Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper successfully objected to any mention of Israel's 1967 borders in the final declaration of the G8 summit in Deauville, France, last Friday, Canadian media reports said.
But Harper’s office as well as a spokesman for the Israeli government denied the reports that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged Harper to block a G8 declaration that would use the 1967 borders as a starting point for Mideast peace talks
U.S. President Barack Obama in a major May 19 speech on the Middle East made specifically reference to the 1967 borders as a basis for an agreement between Israel and a Palestinian state even though he later specified that negotiations would include "land swaps."
The controversy at the G8 summit over Harper's role arose as the G8 leaders emerged with a 40-billion dollars US plan to help Egypt and Tunisia transform from dictatorships to democracies.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who chaired the summit, said 10 billion dollars would come in direct bilateral aid from G8 countries.
But Canada refused to commit to any country-to-country aid, saying it has given sufficient funding since 2009 to multilateral institutions tasked to help the region.
Diplomatic sources at the summit said Stephen Harper, who is considered as one of Israel’s most fervent supporters, insisted there be no reference to Israel's borders before 1967.
"The Canadians were really very adamant, even though Obama expressly referred to 1967 borders in his speech last week," a European diplomat told the Reuters news agency.
"We are pleased that the statement that came out of the G8 was a balanced statement," Harper later said.
The resolution expressed "strong support" for Obama's vision set out in the speech, and called for a new round of negotiations.
"We are convinced that the historic changes throughout the region make the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations more important, not less," the G8 said.
Harper said he has no problem with Obama's speech, saying it had to be considered in its "entirety."
He noted that Obama supported the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state and a Jewish state, the latter of which would rule out the long-standing Palestinian demand that refugees and their families living outside Israel have the right to return.
The head of communications at the Canadian Prime Minister’s office, Dimitri Soudas, confirmed a report that Netanyahu had called Harper earlier last week but he denied that they spoke about the G8 summit.
An Israeli spokesperson also denied the report.
At the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu made a point of stating the importance of Israel’s friends.
"We have friends around the world, more than many think and I am pleased to see that on various continents, in various meetings, they rebuffed matters that were not desirable to us."
"It would not be a mistake to conclude he was referring to Canada," an Israeli official was quoted as saying.