Given the sheer length and scope of his Mideast tour, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird seems to have a thin agenda. So far he has upgraded our diplomatic presence in Iraq, thrown a bit of money Jordan’s way to cope with Syrian refugees and smoothed over a spat with the United Arab Emirates over aircraft landing rights. He has also dodged questions about Canadians in a terror attack in Algeria.

Unless he springs some big surprise on the Israeli or Palestinian leg of his travels, even supporters of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government may be tempted to write off the trip as a yawn.

Still, considering Canada’s frayed relations in much of the Middle East, where the Conservatives have been criticized for seeing the region through an obsessively Israel-focused prism, it’s good to see Baird paying at least token attention to Arab issues to “expand our engagement” on his 12-day trip, even if Canadian commercial interests and Israel’s security concerns remain uppermost in his mind.

The Arab Spring has transformed, and destabilized, entire countries such as Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Syria is in flames. The Mideast is also a fast-growing part of the world where Sunni/Shia religious rivalry between countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran are playing out, nowhere more so than in Iraq as it struggles to rebuild after the American-led invasion. The long Israeli-Palestinian dispute is as frozen as ever. And Algeria knows only too well the risk that Islamist extremism continues to pose.

This political and economic volatility, plus the Iranian nuclear threat that has alarmed the United Nations and rattled nerves across the region, makes it all the more important that Canada engage with Arab states on a broader basis than in recent years, to help foster stability and pluralism, strengthen trade and thwart terror. We need to show the flag widely after a season of neglect.

During Baird’s unexpected visit to Iraq, he met Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and named Stephanie Duhaime to be our permanent chargé d’affaires in Baghdad. That gives us diplomatic eyes on the ground in a key country with which we have had few dealings for the past decade, and should help Canadian firms win contracts as Iraq expands its oil industry. Iraq already is our major regional economic partner, with $4 billion in two-way trade.

In Jordan, Baird met King Abdullah and pledged $13 million more in aid to help the kingdom cope with 470,000 Syrians displaced by the two-year civil war. Given the Harper government’s wrong-headed refusal to recognize the Syrian opposition, helping refugees is the least we can do. And chilly relations with the United Arab Emirates are warming. The UAE plans to drop the costly visa fees it imposed on Canadians after a 2010 spat when Ottawa refused to grant Emirates airlines extra landing rights.

Given Harper’s vocal support for Israel, Baird can expect a warm welcome from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu early next week. But Arab eyes will be on Baird’s meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, where Canada’s $300-million aid package expires this week. The successful Palestinian push for more recognition at the UN, opposed by Israel, has irritated the Harper government and put a renewal of aid in doubt.

Yet nothing would more clearly signal Canada’s genuine desire to reboot relations with the Arab world than a generous renewal of aid to Palestinians as U.S. President Barack Obama and others try to encourage new peace talks. Cutting back on aid would only reinforce the damaging perception that Canada makes policy exclusively with Israel’s hawkish coalition government in mind. And starving the Palestinian Authority of funds for policing, economic development and health will do nothing to enhance Israel’s security.

Doing business in the Middle East is a legitimate aim of Canadian diplomacy. So is supporting regimes that are benign toward Israel and hard on terror. But it can’t end there. Canada should also promote a peaceful, equitable resolution of the region’s thorniest conflict. Sanctioning Palestinians for pushing, peacefully, for international recognition only encourages the enemies of peace.

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