Canada’s travel advisory website now includes guidance for a Palestinian state and Israel following the government’s official recognition of statehood, a move defended by Prime Minister Mark Carney as “necessary” and called “evil” by a Conservative critic on Monday.
“We offer our full partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel,” Carney said at a UN meeting focused on promoting a two-state solution.
Travel Canada’s official travel advisory for the region is now listed as “Israel and Palestine,” after previously being referred to as “Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
The advice remains unchanged despite the update, with Canadians urged to “avoid non-essential travel.”
Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday as delegations from around the world gathered in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly, where the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict and the future of a two-state solution are among the top priorities being discussed.
The United Kingdom, Australia and Portugal also recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, and France followed suit on Monday.
The British government on Monday listed a separate travel advisory for a Palestinian state for the first time. It also urges travellers not to visit the region.
France and Saudi Arabia were chairing Monday’s high-profile meeting at the UN aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced France’s recognition of a Palestinian state at the top of the meeting, earning applause from the assembled members in the general assembly hall.
“Let us be clear: statehood for the Palestinians is a right, not a reward,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the meeting.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also addressed the meeting by video, after he and dozens of other senior Palestinian officials were denied U.S. visas to attend the conference. He called on Israel to return to negotiations that will end the conflict in Gaza and bring a lasting peace.
“I address the Israeli people saying, our future and yours banks on peace,” Abbas said through a translator.
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“Enough violence and war. Our generations deserve to enjoy freedom and security. Let the people in our region live in durable peace and good neighbourliness.”
Speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier on Monday, Carney said the move to recognize Palestinian statehood is consistent with Canada’s longtime policy of supporting a two-state solution, despite the “avowed policy of the Israeli government that there will never be a Palestinian state.”
“It’s necessary in our judgment, and the judgment of most other countries in the world, that we have to push on this now,” he said.
“The possibility, in absolute violation of the UN Charter and in absolute violation of international law, of self-determination for the Palestinian peoples is being erased. So we’re doing what we can but recognizing the limitations.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs last week urged the federal government to delay recognizing a Palestinian state until a two-state solution is affirmed at the end of future negotiations between Israel, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has long opposed Palestinian statehood and now says such a move would reward Hamas, the militant group that still controls parts of Gaza and whose deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel sparked the current conflict.
“It’s not going to happen,” Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday, calling the recognitions “the latest attempt to force upon us a terror state in the heart of our land.”
Canada’s recognition of a Palestinian state was contingent on the Palestinian Authority, the governing body over parts of the West Bank, undertaking “concrete and meaningful reforms,” including new elections.
Ottawa has also underscored that Hamas, which controls Gaza, can play no role in the governance of a future Palestinian state, which itself must be demilitarized under a future two-state solution.
More than 140 members of the UN recognized a Palestinian state before Canada and other countries made their announcements this week. Yet Palestinian representatives to the UN do not hold official member status and have limited powers within the global body.
Canada’s move drew sharp criticism in the House of Commons on Monday from Conservative MP Shuvaloy Majumdar, who said Carney had appeased “the fascism once buried in the last world war (that) has risen again as modern terrorism.”
“This isn’t diplomacy, it’s appeasement. It’s betrayal,” he said in a statement to the House. “It is evil.”
During question period, Majumdar challenged the Liberals to “upload a map of the borders of this so-called state” to the Global Affairs Canada website and “identify its capital.”
He also called on Canada to list a Palestinian state as a state sponsor of terror, given alleged acts carried out by members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
“There is no military solution to the conflict at hand. There’s only a political solution,” said Rob Oliphant, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, in response to Majumdar’s questions.
He added the Liberals “will continue to work for peaceful solutions to ensure that Israel and Palestinians have safe and secure borders for each of them, so they will live in peace together.”
“We will continue to defend the state of Israel, and we will continue to defend the people of Palestine to ensure we have two states with equal justice and equal rights to prosperity,” he said.
The U.S. under President Donald Trump has backed Netanyahu’s position, arguing recognizing a Palestinian state at this stage of the conflict undermines the push for a ceasefire and long-term peace agreement.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump feels such recognition won’t do anything to secure release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas or end the conflict.
“So he believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies,” Leavitt said, adding that Trump would address the issue in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday.
—With files from The Associated Press