Arab leaders criticize Canada's support of Israel

OTTAWA (AFP) – Arab ambassadors have complained to Canada's top diplomat about his "unbalanced" Mideast policies, which they said Friday favor Israel and disregard the plight of Palestinians.

"We've encouraged Canada to take a more balanced position, which takes into account the realities on the ground and does not side with one party," Amin Abou-Hassira, the Palestinian Authority's representative in Ottawa, told AFP.

Canada's position now is "unbalanced," he said.

The 15 envoys, including Abou-Hassira, met with Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon earlier this week to ask him why his official statements "do not reflect reality and place blame for the war in Gaza entirely on Hamas's rocket-firing into Israel," he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, since its election in 2006, has been unabashedly pro-Israel.

Ottawa echoed the Jewish state in saying Hamas provoked its latest war with Israel by targeting Israeli civilians with crude rockets. And a minister blamed Hamas for 40 civilian casualties at a UN school bombed by Israel.

"The Palestinian movement's home-made rockets, which are more cries of hardship in the face of occupation and a heartless blockade than weapons of war, killed 13 Israelis in eight years," the diplomats told Cannon, according to a statement obtained by AFP.

"In 23 days, Israeli shells, tanks, aircraft, and warships have killed close to 1,500 Palestinians."

The Palestinian health ministry lists more than 1,300 dead and 5,000 wounded during Israel's 22-day Operation Cast Lead, while on the Israeli side three civilians and 10 soldiers died in combat and rocket strikes and dozens were wounded, according to official figures.

Canada, during Harper's administration, was the first to suspend aid to the Palestinian government after the election of Hamas in 2006.

Canada is also the only country to vote against a UN Human Rights Council resolution in Geneva to condemn Israel's offensive in Gaza.

The foreign ministry declined AFP's request for comment.