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Nadine Yusif
BBC News, Toronto
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September, becoming the third nation of the G7, which has made such a message in recent days.
Carney said this move depends on democratic reforms, including the Palestinian power, the next year elections without Hamas.
His remarks come a day after the United Kingdom has announced that he will recognize the Palestinian state in September, unless Israel has agreed to end the fire and other conditions and a week after France has revealed a similar plan.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry rejected Canada’s announcement by calling it a “Hamas Award.” Most countries – 147 of the 193 UN Member States – officially recognize the Palestinian state.
Carney said Canada would officially recognize Palestine’s condition at the upcoming UN General Assembly.
He cites the expansion of the Israeli settlements on the occupied West coast, the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and the attacks on October 7, 2023 against Israel from Hamas as the reasons for the dramatic change of Canada in foreign policy.
“The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable and quickly deteriorated,” Carney told reporters on Wednesday.
He said that the recognition of Palestinian statehood would depend on the commitments of the Palestinian power to reform its rule fundamentally and to demilitarize the territory.
Canada has long been committed to a decision of two countries as part of the peace process, Carney said, but he added that “this approach is no longer subject to work.”
“The perspective of the Palestinian state is eroded before our eyes,” he said.
Carney told the press conference that he had talked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas early Wednesday for the announcement.
The Palestinian power controls parts of the west coast through the Fatah party led by Abbas while Hamas ruled Gaza. No territory has held elections since 2006.
Carney’s announcement was criticized by Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
In a publication in an X publication that the Canada plan “hurt the efforts to reach the cessation of fire in the gas and frame for the hostage to come.”
Canada Conservatives also took the Carney message.
“The recognition of the Palestinian state after the terrorist atrocity on October 7 sends the wrong message to the world,” the opposition party said in a statement.
The prime minister has been pressured to deal with the Palestinian statehood, as the United Kingdom and France – close allies of Canada – have come out with their own statements on the subject in recent days.
Nearly 200 former Canadian ambassadors and diplomats signed a letter on Tuesday, calling for Carney to recognize a Palestinian state.
The principles of Canada, the letter He said, “abandoned daily with the mass displacement, indiscriminate bombing and hunger of Palestinian civilians in gas and the violent attacks of extremist settlers on the west coast.”
Asked if he was influenced by the communications of the United Kingdom and France or whether he had consulted with US President Donald Trump, Carney replied that Canada was making his own foreign policy decisions.
If France and the United Kingdom officially recognize the Palestinian statehood, the United States – a strong ally of Israel – will be the only permanent member of the UN Security Council not to do so.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to an attack led by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and 251 others were hostage.
Since then, more than 60,000 people have been killed in Gaza and 154 people, including 89 children, have died of malnutrition, according to the health ministry in the territory.
