Canada and the Middle East: In Theory and Practice

CANADA and the

MIDDLE

EAST

The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) was founded in 2001 to provide solutions to pressing governance challenges. CIGI strives to build ideas for global change through world-class research and dialogue with practitioners, which provide a basis for advising decision-makers on the character and desired reforms of multilateral governance. CIGI’S purpose is to conduct research of international significance, and to strengthen the intellectual capacity to understand and propose innovative solutions to global challenges. For more information please visit www.cigionline.org.

CANADA and the

MIDDLE

EAST

In Theory and Practice

Paul Heinbecker and

Bessma Momani,editors

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the financial support of the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Canada and the Middle East : in theory and practice / Paul Heinbecker and Bessma Momani, editors.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-55458-024-8 / 1-55458-024-2

1. Canada—Foreign relations—Middle East. 2. Middle East—Foreign relations—Canada. 3. Canada—Relations—Middle East. 4. Middle East—Relations—Canada. I. Heinbecker, Paul, 1941–II. Momani, Bessma, 1973–

FC244.M53C28 2007                    327.71056                    C2007-906014-5

Co-published with the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

© 2007 The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) and Wilfrid Laurier University Press

Cover image based on a photograph by Carroll Klein. Text design by Pam Woodland.

Every reasonable effort has been made to acquire permission for copyright material used in this text, and to acknowledge all such indebtedness accurately. Any errors and omissions called to the publisher’s attention will be corrected in future printings.

This book is printed on Ancient Forest Friendly paper (100% post-consumer recycled).

Printed in Canada

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CONTENTS

Abbreviations

1 Canada and the Middle East: Ambivalence or Engagement?

Paul Heinbecker and Bessma Momani

2 Practitioners’ Perspectives on Canada–Middle East Relations

Michael Bell, Michael Molloy, David Sultan, and Sallama Shaker

3 Applying Canadian Principles to Peace and Conflict Resolution in the Middle East

Nathan C. Funk

4 Talking One Talk, Walking Another: Norm Entrepreneurship and Canada’s Foreign Policy in the Middle East

Marie-Joëlle Zahar

5 Canada’s Role in the Israeli-Palestine Peace Process

Rex Brynen

6 Canadian Interests and Democracy Promotion in the Middle East

Janine A. Clark

7 Promoting Civil Society Advocacy in the Middle East and at Home: Non-Governmental Organizations, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the Middle East Working Group, 1991–2001

Paul Kingston

8 The International Development Research Centre and the Middle East: Issues and Research

Bruce Muirhead and Ron Harpelle

9 Canada’s Economic Interests in the Middle East

Bessma Momani and Agata Antkiewicz

10 Canada’s Jewish and Arab Communities and Canadian Foreign Policy

Brent E. Sasley and Tami Amanda Jacoby

11 Inland Refugee Claimants from the Middle East and Humanitarianism in Canadian Foreign Policy

Nergis Canefe

Notes on the Contributors

ABBREVIATIONS

Paul Heinbecker and Bessma Momani

1

Canada and the Middle East:

Ambivalence or Engagement?

In July 2006, the Middle East took violent and unprecedented centre stage for Canadians as war unexpectedly broke out between Israel and Hizbullah. This was no ordinary, remote crisis. Relatives and loved ones of Canadians in both Lebanon and Israel were at mortal risk as the fighting raged and bombs and rockets rained down. Some 40,000 Canadian citizens were trapped in the fighting and nine Canadians died, including a Canadian peacekeeper. On the day before help began to arrive in the port of Beirut, officials in the war room of the Canadian embassy in Lebanon received 8,400 phone calls and 5,600 emails from frantic Canadians seeking help.¹ At the cost of nearly $62 million, the Canadian government leased vessels and aircraft and mobilized hundreds of officials to evacuate the desperate citizens, in what was to become the biggest evacuation in Canadian history. Canadians, including their government, learned first hand just how quickly this volatile corner of the world could ignite and engulf them.

The Middle East, particularly the violence in Iraq and the ongoing grind in the West Bank and Gaza, had tended to be seen and understood in most Canadian family homes through television’s often antiseptic images of rubble and twisted metal, devoid of the gruesome evidence of the charnel house that modern war has become. These conflicts were seen as intractable and thankfully distant, of little immediate consequence to most Canadians or their government. Not this time. The 2006 conflict in Lebanon brought home to all of us the complexities of the Middle East in ways that were urgent and impossible to ignore and, more importantly, to dismiss.

