Talking with the PLO: Overcoming political challenges

Abstract

Until 1980, Canada had only very occasional dealings with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and often viewed the latter as an illegitimate body or terrorist organization. However, in 1980 the Department of External Affairs, recognizing that the PLO represented an important body of Palestinian opinion, and had become a major actor in Lebanon, assigned an officer (this author) to the Canadian Embassy in Beirut with instructions to develop dialogue with the PLO on political and security matters. This policy commentary briefly describes the evolution in Canadian policy toward fully accepting the legitimacy of the PLO as the Palestinian representative in the Middle East peace process. It describes the factors influencing the change in Canada’s position, including the views of the international community, PLO acceptance in 1988 of Israel’s existence, and Arafat’s renunciation of terrorism. As a result, in March, 1989 Canada lifted remaining limits on official contacts with the PLO and accepted the Palestinian right of self-determination, thereby adopting a more balanced foreign policy. This led to Canada being accepted as a significant player in the Multilateral Peace Process, the chair (Gavel) of the Refugee Working Group and a member of the Multilateral Steering Committee.