Liberal, NDP MPs to travel to West Bank to connect with Palestinians

Five Canadian MPs are set to begin a week-long visit to Jordan and the West Bank today to meet with Palestinian refugees and progressive Israeli groups.

The group of MPs landing in Amman, Jordan's capital, includes Liberal MPs Salma Zahid and Shafqat Ali and New Democrat MPs Heather McPherson (the party's foreign affairs critic), Matthew Green and Lindsay Mathyssen.

«What we have seen in the last three months is that it is a humanitarian crisis, and the situation also in the West Bank has been worsening,» Zahid, chair of the Canada–Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group, told CBC News prior to the MPs' departure.

«I think it is really good to be on the ground to see, and to talk to some of the impacted families.»

The trip is sponsored travel paid for by Canadian Muslim Vote, a registered non-profit Muslim charity.

In October, Zahid spearheaded an effort to get MPs across party lines to sign a letter demanding that the Canadian government call for a ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

Twenty-two other Liberal MPs initially signed the letter — the first sign of fracture in the government caucus over Canada's position on the war.

Canada voted for a ceasefire at the UN General Assembly in December, just days after CBC News reported a group representing Muslim donors had left the Liberal Party of Canada's highest donor rank.

«I think it is important that Canada is known as a peacemaker, a peace-builder. So Canada should be a strong voice for a ceasefire in that region, to make sure that we put an end to the killing of innocent Palestinian people,» Zahid said.

«This region is in chaos and Canada needs to play a role, working with our allies,» said McPherson.

«I think what this trip allows us to do is… speak with some