As the situation in Lebanon evolved, analysts started to question the nature and relevance of Canadian involvement in Middle East affairs. What was Canada’s Middle East foreign policy? What were Canadian interests in the Middle East? To what extent were Canadian values engaged? What role had Canada played historically in the region? Those seeking to develop informed answers to these questions, however, were hindered by serious gaps in the academic literature and an absence of documented institutional memory among Canadian practitioners involved in the region. While a number of scholars had tackled the subject of Canada and the Middle East throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and sparingly in the early 1990s, the Middle East Discussion Group of the Centre for International Governance and Innovation (CIGI) was surprised to discover that the issue had not been adequately examined post-September 11. While libraries of books, studies, and analyses had been written about the Middle East since September 11, mostly by Americans, there was a near void of expert Canadian analysis of our country’s role in the region and our government’s related policies.

Our motivation in producing this book was to fill this gap. With support from CIGI, a group of practitioners and academics from Canada and the region met to discuss the Canadian relationship with the Middle East, guided by their own practical experience and their academic research. This edited collection is unique on this subject: practitioners with extensive first-hand experience reflect on Canada’s role and opportunities in the region and academics speak from their expertise on the Middle East. Canadian foreign policy experts have shied away from in-depth studies of the Middle East due to the sheer complexity of the topics involved and the great sensitivity of the subject matter to diaspora communities. We hope that our approach, which marries academic and practitioner insights, will help Canadians understand Canada’s role in the region better and not tread on their sensibilities.

Today’s Middle East is in great turmoil and its issues cannot be resolved or contained even by the most powerful country in the world acting alone. Why bother examining the role of Canada in the Middle East then? Canada is not a superpower and has rarely played a decisive role in the politics of the region. While we doubt that this volume will settle this issue, there is a near consensus among our practitioners and academics alike that Canada has mattered in the Middle East in the not-so-distant past, that there remain deep wells of respect for Canada among the peoples of the Middle East that can be leveraged by our diplomacy, and, in short, that we can make a positive difference. Assuming Canadian impotence in the Middle East is an excuse for inaction. Our practitioners and academics also remind us that the largest leap in peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians was brokered by Norway, a country with an economy and population a sixth of the size of Canada’s. Nevertheless, the basic question for a country with our attributes is not whether we can make a difference but whether we should—whether it serves our interests and values to do so.

This book argues that it does. The Middle East is evidently fraught with conflict and division. Furthermore, the hegemonic role in the region of the United States, our primary economic partner, has at times put Canadian and American governments at cross purposes, not something to be dismissed lightly. More significantly, it can be argued that being circumspect and minding our own business have served us well in the past. In an integrating world, however, as the Lebanon war illustrated, Middle East peace and Canadian well-being are increasingly interconnected. Our security, our economic well-being, and our domestic harmony are all, to one extent or another, linked with the Middle East. A foreign policy of ambivalence and disinterest would, in our view, carry an unaffordable price tag.

The next question addressed by several of our contributors is how Canada should engage. In the Canadian debate on the issue, all can agree that Canada should take a principled approach. From there, the consensus breaks down, with some arguing for frank support for Israel, a fellow democracy facing chronic danger—an approach initiated by the Martin government and followed by the Harper government—and others advocating a case-by-case approach derived from international law, more akin to the policy that had been followed, for the most part, since Lester Pearson. Readers will not be surprised to learn that the contributors to this book did not reach a consensus view on the subject.

Canada’s role in world affairs has often been romanticized. This book strives to avoid self-referential and sentimental debates about Canadian identities and values. Instead, it shows where Canadian policies have contributed to tangible outcomes in the Middle East and suggests where Canadian policies can benefit both Canadians and Middle Easterners. Canada’s normative principles, its respect for diversity at home, its constructive approach to diplomacy, its support for economic development abroad, its immigration and refugee programs, and the ethics of its business community have earned it the admiration of many in the Middle East. This observation is not meant to inflate our national ego, but rather to draw attention to the positive legacy Canadians have on which to build.

