External Affairs Minister Allan MacEachen told a delegation of Jewish leaders that Canada “will not raise the level of contacts with the PLO nor will it support the idea of unilateral withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.”
The delegation, led by Ann Gross, chairman of the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC), expressed to MacEachen the concern of the Canadian Jewish community about statements the Minister had made in Damascus, Amman and Cairo during his recent Middle East tour.
Citing the Minister’s comment in Damascus that Syria had “a positive role” to “play in the Middle East region,” the delegation said that while everyone understood the sincerity of the Canadian government’s desire to see peace in the Middle East, the government would be “ill-advised” to support the view that Syria sincerely means to leave Lebanon when all of its actions point to the contrary.
MacEachen told the Jewish leaders that Canada and Israel have friendly relations and that he had asked Israel to increase the volume of its commercial exchanges with Canada.
He promised to make a statement this week before the Parliamentary Standing Committee for External Affairs and National Defense to clarify various statements attributed to him during his Middle East tour.
The delegation issued a statement after the meeting stating that “we have had a frank, and we think useful meeting” with the Minister. “We have informed him about our concerns and we think he understands them now.”
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