ABSTRACT

Until 1980, Canada had only very occasional dealings with the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and often viewed the latter as an illegitimate body or terrorist organization. However, in 1980 the Department of External Affairs, recognizing that the PLO represented an important body of Palestinian opinion, and had become a major actor in Lebanon, assigned an officer (this author) to the Canadian Embassy in Beirut with instructions to develop dialogue with the PLO on political and security matters. This policy commentary briefly describes the evolution in Canadian policy toward fully accepting the legitimacy of the PLO as the Palestinian representative in the Middle East peace process. It describes the factors influencing the change in Canada's position, including the views of the international community, PLO acceptance in 1988 of Israel's existence, and Arafat's renunciation of terrorism. As a result, in March, 1989 Canada lifted remaining limits on official contacts with the PLO and accepted the Palestinian right of self-determination, thereby adopting a more balanced foreign policy. This led to Canada being accepted as a significant player in the Multilateral Peace Process, the chair (Gavel) of the Refugee Working Group and a member of the Multilateral Steering Committee.

摘要

直到1980年，加拿大很少与巴勒斯坦解放组织（PLO）打交道，并经常将其视为非法组织或恐怖组织。但是，1980年，外交部认识到巴解组织是巴勒斯坦重要的民意组织，并已成为黎巴嫩的主要行动者，并向加拿大驻贝鲁特大使馆指派了一名官员（该作者），并指示与巴鲁特进行对话。政治和安全事务的巴解组织。这篇政策评论简要描述了加拿大在全面接受巴解组织作为中东和平进程中的巴勒斯坦代表的合法性方面的政策演变。它描述了影响加拿大立场变化的因素，包括国际社会的看法，巴勒斯坦解放组织于1988年接受以色列的存在，以及阿拉法特放弃恐怖主义。结果，1989年3月，加拿大取消了与巴解组织官方接触的剩余限制，并接受了巴勒斯坦的自决权，从而采取了更加平衡的外交政策。这导致加拿大被认为是多边和平进程的重要参与者，难民工作组主席（小木槌）和多边指导委员会的成员。