We begin this book by tracing Canadian contributions to political peace and stability in the Middle East. Four former senior diplomats with direct and vast experience in managing Canada–Middle East relations reflect on a number of pertinent issues on the matter. Former ambassadors Michael Bell and Michael Molloy of Canada, David Sultan of Israel, and Sallama Shaker of Egypt contribute individual sections of the chapter, each covering the challenges and opportunities encountered during their tenure. All four contributors offer their own perspectives on how Canada has been involved in the region and what Canada can do to enhance its participation. Among them there is a consensus that Canada can do more and that Canadian actions would be welcomed in the region.

Nathan Funk begins with a reflective view of a debate in Canadian foreign policy theory between traditional liberal internationalists who call for multilateralism and newer neo-conservatives who embrace a far more combative response to global insecurity. He suggests reinvigorating a human security approach that addresses the neo-conservatives’ concerns about insecurity and that recognizes the ways in which religious radicalization in the Middle East has been fed by regime repression and protracted regional conflict. Funk prescribes an alternative to military interventions in the Middle East and suggests ways to help enhance hope and prevent violence in the Middle East.

Marie-Joëlle Zahar critically assesses one of Canada’s proudest achievements in promoting human security abroad: the Responsibility to Protect (RSP). She provides an assessment of Canadian performance with respect to R2P and contrasts the approaches to the issue of the Chrétien, Martin, and Harper governments. Zahar argues that the tendency toward increased rhetoric and decreased action is not due to a lack of capacity, as commonly argued, but rather a preference on the part of the Martin and Harper governments to align policies with the United States, while creating an illusion of commitment to action.

Rex Brynen examines Canada’s historical role in and policies toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace process. Canada’s initial support for the creation of Israel in 1948 and sympathy for Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war began to erode in the 1970s and 1980s, accompanied by increasing, albeit still measured, criticism of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, of the expansion of Israeli settlements there, and of the annexation of West Jerusalem. After initial peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in Madrid in 1991, the stakeholders asked Canada to assume responsibility as gavel holder of the Refugee Working Group. He reflects on Canada’s benign image among Palestinians and Israelis, which has helped the Canadian government navigate in complicated diplomatic waters, and on the recent pro-Israel tilts under prime ministers Paul Martin and Stephen Harper. Brynen argues that Canadian foreign policy toward the Middle East is shaped by a myriad of domestic and international factors, including Canadian leaders’ views of the region, interested community groups’ views, the media, and our relationship with the United States.

Janine Clark delves into an important question facing Canadian policy makers and the international community more broadly: can the promotion of democracy in the region lead to the rise of Islamists and should we engage Islamist political parties in the Middle East? Canadian efforts to promote democracy in the region, like those of other western governments, feed into the already rising anti-western sentiments there. Clark identifies an irony in the Middle East that is of policy importance: Islamist organizations exhibit more democratic forms of decision making and governance than their secular civil society counterparts. Clark recommends that Canada should aim to be consistent in its democracy promotion policies. Consistency could improve Canada’s image in the region; hypocrisy could contribute to heightened anti-westernism.

We then turn to examine Canadian efforts to promote development in and economic relations with the Middle East. Paul Kingston looks at the Canadian International Development Agency’s (CIDA) attempt to bolster Middle East non-governmental organizations (NGOS) in the 1990s. CIDA sponsored the creation of the Middle East Working Group (MEWG), and supported dialogue, communication, and capacity building among and within Canadian and Middle Eastern NGOS. The MEWG, however, failed both to function as a foreign policy instrument and to elevate the voices of NGOS in their respective Middle East communities. Kingston finds that CIDA’S support insulated NGOS from their respective communities and limited their effectiveness in promoting community organization and mobilization. Political and social conditions, moreover, were not conducive to NGO mobilization in the region. The chapter demonstrates some of the limitations of Canada’s policy on official development assistance (ODA).

Bruce Muirhead and Ronald Harpelle examine the engagement of a lesser-known Canadian development agency, the International Research Development Centre (IDRC), in the Middle East. IDRC’S role has been a discreet and quiet one, but very valuable to researchers in recipient countries and to Canada’s underground reputation as well. IDRC has supported researchers in the region to develop strategies that address local concerns about governance, geography, the economy, and social relations, to name a few issues. IDCR’S arm’s-length relationship with the Canadian government, moreover, is an asset both for IDRC and for the government when dealing with politically sensitive issues.

