The ‘Good-natured bastard’: Canada and the Middle East refugee question
- Resource Type
- Authors
- David Howard Goldberg; Tilly Shames
- Source
- Israel Affairs. 10:203-220
- Subject
- Cultural Studies
Power (social and political)
History
Politics
Middle East
Political science
Refugee
Law
Political Science and International Relations
Agency (sociology)
Palestine
Form of the Good
- Language
- ISSN
- 1743-9086
1353-7121
This essay reviews the history and political dynamic of Canada's involvement in the Middle East refugee problem. Among the signposts noted are the evolution of Canada's policy response to the humanitarian needs of peoples displaced by the first Arab-Israeli war (1948–49), including early support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA); Canada's wielding of the gavel for the potentially volatile Multilateral Refugee Working Group (RWG); and Canada's efforts to continue providing practical support for the refugees even as the Oslo peace process collapsed amid the rubble of the Camp David–Taba peace talks and the ‘al-Aqsa intifada’. The essay concludes that despite its lack of hard attributes of international power and influence, Canada has much to contribute to a resolution of the Middle East refugee question.