Mark Carney, Palestinian Authority aligned on conditions for statehood, but ‘it won't happen overnight,' PA diplomat says
Echoing Prime Minister Mark Carney's remarks Wednesday
, Mona Abuamara, the PA's Ambassador to Italy and formerly the chief representative in Canada for the last four years, told the Star in an interview that the conditions laid out by Ottawa to recognize a Palestinian state are in fact the goals of the Palestinian Authority that were communicated to Canada and other nations.
Mona Abuamara, the Palestinian Authority's ambassador to Italy and formerly the chief representative in Canada for the last four years.
'It's not that it's asked of us and pushed on us,' Abuamara told the Star Thursday. 'Those are things that we want to have, because we want to build a state that's independent and viable, democratic, and we want to be able to have our people choose their leadership.'
'It wasn't preconditioned recognition. It was mutual agreement on the things that we're on the same page.'
In making those comments, Abuamara shed further light on the process leading up to Canada's decision this week to recognize a Palestinian state, but she also laid bare the challenges ahead to actually achieve a viable Palestinian state in the face of Israeli and Hamas resistance.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Carney expressed little doubt Ottawa would follow through in September, saying Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas repeatedly committed to elections in 2026, the exclusion of Hamas and the demilitarization of a future Palestinian state.
But Abuamara, who said the Canadians don't expect any results by September, acknowledged following through on those reforms will be an uphill climb, and will require a massive international effort.
'It's not going to happen overnight,' Abuamara said. 'We have Gaza that has been levelled to the ground, and we have a Jerusalem that's occupied. So those things we will need to have been resolved by the international community, so we would be able to have an election in Palestine.'
In announcing Canada's plan to recognize a Palestinian state, Carney on Wednesday spoke of how prospects of a negotiated two-state solution have increasingly dimmed amid Israeli settlement expansion and settler violence in the West Bank, the Hamas attacks on Israel and Israel's ensuing invasion of Gaza. Since the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, which killed more than 1,200 people and captured more than 250 hostages, Israel's military response has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to health officials in Gaza.
On top of those conditions, the Palestinian Authority, the main alternative leadership to Hamas, has been rife with allegations of corruption and deep mistrust among Palestinians, dampening its international reputation.
But amid little progress on a ceasefire and escalating outrage over the mounting death toll, the mass starvation and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, several nations are attempting to revive momentum for a two-state solution. That's what compelled France and Saudi Arabia to hold a joint UN conference on the topic, and what later led Paris, the U.K., Ottawa and others to announce plans to recognize a Palestinian state led by the PA.
The current Israeli government, however, rejects a two-state solution.
Declaring 'Israel will not bow to the distorted campaign of international pressure against it,' Iddo Moed, Israel's ambassador to Canada, said Wednesday there is no reason to trust the Palestinian Authority and argued the move will harden Hamas during ceasefire and hostage negotiations, a view shared by the United States.
'President Abbas's latest vision for the future sharply contrasts with the Palestinian Authority's long-standing record; thus, it is hard to see his new-found 'commitments' as more than a thinly veiled strategy to maintain the status quo with the sympathy and support of the international community,' Moed said. 'Canada and its allies should not be under an illusion otherwise.'
Thomas Juneau, a University of Ottawa professor who specialized in the Middle East, said that without a change in government in Israel, it's unlikely the conditions for a two-state solution will be met.
'Everybody is careful in talking about that, because ... Canada and other countries don't want to be seen as directly intervening in Israeli affairs,' Juneau said. 'But everybody knows that this current government, given its makeup, is not interested in a two state solution.'
Likewise, purging Hamas, which rules Gaza, out of Palestinian society is also a tall order, said Louise Blais, a former Canadian representative to the UN.
