Canada has been engaged in the Middle East, in the roles of peacekeeping as well as peacemaking, ever since the fateful UN Partition resolution through our then representative, Ivan C. Rand, Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Lester B. Pearson, who shepherded the resolution to adoption. The only Middle East expert in the Department of External Affairs, Elizabeth P. MacCallum, objected ("because we didn't give two hoots for democracy") and warned that the partition would create chaos for 40 years, a conservative estimate, but her advice was ignored.
Canada may become relevant again as a player in the region when we stop looking at the conflict only through the Israeli prism. As our Canadian political leaders once again join in Israel's celebration, they must also acknowledge that May 15th is a day of mourning for all Palestinians, and that their continued plight is a source of much sorrow and anger in the region and beyond.
Whatever the competing historical interpretations, it remains that for the past six decades one of these peoples has enjoyed its independence and the other has been denied it, and the most basic human rights.
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