Liberal, NDP MPs to travel to West Bank to connect with Palestinians

Five Canadian MPs are set to begin a week-long visit to Jordan and the West Bank today to meet with Palestinian refugees and progressive Israeli groups.

The group of MPslanding in Amman, Jordan's capital,includes Liberal MPs Salma Zahid and Shafqat Ali andNew Democrat MPs Heather McPherson (the party's foreign affairs critic),Matthew Green andLindsayMathyssen.

"What we have seen in the last three months is that it is a humanitarian crisis, and the situation also in the West Bank has been worsening," Zahid,chair of the CanadaPalestine Parliamentary Friendship Group,toldCBC News prior to the MPs' departure.

"I think it is really good to be on the ground to see, and to talk to some of the impacted families."

The trip is sponsored travel paid for by Canadian Muslim Vote, a registered non-profit Muslim charity.

In October, Zahidspearheaded an effort to get MPs across party lines to sign a letter demanding thatthe Canadian government call for a ceasefire in the warbetween Israel and Hamas.

Twenty-two other Liberal MPsinitially signed the letterthe first sign of fracture in the government caucus over Canada's position on the war.

Canada voted for a ceasefire at the UN General Assembly in December,just days after CBC News reported a group representing Muslim donors had left the Liberal Party of Canada's highest donor rank.

"I think it is important that Canada is known as a peacemaker, a peace-builder. So Canada shouldbe a strong voice for a ceasefire in that region, to make sure that we put an end to the killing of innocent Palestinian people," Zahid said.

"This region is in chaosand Canada needs to play a role, working with our allies," said McPherson.

"I think what this trip allows us to do is ... speak with some authority, because we will be on the ground. We will speak with progressive Israeli organizations who are calling for peace."

A preliminary itinerary the group released to CBC News mentions stops in Jordan andRamallahin thecentral West Bank to speak with "affected" Palestinian communities, along with visits to refugee camps.

The West Bank has not seen the same volume of media coverage as Gaza, the main theater of conflict since October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack that saw it kill1,200 Israeli civilians and take240 hostages.

Since then, the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza has estimated Israel has killed some 23,000 Palestinians in retaliatory military actions.

The Canadian government lists Hamas as a terrorist organization. Canada does have a diplomatic presence in the West Bank, which is administered by the Palestinian Authority, a different political entity that is recognized by the United Nations as the only representative Palestinian governing body.

On Friday, Israel said it had killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a settlement in the West Bank.

The news wire service Reuters has reported that Israeliforces have killedhundreds of Palestinians in the West Bankand have arrested thousandssince Oct. 7.

In December, the Canadian government joined 13 other countries, including the United Kingdom, Franceand the European Union, in calling on Israel to do more to stop "extremist settler violence" against Palestinians.

The United States has also imposedtravel bans on extremist settlers associated with acts ofviolence.

Ali, the Liberal MP for Brampton-Centre, and Mathyssen, the NDP MP for London-Fanshawe, said they have heard from constituents alarmed by the humanitarian crisis on the ground.

Ali said he wants to "meet with those non-governmental organization individuals who are working on the ground to have knowledge and perspective on how we can assist Palestiniansin basically rebuilding. If you see it by yourself, you can talk about it with more clarity."

Mathyssen said she is going "to hear the stories, to see for ourselves what's going on on the ground, tomeet with key organizations that are providing humanitarian aid."

Second MP trip to Middle East since conflicterupted

This trip is the second by a group of Canadian MPsto the Middle East since Oct. 7.

In November, two Liberal andthree Conservative MPs travelled to Israel to meet withsurvivors of Hamas's deadly attack and family members of thosekilled. That trip was sponsoredby the Canadian group United Jewish Appeal.

At the time, the National Council of Canadian Muslims and Canadians for Justiceand Peacein the Middle East suggested it would have been fair for those MPs to meet with Palestinians as well.

The MPs visiting the West Bank this week say they're not worried aboutappearing one-sided.

"I am going there to that region as [a] member of Parliament and as the chair of the CanadaPalestine Parliamentary Friendship Group. I think it is really very important that I visit the region," said Zahid.

"It's very important to me that I am hearing from Jewish organizations, that I am meeting with Jewish representatives that can talk to us about their calls for peace," McPherson said.