'Hamas is an idea, as well,' Blais said. 'And it's going to live on in the people.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel PM says in 'profound shock' over hostage videos
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed "profound shock" over videos showing two emaciated hostages in Gaza, with the EU also denouncing the clips on Sunday and demanding the release of all remaining captives after nearly 22 months of war. Over the past few days, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have released three videos showing two hostages seized during the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza. The images of Rom Braslavski and Evyatar David have sparked strong reactions among Israelis, fuelling renewed calls to reach a truce and hostage release deal without delay. A statement from Netanyahu's office late Saturday said he had spoken with the families of the two hostages and "expressed profound shock over the materials distributed by the terror organisations". Netanyahu "told the families that the efforts to return all our hostages are ongoing", the statement added. Earlier in the day, tens of thousands of people had rallied in the coastal hub of Tel Aviv to urge Netanyahu's government to secure the release of the remaining captives. In the clips shared by the Palestinian Islamist groups, 21-year-old Braslavski, a German-Israeli dual national, and 24-year-old David both appear weak and malnourished. There was particular outrage in Israel over images of David who appeared to be digging what he said in the staged video was his own grave. The videos make references to the dire humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where UN-mandated experts have warned a "famine is unfolding". EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the images "are appalling and expose the barbarity of Hamas", calling for the release of "all hostages... immediately and unconditionally". - 'Hamas must disarm' - Kallas said in the same post on X that "Hamas must disarm and end its rule in Gaza" -- demands endorsed earlier this week by Arab countries, including key mediators Qatar and Egypt. She added that "large-scale humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach those in need". Israel has heavily restricted the entry of aid into Gaza, which was already under blockade for 15 years before the war began. UN agencies, aid groups and analysts say that much of the trickle of food aid that Israel allows in is looted by gangs or diverted in chaotic circumstances rather than reaching those most in need. Many desperate Palestinians are left to risk their lives under fire seeking what aid is distributed through controlled channels. On Sunday, Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed nine Palestinians who were waiting to collect food rations from a site operated by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Israeli attacks elsewhere killed another 10 people on Sunday, said civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal. - 'Emaciated and desperate' - Israeli newspapers dedicated their front pages on Sunday to the plight of the hostages, with Maariv decrying "hell in Gaza" and Yedioth Ahronoth showing a "malnourished, emaciated and desperate" David. Left-leaning Haaretz declared that "Netanyahu is in no rush" to rescue the captives, echoing claims by critics that the longtime leader has prolonged the war for his own political survival. In his conversations with Braslavski and David's families on Saturday, Netanyahu accused Hamas of "deliberately starving our hostages", and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he was "initiating a special UN Security Council meeting on the issue of the Israeli hostages". Braslavski and David are among the 49 hostages taken during Hamas's 2023 attack who are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. Most of the 251 hostages seized in the attack have been released during two short-lived truces in the war, some in exchange for Palestinians in Israeli custody. - Red Crescent says HQ hit - Hamas's 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on official figures. Israel's campaign in Gaza has killed at least 60,430 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, deemed reliable by the UN. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said in a post on X early Sunday that one of its staff members was killed and three others wounded in an Israeli attack on its Khan Yunis headquarters, in southern Gaza. There was no comment from Israel. Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties accessing many areas mean AFP cannot independently verify tolls and details provided by the civil defence and other parties. Overnight from Saturday to Sunday, Israel's military said it had "most likely intercepted" a rocket launched from southern Gaza. Meanwhile, in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said he had prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, where his repeated visits are seen as a provocation to many Palestinians. The mosque is Islam's third-holiest site, and is revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, though Jews are barred from praying there under a long-standing convention. In a video statement recorded during his visit -- Ben Gvir said "the response to Hamas's horror videos" should include Gaza's occupation and plans for the "voluntary emigration" of its people. Jordan, which acts as the site's custodian, condemned the minister's visit as "an unacceptable provocation, and a reprehensible escalation". hba/ami/smw
USA Today
30 minutes ago
- USA Today
Western nations want a Palestinian state. But Arab nations keep their distance.