Bessma Momani and Agata Antkiewicz study Canada’s economic relationship with the Middle East and find that the region is too often neglected but still promising regarding Canada’s overall economic growth. Canada–Middle East trade flows represent a small part of Canada’s overall trade, but Momani and Antkiewicz find that there are significant opportunities to foster complementary and very significant value-added trade with the Middle East, particularly with the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), whose trade volume with Canada and rate of economic growth virtually matches India’s. Based on interviews with various stakeholders and government personnel, the authors find that Canada’s government and businesses have a positive image in the region, but that the Canadian government has not maximized its branding of Canada to further positive economic ties. Momani and Antkiewicz point to a number of political impediments that warrant government attention in order to enhance trading relations with the Middle East.

Finally, we look at Canada–Middle East relations from the perspective of interested community groups. Brent Sasley and Tami Jacoby turn to the sensitive and under-studied issue of the relationship between domestic lobby groups and Canadian foreign policy. In particular, they examine the question of how to assess the effect of Canada’s pro-Israel Jewish organizations and their pro-Palestinian Arab counterparts on Canada’s foreign policy toward the Middle East, broadly, and the Israeli-Palestinian issue, specifically. Jacoby and Sasley point to an empirical void and weakness in the academic literature on the issue, despite formal and informal presumptions about the relative influence of the Canadian Jewish lobbies in particular, and suggest the need for an improved conceptual framework and for more research to assess this important subject.

Nergis Canefe examines Canada’s refugee policy and points to the need for Canadian policy makers to take greater notice of this neglected group. Refugees from the Middle East have different concerns and experiences in Canada than their immigrant brethren. Having escaped authoritarian regimes and civil wars, refugees from the region want to raise public awareness of human rights violations in the Middle East through refugee advocacy groups and legal frameworks. However, immigrants from the Middle East fear that airing out the Middle East’s dirty laundry will stimulate racism toward their ethno-religious groups. Canefe suggests that organized political groups in Canada that represent Middle Eastern immigrants are not as helpful in raising Canadian understanding of the political situation in the region as refugee advocacy groups are. She calls for a more reciprocal flow of information between policy makers and refugees, which would provide the former with a better understanding of the socio-political realities of the Middle East and lead to sounder refugee determination judgments.

Our hope is that this book will be of value to academics, students, policy makers, journalists, and businesspeople who are interested in Canada–Middle East relations. While the contributors’ papers have been rigourously challenged by their peers and the editors, the views expressed in this collection are certainly the authors’ own. We hope that the chapters contained herein will stimulate new debates and ideas in a controversial policy field that has been neglected for far too long. At the Centre for International Governance and Innovation, we strive to identify and contribute policy relevant ideas to advance global governance. No region presents bigger challenges to global peace and good governance than the Middle East.

Note

1 See Michael Friscolanti and Danylo Hawaleshka, The Long Road Home, Maclean’s, July 31, 2006.

Michael Bell, Michael Molloy, David Sultan, and Sallama Shaker

2

Practitioners’ Perspectives on

Canada–Middle East Relations

¹

Canadians are widely respected internationally, as much for how they live with each other at home as for what they do abroad. Canada is seen as a successful, democratic, and pluralistic society with a strong rule of law, a country that values diversity and that integrates minorities as well as or better than any other country. Internationally, Canada’s history as an independent voice, without colonial or imperial encumbrances, and its record of constructive mediation and the promotion of international law are part and parcel of its diplomatic identity. Among Israelis and Arabs alike, Canada has long been perceived as impartial and open-minded. Canada’s ability to maintain good relations with both Israelis and Palestinians, as well as with other Arab partners, has been one of the keys to its standing in the region. Recently, however, some observers of Canadian policy have begun to wonder whether its influence is diminishing.

