Erekat bashes Canada for backing Israel

Top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Friday condemned Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird’s threat to end Ottawa’s aid to the Palestinian Authority should the PA take Israel to the International Court of Justice for alleged crimes.

Addressing the AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) conference in Washington, DC on Sunday, Baird said Palestinians will feel “consequences” if they choose to pursue legal action against Israel at the Hague-based tribunal.

“We are undertaking a normal review of our program with the PA based on outcomes achieved with taxpayer dollars, as we do with all of our programs,” Baird said.

“Future commitments with the PA will be dependent on our ability to achieve meaningful results with taxpayer dollars and the commitment of the PA to prioritize the basic needs of the people,” the minister added.

Erekat responded to the Canadian minister’s threat to cut funding for the PA by calling on it to stop Israel’s crimes, which he said were worse than those committed by South Africa during the apartheid era.

“We do not know why Canada is showing all this hostility against us,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted Erekat saying. “Those who fear international courts must force Israel to stop its crimes.”

“Has the Canadian foreign minister heard about the racist and discriminatory actions against the Palestinians, the likes of which did not occur even in South Africa?” Erekat added.

Canada, a staunch ally of Israel, strongly opposed the Palestinians’ successful effort in December last year to unilaterally upgrade their status at the UN to a non-observer state, and was one of the nine countries to vote against it.

Subsequent to the motion, Rick Roth, a Baird spokesman, said Canada’s current five-year, $300-million security and humanitarian aid commitment to the PA is important and will remain.