Middle Eastern leaders who live closest to Gaza − and who arguably understand the players, history and regional dynamics best − are not escalating the political pressure on Israel. Britain's announcement that it may recognize a Palestinian state, along with France and Canada, is another signal of Western frustration with Israel, nearly two years into the war sparked by Hamas' attacks. But while outrage over Gaza dominates headlines in Western capitals, a quieter and far more revealing story is unfolding in the Arab world. The leaders who live closest to Gaza − and who arguably understand the players, history and regional dynamics best − are not escalating the political pressure on Israel. Instead, they're recalibrating, reassessing and, in some cases, even deepening their ties with the Jewish state. Like some Western nations, Arab states have strongly condemned civilian casualties and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and called for a future Palestinian state. However, unlike their Western counterparts, they have not allowed Hamas, the group that ignited this war with an unprovoked massacre on Oct. 7, 2023, to shape the moral narrative. They haven't withdrawn from the Abraham Accords, recalled their ambassadors or severed diplomatic ties with Jerusalem. Even in moments of high emotion, they're choosing long-term strategy over symbolic gestures. That choice speaks volumes. With Gaza conflict, it's important to know the participants In Saudi Arabia over the past year, senior figures have publicly criticized Hamas. In Egypt and Jordan, leaders are focused on regional stability and working to contain, not inflame, the conflict. In Iraq, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani revealed that his government thwarted nearly 30 attempted attacks on Israel and U.S. troops during Iran's spring offensive. That included foiling drone launches from Iraqi soil, which underscores how far some Arab states are going to stop the conflict from spreading. So why are Western cities ablaze with protests while Arab capitals work the phones in quiet diplomacy? Unlike Western activists who chant 'from the river to the sea' without knowing what river or which sea, Arab governments know precisely what Hamas is. They've dealt with its destabilizing ideology, its ties to Iran and its contempt for compromise. They understand that Hamas does not seek peace, statehood or coexistence. It seeks perpetual war and Islamic revolution. In contrast, too many in the West are waging an ideological campaign detached from regional reality. In their fervor to stand with 'Palestine,' they overlook that Hamas is not a liberation movement. It is a jihadist militia that exploits civilian suffering to manipulate global opinion. They also forget that, for all its flaws, Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East where Arabs and Jews alike vote, protest and serve in parliament. Hamas has noticed, it has openly praised European governments for their positions on Israel. In Ireland, lawmakers are pushing to criminalize trade with Israelis. Now, as Britain considers recognition of a Palestinian state along with France and Canada, Hamas' strategy of provocation and propaganda is paying diplomatic dividends. The result is a surreal inversion: While the Arab nations inch toward coexistence, the West drifts into moral chaos. What was once a principled defense of human rights has morphed into selective outrage, often blind to the region's realities and exploited by its most destructive actors. Empowering Hamas will worsen, not improve, life in Gaza This isn't just dangerous for Jews and Israelis; it's corrosive to liberal democracy itself. When human rights are applied selectively, when terrorism is downplayed or excused and when Hamas' calls to destroy Israel and slaughter its citizens are rationalized as 'resistance,' something fundamental is breaking. It may be time for the West to look east − not for answers, but for clarity. The Arab world is not embracing Hamas. It's moving on. It's negotiating, normalizing and, in some cases, partnering with Israel to contain shared threats. If the goal is a better future for Israelis and Palestinians, outrage isn't a strategy. It's a spectacle. And the people closest to the conflict seem to understand that best. Aviva Klompas is the former director of speechwriting at the Israeli Mission to the United Nations and cofounder of Boundless Israel, a nonprofit organization that partners with community leaders in the U.S. to support Israel education and combat hatred of Jews. She is cohost of the "Boundless Insights" podcast.
New York Times
31 minutes ago
- New York Times
The 109-Year-Old Pact That Looms Over European Moves to Recognize a Palestinian State
When Britain's foreign secretary declared last week that his government would recognize the state of Palestine if Israel did not agree to a cease-fire with Hamas, he said the British were doing so with the 'hand of history on our shoulders.' His French counterpart also invoked history in explaining why France had taken the same step a week earlier. French leaders going back to Charles de Gaulle, he said, had called for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on 'the recognition by each of the states involved of all the others.' Neither man mentioned the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the secret treaty between Britain and France in 1916, under which the European colonial powers carved up the Levantine territories of the crumbling Ottoman Empire into spheres of British and French control. And why would they? Sykes-Picot is cited by historians as an enduring example of Western imperial arrogance — a cynical exercise in drawing borders that cut across religious, ethnic and tribal communities in what is today Israel, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories. To many Arabs, who view it as a great betrayal, it seeded a legacy of strife and bloodshed in the Middle East. The real-time crisis unfolding in Gaza — the starving children, the Israeli restrictions on aid, the Palestinians killed as they try to collect food — undoubtedly had a greater impact on Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and President Emmanuel Macron of France than the stains of the past. Yet their momentous decisions have cast a light on the shadowy roles of both countries in a region where they once vied for influence. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
