Envoy says Canada is coming closer to recognizing Palestinian statehood

“Canada could have done better and must do better.”

Abuamara said Canada’s approach to the situation in the Palestinian territories in recent years has amounted to supporting Israel “without budging” while funding small projects such as police training and development work.

“Basically, (it was to) be managed under that occupation,” she said. “But what we were looking for from Canada is to help us get rid of that occupation instead, so we could make our own money.”

For decades, Canada has backed the creation of a Palestinian country to exist in peace alongside a secure Israel. In May 2024, Ottawa said it no longer believes that recognizing Palestinian statehood can only happen after a peace negotiation. Around that time, Ottawa said it was assessing what conditions need to be in place, in order to proceed with formal recognition.

In an interview with The Canadian Press, Abuamara said Canada is now edging even closer toward that formal recognition.

She cited a June 10 consultation event Canada co-hosted with Qatar and Mexico at the United Nations headquarters on how to peacefully resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict and advance a two-state solution.

The event was supposed to be part of a UN conference organized by France and Saudi Arabia; participating countries were expected to either recognize Palestine as a state or agree on steps toward doing so. The organizers postponed the conference when a war started between Israel and Iran, and no new date has been set.

Abuamara said Canada had “a lot of conversations” with France and others about moving Ottawa closer to recognizing Palestinian statehood when the UN conference eventually takes place.

“We’ve been very close, before the (April federal) election, to the recognition,” she said.

The Canadian Press has asked the federal cabinet for comment but has not received a response.

Israel has pushed back firmly on calls for Palestinian statehood, saying the territories have divided leadership and Hamas and Fatah both run corrupt governments that refuse to hold elections and have supported terrorists.

Abuamara said recognizing Palestinian statehood would “set in stone for Canadians the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination.”

Her work changed drastically on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, resulting in the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas and its affiliates killed 1,200 people in Israel, including soldiers, and took 251 people hostage; they still hold roughly 50.

The attack prompted Israel to bombard Gaza. Hamas officials say Israeli military actions, including strikes on hospitals and refugee camps, have since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians, including militants.

The Israel-Gaza conflict has triggered tense protests on Canadian streets and a spike in hate crimes targeting Jews. Muslim and Arab Canadians, meanwhile, report being afraid to express criticism of Israel’s military campaign because of the possible backlash.

The war also has bolstered calls for recognition of a Palestinian state. Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state last year, citing Israeli officials’ talk of annexing Palestinian territories.

Abuamara’s role is to speak for Palestinians across the Middle East, although she was appointed by a government that only has control of the West Bank, not the Gaza Strip.

She said her posting in Canada left her dismayed by the shortage of Palestinian voices in the media and on academic panels. She said she struggled to get direct meetings with Canadian government officials.

But she noted that Prime Minister Mark Carney has been using stronger language to criticize Israeli policies and actions than did his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.

“We’ve seen stronger, clearer statements since the Carney government took office,” she said. “There is less two sides-ism, less not naming the perpetrator of the crime.”

She also cited comments Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand made in May describing Israel’s military campaign as “aggression caused against the Palestinian and the Gazan people in Palestine.” In those comments, the minister took the unconventional step of citing “Palestine” instead of the Palestinian territories.

Anand also said that by restricting humanitarian aid in Gaza, Israel was “using food as a political tool.”

Israeli officials took issue with Anand’s use of the word “aggression” to describe a military campaign to neutralize the threat of Hamas.

Abuamara said it was refreshing to see Canada call out violence toward civilians in the Middle East as it often does for Ukrainians attacked by Russia.

“Canada needs to just stand by international law,” she said.

“It’s not about Palestine. It’s about the international rules-based order, about human rights, about values and principles.”

Canada has been pushing Israel for more accountability on a number of incidents in Gaza, including in May after Israeli soldiers in the West Bank fired shots in the vicinity of Canadian and other diplomats during a humanitarian assessment of the Jenin refugee camp.

Canada summoned Israel’s ambassador following that event and is still awaiting the results of an investigation into what happened. 

Abuamara said the lack of accountability for that incident illustrates how Palestinians feel when they level accusations against Israeli soldiers.

“It’s just exactly what we want the Canadian government and the Canadian people to know — this is what we have been living for decades. Israel is never wrong,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2025.