JTA reports that Canadian officials have confirmed that their government financed a booklet calling for Palestinians to realize their \"right of return\" to Israel. The pamphlet says that Arabs should take back homes and property they lost inside Israel when they ran away during the 1948 War of Independence. As reported by Arutz-7 last Friday, an inside page of the 56-page booklet promoting the \"return\" of Arab refugees - a major point of agreement in the recent Israeli-Palestinian negotiations - states that it was published and distributed by the \"Canadian Representative Office in Ramallah.\"
David Bedein of Israel Resource News Agency, who originally broke the story, wrote that \"Canada has adopted a partisan pro-PLO position that will forever compromise any role that it may endeavor to play in the future\" in solving the refugee issue in the Middle East.
A Canadian Foreign Affairs department representative told JTA, however, that the what he called the \"brochures\" were printed by an organization that receives funding from the Canada Fund for Local Institutions, and that Canada did not play a leading role in producing them. The official said that Canada has been a consistent backer of the Palestinians’ \"inalienable right of return,\" yet supports attempts to solve the problem by settling the refugees elsewhere in the world.
Bedein noted that the booklet implies that Israel\'s purpose in its 1948 War of Independence was to kick out the Arabs. He also said that it never mentions that seven Arab armies, with the support of local Arabs, invaded Israel at the time. Israel sees the demand to allow millions of Arabs to enter Israel as a way of destroying the Jewish State from within.
David Bedein of Israel Resource News Agency, who originally broke the story, wrote that \"Canada has adopted a partisan pro-PLO position that will forever compromise any role that it may endeavor to play in the future\" in solving the refugee issue in the Middle East.
A Canadian Foreign Affairs department representative told JTA, however, that the what he called the \"brochures\" were printed by an organization that receives funding from the Canada Fund for Local Institutions, and that Canada did not play a leading role in producing them. The official said that Canada has been a consistent backer of the Palestinians’ \"inalienable right of return,\" yet supports attempts to solve the problem by settling the refugees elsewhere in the world.
Bedein noted that the booklet implies that Israel\'s purpose in its 1948 War of Independence was to kick out the Arabs. He also said that it never mentions that seven Arab armies, with the support of local Arabs, invaded Israel at the time. Israel sees the demand to allow millions of Arabs to enter Israel as a way of destroying the Jewish State from within.