The New Israel Fund of Canada is proud of our Advisory Council member Jon Allen for co-authoring a crucially important opinion piece in today’s Globe and Mail. Co-signed with former Israeli Ambassador to Canada Nimrod Barkan, together they urge Canadians to recognize the danger of Trump’s peace plan to Israel, the Palestinians, and shared Canadian-Israeli values:
The Trump plan represents a serious blow to the values shared by our countries, and the further the plan is advanced, the worse the damage. These values include the right to self-determination. That has been, from the very beginning, the main justification employed by the modern Zionist movement; the very same argument should justify the rights of the Palestinian people to realize their own aspirations.
For Israel’s sake, and for the sake of its continued security and prosperity, we must answer Mr. Trump with a resounding “no.” Instead, we must demand a pragmatic, ethical model – the only way forward that ensures a peace plan for the region. Plans for annexation must be met with concrete steps toward ending the occupation. We must strive to embark on a proper, meaningful peace process that would ensure a just and viable solution to the conflict.