[Bloquez l'empire!] Israel says relations with Canada at "peak" (Toronto Star)

[Jaggi Singh]

http://www.thestar.com/article/173689

Israel says relations with Canada at 'peak' TheStar.com - News - Israel says
relations with Canada at 'peak'
 January 22, 2007
 Yehonathan Tommer
 Canadian press

JERUSALEM – Israel announced Monday its public security minister will visit
Canada to further develop strong bilateral ties said to have reached a
"peak" since the Conservatives were voted into office in Ottawa a year ago.

The announcement came as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met visiting
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay and expressed appreciation for
Canada's support for Israel even in "difficult periods."

During the meeting, Olmert also denounced Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's threats to destroy Israel and said `the free world must take a
determined stand, in both word and deed," against Iran, according to a
statement from Olmert's office.

MacKay was greeted warmly on arrival in Israel over the weekend after
meeting with Palestinian and Jordanian leaders on his current Mideast tour.

A glowing statement from the Foreign Ministry said: "Since its election in
January 2006, the Canadian government headed by Prime Minister Stephen
Harper has maintained particularly warm relations with Israel, and bilateral
and diplomatic ties are currently at their peak."

"Canada has been at the forefront of the international efforts against the
Iranian nuclear threat," the ministry said.

"The Harper government was the first to boycott Hamas immediately after its
election, and supported Israel during the Lebanon war against Hezbollah.
Canada is also one of Israel's staunch supporters in the United Nations and
other international forums, such as the G-8."

"In light of these very positive relations, Canada is interested in
increasing its involvement in and support for the peace process between
Israel and the Palestinians. Israel welcomes such a development, and this
will be one of the matters discussed during the current visit to Israel by
the Canadian foreign minister."

As part of the upgrading of relations, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter
will visit Canada next month for talks with his Canadian counterpart,
Stockwell Day, Israeli officials said. Dichter will also meet Harper and
other ministers and legislators.

Canada and Israel exchange intelligence on police, criminal and
terrorism-related data and co-operate on the technological and operational
aspects of border management. Israeli officials said Dichter will explore
ways of expanding existing ties and extend them to border security.

There were kisses, handshakes and smiles at a Sunday meeting between MacKay
and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

MacKay said they had become "regular friends' and had formed a ``human bond
of trust and frank discussion" in almost-daily contacts during the
evacuation of Canadian citizens stranded in Lebanon in last summer's war.

Livni, on her part, praised MacKay as a friend who "knows how to make
distinctions between right and wrong" and as "a leader of a country uniquely
situated to help the moderates against the region's ideological extremists,
like Hezbollah and Iran."

In a separate meeting Sunday, MacKay told Vice-Premier Shimon Peres that
Canadian business was keen to help upgrade the Palestinian economy.

Canadian firms want to invest in joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian
projects enhancing environmental quality and development along their common
"Silicon Peace Valley" between the Dead Sea and Red Sea, he said.

These include the construction of a salt-water canal between the two seas to
assist the ecological revival of the deteriorating basin and encourage
tourism; the construction a major international airport straddling the
Israel-Jordanian Arava border; and agricultural development projects
benefiting Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli farmers around the Dead Sea
coastal rim.

"Incentives for economic growth and environmental quality can play a major
role in changing Palestinian and Israeli national mindsets," Peres said.
"These can also help to open up the territories to new markets throughout
the vast Arab world."
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