And here, reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions (§29) of the Copyright Act from today’s Globe and Mail, is a report on the status of 39ish Canadians – mostly, apparently, dual-national – in Gaza:
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090105.wcdnsgaza0105/BNStory/International/home
Canada lagged in getting citizens out of Gaza
CAMPBELL CLARK AND ORLY HALPERN
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
January 5, 2009 at 10:09 PM EST
OTTAWA/EREZ CROSSING, ISRAEL — Canada only asked Israel for help in getting its stranded citizens out of Gaza after hundreds of other foreign nationals were able to depart, and as a ground assault was preparing to roll in.
More than 200 foreigners, including 39 Canadians, were to leave war-ravaged Gaza Monday, but the Israelis said security risks forced them to shut down access to the Erez Crossing into Israel. They said they would try again to get them out Tuesday.
It's unclear why Canada's officials did not ask sooner for Israeli assistance to get Canadians out – before the start of the ground war on Saturday that made travelling in Gaza far more dangerous.
Several countries clamoured last week for Israel to help their citizens leave Gaza, before an expected ground assault, prompting the Israelis to allow about 300, including Americans, Russians, Ukrainians and Moldovans, to leave on Friday.
A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department in Ottawa, Rodney Moore, said that's the day that Canada sent a list of 36 Canadians who wanted to leave Gaza, and asked for Israeli assistance.
But Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israel government civil administration in the occupied territories, said Canadian officials only approached them for help the day after, on Saturday.
“Canadian diplomats approached us on the third 3rd of January,” he said. “On Saturday, they said 36 people. Later, they raised it to 39.”
He said that Monday's departure of foreigners was cancelled because of security concerns that made access to the Erez Crossing, the only point where civilians in Gaza can cross into Israel, too dangerous.
Canadian diplomats arrived at the Israeli side of the crossing into northern Gaza Monday, but left without the Palestinian-Canadians – believed to be mostly dual citizens – they were meant to receive. The diplomats refused to speak with journalists.
Diplomats of many other countries also left the crossing empty handed, and Mr. Lerner said that the 200 people scheduled to leave included citizens of the Philippines, Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Malta, Norway, Romania and Spain.
A spokesman for Israel's embassy in Ottawa, Orit Kremer, said that high-level Israeli and Canadian officials are in contact, and another effort to get the Canadians out will be made Tuesday.
“Everything was organized in order to get them [out] Tuesday. Unfortunately, it wasn't successful Tuesday, but we'll do our best to get them tomorrow,” she said.
During the 2006 Lebanon war, Canadian officials were criticized for the slow pace of their efforts to evacuate about 13,000 citizens from Beirut, as they struggled to arrange safe passage for ships for days after the United States and several European countries began ferrying out their nationals.
In this case, it's not clear why Canada did not ask for help sooner, before the situation on the ground in Gaza became dramatically more dangerous.
“We are deeply concerned about the security of Canadians in Gaza and are working with Israeli authorities to confirm the soonest available window of opportunity to assist Canadians in leaving Gaza,” Mr. Moore said.
The evacuation of the 200 foreign citizens was to be organized by the Red Cross, which had asked them to assemble at a meeting point in Gaza City.
They were to board buses that would take them north, where they were to be allowed into Israel to be bused directly to Jordan, because Israel would not give permission for them to remain inside Israel.
Mr. Moore said that there are currently 58 registered Canadians in Gaza, but several have not asked for assistance to leave.
He said that since 2000, Canada has warned Canadians not to travel to Gaza, and that it has helped 155 Canadians leave the territory, now under Hamas rule, in six operations in 2007 and 2008.
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The primary reason it (making a request for help) took so long, I’m guessing, is that the predominantly Arabist professional foreign service hates to deal with Israel. Most of the striped pants set in Festung Pearson are convinced that the Arabs and Palestinians have right, even a god or two, on their side and that the Israeli are slobbering brutes stamping about the otherwise quiet, peaceful, culturally advanced region in hobnailed jack boots and coal-scuttle helmets. Asking Israel for anything - other than explanations for their latest outrages - goes against the 'cultural' grain in DFAIT.
The article, of course – being written by Canadians, for Canadians - blames the government for having “lagged” and only in passing notes that the 39 or so Canadians put themselves in the soup by ignoring the government’s warnings.
