New Democratic Party leader Ed Broadbent called on Prime Minister Joe Clark yesterday to immediately announce that Canada will not move its Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “This would restore our traditional position of neutrality on Jerusalem, “Broad bent said after a meeting with representatives of the nine Arab League states here yesterday.
Clark announced Saturday that Robert Stanfield, former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, will serve as a one-man task force to study the matter of moving Canada’s Embassy to Jerusalem. He said that Stanfield will visit Arab countries and Israel on a good will and fact-finding mission in the fall.
In an interview published in the Montreal Star today, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat accused Clark of undermining peace efforts in the Middle East by the proposed move and warned that Arab threats against Canada should be taken seriously. He also said that Canada should demonstrate an “evenhanded” attitude towards the Palestinians and said that he would welcome discussions on all these points with Stanfield. Sadat added that “Any act of the Canadian government” regarding the Embassy “will undermine any comprehensive peace settlement.” (By Michael Solomon)
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