Palestine recognition would reward terrorism and contradict international law

Excerpt

In a Sept. 16 interview, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said that Ottawa would recognize a Palestinian state at the UN next week despite its failure to implement any of the conditions and demands set forth in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s July 30 announcement of Canada’s recognition plan. This is a mistake, which would regrettably reward terrorism, make peace less likely and contradict the longstanding international legal frameworks for recognizing statehood and for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is a better way.

In a July 30 announcement, Carney said Ottawa’s “intention” to recognize was “predicated on the Palestinian Authority’s commitment” to fundamentally reform its governance, hold general elections “in which Hamas can play no part,” and demilitarize the Palestinian state. None of these commitments have been implemented.

Irwin Cotler is the international chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR), a former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada and has been involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace-building for over 50 years. Orde Kittrie is a law professor at Arizona State University, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and former legal and policy official at the U.S. State Department.