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The foregoing study and its predecessors serve as a historical study of a microcosm of Canadian foreign policy. From the first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, through Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Sir Robert L. Borden, Canadian foreign policy devolved into the cautious and, wherever possible, non-committed hands of William Lyon Mackenzie King. A pattern was set of noninvolvement , prudence, and an emphasis on impartiality in external affairs. Canada certainly was involved in World War I, World War II, the League of Nations, and, subsequently, the United Nations and the various international specialized agencies. Still, Canada was not committed, save for its participation as an active combatant with the Allies during the Great Wars. In the post-1945 era, Canada was a firm supporter of the West through the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (nato),the Cold War,and the various conflicts of that time. While Canadian soldiers served during the Korean War of 1950–53,they did so under the auspices of the United Nations Command.It was hoped that the internationalism of the United Nations Organization would help resolve the world’s conflicts and problems. While being active in the UN (truce supervision,observers,etc),Canada was still guided by caution and prudence with a predilection to conciliate,mediate,and initiate conflict resolution. That was clearly evident in the establishment of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine in the spring of 1947, and the establishment of the United Nations Emergency Force in the autumn of 1956. Whatever the strains and stresses of the Six Day War of the spring of 1967, Ottawa held firmly to caution and impartiality. If the decades subsequent to 1968 might be regarded as involving a shift in Canadian policy in the light of Islamic fundamentalism and the scourge of terrorism , that premise has not been borne out. The Yom Kippur War in the autumn of 1973, the wars in Lebanon, Iraq, revolutions, and Prime Minister Epilogue 108 epilogue Joe Clark’s aborted plan to move the Canadian embassy to Jerusalem in 1979 have not required digression from the impartial role, regardless of the turmoil. Even Prime Minister Jean Chrétien predicated Canada’s support for the war against Saddam Hussein in 1993 on UN sanctioning of military action. Canadian soldiers actively participated in the Afghanistan war as nato members,but that was Asia proper. The cautious and prudential balance vis-à-vis the Arabs and Israelis has been maintained in a scrupulous manner, whatever the tumult. This is the third in the trilogy of studies that cover the pre-Jewish state of Israel to the conclusion of the second decade in Canadian–Israeli relations, and confirms the premises on which these studies were based; namely, that non-commitment, caution, prudence, and impartiality of a scrupulous nature guided Canadian diplomacy and foreign policy. In spite of the passing of the various governments headed by Prime Ministers Mackenzie King, Louis St. Laurent, John Diefenbaker, and Lester Pearson, and the subsequent governments from Prime Ministers Pierre Trudeau through to Stephen Harper, Canadian policy toward Israel and the Middle East has held to those premises as long as the Arab–Israeli conflict has existed.Regardless of minority or majority governments and statements which the media might have felt to be favouring one side or the other, Canada’s position has remained neutral. The Canadian position was not affected by the peace treaties between Egypt and Israel (1979), and Israel–Jordan (1994), nor would it be changed by future bilateral peace treaties involving other Arab parties and Israel. In matter of fact, those treaties have enhanced what had become traditional Canadian policy with regard to the Middle East. Conflicts and contentions will keep Canada on the well-trodden non-hazardous path of prudence and impartiality. As stated in the Introduction to this study, Canada’s quasi-respectable status remains intact, in general terms, and, specifically, in the Middle East. Canadian policy as shown in this and the preceding studies began with caution, prudence, non-commitment, and scrupulous impartiality in pre-Jewish statehood and continued in this vein through the first two decades in Canadian– Israeli diplomatic relations. The subsequent decades up until the closing of the first decade in the twenty-first century remained predicated on impartiality in matters relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict. Canadian involvement in conflict management/conflict resolution had to be under United Nations auspices and endorsement, which would not detract from Canada’s impartiality. Those involvements included anything sanctioned by the“UN”prefix...

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