

The policy changed in 2006 when Israel first imposed a blockade on Gaza after militants there seized an Israeli soldier, and was tightened again a year later after Hamas forcibly took control. 

Women were particularly affected, the report said, noting that marriage meant a woman was expected to leave her family and move into her husband’s home.

“Israel’s policy ... is especially detrimental to women ... as the restrictions on their freedom of movement effectively sever them from their families of origin,” the organisations said. 

The report urged the Israeli government to “respect the rights of all Palestinian residents to family life and freedom of movement”.

In response, Israel’s justice ministry acknowledged the “hardship” the policy was causing, but said it was necessary for security reasons.

The Gaza Strip is “a hostile territory controlled by a murderous terrorist organisation (Hamas) that routinely operates against a civilian population and whose self-declared goal is the annihilation of the State of Israel”, it said.