Others do not share the Prime Minister’s version of history

Where does Middle East history begin? Is it before or after the Old Testament, the exodus of Jews from Europe and Arabs from Palestine or, pick one, the bombing of civilians in a Tel Aviv nightclub or a Beirut suburb? This isn't an academic exercise or one of those annoying quizzes that make fools of almost everyone. No, it's a test of perspectives on a region where the past is ever-present and time never heals wounds. Where Middle East histories begin is vital. A death of a child on a Jerusalem bus or in the rubble of Qana makes Hatfields and McCoys of parents who share grief, not empathy. Distance only modestly reduces those emotions. They play across the domestic political screen here in protest marches and in the threats of Canadian interest groups to abandon any party that, extraordinary as it seems, fails to fully align with a foreign state. Governments, too, put historical bookmarks in different places. More interestingly still, they sometimes move them. Last month, Stephen Harper's genesis was Hezbollah's seizure of two Israeli soldiers as bargaining chips and its periodic cross-border rocket attacks. Now, as events accelerate forward, the Prime Minister is inching his starting point backward. This week's startling move to appoint a Muslim Liberal as a special Middle East and South Asia adviser follows last week's subtle adjustments in Harper's original approval of the Israeli assault on Lebanon as "measured." Both are, of course, just political soft-shoe. Finding someone more knowledgeable than Wajid Khan is as easy as it is difficult for the Prime Minister to admit that he was wrong to rubber-stamp the first salvoes of war. Harper now has an adviser who can be either ignored or used to embarrass Liberals and a position that gains flexibility without losing his crafted image of a leader who isn't afraid to make unpopular decisions. This is the Prime Minister's public persona. In contrast to his progressive Conservative election campaign performance, Harper in power is the Reformer. Ruling as if he has a majority and from within a closed inner circle, Harper is simultaneously trying to change the country and secure a second mandate. Spring saw that process advance surprisingly effortlessly while summer is proving hard work. By beginning his Middle East history in early July, the Prime Minister forgot a lot of things Canadians, particularly those of Arab descent, remember. He skipped Israel's earlier invasion and 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, why Hezbollah is popular beyond the limited appeal of militant Islam, and this country's proud, if inflated, tradition of being a small part of the solution, not the problem. Perhaps what looks like amnesia was just optimism. Had Middle East events not followed their predictable course, Harper might have scored a hat trick by defining his leadership, moving Canadian foreign policy to the political right and wooing Jewish support away from the Liberals. That may still happen. But in the Middle East as well as in Afghanistan, Harper is now on the other side of the peace issue to most Canadians and particularly Quebecers with the power to deny a majority. It's often said that war is God's way of teaching Americans geography. It's now as apt to say that foreign affairs are Allah's way of teaching new Canadian prime ministers history. With eyes firmly fixed on domestic realities, Harper now faces at least one more Middle East decision that will reveal how much, or little, he's learning. Later rather than sooner there will be a ceasefire and the federal government must then decide not just where it stands but also if it's willing to let Canadians fall. Once again, history's reel will roll. It could begin with 9/11, the war on terror or the grand Bush administration plan to graft democracy onto autocracy. Just as reasonably it could start with serial, futile attempts to insulate Israelis and Palestinians from each other, U.S. Marines hitting the Beirut beach in 1982 only to die in their barracks in 1983, or the oil politics that, in 1919 Paris, shaped the Middle East. Foreign troops continuing Israel's campaign to disarm Hezbollah will only make sense to Harper if he again mistakenly starts history in the here and now. Along with a different perspective, a longer view provides a different solution. Canada must do what little it can to help Lebanon rescue itself while remembering that the centrepiece conflict, the one with so many starting points, is elsewhere and requires urgent attention. James Travers is a national affairs columnist with the Toronto Star. This column was released Aug. 10. The Hill Times

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Others do not share the Prime Minister’s version of history

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