Roundup: Canada FM calls on Israelis, Palestinians to resume peace talks

Visiting Foreign Minister of Canada John Bird on Sunday called on Israel and the Palestinians to push forward the stalled peace process in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Bird's statements were made following his meeting with the Palestinian minister of foreign affairs Reyad al-Malki earlier on Sunday. He also called on both sides to end "mutual incitement," but need to consider the Israeli security concerns.

"Canada keeps exerting diplomatic efforts to back the Middle East peace process throughout peace talks and works on succeeding the talks because this is the best opportunity for reaching the achievement of the two-state solution," Bird told reporters.

He also expressed his country's opposition to the Palestinian decision to join the International Criminal Court and other international treaties and agencies, adding that "it is a step in the wrong direction."

Al-Malki told reporters after the meeting that the Palestinian side called on Canada "to exert more pressure on Israel to stop its violations against our people, to end the Israeli military occupation and pay back to the Palestinians the tax revenue dues."

Earlier on Sunday, dozens of outraged Palestinians threw eggs and shoes on Bird at the end of his meeting with al-Malki in Ramallah.

The angry Palestinian demonstrators held a protest in front of the ministry of foreign affairs in Ramallah while Bird was holding a meeting with Malki.

Witnesses said that right after Bird left the building at the end of the meeting, they began to throw eggs and shoes at the senior Canadian diplomat. Palestinian security forces prevented the demonstrators from approaching Bird.

The youth movement "Shabiba" of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party organized the demonstration in protest to Bird's visit and to Canada's non-supportive political position to the Palestinian cause.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against Canada's position and carried banners saying "Canada supports terrorism."

Monir al-Jaghoub, media advisor of Fatah Party in Ramallah, told Xinhua that the demonstration aimed at protesting against Canada's political position towards the Palestinian cause.

"Canada approved that it is biased to Israel and neglects the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people," said al-Jaghoub.

Meanwhile, Monzer Amira, a young activist told Xinhua that the Canadian foreign minister "is not welcome in Palestine because his country supports the Israeli terrorism against the Palestinian people."

A Canadian foreign ministry spokesman on Friday called on chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat to apologize to the Israeli government for comparing between the terrorism of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq with the assaults of the Israeli settlers on the Palestinians.

"Foreign Minister Bird has to apologize to the Canadian people to giving legitimacy to the brutal actions of the Israeli occupation and for backing the groups of settlements who practice terrorism on the Palestinians, their properties and their holy sites," said Erekat in an emailed statement on Saturday. Endit