The purpose of this chapter is to re-examine the longstanding relationship between Canada and the countries of Middle East. It also discusses opportunities for strengthening Canadian diplomatic, economic, and security relations with the region. Four practitioners, with ample experience in Canada–Middle East relations and issues, provide insights into what they consider to be the strengths and weaknesses of Canada’s ties with the region. They also provide recommendations on how best to contribute to the peace process and to strengthen Canadian relations with individual Middle East countries. The four practitioners are Michael Bell, former Canadian ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan; Michael Molloy, former Canadian ambassador to Jordan and former Peace Process Envoy; David Sultan, former Israeli ambassador to Canada; and Sallama Shaker, former Egyptian ambassador to Canada.

The Experience of Michael Bell, Former Canadian Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and Jordan

Michael Bell holds the opinion that Canada’s traditional approach to the Arab-Israeli issues can best be described as fair-minded. This refers to a foreign policy dating back to former Canadian prime minister Lester Pearson in the 1960s and is based on the promotion of Canadian values including tolerance, democracy, respect for diversity, and the rule of law. Bell believes that to describe Canada’s role in the Middle East as neutral or even even-handed would indicate an abandonment of any value-based position. Fair-mindedness is a better term, as it contains an element of morality wherein one makes conscious judgments. Fair-mindedness as a Canadian leitmotif has been well understood and accepted by the parties in the region.

Historically, Canada has sought to recognize the need for a legitimate and independent state for the Palestinians and a secure and peaceful Jewish state for the Israelis. In doing so, it has long called for the protection of civilians on both sides and supported the right to self-determination for both peoples. Canada has also been a strong proponent of negotiation over the resort to force.

Bell observes that Canadian approaches to the Middle East have evolved over the past several years. The perception of change in Canadian policy exists among the parties in the Middle East and on the domestic front because of altered voting patterns at the United Nations on issues related to Israel and Palestine. These changes were initiated by the Martin government and have been continued by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The votes in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the Middle East have traditionally been seen as one of the few areas where Arab states could legitimately vent their frustration. The language of the resolutions was frequently confrontational but ultimately accepted by Canada because of the deemed validity of a given resolution’s substance. In opposing this confrontational tone, Canada now votes against or abstains on certain key texts, most often in the limited company of Israel, the United States, and Australia. Notably, Canada has voted against a text recognizing the Palestinian right to self-determination. This change in approach also extends to other fronts: for example, government representatives have in public referred to Palestinian aspirations rather than Palestinian rights. Given the evolution of rights language in the current era, this change in terminology has for many an archaic feeling that suggests regression.

Bell believes that Canada’s involvement with the Refugee Working Group (RWG) should be highlighted as an important historic success in Canadian foreign policy. Canada’s involvement with the Palestinian refugee issue began at the 1991 Madrid peace conference. This was followed by an international conference in Moscow in 1992 aimed at finding practical solutions to regional problems, including that of Palestinian refugees. Chaired by Canada, the RWG was formed to discuss ways of improving the living conditions of refugees and displaced persons without prejudice to their rights and future status, to support the process of achieving a viable and comprehensive solution to the refugee issue, and to ease and extend access to family reunification. The RWG achieved considerable success, which today serves as the basis for virtually all discussions on the issue.

Looking at Canada’s role in Afghanistan, Bell believes that Canada has played a constructive role by investing considerable resources in post-conflict reconstruction initiatives. In terms of resource allocation, Canada’s effective disengagement from the failing Iraq enterprise has provided the flexibility and resources necessary to enable substantial involvement in peace operations in Afghanistan. Although not geographically part of the Middle East regional security dimension, the continuing conflict in Afghanistan has had a far-reaching and destabilizing effect on the broader Middle East. The Canadian presence in that country, as part of a mission sanctioned by the UN and led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to help build a stable and pluralistic society, has given that venture enhanced international legitimacy. This is in marked contrast to the unilaterally imposed American actions in Iraq. As part of its mission in Afghanistan, Canada assumed responsibility for the Kandahar Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in August 2005, which, while a riskier proposition than its previous engagement, is essential if there is to be any chance of stabilizing the country. Without security the Afghan state will fail.

Bell believes that Canadian leaders need to focus on cultivating relationships with Middle Eastern and western counterparts and developing the human ties and trust necessary to be effective in its engagement. Canada’s presence in the region can be lethargic. Canada must be more determined. For example, the dialogue fund established by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) had great potential to be used as a bridge-building tool between Palestinians and Israelis at a critical time, but the fund was never used during Bell’s last period of duty in