Canadian PM Stephen Harper Opposes Palestinian Bid For Statehood At UN: ‘Negotiate Peace With Israel’ at Pat Dollard

Canadian PM Stephen Harper Opposes Palestinian Bid For Statehood At UN: ‘Negotiate Peace With Israel’

September 20th, 2011 (3) Posted By bear.

Israel has a friend in Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has admonished Palestinians to give up campaigning at the UN and return to peace talks if they want a sovereign state – while his foreign minister worked feverishly behind the scenes to stop the issue from coming to a vote.

The Prime Minister went to the United Nations on Tuesday for a high-level summit on Libya, but the endgame there is being overshadowed in New York by a Palestinian delegation’s push to get UN recognition for a Palestinian state.

And although Mr. Harper will return to Ottawa on Wednesday without addressing the UN General Assembly, he waded into the issue forcefully on Tuesday, appearing to place the onus on the Palestinians to re-launch peace talks with Israel.

“I think there’s no likelihood of this initiative by the Palestinian Authority doing anything to further the peace process. I think it’s possible that it could be counter-productive,” Mr. Harper told reporters outside the UN meeting on Libya. “But I would say, if the Palestinian Authority is serious about establishing a sovereign state, the method to do that is not a declaration here at the United Nations. It’s to get back at the negotiating table and negotiate peace with Israel.”

Pro-Israel groups in Canada support Mr. Harper’s stand, but his comments earned a sharp reply from envoys of the Palestinian Authority.

“My comment to the Prime Minister of Canada is that the Palestinians are the party that’s mainly interested in the negotiations,” said Linda Sobeh Ali, the head of the Palestinian Authority delegation in Ottawa. “We’ve been at the table for 20 years, and we’ve hit a roadblock in the road map. And that’s why we’re trying to rescue the negotiations.”

The Palestinian Authority and Israel blame each other for the breakdown in talks. Israel insists the Palestinians set unacceptable conditions, and the Palestinians say Israel’s government intends to let talks drag on without resolution while continuing to allow new settlements in the West Bank. Now the Palestinian Authority says recognition of a Palestinian state would provide a basis for peace talks, while Israel asserts it would poison such efforts.

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Kemaste

This is Palestinian negotiation:

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/148149#.TnoohOxU3T4
Anonymous

Negotiations are better than having the UN make some declaration, and then have “world” courts dragged in along with UN blue helmets to “enforce” the UN declaration. But, UN declaration is the only way the palestinians will get what they want – criminalization, prosecution and dismantling of Israel by “world” powers, as Israelis try to protect themselves from the barbaric atrocities of these jihadi scum.
Anonymous

Negotiations are better than having the UN make some declaration, and then have “world” courts dragged in along with UN blue helmets to “enforce” the UN declaration. But, UN declaration is the only way the palestinians will get what they want – criminalization, prosecution and dismantling of Israel by “world” powers, as Israelis try to protect themselves from the barbaric atrocities of these jihadi scum.