MONTREAL — Liberal MP Irwin Cotler and Tory Senator Linda Frum are co-chairing a new committee that will enable Canadian parliamentarians of all political stripes to encourage nation-building and peace in the Middle East, Cotler announced at a March 27 Ottawa press conference.
Called the House-Senate Committee on Middle East Peace, Justice and the Rule of Law, it will serve as a non-partisan venue for “targeted efforts to help build free and democratic societies anchored in the rule of law,” Cotler said.
He added that he would also welcome the participation of the new leader of the NDP, Thomas Mulcair.
Cotler said the committee is being formed in the context of the continuing upheaval and turmoil in the Arab world, including Egypt, Syria and elsewhere.
“We can’t focus only on the Israeli-Palestinian issue,” Cotler told The CJN. “Everything interacts, and we want to have a more comprehensive, a more global approach to fostering human rights and democratic institutions, and the rule of law.”
Another parliamentarian who has agreed to be part of the joint committee is Conservative Senator Hugh Segal, Cotler said.
Cotler also used the press conference to announce the formation of the Iranian Political Prisoner Advocacy Program, an initiative of the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in Iran.
Cotler said the group will be modelled after the movement to free Soviet Jews in the 1970s and 1980s, and will hopefully see parliamentarians and politicians around the world “adopt” individual Iranian political prisoners to advocate on their behalf.
“This is a matter of needing to mobilize a critical mass of advocacy,” Cotler said, adding that there are several Iranian-Canadian political prisoners he is advocating for who face imminent execution.
He said the initiative, being co-chaired by himself and Illinois Senator Mark Kirk, includes plans to partner with law schools around the world to help elicit the participation of parliamentarians and politicians in their respective countries.
“No other issue has been more important to me than Iran,” Cotler said, referring to the many articles and initiatives that have stemmed from his personal involvement.
The third development Cotler addressed at the press conference was Canadian input into the evolution of the Palestinian justice system, something that started while he was justice minister from 2003 to 2006 and has continued under the Tories.
After making one of his regular soujourns to the Middle East for a week last month, Cotler said he’s not entirely hopeful about Israeli-Palestinian peace after meetings in Ramallah with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Justice Minister Ali Kashan.
Cotler said Abbas sought to reassure him that the PA’s “reconciliation” with Hamas was more for the sake of the upcoming Palestinian elections and that he was willing to go along with a set of peace-making principles set forth by U.S. President Barack Obama.
But Cotler said he wasn’t convinced.
“He comes across as forthcoming, but as I indicated to him, there are actions taken that don’t square with the reconciliation with Hamas, such as the continued incitement against Israel.”
Cotler said Fayyad appeared more forthcoming, telling the Canadian MP that creating basic institutions is crucial to Palestinian efforts to build a viable and healthy state.
In Israel, Cotler met with officials such as Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Danny Ayalon, and he testified before a defence and foreign affairs committee on issues such as the admission of more Falash Mora Jews from Ethiopia to Israel.
Asked if he agreed with Israel’s decision to sever ties with the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which is notoriously anti-Israel, so it would not have to co-operate with a UNHRC inquiry into West Bank settlements, Cotler said no.
“I can fully understand why they pulled out,” he said, adding that, Israel should have stayed and worked to reform the UNHRC from within.
“It’s better to stay and recommend changes,” he said.