From: Ziyad Clot
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:45 AM
To: Andrew Kuhn (Compuserve); CD; LPU; Maen Areikat (Hotmail)
Subject: Meeting with Peter Mc Rae - 25 Feb 2008

Hi,

Maen, Zeinah, Gabe, Dina and myself met yesterday at NAD with Peter Mc Rae (PMR), the Canadian special coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. He was accompanied by David Viveash, the Canadian representative to the PA and Alexandre [last name to be confirmed], a newcomer, who will head the Political department of the Canadian mission.

PMR first asked for an update on the current negotiations with Israel. He then inquired about what should be Canada?s role (as coordinator on refugees? issue) considering the current political status, his concern being that their work should not undermine permanent status talks and positions.

Maen confirmed that one should remain cautious at this stage and that the focus was indeed currently on the bilateral track. Still, the multilateral track may of course be reactivated in the coming months depending on the evolution of the talks with Israel. He also indicated that this should not prevent them from intervening on urgent refugee matters (i.e. Iraq, Lebanon).

We insisted also on the fact that any preparation work on the refugee file would not undermine PS talks as long as this work remains fully comprehensive and address all refugees? rights and corresponding remedies, without exception. PMR referred to the “refugee euphoria” created by Bush?s statement in January: it was the occasion for us to provide with our view on the implications of this statement and to recall the requirements of a global and just resolution of the matter.

PMR acknowledged that PLO?s request to participate in the meetings of the Refugee Coordination Forum (RCF) was justified as it is the main concerned party. The PLO should therefore be convened to the next RCF meetings.

The question of the Palestinian refugees stuck at the Iraqi/Syrian border was also addressed. The Canadians were meeting with Azzam El Ahmad from the PLO yesterday afternoon to discuss this particular issue in more detail.

This meeting was also the occasion for us to present briefly the work that we have been doing on the refugee file for the past months. We will follow up on this with Rula Al Rifai (from the Canadian IDRC) who has also been doing research & preparation work on related issues. She is expected to come in March to Ramallah.

Best,

Z