Palestinians summon Canadian envoy over Baird’s East Jerusalem meeting

By The Canadian Press

RAMALLAH, Palestine – The Palestinian Authority summoned Canada’s envoy to protest Foreign Minister John Baird’s meeting last week with an Israeli cabinet minister in East Jerusalem.

Last Tuesday Baird met with Justice Minister Tzipi Livni in disputed territory, which the Palestinians and the United Nations consider occupied land.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry issued a statement this weekend saying it summoned Katherine Verrier-Frechette on Sunday “to express its strong dissatisfaction over the meeting.”

Calling it “a deplorable step,” a top Palestinian official told the envoy that Baird’s meeting would adversely affect the Middle East peace process.

Baird has defended his meeting, saying where he has coffee with someone is “irrelevant” to the larger discussion of Middle East peace and does not signal a shift in Canadian foreign policy.

Baird spokesman Rick Roth said in an email to The Canadian Press on Sunday that “As guests, we were pleased to meet our hosts where it was most convenient for them.”

However, previous Canadian government ministers have avoided crossing into East Jerusalem with Israeli officials as a matter of principle and practice.

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