Canada: Mideast conflict could only be solved through direct negotiations – GA high-level debate – UN news item

Middle East conflict can only be solved through direct negotiations, Canada says at UN

26 September 2011 –  Direct talks without preconditions are the only way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Canada’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly today, saying his country cannot “stay silent while the Jewish State is attacked for defending its territory and its citizens.”

Speaking at the Assembly’s annual general debate, John Baird backed last Friday’s call by the diplomatic Quartet – comprising the UN, the European Union, Russia and the United States – for the two sides in the Middle East to immediately resume a process of negotiations with the aim of reaching a lasting deal.

“The only solution to this issue is one that is negotiated by the two parties themselves,” he said. “We continue to encourage both sides to accept these principles and return to direct talks based on a two-State solution without delay or preconditions.”

On Friday, the Palestinian Authority’s President Mahmoud Abbas submitted an application for Palestine to become a United Nations Member State, and today the Security Council said it would formally discuss the issue on Wednesday.

“But we will not go along with the unilateral actions of the Palestinian Authority,” Mr. Baird stressed, noting that Canada has supported participants in the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement that has swept North Africa and the Middle East this year.

“We uphold Israel’s right to exist. We uphold its fundamental right, like any Member State, to defend innocent civilians against acts of terrorism. Just as fascism and communism were the great struggles of previous generations, terrorism is the great struggle of ours.

“And far too often the Jewish State is on the front line of our struggle and its people the victims of terror. Canada will not accept or stay silent while the Jewish State is attacked for defending its territory and its citizens.”

Mr. Baird said global citizens had a duty to defend the vulnerable, particularly minorities being denied their human rights or fundamental freedoms. He cited the treatment of Christian clergy in China, gay men and lesbians in Uganda and women, Christians, Bahá’í and others in Iran as examples.

“It is our common duty to uphold the rights of the afflicted. To give voice to the voiceless.”