Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said recognizing the Palestinian state is imperative now because the prospect of a two-state solution “is receding before our eyes.”
“It’s necessary in our judgment, and the judgment of most other countries in the world, that we have to push on this now, because, as I say, the possibility — in absolute violation of the UN Charter and an absolute violation of international law — of self-determination for the Palestinian people is being erased,” Carney said at the Council on Foreign Relations, a day after announcing Canada’s recognition of a Palestinian state.
“The idea of waiting until all of the conditions are in place for a free and viable Palestinian state” is like “keeping the concept there on the shelf when it is the avowed policy of the Israeli government that there will never be a Palestinian state,” Carney said, pointing to Israel’s expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Carney noted that this recognition is consistent with Canada’s policy of a two-state solution that has been in place since 1947, but acknowledged that there are limitations to what this recognition can accomplish.
