I can never quite decide whether it’s endearing or annoying when Canadians ”punch above their weight” in world affairs and then passively allow our collective memory to fade away. Case in point: while today’s clash of hard-line ideologues rips lives apart in the Middle East, few people these days remember that that thirty years ago Canadians were assisting Israelis and Arabs from across the Middle East and North Africa to build confidence and cooperation, including at sea among navies, coast guards and, in the case of Palestinians, coastal police.
Maritime Confidence and Cooperation
The Middle East Peace Process launched at a 1991 conference in Madrid got a boost in 1993 when the “Oslo Accords” established direct links between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. By then, some forty regional and non-regional participants had established five working groups, with the one addressing Arms Control and Regional Security inviting Canada to take the lead on maritime issues. The Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (now Global Affairs Canada) then asked the Canadian Coast Guard, to lead on marine safety and the Navy (in those days called “Maritime Command”) to lead on preventing unintended incidents at sea.
The first meeting, in September 1993, exceeded expectations (see “Musical Diplomacy in the Middle East: 1993-1995“). The second, in the Turkish coastal city of Antalya, concluded with a request that Canada “consult with other interested parties” to formulate a plan for a practical, at-sea demonstration of the issues. Four months of frantic planning later, we were able to welcome delegates to a comfortable hotel in Venice, not far from iconic Piazza San Marco. Early next morning we boarded Canada’s newest warship, HMCS Halifax, which was in the Adriatic Sea enforcing an arms embargo on the former Yugoslavia. This would be the first time that Arab and Israeli naval officers had ever spent a day at sea together aboard the same warship.
Diplomats in Antalya had envisioned a “realistic simulation of actual cases” but that had to be taken with a pinch of salt. Practically, it had to consist of set-piece, show-and-tell activities, with generous dollops of good humour thrown in. But that didn’t matter. The real objective was to bring longstanding enemies together in a friendly operational setting to discuss common problems.
Theatre With Purpose
The scenario for the day was that Canada and the United States had been through a period of vicious armed conflict triggered by intense rivalry over a hockey championship, but had recently made peace. As Halifax steamed into open waters, delegates were completing tours of what was then one of the world’s most advanced warships when a broadcast invited them all to the bridge. An unidentified American naval vessel had just been sighted ahead. As everyone gathered, the Canadian naval facilitator (me) pointed to activity on the USS Santa Barbara that could be interpreted as preparing a weapon to fire. All agreed that until recently Halifax could have been justified in firing first, in anticipatory self defence. Fortunately now, the two countries had just concluded an arrangement to resolve such misunderstandings. And so, after some ambiguous manoeuvring, signals were exchanged which revealed that the American activity was harmless. Unintended shooting war avoided.
Act Two of the drama had both ships intercepting an indistinct “SOS” message, apparently from a passenger ship in distress, reporting that it was sinking in (…garbled position…) with the Master reporting that he needed all passengers and non-essential crew taken off quickly. Halifax and Santa Barbara both acknowledged the message and independently turned toward the probable location, launching helicopters as they went. An Italian Atlantique maritime patrol aircraft also joined the search. As the Canadian Coast Guard facilitator narrated what was happening aboard the ships and aircraft, helicopters were taking off to transfer dummy “survivors” between ships, while the Atlantique monitored the operation overhead. Ironically, we almost had a real emergency when the American helicopter developed a problem but landed quickly and safely aboard Santa Barbara. All in all, a memorable day.
The maritime work continued for another year before being overtaken by renewed tensions. Nonetheless, there was at least one consolation. A draft multilateral agreement for preventing incidents at sea in the Middle East had been concluded at the technical level. As far as I know, it was the only agreement to have been completed and ready for political approval by the time the process ground to a halt.
Official Amnesia
Twenty-three years later, while preparing what I intended to be my last word on Middle East maritime matters, I applied to Global Affairs Canada for a copy of a documentary history of Canada’s role that had been compiled in 1998. After some weeks of searching, the senior archivist had to apologize that there was no record of it. Not to worry, I assured him. I’d only made the request in case the document was classified, but it had been prepared under contract by some guy called David Griffiths so I had all the material. And now I didn’t need to worry if it might be classified. I even offered to reconstitute the document if anyone in the Canadian government cared. I never heard back.
As of today, the Global Affairs history online doesn’t mention any of the Middle East work. Not this. Not serving as “gavel holder” for the working group on Palestinian refugees. Nor any of the less high-profile contributions. Why am I not surprised.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
(George Santayana)
Photos:
Featured image: dafalias on Freeimages.com
Remainder: Canada, Department of National Defence (some are screen grabs from a video)