Next Year in Jerusalem
| Date | 01 March 2003 |
| Author | Charles Flicker |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070200305800106 |
| Published date | 01 March 2003 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
CHARLES
FLICKER
Next
year
in
Jerusalem
Joe
Clark
and
the
Jerusalem
embassy
affair
a
25
APRIL
1979
THE
LEADER
OF
Canada's
Progressive
Conservative
party,
Joe
Clark,
announced
before
the
Canada-Israel
Committee in
Toronto
that,
if
elected,
his
administration would
move
the
Canadian
embassy
in
Israel
from
Tel
Aviv
to
Jerusalem.
'Next
year
in
Jerusalem,'
he
declaimed,
'is
a
Jewish
prayer
which
we
intend
to
make
a
Canadian
reality.'"
Some
four
months
earlier,
at
a
press
conference
in
Jordan,
Clark
had
shied
away
from
that
pledge
when
he
told
reporters
that
any
decision
on
an embassy
move
would
require
a
successful
resolution
of
the
Egyptian-Israeli
peace
process.
2
On
5
June, at
his
first
official
press
conference
as
prime
minister,
Clark
reaffirmed
his
election
promise
in
no
uncertain
terms.
The
embassy
would
move;
all
he
'would
be
seeking
from
the
public
service
was
advice
as
to
how
best
to
accomplish
what
we
have
undertaken
to
do.'
3
A mere
18
days
later, he
announced
that
the
move
would
be
deferred for
at
least
a
year.
4
On
29
October
1979
Clark
informed
the
House
of
Commons
that
Canada
would
take
no
action
on
its
Israeli
embassy
'until
the
status
of
Jerusalem
is
clarified
within
a
comprehensive agreement
between
Israel
and
her
Arab
neighbours.'
5
This
article
had
its
genesis
in
an
MSc
dissertation
for
the
London
School
of
Economics
and
Political
Science
i
Statement
byJoe
Clark,
25
April
1979,
Privy
Council Office
(Pco).
All
cabinet
min-
utes,
memoranda,
and
operational
records
concerning
the
Jerusalem
embassy affair
were
declassified
by
PCO
at the author's request.
Papers have
not
yet
been
assigned
archival
numbers.
2
Globe
and
Mail
(Toronto),
16
January
1979,
Al.
3 CBC
Radio
Special,
5
June 1979,
Canadian
Broadcasting
Corporation Audio
Archives
(CBCAA),
Toronto,
Ontario.
4
Globe
and
Mail,
24
June
1979,
Al.
5
World
News
Digest,
2
November
1979,
B2.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Winter
2002-2003
Charles
Flicker
In
1980,
Howard
Adelman
examined
the evolution
of
Tory
strategy
on
Jerusalem
from
a
'no-policy' position,
to
a
staunchly
pro-Israel
pol-
icy,
to
a
government
commitment
to
that
policy, to
a
neutral
position
on
the
standing
of
Jerusalem,
to
a
pro-Arab
policy in
the span
of
one
year.
Why,
he
asked,
'did
the
Tories
make
the
moves
they
did?'"
Adelman's
impressive
article,
written
only
months
after
the
events,
has
two
shortcomings.
The
lack
of
a
bibliography
or
references
renders
his
account
essentially
unverifiable,
and,
as
Adelman
himself
acknowl-
edged,
there
were
'still
significant
gaps
in
the
information
available'
and
'a
more
definitive
examination
of
this
issue
may
be
expected
in
the
future.'
In
his
account,
George
Takach
relies
only on
press
clippings
and
confidential
interviews
to
support
his
findings,
7
as
do
other students
of
the
Clark
administration
who
have
examined
the
embassy
affair.'
Norrin
Ripsman
and
Jean-Marc Blanchard
were
the
first
to
publish
an
article
on
the
events
that
cited
interviews
with
three
players
involved
in
the
process.,
Their
analysis,
however,
deals
mainly
with
the economic
implications
of
the
proposed
embassy
shift.
They
do
not
analyze
the
development
of
Conservative
policy
and
devote
little
attention
to
the
political
causes
of
the
policy
reversal.
This
article
draws heavily
on
interviews
with
15
people,
all
of
them
either
first-hand
witnesses
to
or
key players
in
the
generation, imple-
mentation,
or cancellation
of
Clark's
policy.
Four senior
Canadian
Jewish
lobby
executives were
also
interviewed.
All
agreed
to
speak
'on
the
record.'la
A
significant
portion
of
this
article
is
also
based
on
policy
memos
and
personal
communications
from
1979
that
were declassi-
fied
by the
government
of
Canada
for
the
purposes
of
this
study.
6
Howard Adelman,
'Clark
and
the
Canadian
embassy
in
Israel,'
Middle
East
Focus
3(March
198o),
11,
18.
7
George Takach,
'Clark and
the
Jerusalem
embassy
affair,'
in
David
Taras
and
David
Goldberg,
eds,
The
Domestic
Battleground:
Canada
and
the
Arab-Israeli
Conflict
(Montreal:
McGill-Queen's
University
Press
1989),
144-66.
8
For
example,
Warner Troyer,
200
Days:
Joe
Clark
in
Power
(Toronto: Personal
Library
198o);
Jeffrey
Simpson,
Discipline
of
Powerthe
Conservative
Interlude
and
the Liberal Restoration
(Toronto:
University
of
Toronto
Press
1996).
9
Norrin
Ripsman and Jean-Marc
Blanchard,
'Lightning
rods
rather
than
light
switch-
es:
Arab
economic
sanctions against
Canada
in
1979,'
Canadian
Journal
of
Political
Science 35(March
2002),
151-74.
1o
The
appendix
lists
those
interviewed.
All
attributed
quotations
are
from
those
interviews
unless
otherwise indicated.
116
INTERNATIONAL
IOURNAL
Winter2002-2003
To continue reading
Request your trial