MPs returning from a visit to the West Bank argue Canada needs to do more to prevent escalating tensions between Palestinians and Israelis, as they recount distressing scenes from the occupied territories.
“We can’t imagine what the people of Palestine are going through,” said Liberal MP Shafqat Ali. “What we witnessed with our own eyes, it’s basically constant humiliation, and constant mental torture.”
He’s among a group of three NDP and two Liberal MPs who spent last week meeting with Palestinian refugees in Jordan, as well as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as guests of Muslim advocacy groups.
The visit followed a trip to Israel last November organized by Canadian Jewish federations in which a group of different Liberal and Conservative MPs heard about the lasting impact of the Hamas attack in October that sparked the latest Israel-Hamas war.