December 1989, Page 26, 27

Canada Calling

Jordan's King in Ottawa

By John Dirlik

Jordan's King Hussein addressed the Canadian Parliament Oct. 11, the first time the leader of an Arab state has done so.

In welcoming him to the House of Commons, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney praised the King for initiating a "turning point" in the Middle East peace process by his decision last year to sever Jordan's links with the West Bank, a move that paved the way for direct Israeli-Palestinian talks.

In his speech, Mulroney gave qualified support for the Israeli government's proposal for elections in the occupied territories, but also voiced some thinly veiled criticism of Israel's hard-line position. "Canada's support for Israel's right to exist and for its security is well-known," said the prime minister. "But we believe that peace will not come if any of the parties is so threatened by the actions and statements of others that it feels it must give absolute priority to security over peace."

King Hussein reminded the Canadians that the PLO has met "all the prerequisites and requirements" for the peaceful resolution of the conflict. He accused Israel's Likud bloc of looking "for ways to fulfill [its] avowed pledge to annex the territories, albeit in a camoflaged way to avoid regional and international repercussions."

Speaking on the situation in Lebanon, the King lamented that country's slide into "a den of iniquity where terror reigns," but did not lay the blame on any specific party.

Reacting to King Hussein's speech, Robert Ritter of the powerful Canada-Israel Committee said the view that Israel bears the onus for the present impasse over Palestinian representation at peace talks, is not "balanced." The CIC and members of the Israeli community also expressed disappointment because they claimed Hussein offered no "historical context" for his remarks.

The Media and the Uprising

Barely a month after Jo Franklin-Trout's "Days of Rage: The Young Palestinians" was aired by Public Broadcasting Service stations across the US, another pro-Palestinian documentary was broadcast north of the border by TV Ontario. It provoked an equally heated debate.

"Voices from Gaza" by British filmmaker Antonia Caccia was shot just as the intifada got underway in 1987 and examines the malaise in Gaza from a Palestinian perspective. No doubt to protect itself from the anticipated criticism, the network tacked on a five-minute segment at the end of the documentary featuring Israeli scholar Itmar Rabinovich, who predictably described the film as "partisan."

This was not enough for B'nai B'rith of Canada, which issued a statement complaining that the commentary was filmed on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. "Not only was this offensive," B'nai B'rith stated, "but it resulted in suitable individuals declining the opportunity to provide appropriate balance."

The B'nai B'rith criticism was dismissed by commentator Sheldon Kirshner of the Canadian Jewish News. He noted that Rabinovich was "an internationally respected authority" and therefore "more than meets B'nai B'rith's criterion as a 'suitable' interviewee."

Kirshner did agree, however, that the documentary was flawed by its partisanship and complained that "not a single Israeli spokesman appears to explain the Israeli policy in Gaza."

Attacks on La Presse

As in the US, the Canadian print media has come under fire in some quarters for an alleged anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the Palestinian uprising. Although most Canadian editors have dismissed the charges as baseless, the Quebec Press Council has just ruled that a series of articles on the intifada published last year in the French daily La Presse was in fact slanted against Israel.

The council, which has no legal power but serves as a moral authority among the media, blamed La Presse and journalist Jooneed Khan for a "Manichaean" description of the uprising, whereby "the Israelis and their actions are constantly presented in a negative light, while the Palestinians are presented in a favorable light."

It also criticized the use of certain expressions such as "macoutes" (from Haiti's infamous Macoutes thugs), "she-wolves of the SS" and "barked in Hebrew" because such terminology "may fan hatred toward the Israeli people."

In La Presse's defense, assistant editor Claude Masson said that his paper had already published a series of articles from the Israeli point of view and contended that although Khan's controversial series was in fact one-sided, it was aimed at "establishing a certain balance." Masson said that La Presse will appeal the council's decision.

John Dirlik, a freelance writer from Montreal, Quebec, writes on Canadian and Mideast affairs.